Comment History for Squeers
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» 25/02/2015 3:41:01 PM The article's premises are all wrong. It's unaustralian (though the word is strictly meani.....
» 12/02/2015 8:32:23 PM Taking up Graham's hostile retort directed against Rhosty, and looking at the second prese.....
» 12/02/2015 4:56:24 PM Bravo mikk! I've never seen such a mob of bad losers. Labor certainly didn't carry on lik.....
» 12/02/2015 7:36:03 AM Looking at Graham's link to the report by Carbon and Energy Markets, and looking further a.....
» 12/02/2015 6:52:00 AM I'm sceptical about Graham's 'readings' of the OLO crowd responses, but he did pick the QL.....
» 11/02/2015 11:50:13 AM I was also suggesting above though that rather than seeing this purely as a rort, we shoul.....
» 11/02/2015 11:49:52 AM rehctub, All I've said is single mums tend to get tarred with the same brush, hence it's a.....
» 10/02/2015 2:33:13 PM Thanks Houellebecq. I realise 'tis all a bit of a lark for you. It is for me too really, a.....
» 10/02/2015 7:54:56 AM Houellebecq: "you have used class in two different arguments to imply anyone who is r.....
» 9/02/2015 5:23:36 PM I must say "Houellebecq" (a pop-culture reference?), you're rather more shrill t.....
» 9/02/2015 1:12:12 PM Houellebecq, granted, "...and need to be punished" was emotive; indeed it doesn'.....
» 8/02/2015 8:35:26 PM rehctub, you know as well as I do that single mums are a favourite target of those who lo.....
» 7/02/2015 1:04:34 PM Hi Poirot, yes, Eugene is most amusing, and Squeers is rather a sour-puss I'm afraid : ) .....
» 7/02/2015 10:41:09 AM Houellebecq: “Squeers' lazy prejudicial caricature of the rich is just as nasty as the rig.....
» 5/02/2015 3:57:33 PM It's good to see your name pop up, Houellebecq, but rather than your signature wit, you se.....
» 5/02/2015 2:55:02 PM "Abbott should try it - or fall on his sword." Therein lies the problem, planta.....
» 5/02/2015 1:33:57 PM runner, I am talking about the top tier first. Those you mention needn't pay much more per.....
» 5/02/2015 12:57:35 PM The budget problems both state and federal are about revenue, not overspending! How can w.....
» 4/02/2015 2:51:19 PM Gary Johns, Labor man turned neoliberal ideologue. Another economic fundie. What I'd like.....
» 3/02/2015 7:28:34 PM Suseonline and Poirot I agree. And after the Rudd/Gillard show it's our turn to gloat! Ju.....
» 3/02/2015 4:09:49 PM Graham: "...but somewhere around the Hawke/Keating period they achieved their aim of .....
» 3/02/2015 1:32:10 PM GrahamY, it's comments like that which rob you of kudos and credibility, an idiotic denun.....
» 3/02/2015 9:24:34 AM Graham Young: “Bikie related drug crime was squashed and crime statistics improved dramati.....
» 2/02/2015 4:47:15 PM Sadly, Hasbeen, I think you're right. Even most of those who do ostensibly vote on issues .....
» 2/02/2015 1:00:15 PM Hi Poirot, Graham did indeed call it and he really should clain kudos and so develop his p.....
» 31/01/2015 9:43:19 PM Congrats Graham. Among commentators I've listened to this week on the QLD election, Graham.....
» 26/01/2015 7:56:00 PM Divergence, I'm well aware of the prevailing conditions when Engels wrote his piece and I'.....
» 26/01/2015 9:14:39 AM Andras Smith, I agree with your post 100% and deplore the nationalist/racist/elitist para.....
» 25/01/2015 7:59:14 PM Divergence, nature doesn't do per capita, but my point is that much of the footprint attri.....
» 25/01/2015 11:45:16 AM Divergence, the interactive graphs are great! Just a couple of points along the lines I a.....
» 21/01/2015 6:08:22 PM What's missing in this analysis is the real villain of the piece: capitalism. Capitalism o.....
» 15/01/2015 7:32:41 PM Aiden: "...the value of doing the job well compared with mediocre performance means t.....
» 15/01/2015 4:18:26 PM Aidan, I don't buy that. But even if acknowledge high skill sets, often overated or based .....
» 15/01/2015 7:50:43 AM I have to admit I'm genuinely torn on this one. Over the years I've seen so many situation.....
» 12/01/2015 8:15:32 PM An incoherent rant that seems to want to white-wash past, present and future, withal their.....
» 12/01/2015 10:08:05 AM Snake thanks also for encouraging comments. .onjab. am probably in the wrong place as do.....
» 11/01/2015 11:31:41 AM Craig, you're no more in a position to make personal speculations than I was. Your own pot.....
» 11/01/2015 9:51:11 AM Craig, I don't think your corrections amount to much as our personal circumstances are not.....
» 10/01/2015 4:46:25 PM This is not simply a matter of envy. You say you’re not religious—so the meek shall not in.....
» 10/01/2015 4:45:19 PM Craig, You’re most gracious. I admit I’m probably better materially situated than you are.....
» 9/01/2015 6:01:31 PM Craig Minns, after all this time you might at least show me the courtesy of addressing my.....
» 9/01/2015 5:28:32 PM dane, don't add hypocrisy to your sins! You attacked the French journalists, belittling th.....
» 9/01/2015 1:19:09 PM <<the public is distracted from the true threat: the unrestrained private spending s.....
» 9/01/2015 1:01:01 PM No balance here at all, at the political level; it's all Labor's fault. What neither side .....
» 9/01/2015 6:32:13 AM dane: "To be honest, and tasteless, at least the people murdered were mad left-winge.....
» 8/01/2015 8:30:35 PM Jay Of Melbourne, yours is exactly the kind of insidious fascism Mal Fletcher alludes to. .....
» 8/01/2015 7:21:14 PM I'm devastated by this senseless violence and loss of life of those whose mission was to l.....
» 5/01/2015 5:24:01 PM Cont: Even supposing we ignore our calamitous situation—strive for the well-lived life ‘f.....
» 5/01/2015 12:00:09 PM Cont: Now this is interesting: “…That is what we call envy and in today's world, where t.....
» 5/01/2015 11:59:26 AM Craig: “I seem to have a knack for being unclear!” On the contrary you’re lucid and eloque.....
» 4/01/2015 2:32:00 PM rehctub, As I've said above, I don't believe in ideal parents. I try to give my kids the .....
» 4/01/2015 8:02:21 AM Craig, It seems to me you’re assessing the human capacity for eudaemonia as a state of min.....
» 3/01/2015 11:59:25 AM Craig Minns: “I'm not sure that I agree with you that a well-lived life is beyond our sub.....
» 2/01/2015 5:00:09 PM One of the things I now impress upon my children (they're mostly teenagers) is the need to.....
» 1/01/2015 4:11:18 PM In my view parenting itself is an ideal no parent achieves. We all try (ideally) but we al.....
» 31/12/2014 9:24:30 PM Oops, that post obviously not intended here. Though I'm also sympathetic to your position .....
» 31/12/2014 9:21:50 PM Gary Johns' neoliberalism deserves condemnation in the strongest terms, so I applaud Craig.....
» 24/12/2014 12:03:34 PM I also watched Catalyst the other night and was pleasantly surprised to hear Paul Davies a.....
» 22/12/2014 7:32:59 PM Sentimental gibberish--and the source of the track gauge story unacknowledged. Altogether .....
» 22/12/2014 5:44:23 PM Graham: “ when you look at the parts of the world that do best you find that one of their.....
» 17/12/2014 9:22:51 PM George: "...Why not accept that religion, with its psychological, sociological even .....
» 17/12/2014 5:58:53 PM ybgirp, thanks. Peter, we're not really on the same page. Your position is closer to that.....
» 17/12/2014 1:06:13 PM George, it's a nice idea seeing these traditions in dialectical terms, but such grand narr.....
» 16/12/2014 10:44:29 PM Graham: “The ultimate fallacy in Squeers' dogma Sells is that two of the largest religions.....
» 16/12/2014 11:16:29 AM Perhaps my first post above was too abrupt and insensitive of Peter's efforts and feelings.....
» 15/12/2014 7:02:48 PM Peter, and I stick by my line! It is a very fair assessment of religion as a historical a.....
» 15/12/2014 6:00:34 PM “This may be true of millions of believers but …” But nothing! I was only talking of the .....
» 15/12/2014 10:19:36 AM “the key role of the Church of mediating reality” More a role ‘assumed’ by the church thr.....
» 25/11/2014 9:27:25 PM Sorry folks but dropping out of this thread. Problems with language is plain just from how.....
» 24/11/2014 4:44:35 PM AJ Philips, you seem to be sniffing evasion on my part, but I'm afraid it isn't so. I'm ju.....
» 23/11/2014 8:07:34 PM AJ Philips, Feel free to respond to my comments, or not, based on however you wish to int.....
» 23/11/2014 12:30:22 PM Nice story, Poirot, and quote, George, that makes me want to say 'all is vanity' again. Bu.....
» 22/11/2014 8:23:43 AM George, always a pleasure communicating with you and just a shame can't go into it all mor.....
» 21/11/2014 7:50:41 PM George: while I think scientific realists overestimate its 'adequacy', It's not that I dis.....
» 21/11/2014 6:13:53 PM AJ Philips, Thanks for reminding me where I got the quote, I have the book in front of me .....
» 21/11/2014 7:59:46 AM George, AJ and Banjo, shall have to respond again when able. AJ, the quote is from Dennet.....
» 20/11/2014 6:52:54 PM by a 'fair roundup' I mean that at least the first few clauses can be attributed to the Ne.....
» 20/11/2014 6:22:24 PM George, You’re still implying an objective stance for the observer in that he may ‘sometim.....
» 20/11/2014 5:52:13 AM Hello George and thanks for the link. Reading the journal's 'aims and scope', my own posit.....
» 19/11/2014 8:32:45 PM Well that's disappointing, AJ Philips, I've always respected you as an intelligent and eve.....
» 18/11/2014 4:23:18 PM Banjo Paterson, hopefully my last answers yours too. I don't feel the need to invent deiti.....
» 18/11/2014 4:11:56 PM AJ Philips, on your second paragraph I again have to differ: "Atheism and theism have.....
» 17/11/2014 8:03:21 PM AJ Philips, I’d say our first problem is expecting language to be definitive or objective......
» 17/11/2014 2:50:39 PM Where atheism/rationalism does border on religion is in the faith it places in human reaso.....
» 14/11/2014 7:23:02 PM Christianity is true in that it reflects humanity's obstinate capacity for and experience .....
» 14/11/2014 7:07:49 PM Gees Joe, you'r getting a bit cocky and sententious, as though you've had a victory. You'.....
» 10/11/2014 5:33:31 AM phanto, I'm at pains to be as clear as I can be yet you still manage to completely misunde.....
» 9/11/2014 10:33:16 AM phanto, my 'all is vanity' was an allusion to Ecclesiastes, which could be translated, 'al.....
» 8/11/2014 6:21:46 PM Rhosty. Your childhood sounds much like my father’s and good on you for prospering, though.....
» 8/11/2014 9:56:03 AM Rhosty: "There's nothing wrong with my work ethic" But what is your work ethic?.....
» 8/11/2014 9:43:12 AM Rhrosty, that's bloody luxury: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo.....
» 8/11/2014 6:16:23 AM This is powerful prose that economically captures the neoliberal nightmare so many people .....
» 5/11/2014 8:44:53 PM sorry, I meant to say your "evidence", not "research"......
» 5/11/2014 8:43:44 PM Sorry Lillian but can't let you have the last word. You've ignored the rigorous argument I.....
» 4/11/2014 6:57:53 PM Lillian: I'm also sceptical that empathy is a miracle cure. I'm always wary of statements.....
» 3/11/2014 9:44:29 PM Lillian, I'm glad I misunderstood your comment, though it did read like that. As for the .....
» 3/11/2014 7:38:25 AM Killarney, in democracies women have the voting power to change the system overnight. your.....
» 2/11/2014 10:03:45 PM Lillian: “Using ostracism to enforce cultural norms is not a minor matter. Humans are soci.....
» 2/11/2014 7:35:01 PM Lillian: “This is not gender, this is emotional immaturity [what is?]. If you have a probl.....
» 1/11/2014 7:40:43 AM Killarney, it's not "that a feminist is not a feminist if she endorses the capitalist.....
» 30/10/2014 11:47:41 AM Thrift may have been the previous virtue but according to Weber this was part of Protestan.....
» 29/10/2014 10:36:13 PM Well said, Poirot. This is my position too......
» 28/10/2014 9:32:19 PM phanto. embittered? Never; that would suggest that like you I'd been taken in. My last wa.....
» 28/10/2014 8:21:33 PM Having now listened to Katz I don't see that he offers a solution. He's a good showman as .....
» 27/10/2014 8:16:23 PM imho, I mentioned not having listened to Katz yet (trouble with the link) specifically so .....
» 27/10/2014 5:22:43 PM imho: "Our culture, particularly mainstream media, exacerbates the problem by tellin.....
» 27/10/2014 1:56:22 PM Jay of Melbourne, I agree with Lillian; your white supremicism is extremely offensive. I .....
» 26/10/2014 7:01:20 AM imho, on your PS, certainly let's take it as read that I haven't presumed to make any such.....
» 25/10/2014 6:48:36 PM Andee, I was guessing a structuralist/post-structuralist orientation based on the quotes .....
» 25/10/2014 11:31:03 AM phanto, sorry if that seemed patronising, but alphas are generally the bigger more aggress.....
» 25/10/2014 6:24:46 AM Hi Andee, please don't concern yourself about references, clearly you've done your researc.....
» 24/10/2014 8:10:46 PM Andee surmises but this is short on evidence. When a sentence starts with "the fact i.....
» 21/10/2014 1:15:13 PM Joe, work prevents me from rebutting your latest nonsense. But I am content. I've sought t.....
» 19/10/2014 2:40:21 PM Joe, you can chant bullsh!t all you like, what I say about history and primary records has.....
» 19/10/2014 8:18:19 AM Joe, By “selective” I didn’t mean to imply you had deliberately selected or excluded anyth.....
» 18/10/2014 4:29:05 PM <So you're into cultural studies ? Where stance and pre-conceived ideological bias trum.....
» 17/10/2014 7:52:18 PM My daughter was only telling me this week about a classroom discussion that got out of han.....
» 17/10/2014 6:45:27 PM I also apologise for being off topic, except by analogy. I bowled a wobbly and it’s gone s.....
» 16/10/2014 8:24:13 PM Joe, “stolen generation" is an emotive and hyperbolic term, suggesting wholesale thef.....
» 15/10/2014 7:02:54 PM It starts at home. My kids are great readers and writers and I don't give their schools mu.....
» 15/10/2014 2:46:26 PM Have to chime in there, Poirot. "Joe's' closed, ideology-driven mind even denies ethn.....
» 9/10/2014 9:23:07 PM Hasbeen, I don't know what to say to that; we're "correcting the balance" etc. a.....
» 8/10/2014 5:44:27 PM Global warming is a discursive fetish, putting deniers in precisely the same 'warmist' cam.....
» 18/09/2014 5:02:20 PM How Graham can literally equate democracy with elitism, with the disproportionate money an.....
» 18/09/2014 3:50:50 PM ideological sophistry. Still, surely you can see the flaws in your rationalising, Graham .....
» 9/09/2014 7:25:33 AM Sorry LEGO but I don't have time to play. Please consider however that some of us are able.....
» 8/09/2014 10:46:09 PM Not much to ensue I'm afraid, Poirot; there's very little incentive to go on arguing with .....
» 8/09/2014 7:31:09 AM LEGO: "It would be a good thing for our economies and the advancement of our enlight.....
» 4/09/2014 5:23:09 PM Of course the elephant in the room is taxation. There is no cause to cut funding anywhere,.....
» 2/09/2014 7:47:16 PM Sadly though, Poirot, such is the extent of popular paranoia, Abbott can only benefit poli.....
» 2/09/2014 3:01:59 PM The first dog on the moon seems also able to see through Tony's electioneering: http://www.....
» 2/09/2014 10:16:27 AM In answer to the nazi innuendos trotted out above. It was just this same fear and hatred H.....
» 2/09/2014 10:12:04 AM Big nana. These are all fine ideals and in some cases protections, though often observed i.....
» 1/09/2014 6:52:13 PM Big Nana, patriotism has always been a dirty word for me because in practice it's synonymo.....
» 1/09/2014 8:13:19 AM I'd have to differ, dane; it's nice to see this calibre of writing on OLO. A very nice sop.....
» 11/04/2014 9:35:54 PM Chris Lewis: "how you could read my opinion piece and say I am against govt schools a.....
» 5/04/2014 9:21:19 PM I'd like to read the actual paper. The gloss (of the gloss) given here only impresses upo.....
» 3/04/2014 10:02:23 AM popnperish, very nicely put. I concur. In casting their nasty eugenics aspersions Andras .....
» 1/04/2014 8:00:57 AM Andras Smith, You’ve made some very sensible and sobering comments that hopefully the “ant.....
» 1/04/2014 8:00:08 AM Sorry the above was intended elsewhere......
» 1/04/2014 7:59:13 AM Andras Smith, You’ve made some very sensible and sobering comments that hopefully the “ant.....
» 30/03/2014 5:53:22 PM "Population growth has the potential to get us things we cannot obtain in other ways:.....
» 26/03/2014 5:53:48 PM George, My response above must be disappointing, but then I wasn’t going to insult your in.....
» 25/03/2014 1:55:24 PM George, Gone are the days I think when anyone can claim to be a philosopher in any compre.....
» 25/03/2014 7:18:29 AM Banjo Pat: "It is the human concept of the so-called "supernatural" which I.....
» 24/03/2014 7:33:05 PM Trav, is there any issue for which the greens can't be held as the scapegoat? Why are they.....
» 23/03/2014 8:07:23 PM Great to see that this thread has consensus, with no dissenting voices. I'm delighted that.....
» 22/03/2014 8:26:14 PM ..."Socratic" I should have said......
» 22/03/2014 8:24:27 PM Banjo Paterson, I do enjoy the "mock" humility you project early in a thread (so.....
» 22/03/2014 6:28:17 PM Rhrosty, I'm not a Christian but I sympathise with much of the "philosophy" of C.....
» 22/03/2014 8:29:49 AM Since I posted here I've come across a new article by Marion Maddox ("Right-wing Chri.....
» 21/03/2014 8:58:27 AM Lyle Shelton gives no reason or sound argument as to why churches should not be taxed, tha.....
» 18/03/2014 12:25:00 PM YEBIGA, there's no point us continuing this debate as this forum is overwhelmingly hostil.....
» 16/03/2014 8:40:16 PM Thanks Sam, I'm sure that's very deep.. In fact I don't get it.. ..Which makes it all the .....
» 16/03/2014 6:48:12 PM Well said, JonJ. ..Or, not to put too fine a point on it, Yuyutsu, what a load of sanctim.....
» 16/03/2014 4:45:30 PM YEBIGA, That's very amusing. On a more serious note, the implication of your position seem.....
» 16/03/2014 12:08:55 PM SPQR, I've mainly tutored in English Literature and the resistance I alluded to was aroun.....
» 15/03/2014 7:15:30 PM "WHY do I never hear a feminist discussing women and oppression in most of the non-we.....
» 15/03/2014 1:32:04 PM Ojnab, being turned into ash is denying the Earth your bodily nutrients, but why scatter y.....
» 14/03/2014 9:25:20 PM I'm inclined to agree with Peter Selleck. If there's no belief in an afterlife and the uni.....
» 13/03/2014 9:07:54 AM YEBIGA, you must be sensible of the utter poverty of what you're saying. You have some gr.....
» 12/03/2014 4:27:51 PM YEBIGA: "In a democratic system, being able to win over a single sect is often decisi.....
» 12/03/2014 7:31:10 AM YEBIGA, I fail to see what's objectionable about the course--apart from the commercial pi.....
» 11/03/2014 8:35:53 PM YEBIGA, here you go again, drivel from beginning to end, pretending knowledge of things a.....
» 11/03/2014 12:32:27 PM Unable to post till now. YEBIGA: Schumpeter was a fan of capitalism and all its achieveme.....
» 10/03/2014 7:53:48 PM YEBIGA, All your classical/neoclassical authors are standard Humanities fare, while the f.....
» 10/03/2014 4:07:18 PM YEBIGA, You had me going; for a while there I thought you had a modicum of intelligence, .....
» 10/03/2014 11:30:33 AM I don't have time or inclination to do your petty-fogging bidding. The Humanities incorpor.....
» 10/03/2014 10:29:33 AM Aristocrat, I can only respond to what you say, and there was nothing in your post to indi.....
» 9/03/2014 6:43:44 PM Aristocrat, if you consider the implications you'll see that your position makes no sense......
» 8/03/2014 5:23:42 PM Jottiikii: "the LEFT can be either gullible young people naïve and uneducated who hav.....
» 8/03/2014 8:37:10 AM Aryay: "Squeers thinks that we are at the limits of growth.With new technology pollut.....
» 7/03/2014 6:17:35 PM Graham, I hope you don’t mind my pointing out a couple of redundant phrases, which spoil y.....
» 7/03/2014 9:43:14 AM Apropos the author's title, he should look up his terms. The middle class isn't turning pr.....
» 7/03/2014 8:35:00 AM How original: more economic growth, the solution to everything; never mind that economic g.....
» 7/03/2014 7:41:50 AM JKJ, the word “freedom” for you is an empty slogan. As if you understood it qualitatively,.....
» 6/03/2014 8:58:13 AM JKJ, you're a fundamentalist libertarian whose plan for humanity finds its closest analogy.....
» 5/03/2014 8:52:14 AM YEBIGA, perhaps I was too cryptic, but I did say, "I differ and have little time for .....
» 4/03/2014 10:40:23 PM Wonderful timing, Peter. Thank you for illustrating the point. As I've had occasion to quo.....
» 4/03/2014 10:34:21 PM Jayb, It's much easier to argue there's no such thing as truth than it is to establish the.....
» 4/03/2014 8:02:53 PM YEBIGA, beautifully put. I'm with you 100% I did my doctoral research on Marx and post-Ma.....
» 2/03/2014 7:08:58 PM While we're indulging flights of fancy, my dream is of a world where we're all more or les.....
» 28/02/2014 7:00:47 PM Bryan Kavanagh, your article makes great sense, though in my opinion the Henry tax review .....
» 27/02/2014 9:45:29 PM Chrsi Lewis, you’re “…critical of Australia's humanities due to a bias to the left, an asp.....
» 3/02/2014 8:53:53 AM Alan Austin, I'm flattered that you deem us politically related. It's a waste of time argu.....
» 2/02/2014 9:14:40 AM If it were simply a matter of the money I'd be happy to pay a large regular sum for the AB.....
» 31/01/2014 8:57:27 AM Lea Sales' interview with Malcolm Turnbull last night should have been enough to calm any .....
» 30/05/2013 7:18:50 AM I agree that charities should not be government funded. Their main function is to mask the.....
» 16/05/2013 9:58:33 AM Dear David, Your stated position on relativism and materialism seems to me to be inconsist.....
» 15/05/2013 8:05:00 PM Thank you for your article, davidf, though it's quite a thicket and I'm not sure the outco.....
» 28/04/2013 7:36:41 PM Jardine K. Jardine, apologies for the delay responding, but our positions are fairly well .....
» 26/04/2013 8:32:21 PM so be it!.....
» 26/04/2013 8:17:01 PM I second your motion davidf, though I also have a problem with "adequate". What'.....
» 26/04/2013 8:04:18 PM Jardine K. Jardine, Yes, I think I get it. Do you get the link between libertarianism and .....
» 25/04/2013 6:24:34 PM I think the problem really is Labor's enthusiasm for spending. We need a bit of tight-fist.....
» 24/04/2013 7:43:48 PM The Federal Labor Party is trying to save its skin on education, its “last refuge”, yet th.....
» 18/02/2013 5:40:42 PM Banjo Paterson, I can't agree that there is a good capitalism, the logic is the same and p.....
» 18/02/2013 7:33:15 AM Banjo Paterson, there is no "good" or "virtuous" capitalism in a close.....
» 17/02/2013 4:35:59 PM I meant to say "the so-called sceptics" not "denialists". They flatter.....
» 17/02/2013 4:30:23 PM Banjo Paterson, semantics. Economy, thrift etc. are good things, but our economic reality .....
» 16/02/2013 8:24:40 AM Banjo Paterson, I don't buy lottery tickets either. Of course "friction" is also.....
» 14/02/2013 12:17:22 PM Thanks for that, Constance. What an inspirational fellow! I have little time for most phil.....
» 10/02/2013 9:24:49 AM WmTrevor, I disagree with everything you and you're mentor have said here, and I think Ban.....
» 8/02/2013 6:13:20 AM David G, I used the term "entrenched" deliberately, firstly as a WW1 metaphor to.....
» 7/02/2013 9:46:17 AM Thanks David G, and sorry I got a bit heated before. I'm sure we all feel passionate about.....
» 7/02/2013 7:39:01 AM Squeers: <Even supposing our co-operative system was the utopia you seem to cherish, it.....
» 6/02/2013 4:37:01 PM Sorry, meant to say above, "It's all to easy to see it as the enemy"......
» 6/02/2013 4:35:18 PM Thanks Constance, We are in agreement and you remind me to be careful not to reject conse.....
» 6/02/2013 7:39:57 AM Thanks, Nick, for the link. Have scanned it and am in complete agreement. I've been hammer.....
» 5/02/2013 7:17:18 AM Banjo Paterson: <"... do you really think you can see sufficiently clearly on the.....
» 4/02/2013 9:16:12 AM David G, I'm sorry if some of the above is "virtually unintelligible" (which bit.....
» 3/02/2013 1:38:23 PM Constance, I would love to be a conservative, and i think I am by nature, in fact we all a.....
» 3/02/2013 7:36:40 AM Banjo Paterson, I appear to have given offence/reached the limits of opinion--which can lo.....
» 2/02/2013 8:38:58 AM Of course you realise that by "pathological materialism" I mean the vulgar mater.....
» 2/02/2013 8:30:22 AM Banjo, Aka Jung, a synchronicity has occurred. My bi-monthly copy of The London Review of.....
» 1/02/2013 4:10:08 PM Banjo Paterson, you seem much more confident in your worldview and your grasp of complicat.....
» 1/02/2013 9:58:28 AM Not sure who you're having a go at, David G, everyone it seems. The sad conclusion of my c.....
» 31/01/2013 3:13:46 PM Banjo Paterson, I'm not sure I'd call it my "flight to faith". I have good reaso.....
» 30/01/2013 5:13:12 PM Nick, have watched half the show and very good--especially since it validates everything I.....
» 30/01/2013 3:04:27 PM Have only just got my power back, so sorry for tardy responses. It's a fascinating area, .....
» 29/01/2013 7:40:42 PM Well thanks to all for an interesting discussion, and opportunity to mend some bridges. I .....
» 29/01/2013 9:41:13 AM SM, after all this the best you've got is a couple of wikilinks to Keynes and Friedman? I'.....
» 28/01/2013 4:31:26 PM no power so no puter, but have more to asap. teleoogy is an interesting topic, but "e.....
» 26/01/2013 6:01:07 PM Shadow Minister, You make an excellent point--when I'm not attacking acadame I'm defending.....
» 26/01/2013 7:01:34 AM Beautifully expressed, Banjo Paterson--from pastoral to lament. Most appropriate......
» 25/01/2013 7:38:24 AM Banjo Paterson, I'm afraid by your own account you don't qualify for Mathew Arnold's cate.....
» 24/01/2013 2:49:34 PM SM, I can't have DG getting all the credit; I'm the one who introduced philistinism into t.....
» 23/01/2013 1:54:03 PM Thanks for the link to the article, Nick Rose. I haven't studied economics, but I've read.....
» 22/01/2013 5:27:18 PM Touche WmTrevor, what we call reality is of course not phenomenal, it's ideological. I do.....
» 22/01/2013 2:21:09 PM David G. I too am heartened that there are people out there who can think outside the narr.....
» 21/01/2013 4:37:56 PM Of course I don't talk of absolute material equality, Pericles, and our material requireme.....
» 21/01/2013 1:35:37 PM WmTrevor, I've been researching materialism and idealism, in various contexts, for three y.....
» 19/01/2013 8:45:30 PM Watching the brash Bernard Thomic versus Federer match (only so I could admire the glitter.....
» 19/01/2013 3:18:26 PM WmTrevor, you're right, I should have noted the publication details, though I don't presum.....
» 19/01/2013 6:12:14 AM sm. who are "they"? i've only equated barbarism with wealthy capitalists. get ba.....
» 18/01/2013 3:31:52 PM Poirot, thanks for your exegesis, which is spot on! Arnold provided the template for F R L.....
» 18/01/2013 10:47:23 AM WmTrevor, Been unable to post till now. Anti-humanism is a diverse spectrum, and a little .....
» 18/01/2013 6:34:28 AM Dear Poirot, One too many glasses of red last night. Of course you are exempt from my rebu.....
» 17/01/2013 9:07:00 PM Humility obliges me to thank the flock for voting me Pope. I was never comfortable with th.....
» 17/01/2013 10:57:12 AM I should add that it's a longish article and the philistines, used to digesting mostly vac.....
» 17/01/2013 10:46:24 AM David G, imo the philistinism in this thread is born a) of blanket ignorance of the kind o.....
» 16/01/2013 5:24:11 PM David G, Bravo!!.....
» 15/01/2013 7:19:32 PM Thanks for the review, Nick Rose. I haven't read the book so can't say much, though you se.....
» 13/01/2013 7:11:06 PM It's darkly-amusing the way the author focuses on coal. Australia is doing far more damage.....
» 31/12/2012 10:04:02 PM More often, inordinate wealth begets paranoia......
» 31/12/2012 9:55:54 PM "The SALVo's are taking dirty money to commit crimes against humanity by a racist cow.....
» 31/12/2012 1:30:04 PM Thanks for the response, David. Right out of the Dan Dennett handbook. The problem is that.....
» 30/12/2012 7:10:42 PM Things have taken a fascinating turn and I find Tony's position eminently reasonable, wher.....
» 29/12/2012 9:11:30 PM "To learn that a man [sic] has said or done a foolish thing is nothing; a man must le.....
» 29/12/2012 8:59:58 PM "Can there be logical explanations?" So what if there can be? What makes our lo.....
» 26/12/2012 6:55:32 AM On the face of it it seems difficult to impugn the motives of the Salvos, and especially i.....
» 24/12/2012 2:00:19 PM On my phone so short. I'm aware of the optimistice view, but my stated view is that ideali.....
» 21/12/2012 2:04:36 PM An excellent article that ought to make people thoughtful about the commodified cultural d.....
» 20/12/2012 9:51:58 AM Aristocrat, I'm also with the humanities, have won numerous awards and prizes and am on t.....
» 20/12/2012 6:10:56 AM Aristocrat, you've merely continued Dobson's litany of ignorant, semi-literate propaganda,.....
» 19/12/2012 5:45:58 PM [Deleted for flaming author.].....
» 17/12/2012 8:22:17 PM Just watching an amusing new romantic comedy called "Hysteria", about that condi.....
» 14/12/2012 6:37:28 PM I suspect the author is so bored by the legal jargon she's obliged to digest, her only out.....
» 21/11/2012 9:37:07 PM Kampmark makes an excellent point, but not only "can" social media be used by th.....
» 20/11/2012 6:59:49 AM "Are you suggesting that incidents of child abuse would have been much less if only t.....
» 19/11/2012 7:52:34 PM Gillard's draft bill denies nothing. All going well it only insists those looking for an e.....
» 19/11/2012 7:04:12 PM This must be an uncomfortable story for Jocelynne Scutt, who generally takes a partisan li.....
» 12/11/2012 8:19:51 PM My heart bleeds for Wall Street! How does this opinionated verbiage constitute an article?.....
» 9/11/2012 5:20:05 PM If I was a Green I'd resent being called "slimy", "self-righteous" and.....
» 9/11/2012 10:28:32 AM cohenite, The concept of Gaia, as Lovelock conceived it, seems perfectly reasonable to me.....
» 9/11/2012 6:26:17 AM Apologies for the delay, cohenite. I'm pressed for time but don't want you to think you've.....
» 8/11/2012 10:25:24 AM It's not misanthropism, cohenite; it's our political/economic system--to which human natur.....
» 8/11/2012 9:10:03 AM There is no question that humanity is now a considerable and growing geological force, or .....
» 6/11/2012 7:21:49 PM What I hate about minimifidianists (though I love the six "I"s) is their stilted.....
» 5/11/2012 6:44:38 PM Poirot: "We are voracious - and we have no idea how to contain our appetites". .....
» 26/10/2012 7:59:29 AM I agree with your position, George. I don’t even believe in the designations, “atheist”, “.....
» 23/10/2012 8:05:03 PM mac, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you and I can relate to your position. ""mys.....
» 23/10/2012 6:37:05 PM mac, Sorry, but I'm always amused when people say things like, "In my entire life...&.....
» 23/10/2012 7:34:31 AM I always enjoy your economical style, Mr Holden, and the aesthetic/poignant quality it len.....
» 18/10/2012 9:09:48 PM Bilge from beginning to end. What I find particularly offensive is the way brainless parti.....
» 17/10/2012 6:30:05 AM Our getting fatter is another economic outcome. Paltry as the dole is, it's vacuumed up by.....
» 17/10/2012 5:52:06 AM Fair comment, CHERFUL, and sorry about my tone. For what it's worth, I don't think the ne.....
» 16/10/2012 8:25:37 PM CHERFUL, based on what I recall of your posting history, you only object to which party ca.....
» 11/10/2012 3:04:43 PM Julie, Just as important as raising the living standards of impoverished peoples (and even.....
» 10/10/2012 8:12:23 PM Granted, Misogyny's a fine sounding word, and no more empty of content that women's critic.....
» 10/10/2012 2:43:34 PM Oh Dear.. On the one hand I'm musing that it's curious the way it seems only the opposite.....
» 9/10/2012 8:41:08 PM I wrote a frank letter to Getup a few months back, offering a considered critique of their.....
» 9/10/2012 8:08:16 PM I think the ironic title of Brian Holden's article also deserves some attention. By ".....
» 9/10/2012 5:58:07 AM Sorry, "duel"......
» 9/10/2012 5:55:24 AM Ah, but Banjo Paterson "was" a romantic! guilty of idealising the bush You're fa.....
» 8/10/2012 7:46:05 PM In any event carers do it for the money, such as it is, which explains the extraordinary t.....
» 8/10/2012 7:30:46 PM I want to add that I don't mean carers "are" mercenary, but that any sense of vo.....
» 8/10/2012 5:22:07 PM A very poignant article that touches on similar experience in my own life (a wife with ter.....
» 8/10/2012 2:33:53 PM Hiya Houellebecq, You're dead right. But all that yearning (desire) for awe is symptomat.....
» 8/10/2012 2:18:51 PM Banjo Paterson, I wasn't conscious of paying you a compliment or, heaven forbid, an insult.....
» 7/10/2012 8:18:58 AM I sympathise, Banjo Paterson, I live on the Darling Downs too--though closer to what I cal.....
» 6/10/2012 1:49:49 PM ..cont. Yet Hume was naïve in crediting the data gathered by the senses “raw”; it’s media.....
» 6/10/2012 1:49:18 PM Banjo Paterson, I respect your views too, and the others in this thread. “I view the facul.....
» 4/10/2012 10:17:11 PM Thank you Poirot, I've been at pains trying to show that those "rationalists" wh.....
» 3/10/2012 7:35:41 AM Banjo Paterson, I didn't mean to mention your name in my last. It was rather rushed and I.....
» 2/10/2012 7:01:31 PM I just want to elaborate the point that it surely can't be denied that we are not born wit.....
» 2/10/2012 12:07:13 PM Poirot, uin evolutionary terms your quote reminds me of theories of evolution like punctua.....
» 2/10/2012 2:27:48 AM I've used the "zig-zag" metaphor and the "Lost Patrol" analogy myself .....
» 1/10/2012 5:22:26 PM Yes precisely, Poirot; dialectics. I often wonder at what it precludes......
» 1/10/2012 4:04:36 PM <It seems somehow fitting that the two lines blended to produce the man who conceived s.....
» 25/09/2012 2:09:15 PM Well I give up folks. It's your latest teasing effort that's evasive, Pericles, but no mat.....
» 25/09/2012 7:20:05 AM Poirot, all I'm saying is that in evolutionary terms humanity has emerged within a set of.....
» 24/09/2012 9:19:47 PM Pericles, the concept of purpose suggests teleology and I know of no materialists or evolu.....
» 24/09/2012 6:31:53 PM Pericles, I wonder if you have a bitter taste in your mouth; your pragmatism is cynicism t.....
» 23/09/2012 7:11:56 PM For what it's worth, Tony, I've been on your side all along and find your position eminent.....
» 21/09/2012 8:05:31 PM Western hypocrisy is legion and it's always always a pleasure seeing it exposed. I only wo.....
» 20/09/2012 9:40:29 PM The healthy, well-adjusted apes are the most deluded of all. My favourite piece of animati.....
» 20/09/2012 8:39:56 AM I had a bit more in mind than just exercise. The point is we're sophisticated apes and our.....
» 19/09/2012 1:08:16 PM david f, you take a rationalist view that I sympathise with and respect. I similarly take .....
» 19/09/2012 7:11:45 AM Psychiatry is little more than a source of comfort, empathy and motivation, yet it's extre.....
» 18/09/2012 8:07:19 PM "There is absolutely no evidence or no reason to suspect that consciousness can exist.....
» 18/09/2012 6:58:40 PM <When one believes in an afterlife as many superstitions teach this life can be disrega.....
» 18/09/2012 11:46:03 AM <can a materialistic worldview account for the human heart?> Yes indeed! Marx asser.....
» 17/09/2012 1:25:38 PM I taught myself to swim, or rather I took the plunge after watching the style of the guys .....
» 17/09/2012 8:52:51 AM An excellent exegesis of the legalese surrounding this issue. I've always been doubtful th.....
» 3/09/2012 6:27:19 PM <Paid employment, female labour force participation, secondary school enrolment for gir.....
» 30/08/2012 6:54:25 AM For me, this sentence is the most pregnant with implication: “Perhaps tellingly, the Bil.....
» 20/08/2012 8:32:32 PM Well it's a fine point of semantics, GrahamY (you're slow but catching on), and not really.....
» 20/08/2012 12:27:20 PM GrahamY, I reject the imputation I've been "offensive" about the Catholic churc.....
» 16/08/2012 7:05:10 AM Poirot, I have long admired Geraldine Doogue, but lately have been a "troubled listen.....
» 15/08/2012 1:45:10 PM GrahamY, More of your nonsense (you haven't got back to me on the last response btw). I .....
» 15/08/2012 7:15:19 AM Poirot, the Catholic Church has a long and almost exclusively dark history, right up to th.....
» 14/08/2012 7:32:51 PM Chek, thanks for the endorsement of a "troubled listener". It's so easy to be se.....
» 13/08/2012 7:48:38 AM GrahamY, I think it's clear I meant reconcile adherents to their earthly lot, with the pro.....
» 12/08/2012 8:54:01 PM Apart from some South American Catholic offshoots, namely Liberation Theology, the univers.....
» 11/08/2012 11:28:30 AM WmTrevor et al, The Science Show is not to be confused with journalism either, but that do.....
» 11/08/2012 6:56:52 AM Saltpetre, sometimes the things you say are "quite well put", other times you ta.....
» 10/08/2012 9:17:24 AM Being a long-time troubled-listener to Geraldine Doogue on RN, I'm glad to read her though.....
» 7/08/2012 1:50:35 PM David G, agreed, though I'd settle for just bringing the super rich down to Earth. DavidF.....
» 7/08/2012 8:37:25 AM <From my experience, the move from depression and loneliness to fulfillment was not an .....
» 25/07/2012 11:56:24 AM Just home again, temporarily. Thanks, Poirot and particularly your comment, WmTrevor, whi.....
» 25/07/2012 8:33:40 AM Women have to stop being passive in their own interests. It’s absolutely ingrained; that m.....
» 25/07/2012 7:48:59 AM Poirot, Sorry for delay, but worth responding to rhetorically. “But most heterosexual peop.....
» 24/07/2012 8:15:57 AM Maybe polygamy's not a bad idea. Is the West's much more prevalent institution of adultery.....
» 23/07/2012 6:48:48 PM Geez, it's gonna look a bit lame if I now claim to be a misanthrope too, but yep, count me.....
» 22/07/2012 9:06:50 PM WmTrevor, I wouldn't have picked you for a misanthrope, but a feminist certainly, as am I......
» 21/07/2012 9:49:26 AM Killarney, that's nonsense, indeed back to front. The pc police are trying to censor anyth.....
» 21/07/2012 7:35:38 AM Nothing wrong with criticism so long as it’s not radical, eh Graham? If it’s not radical, .....
» 21/07/2012 6:21:09 AM "What's wrong with misogyny?" After all it's not the C word so much as the misog.....
» 20/07/2012 10:00:02 PM cohenite, in the context of the article that's hilarious : ) I think it hi-lights the fact.....
» 20/07/2012 4:13:37 PM I love the word "cuunt" (and I'm not indifferent to what it signifies, at least .....
» 15/07/2012 4:41:42 PM mac, I was more interested in Harpo's eccentric circle of friends, and the Algonquin club .....
» 15/07/2012 7:34:14 AM Hasbeen, I loved both Niven's biographies, and another huge favourite of mine is "Har.....
» 15/07/2012 7:31:27 AM Poirot, I can recommend Enduring Love; it has a very gripping opening but then turns out t.....
» 14/07/2012 4:16:07 PM Gee Cohenite, why don't you tell us what you really think. I agree with you at least about.....
» 13/07/2012 4:47:26 PM Joe, the cultural left is an easy target, isn't it? I can assure the cultural left doesn't.....
» 13/07/2012 3:29:32 PM Sabra, There was nothing ‘facetious’, or indeed unreasonable, about my use of the word ‘ra.....
» 13/07/2012 8:39:12 AM Wow Jocelynne, that’s quite a rant and I share your furious indignation with the appalling.....
» 12/07/2012 12:56:35 PM I like that, WmTrevor; people should think "about why they think the way they do".....
» 12/07/2012 8:51:06 AM Sorry, Houellebecq, if I sounded a tad arrogant above. I did say 'once you "perceive&.....
» 11/07/2012 5:03:21 PM As usual, Poirot, we agree. I am conscious though, Houellebecq and others, that I sound l.....
» 11/07/2012 8:23:34 AM What a despicable article! “our citizens feel that we are entitled to be more prosperous t.....
» 10/07/2012 7:09:29 PM I also was highly amused by the article, Steven; very clever, and it turns out Sherlock Ho.....
» 8/07/2012 6:29:40 PM <Organic cultivation draws on wisdom and bygone knowledge. Perhaps, at least, those who.....
» 8/07/2012 10:21:39 AM Poirot, You make good sense and I’m not knowledgeable on the subject, but. First, I’m not .....
» 7/07/2012 11:39:34 AM I'd be all for organic farming if humanity chose to live within its means and husband its .....
» 7/07/2012 7:56:27 AM Curmudgeon and Cohenite, I just cited a couple of issues Wikipedia covers that are "c.....
» 6/07/2012 9:35:20 AM The problem with John Miller's argument is it uses democracy as the yardstick of balance, .....
» 5/07/2012 1:11:58 PM Two of my all time favourites are Moby Dick and The Pickwick Papers. Moby Dick has everyt.....
» 1/07/2012 7:04:37 PM Anthonyve, I agree and don't expect the sky to fall in. Though I'm not expecting the carbo.....
» 1/07/2012 11:59:17 AM Forrest Gumpp, thanks for your entertaining response but I wasn't enquiring as to the abor.....
» 1/07/2012 11:57:56 AM Jay Of Melbourne, <Pray tell, which ideology formed the White Australian identity?> .....
» 30/06/2012 6:06:49 PM I'd reached my post limit till now. Why all this defensiveness? Surely the author's allowe.....
» 30/06/2012 9:26:58 AM CONT.. The archetypal Aussie has a white skin and the rest are in the best position to be.....
» 30/06/2012 9:26:30 AM Jay of Melbourne and Grim, if you don't mind I'll respond to the points you raise generall.....
» 29/06/2012 9:40:32 PM I suspect you're a rare beast, Poirot. It occurs to me that it's be perfectly legitimate t.....
» 29/06/2012 5:08:03 PM Well I applaud Ramesh Fernandez for speaking up. I think Aussies are by and large a paroch.....
» 29/06/2012 3:36:58 PM spindoc, if you think history can be "unspun" you've got a lot to learn, not jus.....
» 29/06/2012 2:42:53 PM Great comment, Grim. One criticism I have of the so called left, that is the "democra.....
» 29/06/2012 11:09:24 AM Spindoc, Snow's juxtaposition has been inverted and the liberal rationalists are the new b.....
» 29/06/2012 10:43:54 AM "Why do we accept it?" Good question. Of course many people, like Pilger, are d.....
» 29/06/2012 9:27:16 AM A great article and some good questions to ponder that "we" ought to treat as mu.....
» 28/06/2012 9:37:55 PM plerdsus, I'm over 50 and left till the day I die, even while I recognise the failure of i.....
» 28/06/2012 4:17:54 PM An excellent article---very well written too; it looks like hyperbole but it's actually tr.....
» 28/06/2012 1:12:31 PM Trev, well I do like that tenor voice, and maybe I'm not that much better looking than Col.....
» 28/06/2012 8:09:38 AM Poirot, I preferred Hugh Bonneville as Josh Sedley in Vanity Fair, now there's a wonderful.....
» 27/06/2012 2:55:49 PM TBC, thanks for those facts re chaplaincy (and for my deification); it really is indefensi.....
» 27/06/2012 2:34:29 PM WMTrev, I'd have a bit of trouble with side-bars; I'm a bit of a lack-beard. Exactly how .....
» 26/06/2012 7:01:31 PM Francis, the chaplaincy program will be in worse shape ideologically, despite legislation,.....
» 26/06/2012 3:36:01 PM Francis, in the context of what I said the comment you find so puzzling was merely affirmi.....
» 26/06/2012 3:00:45 PM csteele, I do agree with your argument and it certainly would be a positive if ownership o.....
» 26/06/2012 12:52:35 PM Anthonyve, I looked at a few of your articles and you've got a nice easy-going style that.....
» 26/06/2012 7:34:52 AM Chris C, Sorry for presuming you were making a point; I didn't realise you were disinteres.....
» 25/06/2012 5:28:07 PM Francis, the State is the people and will only legislate with the will of the people. The .....
» 25/06/2012 4:47:51 PM TBC, I'm glad you mentioned Gillard, in light of my comment about political-pragmatism. Wh.....
» 25/06/2012 4:13:37 PM Anthonyve, you make some compelling points and this "I have difficulty accepting the .....
» 25/06/2012 1:44:04 PM My hearty congratulations go to Mr Williams for his victory, and for mine no amount of min.....
» 25/06/2012 7:14:01 AM csteele: <But I do feel a kind of obligation to be identifiable to a degree when taking.....
» 24/06/2012 5:12:48 PM Thanks Grim for your comment. I always enjoy your posts and often chuckle at your handle. .....
» 24/06/2012 12:17:07 PM KarlX, pray excuse my impertinence, but it was surely understandable I took you and David .....
» 24/06/2012 10:09:39 AM KarlX, That's rich! You wouldn't be one of Nichols's toadies would you? I can't be bothe.....
» 23/06/2012 11:20:48 AM OUG, I know what you mean about Belly; I feel the same way about Loudmouth and am much mor.....
» 23/06/2012 9:56:01 AM Thanks folks for the comments. It occurred to me after kicking-off that there's not that m.....
» 22/06/2012 4:36:28 PM AFA: <What may surprise some of the folk on this forum is that I do know the real ident.....
» 22/06/2012 4:32:47 PM Has anybody else been labelled a coward, implicitly or explicitly, for “hiding behind a ps.....
» 22/06/2012 10:47:17 AM I suspect David Nichols and I have the odd mutual acquaintance, and I can attest that repo.....
» 22/06/2012 7:52:01 AM David Nichols ought to be embarrassed about his performance here, though I was amused at t.....
» 19/06/2012 8:05:02 PM I'm sure it seems that way to you, PEST, but in the scheme of things I think bicycles and .....
» 19/06/2012 3:42:09 PM I agree, BAZZ. Capitalism is taking us to hell in a hand basket. This interview from a rec.....
» 18/06/2012 5:19:43 PM I don't know about that, Diver Dan, just the grumbles of a disillusioned leftist, but than.....
» 18/06/2012 2:30:25 PM There's no denying the ongoing ascendency of neoliberalism, yet despite this material real.....
» 17/06/2012 9:11:23 PM WmTrevor, of course we mustn't forget Swift was a satirist. The disturbing reality is the .....
» 17/06/2012 7:13:03 PM WmTrevor, The essay is a favourite of mine. In fact I've aired my own modest proposal on O.....
» 17/06/2012 10:05:08 AM Saltpetre, there's a big difference between Marx and Marxism. Jardine K. Jardine, That's .....
» 16/06/2012 5:27:05 PM Jardine K. Jardine distinguishes initially between government and corporate will to power,.....
» 15/06/2012 11:27:13 PM Wow, I can certainly see why this snippet of an article has raised the hackles of posters .....
» 11/06/2012 9:05:04 AM I really enjoyed this article, Poirot, and one can't help but admire John Brown and his st.....
» 10/06/2012 7:42:35 PM WmTrevor, I enjoyed your wit above and would be delighted to have you in my apparently exc.....
» 10/06/2012 4:10:31 PM Congratulations Pericles and Poirot, it seems you're not so well established on David Nich.....
» 5/06/2012 3:51:02 PM Poirot, thanks for being bipartisan. Us blokes must be a bunch of misogynists, despite t.....
» 4/06/2012 6:02:47 PM Yabby: < I see that people usually put self interest ahead of the communal good> An.....
» 4/06/2012 3:24:55 PM Yabby, you look at the realities.. Don't flatter yourself! What do you see in the ideologi.....
» 4/06/2012 2:21:58 PM Yabby: <Capitalism is simply the whipping boy that you use, to excuse human nature>.....
» 4/06/2012 9:54:39 AM Poirot, I meant to put the word "healthy" (as applying to relationships) in brac.....
» 4/06/2012 7:56:08 AM Killarney, it's good to get a female perspective, but you haven't given it much thought. .....
» 3/06/2012 11:03:19 AM Iain, yes, it's not a very original point we make but it deserves more attention. There's .....
» 1/06/2012 3:51:28 PM Poirot, spot on! Humans just incapable of moderation--but that's the capitalist way rathe.....
» 1/06/2012 10:31:20 AM Jocelynne Scutt misses the point that “victim feminism” not only reduces women to “glamour.....
» 30/05/2012 7:47:50 PM You make a fair point Yabby, but I reckon ten K's is an average commute in the city, and i.....
» 30/05/2012 6:59:19 PM Houellebecq, I cycled to work nearly everyday for 12 years, about ten K's each way on Bri.....
» 30/05/2012 10:21:36 AM I agree with your comments, Ludwig. I'd add too that it must be admitted some cyclists inc.....
» 30/05/2012 7:55:36 AM Many thanks for your efforts, Mr Parker. I think the problem in Australia is prosperity; .....
» 30/05/2012 5:49:56 AM runner, that's hilarious, or it would be if it wasn't nauseating. Maybe imajulianutter was.....
» 28/05/2012 3:32:26 PM imajulianutter: <you're obviously a moron and you are wrong> I think that's unneces.....
» 28/05/2012 8:11:29 AM I've got no problem with how much tax miners pay, I object to how much they earn! The lowl.....
» 27/05/2012 5:01:59 PM It's telling that Plimer condemns Labor in the only terms that matter to him and his cohor.....
» 27/05/2012 10:15:57 AM Did others hear Ockham's Razor this morning: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/.....
» 26/05/2012 4:04:42 PM Rhrosty, There was no parental precedent for my radicalism; my parents were/are part of th.....
» 26/05/2012 7:47:14 AM davidf: <Marxism and fascism were the great ideologies of the twentieth century, and th.....
» 24/05/2012 3:01:47 PM <Deregulation is likely to prove to be the mistake that destroys our Global economy; it.....
» 23/05/2012 4:54:04 PM It's good to see someone trying to raise the intellectual bar on this issue, albeit the &q.....
» 23/05/2012 2:59:24 PM Being an aging lefty myself I can see exactly where Pilger is coming from and endorse his .....
» 22/05/2012 8:31:56 AM I agree that ethics don’t require God. Indeed to a certain extent God is a copout on perso.....
» 21/05/2012 4:07:28 PM Baygon, I didn't label you anything. I was referring to the title of the piece and this ki.....
» 21/05/2012 3:04:58 PM <So if you have an open fire, drive a six-cylinder car and have a high power bill, you’.....
» 21/05/2012 2:25:00 PM The real difficulty facing humanity is not the "eradication of extreme poverty",.....
» 21/05/2012 7:27:54 AM <Nestled in forums where their quaint ideas are not seriously challenged … where they r.....
» 19/05/2012 5:48:06 PM Ojnab, If you scan the above I think you'll find the dissenting voices are atheist. Indee.....
» 19/05/2012 11:00:48 AM Jon J, personally, the only reason I get "snarky" with the New Atheists is beca.....
» 18/05/2012 8:31:35 PM I've seldom seen such blithe reductionism as this: "Our brains combine the inputs fro.....
» 18/05/2012 8:33:39 AM <Most attendees came away … with feelings varying from elation to euphoria.> How doe.....
» 15/05/2012 6:54:08 PM Houellebecq, I'm not sure if you meant to refer to moi in that last paragraph (rather tha.....
» 12/05/2012 5:19:51 PM This article is a load of voodoo. the "gauging" from the wealthy sector is gaugi.....
» 12/05/2012 2:02:20 PM Dominic Perrottet, Thanks for bringing some complexity to the debate. But why does "s.....
» 10/05/2012 6:57:40 AM Poirot, you make an excellent point. I have an 11 year old girl who collects Bratz and she.....
» 9/05/2012 5:47:37 PM Killarney, Surely if the groupies around this thread have managed to organise sufficientl.....
» 8/05/2012 7:42:42 PM I've yet to hit the "like" botton too. Actually, I wouldn't hit it on principle......
» 5/05/2012 6:51:10 PM Banjo, this research http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html wou.....
» 5/05/2012 2:05:33 PM >My biggest grump with all this is the notion that SSM or homosexuality is linked so un.....
» 5/05/2012 7:27:28 AM Thanks for noticing my lame attempt at humour, Saltpetre. Actually I don't have a pet at a.....
» 4/05/2012 5:38:59 PM I'm gratified you enjoyed the metaphor, WmTrevor, though I should have laboured longer ove.....
» 4/05/2012 3:37:07 PM My question to Mr Croome is, what difference will it make? Bully for you, you're compromis.....
» 2/05/2012 6:33:15 PM Houellebecq, back to your witty best I see. But you still haven't substantiated any of yo.....
» 2/05/2012 3:21:08 PM Houellebecq, apologies for talking past you, above, rather than to you. I'd written an apo.....
» 2/05/2012 10:43:07 AM Tony Lavis, I said, <I don't believe paedophiles are a rare aberration; disturbingly, I.....
» 1/05/2012 6:47:57 PM <That's pretty creepy squeers. Speaking for myself I have absolutely no attraction to s.....
» 1/05/2012 2:42:58 PM Houellebecq, When I said < Even “healthy” families are bound to succumb in a society de.....
» 1/05/2012 8:43:49 AM I “intuitively” agree with Petra Bueskens, that it’s difficult to rationalise the porn epi.....
» 28/04/2012 8:57:37 AM George and all, Above, I recommended a slim volume by Simon Critchley as an antidote to th.....
» 24/04/2012 8:34:49 AM As is so common with these kinds of articles, the author refuses to contemplate that it's .....
» 23/04/2012 7:00:49 PM I'd have to preface my remarks in response to this: "What do I think of my country? W.....
» 23/04/2012 6:24:48 PM The author proceeds on the premise that men dominate “by virtue of our singularly driven d.....
» 21/04/2012 6:03:09 PM Thanks George, in between acting as chauffeur over the last few days I've been reading the.....
» 20/04/2012 5:40:30 PM Yabby: <Squeers ... Clearly you have been sucked in. Ah well> How is your conclusi.....
» 20/04/2012 12:27:06 PM I love your riffs, Houellebecq, which are actually quite philosophically respectable--and .....
» 20/04/2012 9:30:31 AM George, the book I have is "Beyond the Hoax" (Sokal 2008), a hefty tomb that cov.....
» 20/04/2012 7:56:11 AM George I am a PhD student, in my final year, and am in English literature but my dissertat.....
» 19/04/2012 3:46:59 PM Pericles, Once again, I agree with your comments; I said myself above that the New Atheist.....
» 19/04/2012 7:58:13 AM George, When you cite me thus: >>Humans have an addiction for models ... Pure fantas.....
» 18/04/2012 7:06:08 PM cont.. The prevailing order of things is the lens through which we “think” we view realit.....
» 18/04/2012 7:05:25 PM <What do you mean by “prevailing order of things”?> I mean the political/ideologica.....
» 18/04/2012 3:28:43 PM Yabby, I certainly agree the world can be explained, or at least rationalised, in naturali.....
» 18/04/2012 7:52:36 AM The trouble with the discussion here, from my point of view, is it's got bogged down in me.....
» 17/04/2012 3:51:01 PM ..Cont I have nothing but respect and admiration for the painstaking efforts of scientists.....
» 17/04/2012 9:24:41 AM ...I wonder if anyone’s bothered to think about this? I know Luciferase hasn’t. It’s actua.....
» 17/04/2012 9:23:48 AM George, The phrase “postmodern condition” is nominally lyotards, but I’m using it literall.....
» 16/04/2012 3:46:19 PM ..cont. including variations on the old theme of dualism, and even the possibility of some.....
» 16/04/2012 3:45:30 PM Dan, I’ve argued with many lay-creationists and not one, in my experience, had read or con.....
» 16/04/2012 8:17:21 AM Luciferase, <“diatribe”, “obscure and esoteric dissertations”, “discursive metaphysical.....
» 15/04/2012 4:09:39 PM You're so wrong, Yabby. Education and health-care should be the same for all citizens in a.....
» 15/04/2012 11:54:04 AM I agree Bob's a person of rare integrity and I thought his resignation speech was one of t.....
» 15/04/2012 10:15:34 AM cont.. You have no such luxury here and yes, you are reading me incorrectly, I can't help.....
» 15/04/2012 10:11:39 AM Yabby, I looked at the article too and it does seem bizarre that Catholic prohibitions ar.....
» 14/04/2012 7:47:03 PM Poirot, you’ve pre-empted me and I like the quote, though according to modern lights I’m m.....
» 14/04/2012 8:32:37 AM Luciferase, you've again evaded the more important criticism of New Atheism in my posts. .....
» 13/04/2012 1:32:05 PM <Oh come on Squeers. Dawkins just happens to be a tall poppy, so you little poppies who.....
» 13/04/2012 10:43:11 AM cont.. Ditchkins’ dispute with theists is based on a “common sense” technocracy that’s ev.....
» 13/04/2012 10:42:37 AM I’m seduced again. Luciferese: <Yes, a point I raised with our erstwhile thread compani.....
» 11/04/2012 2:49:17 PM Sorry guys, I'll have to forego further discussion here or elsewhere for the foreseeable. .....
» 10/04/2012 9:50:46 PM For anyone who's interested the link I provided was not what I thought it was. This is the.....
» 10/04/2012 6:53:48 PM cont.. And then, following Dawkins, you prate about religion and philosophy as though the.....
» 10/04/2012 6:53:27 PM Luciferase, I don't so much have a problem with Pomo's relativism as it's prevarications a.....
» 10/04/2012 7:50:02 AM Luciferase: <Your attack, Squeers, on those you disagree with you in the current topic,.....
» 9/04/2012 8:32:03 AM Diver Matt, It's true, strictly, that all teaching is preaching, in that an authority fig.....
» 7/04/2012 6:32:17 PM It's good to someone sticking up for Labor, Benjamin, and I have to agree that considering.....
» 6/04/2012 1:19:04 PM Luciferase, I don't think for a moment that the convention is going to be a turnout of New.....
» 6/04/2012 11:37:04 AM woot, the New Atheism "is" about a following, inspired by a shallow "debat.....
» 6/04/2012 9:55:04 AM Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc: <Only the poster(s) who is/are guilty of supercili.....
» 5/04/2012 3:57:28 PM post limit. Luciferase, I asked Matt to expand on the goals he alluded to that he and the.....
» 5/04/2012 7:07:35 AM Diver Matt, clearly I've pissed you off, but I don't see how I pissed in your pocket? Or .....
» 4/04/2012 6:48:39 PM ... Really, you're just bored and in need of a cause and don't have a clue what's wrong wi.....
» 4/04/2012 6:48:18 PM Diver Matt: (I suspect we've met once or twice..) <I want to be left alone> There w.....
» 4/04/2012 3:10:37 PM <I joined the AFA a couple of years ago because they are working toward goals I share&g.....
» 3/04/2012 5:01:15 PM I agree that there should be a strict separation of church and State, but it won't make an.....
» 31/03/2012 7:31:10 PM <what reason do you have for devoting so much energy to spiritual/mystical/transcendent.....
» 31/03/2012 3:07:16 PM AJ Philips, <Unbelievers of what?> I meant you were denigrating unbelievers in your .....
» 31/03/2012 8:01:01 AM cont. ..sorting through the OLO concordance you linked to. In any event it’s a localised a.....
» 31/03/2012 7:52:29 AM AJ Philips: <But that doesn’t mean they’re not open to spiritual/mystical answers if th.....
» 30/03/2012 7:23:49 PM AJ Philips, I'll admit you’ve got the running in this; there’s a mountain of mystical crap.....
» 30/03/2012 9:04:47 AM George, I’m sure I could learn from you too but unfortunately you don’t tend to participat.....
» 30/03/2012 6:08:36 AM cont.. <I don’t think anyone’s claimed that we’ve solved everything regarding consciou.....
» 30/03/2012 6:08:13 AM Scientism is your word; I prefer the subheadings I’ve mentioned, which indicate it's a spe.....
» 29/03/2012 8:40:24 AM cont.. Even after I cite the OED, rather than concede you were “wrong” saying, “The term .....
» 29/03/2012 8:39:48 AM AJ Phillips, By “Cranky indignation” I meant you exhibited the same impatient and authori.....
» 28/03/2012 5:10:04 PM a substitute for philosophy, religion, manners, and morals.‥ It is a pattern of beli.....
» 28/03/2012 5:09:20 PM AJ Phillips: <The term “scientism” is a caricature strawman invented and used (predomin.....
» 28/03/2012 7:52:46 AM RObert, in my experience there are two versions of all such disciplines as you allude to .....
» 28/03/2012 6:21:53 AM <...It’s this type of dishonestly that gave rise to another caricature that doesn’t rea.....
» 27/03/2012 3:59:45 PM RObert, It beats me what you've got against the Left being educated in the Humanities, or .....
» 27/03/2012 1:51:23 PM To be honest, Pericles, I only glossed Sells's post and was going by the representation we.....
» 26/03/2012 12:57:16 PM It's bad enough that the religious cohort go on about "militant atheists", witho.....
» 24/03/2012 4:32:33 PM diver dan, I agree education's never been ideal en masse, but then I'm not nostalgically h.....
» 24/03/2012 10:26:38 AM Poirot, Sorry, I haven’t been able to reply till now. I tend to imagine the classic indivi.....
» 24/03/2012 10:16:09 AM Poirot, one of my kids has slight behavioural issues and tendencies to be hypersensitive, .....
» 23/03/2012 6:33:40 PM ... I'm a mere male but I'm trying to empathise in saying that for many women an abortion .....
» 23/03/2012 6:33:19 PM Briar Rose, I respect your position fundamentally (pardon the pun), we just differ in the .....
» 23/03/2012 6:32:00 PM Poirot, I do agree. I think the tea party members are only economic libertarians and could.....
» 23/03/2012 10:22:37 AM Poirot, it is disturbing seeing the rise of right-wing fanaticism, but it goes hand in ha.....
» 23/03/2012 9:52:39 AM Ah, Ted Trainer, you sing a sweet tune, in fact I feel like I've been plagiarised, your ar.....
» 22/03/2012 5:29:29 PM I also don't buy the argument of institutional misogyny Jennifer and the women she cites p.....
» 22/03/2012 2:56:17 PM I'm going to try a different tack here. I'm troubled by the passionate nature of the artic.....
» 21/03/2012 11:36:42 AM I agree it's preposterous Dante or any texts should be banned, expurgated or even slighted.....
» 19/03/2012 8:35:33 AM divine-msn, the first part of your first post was fair enough, but I think I had every rig.....
» 18/03/2012 9:14:44 PM divine_msn, patronising and presumptuous still. "Hormones" is indeed a popular e.....
» 18/03/2012 6:34:06 PM Well divine-msn, at the risk of killing-off a female contributor here, you're being a bit .....
» 18/03/2012 6:07:33 PM It beats me why the author treats Western energy consumption as a given. Sure coal is impo.....
» 17/03/2012 8:26:22 PM I feel like an outsider here among this clique of old friends, but I like your taste in mu.....
» 16/03/2012 9:51:14 PM Sorry Poirot, I must be feeling my revolutionary oats tonight. But it's not only just and .....
» 16/03/2012 8:55:18 PM True Poirot, but then all things are relative and there's a wealthy elite presiding over e.....
» 16/03/2012 6:10:43 PM I like this article in that it exposes the ideology of austerity that's currently being fo.....
» 15/03/2012 7:25:38 AM Sorry Joe, I thought the big word hegemony (8 letters) was part of all thinking people's w.....
» 14/03/2012 3:33:23 PM Chris Lewis, If “Australian society is [not] by and large conservative, intolerant and big.....
» 14/03/2012 11:43:27 AM Chris Lewis: "Squeers, I may be wrong, but i dont accept your tone about comments abo.....
» 14/03/2012 10:49:11 AM Chris Lewis, I also excelled academically--and generally provoked and argued against conse.....
» 14/03/2012 8:56:48 AM Chris Lewis, while there's much I could criticise academia for, I think you're here displ.....
» 14/03/2012 7:20:22 AM Joe: And elitist: Squeers, you can't write "I do not support the rights of "el.....
» 13/03/2012 7:01:48 PM Joe, your smart-arse leading questions and answers are no doubt very satisfying to you and.....
» 13/03/2012 5:02:39 PM Joe, your sanctimonious speech about democracy and free speech conveniently avoids the rea.....
» 13/03/2012 3:39:03 PM Joe, I think I made my point very clearly above, but lest anyone's inclined to label me el.....
» 12/03/2012 1:48:21 PM Susan Hawthorne, Julia has impressed me too with her toughness and I certainly don't think.....
» 12/03/2012 9:46:26 AM Thank you John Pilger for speaking out against "bourgeois feminists" and the pau.....
» 11/03/2012 8:18:01 AM Invoking the spectre of censorship is always effective and in this case appeals to eager s.....
» 6/03/2012 9:46:46 PM Suzeonline, this is unfair: "This thread has so far been skewed towards the male poin.....
» 6/03/2012 7:39:24 PM Suseonline, sorry, only time for a quick answer: I don't know, I never ask for it.......
» 6/03/2012 6:49:07 PM Jon Tons, yours is an inspirational story in its context. But I'm inspired by a different .....
» 6/03/2012 2:27:26 PM Ah Houellebecq, I knew your agreement with my position of late was equivocal. You're defin.....
» 6/03/2012 11:15:25 AM Houellebecq: <Man, are things really that bad? Ouch!> I wasn't so much talking for .....
» 5/03/2012 7:51:51 PM Let's not only focus only on the decline of the female libido. The married male libido is .....
» 5/03/2012 5:44:57 PM runner, I just want to say I'm a huge fan and you've inseminated some great stuff into thi.....
» 5/03/2012 8:38:48 AM The first problem with the controversy reported here is it’s one-sidedly, taking mens’ sub.....
» 4/03/2012 11:45:01 AM SPQR and Yabby, when you've got nothing you resort to ridicule, I can understand that. But.....
» 3/03/2012 3:09:46 PM Yabby, I meant to use the term Mr Magoo in the plural above. Thanks anyway for illustratin.....
» 3/03/2012 1:40:33 PM That's pure denialism Yabby. Read some of the information in the link below, from where I'.....
» 3/03/2012 12:37:56 PM Yabby, I'm aware that services keep the money in circulation, but I'm sure you know as wel.....
» 3/03/2012 7:44:49 AM Divergence, you seem to think you've said something original and we don't get it; I imagi.....
» 2/03/2012 6:33:11 PM Thanks for your musings, Peter Sellick, but rather than making your Calvinist anti-rationa.....
» 1/03/2012 3:33:44 PM Divergence, I haven't seen any facts. I told you the link didn't work. When it comes to f.....
» 1/03/2012 11:08:49 AM Divergence, I tried to look at your link but it refuses to load correctly. I'll try again .....
» 1/03/2012 10:32:53 AM Thanks George, I've enjoyed the different arguments too and the exercise has given me a gr.....
» 1/03/2012 10:07:59 AM Divergence, your shrill and broad-spread attack tells me I've hit the nail right on the h.....
» 1/03/2012 9:35:14 AM Shadow Minister: <I am still trying to see why anyone should feel that counselling shou.....
» 1/03/2012 8:30:44 AM Ralph Bennett, Thanks for your sympathy but I've never been depressed in my life to any mo.....
» 29/02/2012 4:02:25 PM SM, sorry to keep whittling away your position till there's nothing left for you to cling.....
» 28/02/2012 9:31:20 PM I don't know, Blue Cross, I've had occasion more than once to distance myself (to the left.....
» 28/02/2012 9:09:49 PM Wrong on all counts, SM: "I know that most women are not child like idiots that need.....
» 28/02/2012 7:15:46 PM Shadow Minister: <Very few of the women who come to the clinics are doing so without ha.....
» 28/02/2012 1:04:25 PM briar rose, I have to revisit your comment above: <as a pro choice woman I believe it'.....
» 27/02/2012 10:10:15 PM I've just returned from a meet the candidates forum for the QLD state election and in answ.....
» 27/02/2012 6:32:47 PM Oh dear, Ralph, that's a bit shabby; how about quoting the whole sentence. I said "st.....
» 27/02/2012 5:56:54 PM ...had to dash out to take my daughter to work. I thus used the term "sanctity of ch.....
» 27/02/2012 5:04:42 PM I agree, Houellebecq, that the anecdote was a bit redundant. I think if the mother intends.....
» 27/02/2012 3:10:24 PM Divergence, that's amusing that I'm invoking the yellow peril : ) You clearly haven't fol.....
» 27/02/2012 8:09:15 AM Saltpetre, I don't suggest "we olds should all top ourselves", though I am for .....
» 26/02/2012 6:34:53 PM briar rose, I think it's pretty clear I was using the term "sanctity of choice" .....
» 26/02/2012 7:45:50 AM Saltpetre, I despair. Just when I think I've imparted a water-tight argument, easy to foll.....
» 25/02/2012 7:29:59 AM Apologies for being a little off topic in my last. To tie it in; this is the reason no gov.....
» 25/02/2012 6:59:04 AM Ralph Bennett: <The main reason for economic growth is to provide an increased number o.....
» 24/02/2012 8:21:50 AM ... I do believe your scenario could work globally, or between a coalition of powerful nat.....
» 24/02/2012 8:21:33 AM <You dont need economic growth for full employment with stabilisation. Stabilisation l.....
» 23/02/2012 7:04:51 PM A great comment, Producer. I think politicians should be chosen randomly for four years of.....
» 23/02/2012 4:32:40 PM This is easy, one needn't even read the article, just the headline, to know exactly what J.....
» 23/02/2012 3:59:55 PM I read and understood Gatto's points, Poirot. Excellent. But as you say, "it's useles.....
» 23/02/2012 7:59:38 AM Yabby, Luxury! Bloody luxury...!" I were a brickie's labourer at 15 (and that wasn't.....
» 22/02/2012 8:22:59 PM Hasbeen, I think I'm as entitled to an opinion as you are? I'm not dictating to anyone, an.....
» 22/02/2012 5:20:17 PM "I agree we should surrender our jobs to young people, who would do it so much better.....
» 22/02/2012 3:46:49 PM Thanks Kellie Tranter for a thoughtful consideration of the London riots and the Occupy Wa.....
» 21/02/2012 6:44:36 PM ... Similarly, the sanctity of life argument is ludicrously removed from all practical con.....
» 21/02/2012 6:43:50 PM briar rose, I s'pose we could describe you then as a "democratic, liberal feminist&q.....
» 19/02/2012 3:16:18 PM Mishka Gora, I reached my post limit and was unable to post till now. Thank you for clarif.....
» 18/02/2012 5:03:37 PM Oops, this comment belongs here: Thanks Poirot, It's interesting that MTR invokes the &qu.....
» 18/02/2012 4:59:25 PM Thanks Poirot, It's interesting that MTR invokes the "Universal Declaration of Human .....
» 18/02/2012 3:51:33 PM Thanks Forrest Gumpp, I didn't think you were shooting across my bow especially, but I did.....
» 18/02/2012 3:38:58 PM <"The right of someone to follow their conscience is not dependent on whether they.....
» 18/02/2012 2:51:33 PM "When religion has simplistically intractable ideas about complex problems all it doe.....
» 18/02/2012 1:46:14 PM <The ethics of the situation are obvious. If Tankard Reist is a practicing Christian th.....
» 18/02/2012 11:57:20 AM Correction, it should have read, "in fact either ignorance prevailed or the evidence .....
» 18/02/2012 11:52:35 AM Forrest Gumpp, I sympathise that the discussion hasn't focused on the issue as you see it,.....
» 16/02/2012 8:06:59 PM Vanna: <As for feminism being an intellectual exercise, I thought feminism had more to .....
» 16/02/2012 2:14:19 PM I'm sorry to hear that BR, perhaps you should examine them, you never know what you might .....
» 16/02/2012 1:25:56 PM vanna: <Read carefully the anti-discrimination act. No one has to excuse their religio.....
» 16/02/2012 9:34:00 AM Benk, CHRISTianity was a radical teaching that was utterly subversive, but it was soon dis.....
» 15/02/2012 3:48:17 PM Well thanks, Houellebecq, I think.. You'll forgive my hesitation; unlike feeling feminist.....
» 15/02/2012 7:28:30 AM Killarney, I've addressed the contradictory contentions of the article and am critical of .....
» 14/02/2012 6:39:24 PM This seems, rhetorically, a thoroughly postmodern article in that there's apparently room .....
» 14/02/2012 7:09:28 AM "Make no mistake, all languages have their equivalent to Shakespeare in the lessons h.....
» 13/02/2012 7:23:05 PM Mollydukes et al, allow me to draw your attention to this specimen of Australia's state of.....
» 13/02/2012 7:12:20 PM Dear Babette, you'll excuse me if I don't get caught up in the romance you've imagined for.....
» 13/02/2012 1:50:27 PM Mollydukes, I agree that radical/critical thinking takes more intelligence (and courage) t.....
» 12/02/2012 5:54:36 PM Though I've been fond of calling the phrase "intellectual left" a tautology, I'm.....
» 10/02/2012 11:21:15 AM rational-debate, thanks for your graciousness. There are of course great schools and teach.....
» 10/02/2012 9:28:11 AM Dickens would be successful in any time imo. He was a workaholic and utterly driven. And o.....
» 10/02/2012 9:02:10 AM rational-debate, I have not and would not make any such claims as you suggest. I've talk.....
» 9/02/2012 7:57:22 PM I forgot to mention, SM, I also did my prac in a private school--felt like quite the worm .....
» 9/02/2012 7:31:51 PM SM: "Your view of what goes on in independent schools shows that you have no idea wha.....
» 9/02/2012 7:59:09 AM SM, the premise may not be explicit but it's implicit in that the author never makes the a.....
» 8/02/2012 5:39:13 PM Hasbeen, that is darkly funny and probably true! I've heard the comments many times from p.....
» 8/02/2012 5:23:45 PM Graham, I said Thakary's characters were "moral" caricatures, at least his main .....
» 8/02/2012 12:34:37 PM SM, a premise of the article here is that there's no qualitative difference between public.....
» 8/02/2012 10:10:56 AM To reiterate, "There should be public schools and hospitals and that is all". Th.....
» 8/02/2012 10:10:38 AM Shadow Minister, my position really isn't that simple, as I've tried to show above. I ackn.....
» 8/02/2012 9:08:39 AM Just a slight demur, Poirot. I don't think Dickens was good a character, but caricature, a.....
» 8/02/2012 5:40:56 AM Just read your post Bugsy and agree that "The internet must not be censored for the s.....
» 8/02/2012 5:26:47 AM I'm a little tardy but predictable it seems, Poirot. Being a Londoner myself, I've read Di.....
» 7/02/2012 6:21:02 PM I've always thought that schools and hospitals provide the perfect instance of the endurin.....
» 7/02/2012 4:55:07 PM Marilyn Shepherd: "Let's get one thing very clear from the outset - Gillard is racist.....
» 7/02/2012 10:40:16 AM This rant of an article is unfair and if the author must give vent to her rabid denunciati.....
» 6/02/2012 8:51:34 AM RObert, hopefully the boffins will show up and contradict your "Mail" article. I.....
» 5/02/2012 5:19:38 PM 579, I support the urgent need for action on climate change, but this means cutting consum.....
» 5/02/2012 3:03:11 PM It's ridiculous complaining about the level of carbon tax as if it was pegged to the sever.....
» 5/02/2012 1:38:08 PM Correction, I meant "irrational optimism", playing on the title of Matt Ridley's.....
» 5/02/2012 1:35:33 PM We've ranged a little off the initial debate, Poirot, but I can't let Yabby entirely off t.....
» 4/02/2012 7:06:36 PM Yabby: "Oh come on, the system is us, making choices. There is no capitalism boogie m.....
» 4/02/2012 5:17:30 PM Yabby, Women looking for a meal ticket are still in plentiful supply, despite the propagan.....
» 3/02/2012 8:31:18 PM Lexi, this seems simplistic to me: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/images/icon_link_whit.....
» 3/02/2012 7:47:08 PM RObert, I agree that the ladies are a soft touch and much more likely to support charities.....
» 3/02/2012 6:40:31 PM I've been busy all day doing renovations, true to type, while my wife went out for coffee .....
» 3/02/2012 8:15:14 AM ... The Baptist faith is highly pertinent and its paternalism is utterly at odds with any .....
» 3/02/2012 8:14:50 AM Poirot, My first salvo was just that, though it still stands. I was a little tardy enterin.....
» 2/02/2012 1:40:22 PM Wise words, Houellebecq. Personally I don't buy the propaganda that women do all the work-.....
» 2/02/2012 7:19:57 AM Cossomby, I've pretty much given up. And when you know the system has to change but wont, .....
» 1/02/2012 6:26:50 PM Cossomby, I appreciate your comments and would encourage you to post more often. Perhaps i.....
» 1/02/2012 10:18:12 AM Grim: "I much prefer discourse with gentle souls, like David f. and Pelican; come to .....
» 1/02/2012 7:29:54 AM Correction, above I meant to say "who could argue" with Poirot's comments in res.....
» 1/02/2012 7:28:30 AM Thanks Poirot for responding to my comments so serenely--and who could argue with them. I .....
» 31/01/2012 8:17:16 PM I humbly submit that presumably the women have what they think is "a life", sinc.....
» 30/12/2011 6:24:57 AM Davidf quoting Eagleton: "The truth is that Marx was no more responsible for the mons.....
» 29/12/2011 8:08:21 PM [Deleted for discussion of moderation.].....
» 27/12/2011 12:13:15 PM Thanks for the link Poirot. This from the latest New Left Review:http://newleftreview.org/.....
» 27/12/2011 6:27:43 AM Skeptic, I'm not sure what point you're making here, can you elaborate. My point, based o.....
» 23/12/2011 5:52:20 PM I'm in no position to criticise Vaclav Havel as I know little about him beyond the popular.....
» 22/12/2011 6:21:36 PM David Webb, It's a real pleasure to read your thoughts on this topic and I agree that ment.....
» 21/12/2011 9:14:19 PM This article's a bit cryptic, in terms of its politics, but I think you're barking up the .....
» 21/12/2011 2:18:57 PM Suseonline, as Pericles says, "It would be a shame if Hitchens became defined merely .....
» 21/12/2011 7:49:42 AM Thanks Suseonline for accepting my rebuke so graciously, I felt you gave my post short shr.....
» 20/12/2011 10:55:19 AM Suseonline, Thank you for that superficial response to my post--which attempted a condense.....
» 19/12/2011 5:26:51 PM I admire Hitchens as a great polemicist and writer capable of stirring people's passions--.....
» 15/12/2011 12:06:05 PM Thank you Poirot for the Naomi Klein article; what a joy to read the kind of argument I've.....
» 12/12/2011 8:48:29 PM bonmot, I have no argument with the science, and the equivocation I alluded to is in the n.....
» 12/12/2011 7:33:39 PM I have little time for the denialist brigade who think because they can equivocate over th.....
» 12/12/2011 5:36:53 PM As usual the Dutch are ahead of the curve and what we need is balanced consideration of eu.....
» 9/12/2011 5:49:05 PM I hope my comments don't bespeak Hysteria, Pericles, I don't think we're at any tipping po.....
» 9/12/2011 12:56:33 PM His lordship is even worse at satire than he is at science. Curiously, however, I find mys.....
» 8/12/2011 7:57:36 AM Thanks for your article, Mr Webster, which is more balanced than Cheryl Kernot's account--.....
» 7/12/2011 6:37:23 PM I'm far to world-weary to see this "market-based solution" as anything more than.....
» 7/12/2011 4:33:48 PM Excuse me, Mr Leckie, if I find your article underwhelming in the extreme. Karl Mark plott.....
» 6/12/2011 11:31:15 AM < its the by-product your talking about thats after the fact of too many> You're mis.....
» 6/12/2011 9:10:46 AM I forgot to add--which all spells more carbon emissions......
» 6/12/2011 7:12:16 AM Yabby: <Well there you go, Poirot. The US is full of mums and dads, just like you and S.....
» 5/12/2011 6:35:25 PM Thanks Saltpetre for the comment. My post on Sunday was a bit rushed and hyperbolic now th.....
» 5/12/2011 9:16:04 AM Yes, thanks for the link Poirot--lots more yummy "plant food". More important, .....
» 4/12/2011 6:40:21 PM It's difficult to find words for this drivelling, snivelling and ignorant panegyric over t.....
» 1/12/2011 7:08:28 PM Geoff, you bear me out more eloquently than I possibly could myself. This is very touchin.....
» 30/11/2011 5:49:47 PM Thanks for links Geoff, I'll have a look asap. I believe in the fundamental proposition (.....
» 29/11/2011 7:00:19 PM Your article's a bit disappointing Geoff, indeed you seem to be asleep at the wheel yourse.....
» 28/11/2011 5:21:11 PM It's actually highly contentious to claim that The Ancient Greeks were the originators of .....
» 25/11/2011 4:39:57 PM Dan, sorry for the delay. I don't take either side in the theism/atheism debate, for me t.....
» 23/11/2011 3:37:17 PM John McRobert, Apologies for my anonymity. I'm from around your red-neck of the woods and.....
» 22/11/2011 11:50:15 AM I enjoyed the first part of your "Ripping Yarn", John McRobert, though you ought.....
» 20/11/2011 8:55:04 AM Yabby, I can't argue with some of your criticism of inefficiencies, but it's not peculiar .....
» 19/11/2011 8:01:48 PM diver dan, if history's your defence you're among friends with formersnag and co! But I de.....
» 19/11/2011 5:44:11 PM Formersnag, you disgust me more than words can say with your lurid vilifications. <Wha.....
» 18/11/2011 6:42:59 PM It's a furphy (for shame Graham that such a wonderful Australian colloquialism as "fu.....
» 17/11/2011 9:21:12 PM Dan S de Merengue, I agree with your first sentence, and even with the fact that Dawkins .....
» 16/11/2011 5:31:40 PM fiandra, I don't put any stock in your Daily Mirror article--mostly the media pandering to.....
» 15/11/2011 8:04:23 PM Divergence, <Do you seriously imagine that a very large, "piebald population".....
» 15/11/2011 3:30:16 PM fiandra, I agree with the idea of immigrants trying to fit in, though Australia also has .....
» 15/11/2011 7:11:37 AM Joe/Saltpetre, I don't like the way the world is arranged, but I've put that aside and am .....
» 14/11/2011 5:56:26 PM kactuz, I've read bits of the Koran and it doesn't strike me as any worse than bits of the.....
» 14/11/2011 11:08:24 AM Saltpetre, you're right I would have a hard time proving my contentions, though the weight.....
» 14/11/2011 7:28:49 AM Saltpetre, Not offended at all and thanks for your thoughts. I'm just musing possibilitie.....
» 14/11/2011 7:24:46 AM Why should immigrants have to give up their cultural practices when they migrate to Austra.....
» 13/11/2011 5:45:16 PM 50 comments on this thread made me have a look at the article, and I can only commend it f.....
» 13/11/2011 4:02:12 PM pumpkinpie, thanks for the link to Jay's revolting nonsense. Anti-racism is not code for .....
» 13/11/2011 2:22:29 PM Pericles, I'm also sceptical of leaps of inferential logic, and especially dislike the hu.....
» 13/11/2011 1:32:57 PM Pericles, thanks for the link to the Economist article. My own bias is to defend the human.....
» 12/11/2011 6:48:12 PM I can't stand it any longer! Jay, you are the perfect example of a white supremacist racis.....
» 12/11/2011 12:48:43 PM The Acolyte Rizla OUG is something of an institution here at OLO. I've admonished him mys.....
» 10/11/2011 6:38:18 PM Formersnag, you forgot to mention the sheep (like you) blindly led by your precious protes.....
» 8/11/2011 7:11:59 PM Noel, you seem to have been a bit of a wowser and I'd love to know if there was a Christia.....
» 8/11/2011 5:25:20 PM Joe, You seem to have a fondness for distorting the crux of my comments on this issue and .....
» 8/11/2011 11:11:44 AM pelican, did you hear Noam Chomsy on Sunday Profile? http://www.abc.net.au/rn/sundayprofil.....
» 8/11/2011 9:39:09 AM The Acolyte Rizla, I'm doing nothing of the kind. Like you I like to think the rednecks a.....
» 8/11/2011 8:32:46 AM Jay, Individual and co, I recently taught a course on Australian identity and the mainstre.....
» 8/11/2011 7:19:23 AM On Radio National the other day, the Book Show I think, the justly celebrated second chapt.....
» 7/11/2011 8:03:44 PM I agree JohnBennetts, the first thing to do is virtually eliminate hereditary wealth. Then.....
» 7/11/2011 5:59:06 PM Why aren't we calling it the "Colonial Australian Constitution", and why don't t.....
» 6/11/2011 7:58:03 PM Thanks for the great article Poirot, which bears out everything I said and so saves me the.....
» 6/11/2011 10:19:19 AM Peter Hume, I don't and have never discounted "rationality as an intellectual method&.....
» 6/11/2011 6:47:17 AM The Acolyte Rizla This from Wikipedia: "He is the son and heir of Viscount Ridley, .....
» 5/11/2011 2:01:14 PM There are no unqualified "scientific truths" and few that aren't eventually debu.....
» 4/11/2011 5:55:44 AM Dan S de Merengue, There is simply no testable evidence for a God. This is where Dawkins i.....
» 2/11/2011 8:06:39 PM I don't buy this article either. If anything women have an advantage in male dominated are.....
» 2/11/2011 9:25:28 AM I agree with others above, that Human Rights conventions are nothing more than inspiration.....
» 30/10/2011 6:45:30 PM Dawkins takes a stand in only crediting what can be substantiated by the evidence. Unfortu.....
» 28/10/2011 8:55:59 PM A nauseatingly obsequious piece, full of conservative youthful idealism, presumptuousness .....
» 28/10/2011 6:48:51 PM Aristocrat: <I am still not quite convinced that idealism preceds materialism> Gawd.....
» 27/10/2011 6:24:20 PM Aristocrat: <Could it not be argued that any idealism initially finds its "inspira.....
» 27/10/2011 3:45:46 PM Thanks Aristocrat, shall think it over.. <To claim consciousness maintains a "qua.....
» 27/10/2011 7:20:33 AM <Q, is relativism/equivocation of M & E just as bad as hard views either way on atheism.....
» 26/10/2011 6:03:05 PM I welcome your article Mr Bouma, which is as critical of our institutional God as it is of.....
» 26/10/2011 3:26:13 PM Aristocrat: "Nietzsche is actually much closer to Darwin and Lamarck than any Cartesi.....
» 26/10/2011 1:14:49 PM I agree with AJ that once again we get nothing of any substance in defence of the theist v.....
» 25/10/2011 9:25:54 PM Aristocrat, My tardy replies are born of the exigencies of being an academic drudge For t.....
» 24/10/2011 7:32:43 PM Aristocrat, I'm a fan of Nietzsche's and don't presume to correct him, or even fully unde.....
» 24/10/2011 10:30:39 AM Thanks Ammonite and Poirot for the endorsement. I have three daughters and three sons so .....
» 24/10/2011 7:29:53 AM Peter, If I thought as you imply I would be a wowser. I'm contending that the porn industr.....
» 23/10/2011 6:05:41 PM isabelberners, Have just looked again at your article and it occurs to me to ask, what ab.....
» 23/10/2011 8:57:29 AM isabelberners, I sympathise; I'm marking too; and I don't feel important either......
» 22/10/2011 6:22:47 PM Shadow Minister “The difference between science and philosophy, is that science requires p.....
» 22/10/2011 9:11:49 AM Excuse my Freudian slip (?) in my transcription of Taylor above; in the middle of the pass.....
» 22/10/2011 9:05:52 AM Poirot, I'm not convinced by reductionist materialism's or culturalism and am inclined to .....
» 21/10/2011 9:03:00 PM Sadly, Crabsy, these matters seem perennially beyond us to fathom, which is why I prefer t.....
» 21/10/2011 6:03:28 PM Aristocrat: <Nietzsche is not Cartesian. While you are right that modern science revert.....
» 20/10/2011 7:19:53 PM I do apologise Aristocrat, I’m indecently busy; I’ll get back to you, but for now I want t.....
» 19/10/2011 6:19:55 PM Aristocrat: <There being no intelligible realm or mind/body split wipes out any connect.....
» 19/10/2011 9:58:07 AM A nicely written article for a sixteen year old--I wonder if mum and dad helped with the e.....
» 17/10/2011 8:21:06 AM ..cont. Peter, I don't need to squirm, I have semantics (you're a dab hand yourself) and t.....
» 17/10/2011 8:20:46 AM Sorry for the delay all, I've had a child in hospital (and please don't lecture me, Yabby,.....
» 16/10/2011 6:07:14 PM Belly, I wasn't directing anything at you, though you are clearly a union man and I hadn't.....
» 16/10/2011 12:52:49 PM Peter, of all things I think it's nationalism that I despise the most. As I've said to you.....
» 15/10/2011 6:18:29 PM Is there a meaning to life? I've been struggling with that question since it was posited,.....
» 14/10/2011 4:31:23 PM Peter: <Squeers If only you could tell everyone else in the world what to do and have, .....
» 14/10/2011 6:40:38 AM Jay Of Melbourne and Belly, I don't deny their are powerful forces at play in the world, o.....
» 14/10/2011 5:16:53 AM Thanks for that, Jay Of Melbourne. Sounds like a Dan Brown novel. I would ask if you have .....
» 13/10/2011 8:22:15 PM Bob Brown's nominally of the left, but why is the left always the front runner when it com.....
» 12/10/2011 5:21:00 PM Houellebecq, Thanks for the thoughts and I agree. My whole object in starting down this (.....
» 10/10/2011 7:28:42 PM Thanks for your bravery in considering this sensitive topic, Poirot--the ladies here seem .....
» 10/10/2011 5:23:21 PM Yabby: "Stop trying to deny nature, just accept it gracefully" Yabby, you've b.....
» 10/10/2011 5:07:26 PM Philo, I imagine if one observes proper hygeine and doesn't assault the anus with anything.....
» 10/10/2011 12:45:12 PM I'm definitely not a wowser, Anti; and Dan, workplaces are still sexually permeated, thoug.....
» 10/10/2011 11:57:14 AM I started in the workplace in 1975 and remember the wall-paper vividly on the factory wall.....
» 10/10/2011 7:33:15 AM Continuing on the salacious theme of anal intercourse. It seems odd to me that most people.....
» 9/10/2011 8:09:08 PM Having just reviewed the article I can't see why the PC crowd want to inflict what's alway.....
» 9/10/2011 5:28:25 PM In my experience sex becomes banal in marriage and one settles into a second-life of fanta.....
» 9/10/2011 5:54:26 AM Yabby, "What a foolish idea, Squeers. You clearly have not thought it through". .....
» 8/10/2011 6:03:06 PM I wasn't sure for a while there whether the author was attacking or defending philosophers.....
» 8/10/2011 4:16:14 PM Peter, history shows that whatever the mode, capitalism is a rapacious and utterly dysfunc.....
» 8/10/2011 2:37:32 PM davidf, my point about materialism being ideological was philosophical, but accurate nonet.....
» 8/10/2011 6:22:54 AM Peter says, <Squeers repeats the old fallacy, that "[because trade restrictions ex.....
» 7/10/2011 10:27:54 PM davidf: <social evolution may unguided yield a good result. I am wary of ‘experts’ deci.....
» 7/10/2011 5:16:49 PM David and all, I'm prepared to make some concession, though I maintain that too often con.....
» 6/10/2011 6:46:56 PM Bugsy: <The question then becomes: "Why were Marx's ideas on the state so difficul.....
» 6/10/2011 10:59:53 AM I'm sorry Bugsy but I really don't have the time to take your points to task, though there.....
» 6/10/2011 9:56:52 AM Bugsy, I don't deny that a great deal of evil as been done under the term "Marxism&q.....
» 6/10/2011 9:03:01 AM Well this is an extremely disappointing but predictable thread whose terms are dictated by.....
» 5/10/2011 12:37:59 PM Shadow Minister, there's many a slip between the cup and the lip. Rudd might still give Ab.....
» 5/10/2011 10:29:15 AM Abbott's a liability and only slightly up in the poles because Labor's so on the nose. I r.....
» 5/10/2011 6:57:26 AM Anti: <Tell me, what is good about a social arrangement in which the women go to work a.....
» 5/10/2011 6:09:22 AM suzeonline, I agree that Abbott would be about the worst choice as leader, but I don't thi.....
» 4/10/2011 7:55:11 PM Having finished Graham's survey, earlier today, and now watching the 7.30 Report, I'm cong.....
» 4/10/2011 6:13:02 PM This is an ignorant misrepresentation of the Communist Manifesto and an ignorant demonisat.....
» 4/10/2011 5:39:04 PM Well said, Lexi. I'm not happy with Labor (more the Labor electorate), but it doesn't take.....
» 3/10/2011 5:41:40 PM Georgia Lowe, I enjoyed your article, though I tossed and turned most of the way through t.....
» 2/10/2011 4:00:19 PM suzeonline, I think Susan Mitchell's premise is wrong to begin with. While there's surely .....
» 2/10/2011 3:15:04 PM Yabby, clearly you never read this fascinating link http://tinyurl.com/3go6qj5 I provided .....
» 1/10/2011 7:40:32 AM Yoy flatter yourself, stevenlmayer; you haven't said anything worthy of even a strawman ar.....
» 30/09/2011 9:03:31 PM Yabby you continue to disappoint: <Squeers, that is a purely subjective question and up.....
» 30/09/2011 5:53:36 PM Stevenlmeyer: <A small country like Australia cannot manufacture everything it needs on.....
» 30/09/2011 7:43:51 AM "Anything the vast majority of economists believe is likely to be wrong". This e.....
» 28/09/2011 8:33:03 PM I understand your point, Joe; you prefer the blue pill. I'm too busy to go on wasting my t.....
» 28/09/2011 6:32:59 PM Antiseptic, I would say urban aborigines most certainly do have a relevant difference. It'.....
» 28/09/2011 4:14:12 PM ..cont. At this stage of late-capitalism you're deluded if you think there's much cultural.....
» 28/09/2011 4:13:04 PM Joe: <What Marx writes is almost obscene - as I understand your quotes> well then yo.....
» 28/09/2011 9:27:38 AM ..cont. In Marx’s transcendence of “Bauer’s” Jewish question, the Jew is "metonym&qu.....
» 28/09/2011 9:26:37 AM ..cont. Marx is fomenting “precisely” for “the potential value of civil society”, and for .....
» 28/09/2011 9:24:12 AM Joe, not "pedantic" at all; a quote lifted from its context can be misleading. I.....
» 27/09/2011 8:48:02 AM Working all day today, Joe, but will get back to you when I can. In the meantime, what abo.....
» 26/09/2011 2:24:55 PM in case it is missed, here is the primary text, which I recommend everyone read carefully .....
» 26/09/2011 2:09:52 PM Joe, I can't for the life of me see how you arrive at such an interpretation; Marx was fu.....
» 26/09/2011 1:15:44 PM Antiseptic, I can't speak for anyone else but I have no sense that socialism is a necessit.....
» 26/09/2011 9:07:37 AM Antiseptic: <you 3 seem to have a view of socialism as a necessity and capitalism as so.....
» 26/09/2011 8:05:00 AM Antiseptic, I do care what you think and I realise my perspective is only one, though I d.....
» 26/09/2011 6:33:57 AM Anticeptic, your "precis" of my position is wrong. I haven't bothered replying .....
» 24/09/2011 9:34:45 PM davidf, I don't defend any of the evils perpetrated by corrupt regimes. The whole twentiet.....
» 24/09/2011 6:18:56 PM davidf, you are of course at liberty to gloss over or read whatever you like into "On.....
» 23/09/2011 8:37:51 PM What an interesting thread. I especially enjoyed sonofgloin's narrative--worthy of a short.....
» 23/09/2011 6:24:38 PM Chris Lewis. I'm blowed if I can how you can see "free trade" as anything more t.....
» 23/09/2011 2:48:56 PM davidf, I agree that we should maintain the proper respect and tone, and I endeavour to d.....
» 23/09/2011 2:11:21 PM Thank you David. Here is the text, "On the Jewish Question" for anyone interest:.....
» 23/09/2011 1:52:09 PM Thanks for reading the article, davidf, though your mind is hopelessly prejudiced and it s.....
» 23/09/2011 10:06:56 AM I do hope Davidf, particularly, will read the article I've provided the link to......
» 23/09/2011 9:56:02 AM Peter, I said above that Marx was poorly and misunderstood, and you've illustrated the poi.....
» 22/09/2011 5:05:18 PM Poirot, thanks for the link; it's great to see the melt of the ideological Cold War seems .....
» 22/09/2011 11:23:54 AM Loudmouth, In your short post you've used the terms "evil and heartless", ".....
» 22/09/2011 8:55:05 AM Thanks for the thread, Poirot. Just a few meditations from me. I think Marx was right in a.....
» 20/09/2011 6:22:44 PM Poirot: <some men and women put political expediency before ethical considerations> .....
» 20/09/2011 10:14:45 AM On the one hand I fully endorse Jennifer Wilson's political satire here and long to see ge.....
» 19/09/2011 8:06:30 PM Well if CJ was here he'd know what to say and make light of it. Cheer up Ammonite! The mai.....
» 19/09/2011 9:03:47 AM I was also a big fan of CJ's, who always made insightful and witty comments. One of the fe.....
» 17/09/2011 10:14:40 PM Chris, I'm not optimistic at all, but try to adopt a perspective roughly equivalent to an .....
» 17/09/2011 12:48:09 PM China is certainly the elephant in the room, politically as well as economically (India's .....
» 17/09/2011 10:02:26 AM I look forward to your article Chris, but I wish there was more media attention given to t.....
» 17/09/2011 8:12:30 AM Agreed Chris Lewis, I would also ask them to expound--apropos the "principle [that] f.....
» 16/09/2011 6:07:04 PM Seen from the point of view of global capitalism as our ineviatbel dispensation, I see lit.....
» 15/09/2011 8:05:40 PM carol83, thanks for that sobering analysis, you've clearly done your homework. I'm concern.....
» 15/09/2011 11:00:31 AM Sorry, popnperish, to clarrify I didn't mean don't palliate; clearly people who are suffer.....
» 14/09/2011 7:08:30 PM I sympathise, Alan Gresley, with your situation and would say that genuine mental illness .....
» 14/09/2011 10:16:26 AM That's very generous of you, Poirot. I've been abused and misrepresented all the way throu.....
» 14/09/2011 6:49:01 AM Clearly, Poirot, the atheists here--like Ditchkins--prefer to frolic in the shallows and p.....
» 13/09/2011 2:29:00 PM Well I've no wish to exasperate you further, David, but your manifesto is effectively more.....
» 13/09/2011 1:25:49 PM Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc. With all due respect that is crap! Your bogeymen are.....
» 13/09/2011 11:10:05 AM Paul1405, As Poirot alludes, you can't get more mainstream than the golden arches and ideo.....
» 13/09/2011 10:44:17 AM Paul1405 you forgot 11. Liberal Rationalism.....
» 12/09/2011 8:10:53 PM cont.. for Western inequities and, ergo, the status quo: a system that promotes individual.....
» 12/09/2011 8:09:00 PM Catching up with my reading I note Christopher Hitchens had a piece in the Weekend Austral.....
» 11/09/2011 7:20:31 PM I don't know about the lurch to the right beginning with Howard, Hawke and Keating did the.....
» 11/09/2011 12:14:04 PM Oh dear : ( Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc, you are the one who invoked the Nazis--S.....
» 11/09/2011 9:02:44 AM I want to let it go here but Atheist Foundation keeps forcing me to respond. Clearly by ps.....
» 10/09/2011 9:40:11 PM You're a true leader, David--not a blush or hesitation, concession or backward step eh? An.....
» 10/09/2011 7:48:35 PM The atheist Pope's spin: <what an interesting thread. It’s reported that a bunch of ath.....
» 10/09/2011 3:51:47 PM Woot: <How do you describe the beauty in something to the person that cannot see it? I .....
» 9/09/2011 6:10:34 PM Great sermon, Woot! But alas like most sermons the rhetoric's a dead give-away--though I d.....
» 9/09/2011 5:08:21 PM Well if most of the atheists posting here are any guide, the movement's as pompously self-.....
» 8/09/2011 9:30:21 PM Ah Rodney, you're talking my neck of the woods, mate. I look up the dry hiway to Oakey fro.....
» 8/09/2011 7:28:44 PM Hi Peter, I love you too : ).....
» 8/09/2011 7:21:05 PM AJ Phillips, If I may come to Poirot's defence (quid pro quo), I don't think she's taking.....
» 8/09/2011 11:25:25 AM Ah my champion, Poirot! And they are the sorts of questions I've been driving at; what is .....
» 7/09/2011 10:02:40 PM Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc, your supercilious tone is hardly calculated to cajole.....
» 7/09/2011 12:44:17 PM Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc: <ideological conspiracies and dangers, abortion, a.....
» 7/09/2011 10:16:45 AM Ammonite, Utter tosh from beginning to end! You're like a petulant child and I can't be bo.....
» 7/09/2011 9:12:29 AM Ammonite: <I fear you are making gross inferences regarding my opinions> I haven't m.....
» 6/09/2011 8:09:28 PM woot, The link you provide utilises an exhausted parable (thus requiring pedantic overtone.....
» 6/09/2011 7:19:50 PM Ammonite, there is no poem! I was merely conceding that my post was "apparently".....
» 6/09/2011 2:49:04 PM Only tim to pop in to say that Fran Kelly described the think tank as "left leaning&q.....
» 6/09/2011 2:44:59 PM Ammonite, my innitial post on this thread was directed wholly at the initial post by Paul1.....
» 6/09/2011 8:58:17 AM Ammonite, I'm too busy to respond to some of the peurile nonsense on this thread, and espe.....
» 6/09/2011 8:39:24 AM I'm too snowed under with work to contribute, but just want to say I find Mollydukes' hoen.....
» 5/09/2011 3:03:34 PM Clearly you don't read poetry, Ammonite (not that I'm poetic, just cryptic, as all good po.....
» 5/09/2011 1:57:08 PM David, I'm surprised that with your intimidating handle,"Atheist Foundation of Austra.....
» 5/09/2011 11:34:58 AM Ammonite, I think you know I'm against all those things. My post above wasn't defending re.....
» 5/09/2011 10:53:33 AM All the bravura over this liberal-rationalist brand of atheism Dawkins and his mates espou.....
» 2/09/2011 6:07:02 PM The Labor Party should hang its collective head in shame--and I'm sure many members are--a.....
» 2/09/2011 9:45:54 AM Poirot and Mollydukes, that incapacity for empathy is also know as neoliberalism : ).....
» 1/09/2011 9:39:43 PM Mollydukes, I found your post inspiring, and Peter is just baying for the wolves. For him.....
» 1/09/2011 7:53:08 AM Perhaps my comment above seems critical of John Ton's article, but it was really facetious.....
» 31/08/2011 8:34:01 PM Jon, the problem with your rationale is that the free market has nothing to do with philos.....
» 28/08/2011 3:15:47 PM Pericles: <Generalizing about the morality of capitalism or the potential long-term iss.....
» 28/08/2011 8:57:47 AM Divergence, I certainly agree overpopulation is a massive problem and we should be taking .....
» 27/08/2011 4:13:30 PM Yabby, So you expect the third world to exercise restraint when it comes to procreation, b.....
» 27/08/2011 10:32:54 AM Yabby, the population explosion is a direct result of agricultural and industrial revoluti.....
» 27/08/2011 8:34:35 AM cont... In a closed and finite system that is fully exploited for profit, the available (.....
» 27/08/2011 8:33:55 AM It's ironic, Pericles, that you condemn your simultaneously "smug" and "gui.....
» 24/08/2011 6:51:59 PM Pericles, sorry for delays; my time is not my own. On the first point you haven't establis.....
» 24/08/2011 7:08:42 AM Pericles, I did think after posting that "pull the ladder up" was inappropriate,.....
» 22/08/2011 7:13:57 PM Being one of many, I'm sure, who admires Pericles' critiques, it's a disappointment findin.....
» 22/08/2011 9:23:46 AM One can listen to Julian Cribb's Science Show version of this article, which aired yesterd.....
» 19/08/2011 12:48:37 PM Vanna, I don't believe "It can now take 2 households to run a family". It's con.....
» 18/08/2011 6:50:04 AM Otokonoko, I appreciate your very fair-minded comments. As Ron Williams has said in the m.....
» 17/08/2011 8:09:49 PM At my kids' state school, sadly, the principle and most of the teachers she hires are Chri.....
» 17/08/2011 9:00:15 AM A good analysis, Jon. I would just add my incredulity that no one seems to question the &q.....
» 15/08/2011 9:18:55 AM Philo, you are an offensive and tiny-minded bigot. I object to "instruction" bec.....
» 14/08/2011 9:00:26 AM Philo, I don't see why you're confronting atheists with your age-old problem of theodicy......
» 14/08/2011 7:12:19 AM I'm a devotee of Radio National, and it is a little elitist rather than populist in its co.....
» 13/08/2011 1:14:29 PM Formersnag, the Catholics invented corruption and the melding of church and state. And the.....
» 13/08/2011 8:53:56 AM McReal, it's also worth pointing out to Formersnag that of the 74%, a great many identify.....
» 12/08/2011 5:28:24 PM Apart from the fact that chaplains most certainly are there to proselytise--the fact that .....
» 8/08/2011 9:02:08 AM Antiseptic, my only substantial first principle is humanism and all that that entails. It.....
» 6/08/2011 5:01:42 PM Col: <it is only because I am a little bored that I am bothering to respond to you in.....
» 6/08/2011 11:23:12 AM Col: <Imho that amounts to direct economic leveling ...> I don't think you're capab.....
» 5/08/2011 7:12:18 PM I agree with much of this article, though I'm unsure what the author is recommending. It's.....
» 4/08/2011 4:02:51 PM Antiseptic: "You seem to have worked yourself into rather a lather". A lather? .....
» 4/08/2011 10:43:04 AM Antiseptic, a philosophy of living in the moment is all well and good, and it's true that .....
» 4/08/2011 8:10:44 AM An excellent article grounded in reason--no wonder it has no impact on most of the cohort .....
» 1/08/2011 8:21:46 PM I think your take on Houellebecq and one or two others is spot on, Poirot; nothing but emp.....
» 1/08/2011 9:17:18 AM < for all his cleverness, seems to be devoid of a "moderation" gene.....and t.....
» 31/07/2011 12:30:46 PM I'm barely at home to post lately, but have enjoyed your comments and links, Poirot, espec.....
» 31/07/2011 9:19:50 AM Kerryanne: <They are most certainly NOT part of our society... > I never said anyth.....
» 31/07/2011 8:26:31 AM Kerryanne, the filthy-rich Muslims are part of the same system as ours. I don't see their.....
» 30/07/2011 10:29:49 PM I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty. I'm alluding to the fact that we live in a glob.....
» 30/07/2011 5:53:57 PM Lexi, I agree with your sentiments, but there are a lot more items you might have included.....
» 29/07/2011 8:43:17 PM Hasbeen: <Squeers, I am so glad I don't inhabit your world. It must be a thoroughly awf.....
» 29/07/2011 6:13:58 PM Is Graham Young and OLO being paid a commission for this long investment advertisement (in.....
» 27/07/2011 7:46:25 AM Beelzebub, I agree with you more or less and am myself consciously thumbing my nose at co.....
» 22/07/2011 5:51:16 PM But our ideas of the kind of change needed are antagonistic, ALL. You want pure capitalism.....
» 22/07/2011 4:15:44 PM The Greens are confronted both by a complacently affluent democracy and the hard reality t.....
» 22/07/2011 9:44:30 AM ALL: <Slightly confused Egalitarianisms of No standards and no concept of anything and .....
» 20/07/2011 11:37:27 AM OUG: <ya just gotta love the reset death gives us all> I agree OUG, death gets a lo.....
» 18/07/2011 5:59:22 PM rstuart, thanks for the excellent youtube link, which is very good and shouldn't be despi.....
» 18/07/2011 4:09:35 PM All, while I agree with you in some particulars, I see free market ideology as nothing mo.....
» 18/07/2011 9:41:20 AM There's no hope of revolution, imo, only economic and social collapse. The current system .....
» 17/07/2011 11:57:05 AM Poirot: <Precisely!....and that is what you [Yuyutsu] have presented to us - merely &qu.....
» 16/07/2011 6:58:56 PM Lexi, I think your last is very well and fairly put, and I expect we can all agree on it......
» 16/07/2011 8:11:28 AM crabsy et al, I was treating "symbol" and "sign" as synonymous, indic.....
» 14/07/2011 5:30:06 PM Sorry, here's the link to Derrida: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction.....
» 14/07/2011 5:28:35 PM I would begin by saying that I'm personally not convinced that "We are culturally con.....
» 14/07/2011 12:00:05 PM I can't resist. OUG, you miss the point. Poirot's point, I think, is that symbols (languag.....
» 12/07/2011 7:48:46 PM Thanks for the compliment, Lexi, but I think my contributions are mostly out of place here.....
» 12/07/2011 7:05:00 PM Oh good grief! When gurus start to wax lyrical with their pious platitudes like this, it's.....
» 12/07/2011 6:55:36 AM Yuyutsu: <"in our system" I was, perhaps wrongly, under the impression that.....
» 11/07/2011 8:37:57 PM Yuyutsu: "There is nothing wrong in being blessed by being born into, or by otherwis.....
» 11/07/2011 5:23:40 PM Yuyutsu: <Asceticism does not happen overnight. We need to begin where we are and yes,.....
» 11/07/2011 8:51:13 AM Crabsy, with reference to your post of Saturday, 9 July 2011 12:41:26 PM, and apologies f.....
» 10/07/2011 9:17:53 PM Thanks bonmot, your one poster I've hoped to get a response from on this issue--which I've.....
» 10/07/2011 4:25:04 PM Saltpetre, sorry so slow responding. I've had no computer--and been rather busy besides. .....
» 8/07/2011 9:05:01 PM Mark (I'm Mark also), it may transpire that global warming was poorly or incompletely unde.....
» 8/07/2011 6:04:50 PM Pericles, thanks for your amusing riff on gluten. I've just finished making a baker's cup.....
» 8/07/2011 11:25:52 AM Curmudgeon, my basic point is that the growth paradigm is incongruous with any agenda for.....
» 8/07/2011 8:47:08 AM "Religion" is a large category, but I take it to mean an institutionalised set o.....
» 7/07/2011 7:06:05 PM Curmudgeon <There is simply no hope of concerted, effective international action, and n.....
» 5/07/2011 9:10:21 PM Poirot, I loved your comic rejoinder and heaven't read anything since on this thread, by .....
» 3/07/2011 10:47:33 AM JamesH, I just mean it's still a patriarchal society, despite modern concessions to women.....
» 2/07/2011 6:28:22 PM I must admit I'm torn between siding with the men (I don't buy the propaganda that the wom.....
» 1/07/2011 5:22:55 PM It's refreshing to read some raw criticism of Australia's blokey culture from a bloke, and.....
» 1/07/2011 8:28:34 AM Col, I agree that capitalism is the best system "so far tried", and I don't defe.....
» 30/06/2011 6:29:11 PM RObert: <Squuers interesting observations. I've yet to see any real justification thoug.....
» 30/06/2011 5:29:30 PM Correction; instead of <So, get rid of fiat inflation (which forces us to live within o.....
» 30/06/2011 4:49:37 PM ALL, thanks for link. I don't disagree with its main thrust; that fiat inflation is at th.....
» 30/06/2011 2:43:44 PM imajulianutter: <Can you explain the current extremely cold winter?> As Squeers sa.....
» 29/06/2011 8:20:22 PM Apologies, Poirot, for not acknowledging your important point above. Women have been conne.....
» 29/06/2011 6:27:46 PM Since feminism did, as I say, balk at fomenting genuine and desperately needed reforms, an.....
» 29/06/2011 3:47:10 PM imajulianutter, everything I said about Diogenes is valid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Di.....
» 29/06/2011 8:05:48 AM imajulianutter, sorry about the misspelling above; it should have been "minimifidian.....
» 28/06/2011 6:19:13 PM imajulianutter, it's not really worth the bother, but to require global warming to follow.....
» 28/06/2011 5:06:48 PM Chris Lewis: <it would be naive to suggest that an authoritarian nation will give the s.....
» 28/06/2011 10:16:23 AM The trouble with feminism is that apart from a few radicals it hasn't gone nearly far enou.....
» 28/06/2011 8:39:36 AM John Pilger often gets short shrift from the conservative cohort of OLO (and beyond) who d.....
» 27/06/2011 11:24:39 AM Ammonite, I wasn't contradicting anything you said and I can see that cards can mean a lo.....
» 27/06/2011 9:53:15 AM There may have been a time in some families and cultures when gift-giving was performed wi.....
» 24/06/2011 1:31:20 PM Boyelsy: "What is at issue here is not the survival of the human race, but the survi.....
» 16/06/2011 9:58:05 AM Boylesy, my modest proposal, like Swift's, is tongue in cheek. Though if it came to that, .....
» 16/06/2011 9:33:44 AM Ah, you're always good value, Houellebecq--even more entertaining than Col, in my book. Ya.....
» 16/06/2011 7:27:43 AM I agree in principle with Mr Windy's idea. My own modest proposal on another thread was th.....
» 15/06/2011 5:40:34 PM [Deleted for abuse.].....
» 14/06/2011 7:36:07 PM In answer to Pericles and hangers on. None of us are in a position to act individually. To.....
» 14/06/2011 2:17:50 PM Banjo P: "Teleology may come and go, but, for the time being, I am not convinced&quo.....
» 13/06/2011 6:16:00 PM No I don't want to plant a tree, an empty gesture, or sign a petition which says "I o.....
» 13/06/2011 12:41:41 PM Poirot, absolutely. I enjoyed your thoughts above and agree with them, as usual. Hope I di.....
» 13/06/2011 11:34:24 AM I agree with much of what the author says, though it can also be seen as rationalisation f.....
» 13/06/2011 10:06:54 AM Banjo P, I realise I'm opening a can of worms invoking teleology, even exposing myself to .....
» 13/06/2011 9:01:51 AM Poirot, I don't think it's just the fault of capitalism. I doubt the world has "ever&.....
» 12/06/2011 11:39:22 AM Ammonite, I should have said the "scientific spokespersons" (like bloody Flanner.....
» 12/06/2011 10:54:50 AM KAEP, I'm blowed if I know why you just beat up on Labor when the major parties, and even .....
» 12/06/2011 9:33:12 AM Banjo P. & Poirot, sorry I've been slow and unresponsive. I'm fascinated with this topic .....
» 10/06/2011 6:43:56 PM I agree, Poirot, but wasn't sure how to put it. I'm inclined to agree that individuality i.....
» 10/06/2011 6:08:28 PM Ted Trainer's manna from heaven for me. It goes against the grain for me to agree with any.....
» 9/06/2011 6:12:09 PM Houellebecq, your point does make sense; there is an intuitive logic, which we don't ques.....
» 9/06/2011 5:22:41 PM A good article, though "The alternative bears no contemplation" is a bit naive. .....
» 9/06/2011 2:31:24 PM Curmudgeon, my post wasn't abusive; I choose words for their precision and used the word i.....
» 9/06/2011 11:34:00 AM Houellebecq, the article has done the rounds then--I suspect modern versions of slavery ar.....
» 9/06/2011 9:50:12 AM Banjo Paterson, I can empathise with your sense that the years ahead are few ... My view.....
» 9/06/2011 8:33:30 AM Apologies for that, csteele. I hadn't read the link you provided but just found the articl.....
» 9/06/2011 7:39:31 AM csteele, it seems the mania for locking up its citizens in the US is defensible after all.....
» 8/06/2011 6:29:15 PM Mark Lawson's article is intellectual mutton dressed up as lamb--he puts himself forward a.....
» 8/06/2011 7:49:15 AM csteele, I didn't mean to suggest above that Australia's incarceration rate was comparabl.....
» 8/06/2011 6:38:36 AM Yes, 'tis hard to think Ophelia won't agree to some kind of compensation (although her nam.....
» 7/06/2011 1:48:52 PM Csteele and Ammonite, I am conscious that I'm hard on the US and it's certainly true that .....
» 7/06/2011 9:00:46 AM One of the best articles I've read in ages! More a Shakespearean "History" thou.....
» 6/06/2011 6:07:21 PM It's incongruous that a country like the US that takes freedom to the nth degree--even to .....
» 6/06/2011 1:09:23 PM Saltpetre, I have to agree with Pericles' comments; those posts were definitely "ugh.....
» 3/06/2011 9:43:42 AM Houellebecq, Only time for a quick response, but look I agree and that's a common-sense a.....
» 2/06/2011 5:00:33 PM RObert and Lexi, I said above, <let's try George W and his cronies, and Hicks, in the .....
» 2/06/2011 7:50:00 AM Dan S de Merengue, I hadn't heard of Adler or his proposal but it certainly seems an impr.....
» 1/06/2011 7:04:27 PM Saltpetre, Your innocent criticism makes me smile : ) Poirot, great quote! ..And no tak.....
» 1/06/2011 6:22:41 PM I would advocate an immediate investigation into Hicks's allegedly providing material supp.....
» 31/05/2011 5:15:29 PM Saltpetre, Your 1,2,3 responses above are naive to say the least. Don't you think you oug.....
» 30/05/2011 5:53:07 PM Peter, by capital I mean that which is invested and reinvested, ad nauseam, in hopes of pe.....
» 30/05/2011 12:00:52 PM Ammonite, I agree. Salpetre, I absolutely disagree. Philosophy should be taught alongside.....
» 30/05/2011 7:43:22 AM Ugg clearly has nothing of worth to offer in refutation of Squeers's modest appraisal of t.....
» 29/05/2011 7:46:14 PM Pericles, the link I gave above allows limited reading of the text, hopefully you can acce.....
» 29/05/2011 3:10:38 PM I really enjoyed that, Peter, especially the first and last paragraphs--honestly, laugh ou.....
» 29/05/2011 10:29:50 AM Ogg: "As a putative expert, a list of his/her refereed papers in this difficult area.....
» 29/05/2011 8:13:57 AM It's amazing how this thread has evolved and mutated. While I'm in favour of purging State.....
» 28/05/2011 10:07:50 AM Dan S de Merengue: "Either the properties of matter and energy are enough to account .....
» 28/05/2011 7:44:56 AM Saltpetre: "...From there I feel you only descended further into unwarranted and pur.....
» 27/05/2011 6:16:16 PM "And what pray tell is God's rule? Which in your words "... are patently means o.....
» 27/05/2011 1:51:21 PM According to the gospels, Jesus was a political radical rather than a "Messiah" .....
» 27/05/2011 9:55:11 AM An Excellent critique of superficial campaigns like the one the author focuses on. The tro.....
» 27/05/2011 8:11:59 AM Otokonoko, I have several problems with this carrot and stick dogma, ostensibly professed.....
» 26/05/2011 7:45:54 AM Saltpetre: "Squeers, I think your "sophistry" comment (soft-pillowed), and.....
» 25/05/2011 7:44:17 PM I fail to see why the author thinks this kind of elitist plugging for a mate has any relev.....
» 25/05/2011 5:10:35 PM Peter Sellick, I found that an elegant piece theology (though if I was uncharitable, I mi.....
» 25/05/2011 8:23:03 AM wallumi, I thought judging by your posts here that you might like the article. It contain.....
» 24/05/2011 8:15:24 PM bully, I have no direct experience of abstudy or indigenous units so can't comment, and I.....
» 24/05/2011 6:21:47 PM Ooh you are sensitive, Joe. Again I'm only criticising the system and as I said not singli.....
» 24/05/2011 5:01:03 PM I hate to dampen your spirits on the university front, Joe, and I'm not singling out indig.....
» 24/05/2011 2:07:48 PM Saltpetre, thanks for your comments. I have to admit I wasn't proud of giving Cheryl a se.....
» 24/05/2011 3:40:50 AM That's interesting, Trav: "you, however, are equating being a "thinker" wit.....
» 23/05/2011 6:13:57 PM Saltpetre, take-two of response to your post of Sunday, 22 May 2011 7:01:16 PM. You say, .....
» 23/05/2011 5:29:23 PM Trav, Also, I never had the words available to say so above, but I'd be glad to know your.....
» 23/05/2011 3:07:30 PM Saltpetre, bloody hell! Can you run that by me again in one or two clear sentences please.....
» 23/05/2011 9:06:12 AM Trav: "to suggest that one couldn't "Believe in the Biblical God" whilst s.....
» 22/05/2011 8:09:51 PM Saltpetre, I felt like apologising to you for apparent plagiarism after I posted my bille.....
» 22/05/2011 5:42:05 PM Trav, I think it's entirely relevant to your belief, and to your thinking, that you inter.....
» 22/05/2011 2:51:56 PM Cheryl, congratualations on being one of the most arrogant, offensive and reductionist pos.....
» 22/05/2011 8:55:44 AM wallumi, I agree with the things you've been saying. In case you missed it, can I direct .....
» 21/05/2011 7:28:49 PM Thanks Trav, but when you say, "where is the conflict in accepting that the Bible is,.....
» 21/05/2011 5:46:57 PM Joe: "So can we come to an agreement that we will never again - unless it's impossib.....
» 21/05/2011 5:28:40 PM MattWright, I respect your expertise in this area, but the article isn't only about energ.....
» 21/05/2011 4:53:04 PM MattWright, It's encouraging that there's so much potential for renewable energy, but the.....
» 21/05/2011 9:48:12 AM Joe, that's bloody rich! You accusing Poirot of twisting "your" words! My full .....
» 21/05/2011 8:04:09 AM Yabby, if you look at some of the material in this article's links, those questions are a.....
» 21/05/2011 7:13:57 AM Peter Hume, <Looks like the usual anti-freedom, anti-human parrots are out in a verita.....
» 21/05/2011 6:53:10 AM Hi Jewely, I'd used my four posts here when I had the chance to reply yesterday. None of m.....
» 20/05/2011 6:07:19 PM Just putting this link here for its relevance: http://ssis.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/D79.WhyAnz.....
» 20/05/2011 5:47:16 PM Thanks Ted Trainer, finally someone out there who speaks my language! I shall read your li.....
» 20/05/2011 5:01:58 PM I don't know anything about this new party, Aime, but I'm inclined to agree with Cheryl's .....
» 20/05/2011 3:45:22 PM csteele, If I may, I agree entirely with your last comment. I even think that something of.....
» 20/05/2011 1:24:05 PM I agree with the other posters but the situation looks hopeless; we can go on and on lamen.....
» 20/05/2011 12:05:09 PM You are a disappointment, Joe. The Stolen Generation certainly is contested, which means .....
» 20/05/2011 7:38:32 AM Joe, Unfortunately, I don't have time to research the Stolen Generations, but I reckon th.....
» 20/05/2011 4:09:41 AM Trav, I've instigated no "sly transitions in terms", but tried to be faithful t.....
» 19/05/2011 8:16:17 PM Trav: "You love evidence, that's "evident" from your posts. Yet, you haven'.....
» 19/05/2011 5:45:31 PM "I detest the suggestion that thinking people cannot be devout believers". Well .....
» 19/05/2011 5:11:27 PM "God the Lover"? ...I hope she's a 25 year old blonde nymphomaniac! It's not h.....
» 19/05/2011 10:53:59 AM ...cont. Sure things are sweet in universities, and even in later careers for successful .....
» 19/05/2011 10:51:22 AM ...cont. I think, if I read you right, your trying to encourage the growth of self-respec.....
» 19/05/2011 10:50:05 AM Loudmouth: "When and where ? One example. And 'beyond' ? The seventies ? When and whe.....
» 18/05/2011 4:45:25 PM <<“Where does one start ? This article is so much Crap that it seems pointless to tr.....
» 18/05/2011 8:34:31 AM csteel, Am I really that poor a communicator that you fail completely to grasp what I'm sa.....
» 18/05/2011 8:23:35 AM I agree that the ignorant extremists on both sides should shut up, that is both minimifidi.....
» 17/05/2011 7:31:21 PM I commend Pilger for telling it like it is--especially since he is saying precisely what I.....
» 17/05/2011 5:11:39 AM csteele, perhaps I did overreact a bit, or at least I accept your distinction between act.....
» 16/05/2011 8:49:36 PM csteele, so my disenchantment is akin to that of Arab dictatorships? Oh well, that's the .....
» 16/05/2011 7:33:37 PM Oh dear, Dianna, yet another minion of the State. Though you think you're taking a maveri.....
» 16/05/2011 6:03:51 PM Pelican, I don't know yuyutsu either but I have debated him at length on this topic and am.....
» 16/05/2011 10:46:43 AM I should have added that I find people who claim to "know" not merely objectiona.....
» 16/05/2011 10:41:01 AM But Pelican, Yuyutsu is not "weaving" a belief system, he is telling us how it i.....
» 16/05/2011 9:20:09 AM Poirot, I wish you'd stay on topic, this thread is about a clash of ideologies and vilify.....
» 16/05/2011 7:21:47 AM Oh dear, Pericles, we are undone! Saltpetre has divined that we are one and the same---eac.....
» 15/05/2011 3:15:17 PM Keith, perhaps I can prevail upon you to suspend your "common sense" for an hour.....
» 15/05/2011 10:36:15 AM SPQR, I do the only thing I can do in our homogeneously conservative political spectrum; I.....
» 15/05/2011 8:45:33 AM Keith: "Jones et al. They are mostly daytime radio shockjocks and few people listen .....
» 14/05/2011 7:00:00 PM A fascinating analysis, Keith. Of course Alan Jones and the other shock jocks are all Labo.....
» 14/05/2011 6:40:25 AM Dan S de Merengue, I have to hand it to you, your disquisition on the fate of the trilobi.....
» 13/05/2011 5:09:05 PM I disagree that it's the fault of the media, they're just as much in a populist bind as th.....
» 13/05/2011 7:42:06 AM csteele: "So when you say “The trouble is that democracies are no longer radical and.....
» 12/05/2011 6:57:25 PM csteele, I'm envious of the adventurous lifestyles you and davidf seem to enjoy. I've only.....
» 12/05/2011 8:34:16 AM Last night I watched the new film "Agora", all about the rise and barbarism of C.....
» 11/05/2011 4:33:59 PM Sorry, the implication above being all hail Herodotus over Thucydides--they're often compa.....
» 11/05/2011 3:56:57 PM spindoc, that is arrant nonsense, and offensive in as much as you impute any of it to me. .....
» 11/05/2011 3:09:22 PM Absolutely, Lexi. That also goes for biographers. All hail Herodotus!.....
» 11/05/2011 12:46:10 PM Grim: "If your religion or your spirituality or your life philosophy doesn't promote .....
» 10/05/2011 8:16:44 PM Saltpetre, I'm glad we're in tune. Spindoc: "Are we not entitled to develop in every.....
» 10/05/2011 2:40:29 PM spindoc (or Matt if you can spare a minute from your schedule) May I ask what we are &quo.....
» 10/05/2011 9:17:24 AM Correction; my last line above should begin "We don't need optimism for its own sake......
» 10/05/2011 9:13:34 AM I find Matt Ridley's optimism and liberal-rationalist perspective disturbing. It's not onl.....
» 9/05/2011 4:41:09 PM csteele, I'm not labelling Bin-Laden as 'murdered', I said 'revenge killing'. I do unders.....
» 9/05/2011 9:54:39 AM The United Nations is a talk-fest contradicted by the reality of human impacts that procee.....
» 9/05/2011 7:31:48 AM csteele, no offence taken. "Unthinking zealots" is a strong phrase but I don't .....
» 8/05/2011 3:28:19 PM Peter Hume, I think your synopsis of my posts is exaggerated and unfair; I responded to yo.....
» 8/05/2011 10:13:11 AM Yes, welcome back Lexi, and happy mother's day to all the mums......
» 8/05/2011 7:19:07 AM I'm also opposed to a carbon tax, because it's a means by which to maintain the direct cau.....
» 8/05/2011 4:48:55 AM "19th century use of whale oil to light our homes was not sustainable. Does that mean.....
» 8/05/2011 4:41:19 AM Peter Hume: "how do you know that the population couldn’t increase by, say, 10 or 100.....
» 7/05/2011 5:54:49 PM Peter Hume, apologies for not responding to your fallow thread; I honestly missed it as a.....
» 7/05/2011 5:46:42 PM McReal, I never read all the contributions above and was not intending to contradict you......
» 7/05/2011 3:49:48 PM Rebecca6, welcome to OLO. I also have six kids, four so far currently going through the s.....
» 7/05/2011 2:46:15 PM Peter Hume, Prefatory to answering it I’ll just say, I’m motivated to agitate in the way t.....
» 7/05/2011 8:01:40 AM csteele, I'm sceptical that guilt is the inhibiting or insulating factor exercised when it.....
» 6/05/2011 5:31:47 PM I thought you'd be on your homeward commute by now, Houellebecq? Or perhaps you're stuck i.....
» 6/05/2011 5:02:51 PM I'm not in favour of building a western ark! I just don't believe there are not heavily fi.....
» 6/05/2011 3:52:31 PM Houellebecq, I'm well aware of the implications of what I'm recommending, but I'm just tr.....
» 6/05/2011 2:38:08 PM I've done some research on globalisation lately and there are a spate of books offering th.....
» 6/05/2011 12:06:26 PM csteele: It seems to me the explanation for the discrepancies you illustrate are based on.....
» 5/05/2011 8:28:37 PM davidf, you are the one who keeps invoking Marx, so as to summarily consign him to the fla.....
» 5/05/2011 6:59:34 PM davidf, despite your preference, modern western capitalism is by definition not oligarchic.....
» 5/05/2011 1:09:31 PM csteele, yes, I agree completely. But shifting hegemonic ideology has proved difficult to.....
» 5/05/2011 9:43:58 AM Poirot, I agree that we can't and shouldn't separate people from their ideas, but Marx's i.....
» 5/05/2011 7:44:46 AM csteele, the world has changed in 100 years. ANZAC Day is part of a boom industry that inc.....
» 5/05/2011 7:02:26 AM The author of the article set the tone......
» 4/05/2011 8:27:05 PM I can only add my voice to those above. I don't know any "militant" atheists, or.....
» 4/05/2011 7:25:55 PM OUG, Marx was a philosopher-sociologist-political economist who offered a compelling criti.....
» 4/05/2011 3:57:40 PM OUG: "we can all agree marx and lennon and hitler pol pot/idi amin/and obami bin lar.....
» 4/05/2011 11:05:26 AM davidf, I apologise for giving offence. I was rather blunt. I agree that it seems futile a.....
» 3/05/2011 6:04:19 PM Mark Diesendorf could have made a much more compelling argument about the viability of sus.....
» 3/05/2011 3:06:16 PM You're a shrewd observer, Poirot and quite correct, indeed we all anticipate responses whe.....
» 3/05/2011 1:41:38 PM davidf, given that Marx and Marxism have been victim to a decades-long ideological campaig.....
» 3/05/2011 9:57:53 AM davidf, I didn't address your other calumnies above because I've done so before. Marx was.....
» 3/05/2011 9:51:35 AM Poirot, great quote! davidf, Try to understand that Marxism is an intellectual tradition,.....
» 3/05/2011 7:27:10 AM davidf: "I don’t think my view is bleak at all. I see more hope in living in the pres.....
» 2/05/2011 5:28:55 PM Rather bleak, davidf. But spare some compassion for rationalism, secularism, objectivity .....
» 1/05/2011 11:21:40 AM sorry, above I meant to finish with "which today are all subject to competition for w.....
» 1/05/2011 10:46:12 AM I also think competition is desirable and even healthy in the right circumstances, prefera.....
» 28/04/2011 6:53:28 PM True enough David. Human history is replete with one form of domination or another over t.....
» 28/04/2011 4:20:49 PM davidf, the situation seems hopeless. Looking at it objectively, indeed indifferently, you.....
» 26/04/2011 9:10:54 PM Sorry forgot the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwhD10lYGVE.....
» 26/04/2011 9:06:21 PM Shockadelic: "War requires strategy and tactics, something that requires clear thinki.....
» 26/04/2011 5:34:58 PM Philo: "Patriotism is fighting for thr things one loves and values". Sounds sub.....
» 25/04/2011 7:22:00 PM Saltpetre, sanctimonious tripe. Go to the shopping mall, the footy, the beach, the pub or .....
» 25/04/2011 5:30:55 PM It's bad enough that we're expected to doff our caps at the sanctimonious crap preferred b.....
» 23/04/2011 6:16:33 PM dempografix, thanks form all the stats, it's a great niche but I've always thought statis.....
» 22/04/2011 9:34:23 PM Well thanks for the indulgence, Pericles, you are a stubborn sod. But lest we come across .....
» 22/04/2011 7:08:01 PM Yabby, You're quite right, virtual commodities and communication technology, for instance,.....
» 22/04/2011 11:53:16 AM Cheryl, due I fear to some dreadful offence Pericles inferred some time since, it appears.....
» 21/04/2011 9:13:01 PM tet, productivity and capital require expanding markets; zero growth at home just means ex.....
» 21/04/2011 8:09:15 PM But what about economic growth, Yabby?.....
» 21/04/2011 6:44:10 PM Pericles, I'm a Londoner by birth and have lived in big cities most of my life and can re.....
» 21/04/2011 1:46:19 PM I agree with your sentiments, Polly Flinders--fine words. But the reality is the world is .....
» 21/04/2011 1:29:07 PM A timely article as "institutional" Christianity is under the spotlight like nev.....
» 20/04/2011 7:08:19 PM Mr Windy, welcome to OLO, you're a breath of fresh air in a mostly fetid environment. You .....
» 20/04/2011 1:37:05 PM Thanks for your endorsement Ammonite. Apropos of your comment, while capitalism is notori.....
» 20/04/2011 8:38:29 AM While I sympathise with the author's position, that "The pursuitof endless growth is .....
» 19/04/2011 6:02:15 PM Even if there are generational dole bludgers, good on em. Who decided that the purpose of .....
» 19/04/2011 8:18:30 AM I haven't read Bageant's books but I've heard a few interviews with him on RN: http://www......
» 17/04/2011 9:07:18 PM Divergence, the interwar period is fascinating. If you read Hobsbawm's "Age of Extrem.....
» 17/04/2011 5:23:53 PM King Hazza, There’s nothing in your post that contradicts anything I said, though neither .....
» 17/04/2011 9:52:25 AM KAEP, It's not a "Labor" plot (though granted popular Labor and Liberal in Austr.....
» 17/04/2011 9:50:30 AM King Hazza, I support stable and even diminishing populations, and I certainly don't see .....
» 16/04/2011 7:39:55 PM Divergence, I agree with you completely apropos the powers that be: "population growt.....
» 16/04/2011 6:28:57 PM The brother who was on subs hated it (being 6'3 on subs is bad for the back) and got back .....
» 16/04/2011 5:57:35 PM "I well remember 'boasts' of over 500 case.." that should have read......
» 16/04/2011 5:42:18 PM Dalma, steady on, you're bringing our brave young fighting men and women into disrepute. W.....
» 16/04/2011 5:01:51 PM Ross Elliott is a realist. According to our economic reality he's quite right, we do need .....
» 15/04/2011 7:51:55 PM Thanks Chris but no--I'm sorry. If there's one thing I should have learnt by now here it's.....
» 15/04/2011 7:26:04 PM Chris, It irks me that you summarily disparage theory, as if practice was remote from it, .....
» 15/04/2011 5:49:14 PM That's what makes you good value, Houellebecq, there is a vein of canny conservative wisdo.....
» 15/04/2011 5:37:16 PM Peter Hume, I'd have thought that if economics sets itself up as a "science" it .....
» 15/04/2011 4:55:27 PM The really funny part, the delicious irony, is that the conservative nitwits are convinced.....
» 15/04/2011 4:50:04 PM As I say, I'm pessimistic, but there are optimists out there, even females who can see pas.....
» 15/04/2011 3:00:35 PM Yabby: "The thing is Squeers, IMHO you are on little but a feelgood exercise, which .....
» 15/04/2011 10:02:46 AM I also love Poirot's revision of Descartes' cogito ergo sum, and you brought a tear to my .....
» 15/04/2011 8:47:20 AM Individual: "The Carbon tax is taxation of the rich and powerful to fund the poor to .....
» 15/04/2011 6:55:30 AM Of course now Gillard has announced her own get tough on bludgers campaign in an effort to.....
» 15/04/2011 6:46:59 AM Great quote, Poirot. Individual, do you seriously blame "this" government? So t.....
» 14/04/2011 7:36:17 PM On the contrary, Peter. This is a fair assessment of liberalism. What part do you disagree.....
» 14/04/2011 3:20:43 PM Thanks for the responses everyone, and I'm glad most of you seem to agree with me, more or.....
» 14/04/2011 11:47:16 AM Chris, allow me to come to your aid with a definition of "neoliberalism", or &q.....
» 13/04/2011 9:16:34 PM Well you might be right, Lexi. The older I get the less certain I am of anything :).....
» 13/04/2011 8:13:45 PM Lexi, you were right in your second-last post, it had me cringing. But I forgave you. Your.....
» 13/04/2011 7:18:55 PM Why is the government taxing carbon without simultaneously discouraging consumption? Why d.....
» 13/04/2011 10:53:40 AM Ammonite, you're all far too witty for me to join in (anyway I prefer one on one--with th.....
» 13/04/2011 9:07:01 AM Individual, I'm a left wing male that wants women.. but I'm more attracted to left wing m.....
» 12/04/2011 6:26:45 PM Peter Hume: "What is "neoliberalism", pray?" Well Peter, you set me a.....
» 12/04/2011 3:51:42 PM Houellebecq: "Woops sorry squeers, I always thought you were gay. Not that there's.....
» 12/04/2011 1:40:37 PM I'm really stumped with this one because in my experience stereotypes really are vacuous; .....
» 11/04/2011 5:56:02 PM Having done a short stint in the army I can attest that Forrest Gumpp is quite correct, mi.....
» 11/04/2011 5:57:30 AM Bugsy, I do like the one big happy family idea, I just don't believe there's any evidence .....
» 10/04/2011 6:11:11 PM Bugsy, if Flannery had an ounce of credibility he'd be denouncing the engine of globalisat.....
» 10/04/2011 11:52:49 AM Forrest Gumpp, before you tear me to bits, on a re-read I've just noted your "dalek-t.....
» 10/04/2011 8:46:07 AM I agree that Flannery is talking bilge. But I'm more shocked by Forrest Gumpp. Having lon.....
» 10/04/2011 7:14:24 AM Peter Hume, I don't know how to respond to you other than to say that your latest efforts .....
» 10/04/2011 6:00:21 AM SPQR, your links establish nothing.. What's your point? There's nothing novel about succes.....
» 9/04/2011 6:30:26 PM SPQR: "The damage arises from having too many people". Thanks AGIR, we agree. H.....
» 8/04/2011 7:56:48 PM Naomi Anderson, judging by this you're just another dreary drudge of the system, devoid of.....
» 8/04/2011 4:25:51 PM ozideas, I think you need to think more about the implications of what I said. I'm not gi.....
» 8/04/2011 1:35:46 PM Lexi, I have absolute faith that Australian voters will continue to get it wrong......
» 8/04/2011 1:19:59 PM Valerie, clearly you're angry, and I don't blame you, so am I. But I agree with Ludwig, a.....
» 7/04/2011 7:01:26 PM Peter Hume I can’t believe that you want things spelled out. It’s horses for courses. Obvi.....
» 7/04/2011 5:25:29 PM I know what you mean, Belly. I feel my opinions with deep conviction too. I s'pose all one.....
» 7/04/2011 2:05:48 PM Perhaps afternoon naps would be ok if we used them for spiritual contemplation.. The grea.....
» 6/04/2011 7:00:26 PM Peter Hume, your last two posts, according to form, are unrepresentative swill, that is th.....
» 6/04/2011 6:24:36 PM I've been hammering on for ages on OLO about the direct link between economic growth and o.....
» 5/04/2011 1:48:32 PM Peter Hume, you misrepresent everything I say. Like it or not there is ultimately no real.....
» 5/04/2011 11:44:46 AM Amicus, your comments amply demonstrate that you have no concept of life outside this syst.....
» 5/04/2011 1:40:04 AM I agree with Poirot about our response to what is a new paradigm already. It amazes me tha.....
» 4/04/2011 5:40:26 PM Houellebecq, you're a wit among dunces and a dunce among wits. Being a dunce myself, howev.....
» 4/04/2011 3:09:23 PM Peter Hume, you are prejudiced against anything I say, so really no point.. however the su.....
» 2/04/2011 6:12:33 PM Dave Frampton, very nicely expressed, and our socially conditioned biases ought to give u.....
» 1/04/2011 5:38:30 PM Peter Hume, I agree with your post except in that you place "your" faith in the .....
» 1/04/2011 5:11:04 PM From the view point of the government, which is the publicity wing of real "economic&.....
» 30/03/2011 6:35:55 PM In my experience good teachers are rare, though I blame the education system more than I b.....
» 29/03/2011 8:27:56 AM Unfortunately, I haven't had time to contribute here, but have enjoyed reading it. I confe.....
» 26/03/2011 11:47:22 AM Yabby, it may suit your purposes to label me a dreamer, but I most certainly am not. Perha.....
» 26/03/2011 7:44:02 AM Forgive "me", Yabby, but I believe I have a more up to date understanding of the.....
» 25/03/2011 9:17:58 PM Yabby, I don't think I said anything about tabula raza, did I? The brain also has a remark.....
» 25/03/2011 8:51:00 PM Though I acknowledge instinctual or primordial motivations, I dislike and disagree with th.....
» 25/03/2011 7:06:33 AM That's a fascinating question, Poirot. I wish I knew the answer. Human beings uniquely man.....
» 24/03/2011 7:13:24 PM Well what a revolting article, worthy of the oleaginous Obadiah Slope, who was also wont t.....
» 23/03/2011 8:35:50 PM Peter Hume: <You seem to be missing the point that the purpose of human action in gener.....
» 23/03/2011 6:53:58 PM Peter Hume, You often impress me mightily with the cutting edge of your thinking, but you'.....
» 23/03/2011 5:15:04 PM I don't believe in a carbon tax because it's only an encouragement, aimed ultimately at ma.....
» 23/03/2011 1:37:31 PM Thanks Pelican, I'm not sure what else to make of Peter's demand that I identify a particu.....
» 22/03/2011 7:26:10 AM Peter Hume, just to clarify, your potted version of what you take to be my position (Monda.....
» 21/03/2011 7:57:28 PM Gee, that was devastating, Pete.. ..You got anything else...... ?.....
» 21/03/2011 6:36:14 PM I forgot to mention; just as free market ideology gave the world the Great Depression, the.....
» 21/03/2011 5:11:37 PM Apropos my first post, above; what most of the pundits, and even fundamentalists like Pete.....
» 20/03/2011 1:57:48 PM Peter Hume, congratulations on your new person(non grata) "Jefferson", though I .....
» 20/03/2011 10:11:00 AM Peter Hume and Jefferson, I don't see why I should respond to a couple of misrepresentati.....
» 19/03/2011 4:49:38 PM Pericles" <It is extremely rare for a project involving unoccupied land, whether f.....
» 17/03/2011 6:11:28 PM Curmudgeon, I don't pretend to have said anything rigorous above, more in the nature of in.....
» 17/03/2011 9:11:44 AM Yesterday I saw a presentation about educational innovations in Thailand and Burma. A teac.....
» 17/03/2011 8:28:19 AM The idea of orchestrated social action is nonsense because this particular "wicked pr.....
» 16/03/2011 9:11:03 PM I don't see that Howard/Gillard and Keating/Rudd were/are much different from each other. .....
» 16/03/2011 7:14:23 AM I'm sure Houellebecq is right, Poirot, about the bogan audience I mean; they're a shrewd l.....
» 15/03/2011 8:22:30 AM Fine, Yabby, you know best. I'll just pull the chain.......
» 14/03/2011 6:30:05 PM Yabby, you're so wrong, indeed cynical and regressive. I'm not the idealist you want to po.....
» 14/03/2011 1:05:34 PM Briar Rose, clearly piss (colloquially speaking) and toilet seats is as deep as you like t.....
» 14/03/2011 11:57:10 AM Houellebecq You do not do the position I’ve outlined justice with your dismissive few line.....
» 13/03/2011 8:37:47 AM Vanna, again, I've been talking about genders as classes, as stereotypes if you like, whic.....
» 12/03/2011 10:29:44 AM You've made some excellent points, Poirot, and the one about the shopping, simple as it is.....
» 11/03/2011 7:05:03 PM On toilet seats. Has it not occured to the ladies that men lift the seat out of considerat.....
» 11/03/2011 7:00:09 PM vanna: <Squeers, I have been waiting for someone to call Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin a.....
» 10/03/2011 7:01:13 PM Formersnag, You are clearly an impressive fruitcake. Why don't you take a deep breath, wi.....
» 8/03/2011 7:23:55 PM Vanna, you completely mistake me if you think I defend our privatised universities one jot.....
» 8/03/2011 5:34:05 PM Once again I'm depressed that the gender context is treated as a given. However, Women are.....
» 8/03/2011 4:52:29 PM Well this has turned into a congenial affair! I've been working my butt off milking the sy.....
» 7/03/2011 7:25:35 PM I'm more concerned about the top-end of the spectrum. We can easily maintain our "luc.....
» 7/03/2011 2:21:30 PM Thanks for considering my post, RObert. I have a biography by a neuroscientist, Jill Bolte.....
» 7/03/2011 7:36:55 AM paul walter, I agree with your comments. I've re-read the article and can understand Jenni.....
» 6/03/2011 10:21:35 AM Vanna, I'm an autodidact. I left school barely literate at 14 and from sheer insecurity be.....
» 6/03/2011 7:02:20 AM Vanna: <May I ask what was the university or school you went to so as to be taught to t.....
» 5/03/2011 9:01:36 PM Well thank you, Briar Rose, that's a relief. And please keep writing articles; I value the.....
» 5/03/2011 5:48:30 PM Your clearly much more comfortable in the shallows, Briar Rose, so I'll leave you to it......
» 5/03/2011 9:50:52 AM I would add to that, David, that such popular determinism shows zero regard for the child......
» 5/03/2011 8:51:17 AM weareunique, I have met a few down to earth women, very few. Dear all, I'm not a misogynis.....
» 4/03/2011 9:14:43 PM Really, Jennifer, I'm sorry if my plain speaking gives offence. You seem to be on a crusad.....
» 4/03/2011 6:01:44 PM For me the article is just a new spin on political correctness. And political correctness .....
» 4/03/2011 1:46:13 PM Unfortunately a lot of state schools are religious environments even without chaplains and.....
» 2/03/2011 6:07:47 PM Well, I'm late in the piece here, so sorry if I cover old ground. My first question would.....
» 2/03/2011 10:14:40 AM An insightful look at the devious workings of law and politics. I imagine the Federal gove.....
» 1/03/2011 3:36:30 PM JacobusZeno, It would also be nice to be able to filter-out verbal snatches that contribu.....
» 28/02/2011 6:23:54 PM Yuyutsu, I think there's no point discussing it further. I find your position elitist and.....
» 27/02/2011 6:39:43 PM ..cont. “People do not starve in the streets, not in Australia. You look at the "poo.....
» 27/02/2011 6:38:07 PM Yuyutsu, My suspicion is that there are deep mysteries to our existence, possibly meaning.....
» 26/02/2011 8:09:04 AM Yuyutsu, I was into Theravada Buddhism for several years, but I don't like your ladder me.....
» 25/02/2011 3:36:37 PM Yuyutsu I’ve made no “attempt” on you, but am merely pointing out to you that our sense of.....
» 25/02/2011 9:58:12 AM MarcH, I bet the ABC caters to vast the majority of Australians. I look forward to your co.....
» 24/02/2011 8:25:56 PM MarcH, I argued that my whole diverse family uses the public broadcaster and you yourself.....
» 24/02/2011 7:12:35 PM Yuyutsu, Like you I’m devoutly non-commercial, and feel protective of the ABC. But there’s.....
» 24/02/2011 3:09:35 PM You miss my point MarcH, the ABC well and truly caters to the whole population and should .....
» 24/02/2011 9:30:40 AM March, no it's not acceptable to base views on internet gossip. But it's also not fair to .....
» 23/02/2011 7:07:29 PM Correction: the right "is" reactionary......
» 23/02/2011 7:04:40 PM It amazes me that the ABC always attracts complaints about left wing bias, whether politic.....
» 20/02/2011 9:01:25 PM Well thank you, Individual, and you too, Peter Hume; I'm glad we occasionally line up. lu.....
» 20/02/2011 7:40:11 PM Here's the problem, OUG. I can talk about this topic and ask rhetorical questions, and spe.....
» 20/02/2011 4:44:48 PM [Deleted for abuse.].....
» 20/02/2011 3:10:22 PM P.S. I think you give Peter Hume far too much credit, OUG......
» 20/02/2011 3:04:19 PM OUG, where does your "mind" come from? Your "mind" is the product of d.....
» 19/02/2011 6:22:51 PM Peter Hume, I hope to have more time to duel with you over your Mises obsession when it do.....
» 19/02/2011 12:55:23 PM PH, I've in the past made the perfectly valid observation that nothing can be "ultima.....
» 18/02/2011 7:40:51 PM MikeyBear: <Clearly you've never been the victim of hateful intolerance, otherwise you .....
» 18/02/2011 6:15:42 PM MikeyBear, if you had an ounce of integrity or credibility, after engaging in this thread.....
» 18/02/2011 3:51:23 PM Sceptic, I can relate to what I think you're getting at; it seems we've lost the capacity .....
» 18/02/2011 2:23:51 PM Forrest Gumpp, I think that's the best idea yet. Indeed Graham ought to consider writing .....
» 18/02/2011 7:35:12 AM Tanveer Ahmed, congratulations on a splendid splice of neurological and psychological insi.....
» 17/02/2011 6:11:06 PM Well I don't know you from a bar of soap, AGIR, but I don't you're any more "evil&quo.....
» 17/02/2011 5:15:49 PM I dunno, Houellebecq, it's very "Australian" to challenge umpires and spit the d.....
» 17/02/2011 3:16:38 PM mjpb: <I may be the only one reading this...> No mjpb, I'm sure there are many keep.....
» 17/02/2011 9:46:24 AM Like I said, briar rose, "spoiled brats"......
» 16/02/2011 7:29:46 AM Kipp: <Squeers have you spoken to anyone about your social thinking?> Kipp, my post.....
» 15/02/2011 7:34:55 PM Kipp, My point is that philosophically-savvy GLBT's who buy into queer theory (putatively .....
» 15/02/2011 4:19:51 PM According to traditional Christian hegemony, which still arguable holds sway in the West g.....
» 15/02/2011 7:54:56 AM What Greg Storer has instigated and is advocating is, effectively, censorship. I don't thi.....
» 14/02/2011 5:19:00 PM Graham, I've just listened to Counterpoint: http://tiny.cc/bxs1c and am delighted you've .....
» 13/02/2011 6:57:14 PM Lexi, I hope all's well. I think I need some tome out too. Best regards......
» 13/02/2011 6:38:44 PM Apologies if my quote unjustly represents your post. But you can hardly argue the aborigi.....
» 13/02/2011 5:58:03 PM Lexi: <they [aboriginals] have traditionally been people who lived in rural areas, begi.....
» 13/02/2011 12:12:50 PM paul walter, I assure you I am not being "mischievous", in fact I resent the cha.....
» 12/02/2011 9:06:16 PM Kipp, no I'm not gay, but I was a ten year old ten puond pom landed in Inala in 1970 and I.....
» 12/02/2011 5:53:10 PM <when negative and appalling comments are made constantly towards a section of the Aust.....
» 12/02/2011 5:24:06 PM Paul: <my theory is that you run some of the more primitive stuff (hellfire harry, eg) .....
» 10/02/2011 6:20:54 PM In the context of the last few comments I want to assure that what I said above had nothin.....
» 9/02/2011 6:21:51 PM The publicity would also be a shot in the arm. You might find yourself knocking backers ba.....
» 9/02/2011 6:10:29 PM Graham, my sympathy for your predicament (and I shall see about a modest consideration). I.....
» 9/02/2011 7:20:03 AM "Crass" or not, the economics of obstinately keeping worn out and diseased old b.....
» 7/02/2011 7:37:02 PM Blue: < I have seemed to have lost all motivation to care about anything. One trys to c.....
» 7/02/2011 7:12:39 PM You are clever, Lexi. I appoint you editor of the Post-Punch Magazine. OUG, I'm sorry, bu.....
» 7/02/2011 6:46:40 PM AJ Phillips, It's always a pleasure being privy to your wonderfully lucid yet workmanlike.....
» 7/02/2011 6:34:12 PM You're dead right, Blue. It's actually been disgusting the way so-called teenage binge-dri.....
» 7/02/2011 2:53:49 PM An excerpt from the latest NLR, below, that talks to the us and them I think is important .....
» 6/02/2011 7:15:36 PM I hope your bro stays of it too, Lexi. I knew a "Donna" several years, from an .....
» 6/02/2011 3:29:26 PM Lexi, I did indeed read your post. I was rather surprised at your saying pot isn't addicti.....
» 6/02/2011 2:33:58 PM This is such an important issue--but also fascinating in terms of jerlin09's presumed posi.....
» 4/02/2011 6:04:14 PM I agree, davidf; value judgements, discretion, discrimination are dodgy concepts these day.....
» 4/02/2011 2:54:18 PM In my opinion primary and secondary education in Australia is a miserable failure. The tim.....
» 3/02/2011 8:48:08 PM Well folks, I recommend a reading of Emerson's "Self Reliance" http://www.emerso.....
» 3/02/2011 8:51:21 AM PH, I was only saying that no "ultimate" is possible, ergo nothing is "axi.....
» 2/02/2011 8:34:09 PM ...cont. “the absence of motivated behavior—would apply only to plants and inorganic matt.....
» 2/02/2011 8:33:39 PM I had another text on my desktop I have to absorb, truly daunting, that I mistook for your.....
» 2/02/2011 12:01:07 PM Well thank you, David. I have to watch my tone at times too......
» 2/02/2011 10:48:57 AM davidf: <I know there is a monumental pile of Marxist theory. I know with all the theo.....
» 2/02/2011 7:25:54 AM With all your talk of oligarchy and "superior" people, you sound like a rabid fa.....
» 1/02/2011 9:11:53 PM Well you're in good company, davidf. GB Shaw said, before he became a Fabian, around the 1.....
» 1/02/2011 8:08:15 PM Sorry, pawn to king 4 (I'm white since I'm on the side of good).....
» 1/02/2011 8:01:43 PM Am just looking at the parade for the link you provided...it takes a while to download (lo.....
» 1/02/2011 6:24:34 PM I'm waiting for an apology too, but I don't hold out much hope of getting one. Davidf is c.....
» 1/02/2011 5:08:44 PM Peter Hume, your reasoning, "Even those who disagree" are committed to the reali.....
» 31/01/2011 7:28:14 PM Peter Hume: <Squeers You are only confirming my first remarks. You think there is no s.....
» 31/01/2011 7:00:12 PM Crabsy, I wish I had time to comment on your comments as clearly we are the sceptics apro.....
» 30/01/2011 7:33:43 PM Correction: Instead of "self-serving race of ideologues exploiting geographical and h.....
» 30/01/2011 4:54:09 PM correction, in my last post I meant to say "in the context of previous 'posts'",.....
» 30/01/2011 3:30:09 PM davidf: <That is reductionism to a we/they idea. The Marxists decided who was a have a.....
» 30/01/2011 2:57:35 PM Sorry Lexi, but that sounds like some half-pissed broad writing for a tabloid (even being .....
» 30/01/2011 1:52:36 PM davidf: <Of course we are culturally conditioned, but I think we can develop ways to e.....
» 30/01/2011 10:58:35 AM sonofgloin, there was no intended racist slight against you in my last post. However, I d.....
» 30/01/2011 10:04:49 AM sonofgloin, you have not answered my questions (which is fine. I doubt you could to your .....
» 29/01/2011 8:06:34 PM Lexi: <The only things we can be one hundred percent responsible for is our own minds.&.....
» 29/01/2011 7:36:44 PM You'll admit, Sonofgloin, that your contributions on OLO have a racial bias and agenda. Ho.....
» 29/01/2011 6:15:12 PM Mac and AF of A, as it happens, I'm an atheist myself based on the same definition: I hav.....
» 29/01/2011 4:09:15 PM DavidF, the we/they ideas are born of tangibles and intangibles, of inequality and ideolog.....
» 29/01/2011 2:55:53 PM Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc: <The AFA definition; ATHEISM is the acceptance th.....
» 29/01/2011 11:52:19 AM Sonofgloin, while I can understand your dislike of "social engineering"--though .....
» 28/01/2011 6:28:47 PM Ah Yabby, old mate. I wasn't trying to evade the levy. I'm a good socialist, you know that.....
» 28/01/2011 6:16:20 PM Peter Hume: <Got that proof yet that the market for money was unregulated before, durin.....
» 28/01/2011 6:05:34 AM The only thing wrong with the levy is it should be ten times higher and only applied to th.....
» 26/01/2011 9:06:46 PM Oh dear, Peter, you've been drinking again... You always start bawling when you drink. Cle.....
» 26/01/2011 2:36:56 PM With the exception of Runner, this is an encouragingly thoughtful thread. Maybe that's wha.....
» 26/01/2011 12:49:36 PM Chris, there's no doubting your humanitarian ideals. I've just been listening to Andrew P.....
» 26/01/2011 10:18:53 AM Thanks Poirot. The further point I was trying to make is that we are as directly responsib.....
» 26/01/2011 7:43:40 AM SPQR: <But our straw poll or modelling has produced three examples in a row, couldn’t w.....
» 26/01/2011 7:03:26 AM A nice middle of the road potted history of opposing economic ideologies. But finally cons.....
» 25/01/2011 6:54:53 AM SPQR (AGIR?), we've always had extreme weather events and so 'tis difficult to say whether.....
» 24/01/2011 8:15:34 PM SPQR, Quite true all that you're saying, but I don't get your point? The Indian disparitie.....
» 24/01/2011 7:06:59 PM Peter Hume, thanks for the Greek Philosophy 101. Plato and Aristotle did agonise over the .....
» 24/01/2011 7:17:59 AM SPQR, I was partly having a bit of fun feeding into AGIR's reactionary prejudices. I don't.....
» 23/01/2011 6:52:12 PM AGIR, No, of course not. I loathe and despise patriotism (the first refuge of a scoundrel).....
» 23/01/2011 5:11:19 PM Pelican, fair enough to be an agnostic on AGW, since we have no idea possibly of long-term.....
» 21/01/2011 6:02:19 PM PH, you just keep bouncing back like a punch-drunk boxer: <Just because A comes before.....
» 20/01/2011 11:53:23 AM Many thanks, Poirot, for the link to that splendid essay. I have Judt's "Postwar".....
» 18/01/2011 5:19:06 PM Barry York, what a hotch-potch of bilge. And I love the way you turn the Left into "r.....
» 18/01/2011 4:57:46 PM Brian, I endorse your comments wholeheartedly. The whole thing has been turned into a mass.....
» 18/01/2011 2:38:29 PM PH: <The fact that Hobsbawm says something doesn't make it a fact> Agreed. It is a.....
» 18/01/2011 12:45:00 PM Peter Hume is the one that is wrong. On an ideological bender that no amount of reasoning .....
» 15/01/2011 7:36:24 PM PH, Anybody who reads what I’ve written or quoted closely, and then reads your representat.....
» 15/01/2011 8:48:41 AM ..cont. (thought I'd have to wait): "All the men (women were hardy yet accepted into.....
» 15/01/2011 8:43:14 AM The following is faithfully taken from Hobsbawm’s “Age of Extremes”: "Post-war capit.....
» 14/01/2011 10:22:08 PM PH: <The Keynesians believe that a) economic depressions arise spontaneously out of unr.....
» 14/01/2011 7:21:40 PM PH, you're tone and "argument" are no less personally inflected than mine. I mer.....
» 14/01/2011 7:45:57 AM PH: <In theory, people could own private property and consume all they produce – no gr.....
» 14/01/2011 7:41:53 AM PH: <I was only saying what you yourself had told me in an earlier post – that you hadn.....
» 12/01/2011 9:00:10 PM I should have made clear that the religion of free marketism reigned supreme from the 1840.....
» 12/01/2011 6:52:40 PM Peter, I responded to "your" personal remarks. You addressed nothing of substanc.....
» 11/01/2011 6:21:25 PM PH: <“The market” merely means consensual exchanges. It doesn’t absolve you from unreas.....
» 10/01/2011 6:20:41 AM My my, this is jolly good fun! I agree with your comments about acquiring an Arts degree,.....
» 9/01/2011 6:04:09 PM Contra Peter Hume, what I believe in is a full participatory democracy whose constituents .....
» 8/01/2011 7:50:53 PM Philo, AJ has you pegged. You're the one who should go away and think it over. You talk au.....
» 8/01/2011 5:48:56 PM I hope some of the fundy fascists and neo-liberal fundamentalists loonies here listened to.....
» 7/01/2011 6:21:10 PM Paul: <I and the majority of Australians find Assange himself repugnant, and have no su.....
» 7/01/2011 5:44:02 PM <I know it is provocative however had the Europeans not arrived in Australia life expec.....
» 6/01/2011 5:56:28 PM <Can Western societies remain fair and affluent?> This is a trick question, right? .....
» 6/01/2011 4:52:41 PM <"Although this should not be over-emphasized, an understated, but pervasive, anti.....
» 6/01/2011 9:54:31 AM Poirot and Lexi, to be fair, I've only read some of Paul Collins's journalism so am in no.....
» 5/01/2011 8:31:40 PM Poirot, I don't know, I can't help associating Paul Collins with Miss Austen's Mr Collins,.....
» 5/01/2011 6:22:44 PM Lexi: <Whatever floats your boat old chap!> The ultimate cop-out--relativism. Which.....
» 5/01/2011 5:31:38 PM <As far as I'm concerned - I have my own beliefs, however I don't have a "missiona.....
» 5/01/2011 2:31:00 PM Lexi, I have dibs on the monolithic format, I’ll have you know! …………… I can't see that .....
» 3/01/2011 4:53:57 PM Just to drag some gender politics into it, the (female) author forgot to mention that nine.....
» 2/01/2011 6:10:23 PM TBC: <It looks as if Garrett may well be lumbered (again) with being the fall guy for i.....
» 31/12/2010 3:54:04 PM Delilah: <Would Godlessness lead to hopelessness, abuse, contempt for life and internal.....
» 30/12/2010 3:03:35 PM Jewely: <What is the point in having a God that is blamed for nothing and yet celebrate.....
» 30/12/2010 1:09:03 PM Steven, the problem with your CIR, in my view, is the ideology that inevitably informs it.....
» 29/12/2010 5:52:52 PM Well good for you, Delilah. You appear to be new and I wouldn't want to discourage you. Bu.....
» 29/12/2010 2:34:38 PM Delilah, what a crock of conceited delusion! Never mind the devoutly-spoiled sing-songy we.....
» 27/12/2010 1:49:05 PM diver dan: <Obviously you correspond from the planet “utopia”> It never ceases to a.....
» 26/12/2010 7:11:48 PM A post of mine to this thread was removed because it responded to a post by a suspended in.....
» 25/12/2010 2:01:23 PM Reading the article I was inclined not to post a response, till I read the other posters a.....
» 24/12/2010 3:59:20 PM I've often thought we should invite Israel to set-up their state somewhere in Australia's .....
» 22/12/2010 5:46:08 PM Yabby: <Now for Squeers, a tyranny/dictatorship according to Squeers, might sound like .....
» 22/12/2010 3:03:09 PM Hasbeen, I shall forego the pleasure of disburdening myself to you, except to say that the.....
» 22/12/2010 12:28:10 PM Ah, you're singing my tune, TBC. I've been saying for ages that the church parasitises pow.....
» 21/12/2010 6:41:42 PM Well why don't we try breaking ranks, cultivate the Chinese as allies? an ostensible evil .....
» 20/12/2010 4:48:39 PM I agree and am ready to sign the petition to enforce the proper usage. The apostrophe is v.....
» 20/12/2010 7:59:04 AM Well Belly, yes certainly, I want good government too. But the questions are: what is good.....
» 19/12/2010 6:14:06 PM Belly: <Our politicians,all of them have given up politics to satisfy a grubby unfocuse.....
» 19/12/2010 5:09:35 PM Belly, I also am a Labor voter. That's why I'm disgusted with the party; because it isn't .....
» 19/12/2010 7:28:51 AM I agree with you OUG, we should be taking far more tax off the top. As for smokers, the ta.....
» 18/12/2010 6:29:37 PM Belly: <Conservation is one of the most important words we use here> That may be so.....
» 18/12/2010 5:23:33 PM OK Bazz, I don't think I "must be right". Even if I am right, however pithily I.....
» 18/12/2010 4:28:54 PM Yabby you completely miss the point. Creativity is drawn-off as profit. Human ingenuity is.....
» 18/12/2010 2:42:16 PM Sorry Poirot, missed that till now. Thanks for the support. I should add too that I'm not.....
» 18/12/2010 2:18:58 PM Belly, you're dead right. I have to admit it irritates me the way the ABC cuts through the.....
» 18/12/2010 11:49:42 AM The ABC is not biased. It is simply the case that the Right is intellectually and ethicall.....
» 18/12/2010 9:44:41 AM An excellent parable, KAEP. The problem is that the people are so used to the blood-suckin.....
» 17/12/2010 8:34:28 PM Yabby forgets too that good CEO's (supposing such creatures exist) only command such a pri.....
» 17/12/2010 9:14:42 AM Johny Rotten, I agree with all that 100% and I've never held a belief either. Nevertheless.....
» 16/12/2010 7:42:50 PM Glenc, there's one problem with your enlightenment project. However spurious, religion off.....
» 15/12/2010 5:46:15 PM A great article, Glen. I'm for purging religion in schools--no more than the armature of t.....
» 14/12/2010 8:42:13 PM Yabby: <You clearly don't have an entrepreneurial bone in your body!> Well thank yo.....
» 14/12/2010 5:13:30 PM Kalin1' just because you rationalise that the absurd and obscene division of wealth is obj.....
» 13/12/2010 7:53:28 PM Thanks Lexi, you're right, I'm not a cynic, or I wouldn't care one way or the other (mind .....
» 13/12/2010 4:56:46 PM The trouble with free speech is it's too liberating and becomes a mere cacophany. For my m.....
» 11/12/2010 3:14:53 PM Anti-green, Actually, the religious analogies can be useful. For instance I’d compare toda.....
» 11/12/2010 7:18:14 AM Eclipse Now, thanks for information and the link to your very well designed, and written, .....
» 10/12/2010 6:36:53 PM Eclipse now, sorry, I think I misunderstood your tone. We seem to be on the same side......
» 10/12/2010 5:07:50 PM Eclipse Now, I'm interested in your "potentially exponentially rewarding" times .....
» 10/12/2010 3:00:04 PM Antigreen: <This is the philosophical [sic] problem should we wait until all evidence i.....
» 10/12/2010 6:47:01 AM AGIR: <"Law"...remember is what is 'made up' in order to maintain a status qu.....
» 9/12/2010 6:55:10 PM I agree, TBC, Arbib joins the ranks of the most despicable politicians the Labor Party has.....
» 8/12/2010 7:31:43 PM Cornflour: <Well you wouldn't be expecting to see any leaks from other countries and th.....
» 8/12/2010 6:15:54 PM I have to say I'm underwhelmed by all these events and the article Lexi provided. Have we .....
» 7/12/2010 7:31:39 AM I too applaud Assange. For the last twenty years we've existed (I won't say "lived&qu.....
» 5/12/2010 5:50:23 PM Bonmot: <I would say funding 'climate science' is critical and needs increased funding......
» 5/12/2010 8:53:08 AM Hello Jewely. Squeers remains intact and unmolested, but aloof from the latter proceedings.....
» 3/12/2010 9:28:04 AM You are cryptic sod, FG, and we (Squeers and I) are a little slow converting your meaning......
» 2/12/2010 6:20:00 PM I for one want to lodge a protest. From what I remember of the deleted post there was noth.....
» 2/12/2010 3:35:00 PM Lilith, though I'm all for disrupting male hegemony, on OLO and the real world, I'm sure .....
» 2/12/2010 3:06:10 PM Come off it, Yabby, I've been playing the hard-boiled spoiler! I don't think for one minu.....
» 2/12/2010 6:09:00 AM Belly: <I switch of at the first sign of a domineering female> I, on the other hand.....
» 1/12/2010 5:46:23 PM I ignored this thread for a day or two, thinking it dead of diabetes, and lo and behold 't.....
» 1/12/2010 1:54:59 PM Divergence, I'm not looking to apportion blame or distribute guilt. These are global issue.....
» 1/12/2010 11:11:25 AM Ludwig: <Why on Earth the Greens haven’t taken this up is just beyond me to understand......
» 30/11/2010 8:39:33 PM To paraphrase Nietzsche: even homosexuality has been corrupted--by marriage!.....
» 30/11/2010 6:20:03 PM A good analysis that must have taken a while, Divergence, and a useful link that I wasn't .....
» 30/11/2010 2:01:31 PM Forrest Gump: <The discussion has diverted into an irrelevant contention as to whether .....
» 30/11/2010 9:49:51 AM Ludwig, I have good reason to doubt that the capitalist model can be adapted to a steady-s.....
» 29/11/2010 5:18:46 PM Yabby: <Squeers, of course it washes. Without innovation as we have it, there would be .....
» 29/11/2010 3:02:03 PM Bazz: <I did not see anyone here make the point that growth is essential to pay the int.....
» 29/11/2010 1:47:09 PM All I'm saying, Ludwig, is that a steady-state economy cannot, by definition, be capitalis.....
» 29/11/2010 9:24:19 AM Ludwig, first of all, let's not confuse ideas with reality; you've done a little dreaming .....
» 28/11/2010 3:55:35 PM Yabby: none of your fatalism and rationalism is worthy a response. I think it's worth seei.....
» 28/11/2010 11:33:27 AM I agree it's time this wound up. I appreciate Forrest's dazzling wit and command of langua.....
» 27/11/2010 7:35:04 PM I fear we have an unreliable narrator here that appears to favour its protagonist: Forrest.....
» 27/11/2010 5:44:57 PM Looks like I missed a lively debate here! I'll just note, en passant, that Poirot wins the.....
» 27/11/2010 1:48:52 PM I've been unable to post till now. Apologies, Ludwig, for the tone; you're right, I get fr.....
» 27/11/2010 7:10:39 AM Ludwig: <Capitalism WILL change its nature to conform to a steady state economy, sooner.....
» 26/11/2010 10:03:40 PM Ludwig: <Capitalism will NOT just blunder on into massive strife without some attempts,.....
» 26/11/2010 7:06:02 PM You guys are dreaming! Capitalism is an entrenched world-system. There is no opting out or.....
» 26/11/2010 12:59:05 PM Dear Ludwig I find myself increasingly marginalised on OLO (which is as it should be since.....
» 25/11/2010 5:02:30 PM Common-sense does indeed demand radical change, but like all fundamentalisms, capitalism w.....
» 25/11/2010 7:29:51 AM Dear Dr Pangloss (Yabby), I'm very familiar with your default position by now and could e.....
» 24/11/2010 7:58:48 PM My most serious objection to gay marriage is it might make gays respectable, that is lend .....
» 24/11/2010 5:25:27 PM Dear jayb, I cover for Mitchell when he's indisposed. <So, are you saying that if I don.....
» 24/11/2010 3:44:05 PM Aye Jorge, there's the rub. Revolution always proceeds by its bad side, but the powers tha.....
» 24/11/2010 3:34:46 PM If all that is so, Formersnag, can you tell me what the motivation of the communists is? C.....
» 24/11/2010 12:41:05 PM Dear formersnag, you can call the powers that be anything you like but that don't make it .....
» 24/11/2010 2:22:39 AM Dear suzeonline, I think political satire can be an excellent device and I love Swift's M.....
» 23/11/2010 6:55:13 PM I would ask why are the arts important for balance when the system itself is completely un.....
» 23/11/2010 11:02:11 AM Dear Anti, I assure you I wasn't the least bit offended, and knew it wasn't intended to of.....
» 23/11/2010 9:30:07 AM Interesting thoughts, RObert and Poirot. Being one who does resort to satire at times, I f.....
» 22/11/2010 8:47:46 PM Well pass the hemlock, comrades! I'm off to bed for as many hours of the blessed dreamless.....
» 22/11/2010 6:59:42 PM Well, I think you've revived the thread TPP. I also have been feeling a little sanctimonio.....
» 22/11/2010 6:42:17 PM Dear GH, first of all, the link I provided above was not "ridiculous"; it contai.....
» 21/11/2010 4:32:26 PM It's all about bums on seats when it comes to government patronage (no offence to the bums.....
» 21/11/2010 2:10:39 PM Excellent advice, Lexi. I think I'm sometimes perceived as dogmatic (though of course I li.....
» 21/11/2010 11:18:30 AM Dear GH, While I don't pretend to comprehensive formulations of, or solutions to, the wor.....
» 19/11/2010 7:06:42 PM A nice little look at human ingenuity and environmental sensitivity: http://www.gasland.co.....
» 19/11/2010 6:00:39 PM PM: <I believe that the arts profoundly define the sense of who we are, how we see the .....
» 19/11/2010 5:01:00 PM This thread has been an embarrassment from beginning to end, now we have the Blue pond, or.....
» 19/11/2010 7:51:13 AM Ah, you are naive GH. BTW, with this comment, above: <And to think, that's where a larg.....
» 18/11/2010 6:08:38 PM Some blurb from The Australian Protectionist Party: <The federal registration of the A.....
» 18/11/2010 11:58:33 AM Riz and Riz Too: Tweedledum and Tweedledumber. I do not appreciate being called a liar. W.....
» 18/11/2010 5:09:46 AM Dear Tony Ryan, I worked in factories from the ages of 14 to 42, and you sound to me like .....
» 17/11/2010 5:39:53 PM Dear Riz, so let me get this straight; you want me to provide evidence that Humanity is de.....
» 17/11/2010 6:44:19 AM Riz: <I would appreciate the courtesy of a proper rebuttal of my arguments, rather than.....
» 16/11/2010 5:26:10 PM Dear Bonmot, thanks for the tips. I am a techno-moron. Dear Amicus, while you appear to d.....
» 16/11/2010 5:12:03 PM Dear Belly, whether or not OLO is "the best" is debatable (I can't be bothered l.....
» 16/11/2010 7:12:56 AM It is no doubt forlorn, but I still hope this situation can be resolved without barring, o.....
» 15/11/2010 6:21:31 PM Dear Leo Lane (and motley crew), it is you that is obtuse. If you have anything intelligen.....
» 15/11/2010 4:43:57 PM It was recently implied in a post addressed to yours truly (by a clownfish who shall remai.....
» 14/11/2010 5:03:40 PM Dear Spindoc, Sorry but I'll leave you to figure out whatever your problem is (I'm obtuse?.....
» 14/11/2010 1:07:00 PM Just to clarify my thesis, the global push to to address climate and develop cleaner fuel,.....
» 14/11/2010 12:49:08 PM Dear Clownfish, The defence I offered is correct and born out by poststructuralist philoso.....
» 13/11/2010 7:06:13 PM Dear Agnostic of Mittagong, Peak oil is as old as Methuselah, I know that and so does the .....
» 13/11/2010 2:05:58 PM Dear Clownfish, I thought a response was unnecessary. I never imagined the Seattle rhetori.....
» 13/11/2010 12:35:07 PM How prescient of me! Have just listened to this short segment on the science show: http://.....
» 13/11/2010 11:23:33 AM Dear Ludwig, With this comment: <<< If we cut all human emissions world wide, it.....
» 12/11/2010 7:05:02 PM Dear Jedimaster, After such a sanctimonious sermon (as rhetorical and facetious as anythi.....
» 12/11/2010 1:25:41 PM Riz: <"As Chief Seattle, famously said:..." -Squeers What does this quote ha.....
» 12/11/2010 9:00:02 AM Oops sorry, sarnian, but it wasn't wasted, it's always nice to get up the noses of minimif.....
» 12/11/2010 1:19:58 AM Dear Tony Ryan, first antisemitism: <When the free trade cult won influence, enabled la.....
» 11/11/2010 6:55:13 PM Dear Vanna, thanks for the engagement, but I think I'm whistling in the wind on OLO, so I .....
» 11/11/2010 4:38:18 PM Dear sarnian, it is a nonsense to suggest a carbon tax, or increased taxes for anything, .....
» 11/11/2010 5:03:44 AM Dear Tony Ryan, I shall look at your link with interest, but on the surface of it you appe.....
» 10/11/2010 3:18:17 PM I say, I seem to have diverted the thread.. I knew if I threw out a bit of bait I'd be ree.....
» 10/11/2010 8:11:12 AM Dear Vanna, I was saying exactly that, that manufacturing has largely gone off shore and t.....
» 10/11/2010 7:20:09 AM Short of dismantling global capitalism, it seems to me the least conscionable thing we can.....
» 9/11/2010 3:12:12 PM Dear Grok, it's not for me to say what anybody else thinks. I only say that the evidence s.....
» 9/11/2010 12:01:54 PM Dear Grok, I'm not sure what you mean by this: <There's nothing "infallible".....
» 9/11/2010 8:50:21 AM ..cont Humanity is denied its wonted progress, which however is harnessed as means of pro.....
» 9/11/2010 8:41:49 AM Sorry about the delay, only just back on line. I humbly submit that: First of all, by scie.....
» 7/11/2010 4:22:24 PM Dear Antiseptic, it is indeed a fact that most people become more conservative as they age.....
» 7/11/2010 12:15:20 PM Am I imagining things or is OLO a much quieter place of late? There seems to have been an .....
» 7/11/2010 11:44:01 AM Dear Searching, sorry if my post was a bit of a dog's breakfast, but I think you got the g.....
» 7/11/2010 5:53:41 AM Searching: <please, do not discount the "depressed" person as feining mental .....
» 6/11/2010 5:26:08 PM The power of ideology never ceases to amaze me. It is a pervasive syndrome that knows no c.....
» 5/11/2010 5:51:37 PM Thanks Bonmot and Raredog for these edifying exchanges. But Bonmot, your last link doesn't.....
» 5/11/2010 7:51:25 AM I always enjoy Pericles' (notice no "s" after the apostrophe. There's a disturbi.....
» 4/11/2010 1:27:29 PM Antiseptic, I hope I didn't seem condescending. I consider myself a lightweight in the &qu.....
» 4/11/2010 10:13:44 AM Habermas has indeed been a fertile intellect for many years, but his work is now commonly .....
» 4/11/2010 5:47:32 AM Dear Yabby, I might be a dreamer, but I'm having a nightmare. I hope you had a listen to .....
» 3/11/2010 7:25:01 PM Baygon, This is philosophy and I'm exploring a contrapuntal posture. Having had a good loo.....
» 3/11/2010 11:09:07 AM Dear Mirko, that was an interesting blend of flighty, self-promoting declamation. I have .....
» 3/11/2010 10:48:52 AM At first glance VHEMT does indeed look like the perfect existential solution to the human .....
» 3/11/2010 9:06:39 AM [Deleted for abuse.].....
» 3/11/2010 7:37:48 AM Good luck, AJ, with getting a response from mjpb. I think his promise to get back to me is.....
» 2/11/2010 8:28:08 PM Dear Bjelly, you're wasting your time arguing with Yabby, he's the free-market Pangloss of.....
» 2/11/2010 7:08:38 PM I love the way economists analyse their dog's breakfast as if it was a science! Of course.....
» 31/10/2010 7:03:00 PM Dear Graham, I've been looking over old threads looking for inconsistencies in your stand .....
» 31/10/2010 6:12:34 PM Dear Joe, I don't treat Marx's predictions as doctrine--neither did Marx. What Marx did d.....
» 30/10/2010 6:44:00 PM http://www.wwfblogs.org/climate/content/peter-sinclairs-crock-week-video-heatwave-edition-.....
» 30/10/2010 4:11:32 PM Sorry OUG, just read your post. For once we find ourselves in perfect agreement......
» 30/10/2010 3:53:00 PM The problem with the women in the Ford Dagenham strike (and with unionism generally), and .....
» 29/10/2010 7:11:37 PM The drones of the capitalist system are out in force on this thread, like so many trained .....
» 29/10/2010 7:11:33 AM Very encouraging that the author designates the situation as "class war". Antago.....
» 29/10/2010 6:38:01 AM Dear Yabby, I started a thread asking the question, does capitalism drive population growt.....
» 28/10/2010 8:15:58 PM " In spite of an amazing shallowness being and an unconcealed anti-intellectualism am.....
» 28/10/2010 7:55:22 PM Yabby: <Dear Squeers, If sustainability is your no one issue, how to you justify havin.....
» 27/10/2010 1:53:50 PM Peter Hume: <The fact is that the spending commitments of the welfare state are unsusta.....
» 27/10/2010 1:44:35 PM Dear Yabby, obviously the wealth cap wouldn't work unless it was agreed upon international.....
» 27/10/2010 9:45:24 AM Dear Mr Crisp, Thanks for that up close and personal view of the situation. Surely the soc.....
» 26/10/2010 6:35:51 PM Dear DavidF, in referring to your "bankrupt convictions" I was partly alluding t.....
» 25/10/2010 6:29:42 PM DavidF: <In some places capitalism is not appalling. I pointed out the Arden enclave a.....
» 25/10/2010 1:40:45 PM Dear DavidF, Adam Smith could be forgiven for thinking that capitalism in practice would b.....
» 25/10/2010 1:15:15 PM Dear DavidF, You seem to fail to realise that the idyllic enclave you describe--within its.....
» 25/10/2010 10:15:21 AM A stirring passage from William Morris lamenting the despoliation of what human "life.....
» 24/10/2010 5:28:54 PM Indeed Passy, there's a neat little book out this year called "First as Tragedy, Then.....
» 19/10/2010 7:23:38 AM I second Forrest Gumpp's suggestion here: <Was it to be possible to have a website host.....
» 18/10/2010 5:37:32 PM I just want to register my disgust with this tripe. Congratulations on a thoroughly nausea.....
» 18/10/2010 2:57:23 PM Dear Poirot, Beautifully put. I feel much the same way. Dear davidf, I have suffered your.....
» 18/10/2010 8:51:53 AM Dear Davidf, perhaps you should organise a book burning---anything by or in support of Mar.....
» 18/10/2010 3:08:38 AM Dear Yabby, I carefully read through the wiki-link (when I should be sleeping) and found n.....
» 17/10/2010 4:39:21 PM Yabby: <Any hypothesis is worthless, if only one of the assumptions made are flawed. Ye.....
» 17/10/2010 1:22:17 PM Dear Poirot, I agree with Grok, you're wasting your time, just as I've been wasting mine. .....
» 16/10/2010 6:24:40 PM Yabby: <Workers, with some of the world's cushiest working conditions. Workers, earning.....
» 15/10/2010 12:53:54 PM Yabby and Loudmouth, this is why I shouldn't have bothered. You reduce everything to your.....
» 15/10/2010 11:20:26 AM Loudmouth: <Please don't leave us hanging like this: come back on-line and give us som.....
» 15/10/2010 10:02:40 AM Dear Joe, it was against my better judgement to make any further comment on this thread, b.....
» 15/10/2010 7:57:02 AM We are appalled by the prospect of revolutionary violence not merely as we ponder the vici.....
» 12/10/2010 8:29:21 PM I think it can be taken as read that virtually all universities are only radical to a poin.....
» 11/10/2010 6:59:50 PM Dear Gilbert, I don't take any pleasure in insulting you, and I'm certainly not threatenin.....
» 11/10/2010 6:20:16 PM Dear Oliver, you do have an analytical mind (not necessarily a compliment). What about an.....
» 11/10/2010 4:45:34 PM Dear Grok, it looks like this sorry chapter is going to close, and without GH evincing the.....
» 11/10/2010 7:02:38 AM Dear Rainier, very droll. I made the mistake above of taking the question seriously and w.....
» 10/10/2010 6:52:08 PM Dear Rainier, I'm a pom. Why don't you edify us as to what culture is. I could use a laugh.....
» 9/10/2010 2:43:38 PM I for one look forward to seeing the antediluvian NSCP contested before the high court; it.....
» 9/10/2010 1:24:39 PM According to Raymond Williams Culture is one of the most difficult to define words in our .....
» 9/10/2010 6:51:27 AM GH: <My observation that Peter Hume and Yabby (who of the various contributors here I w.....
» 6/10/2010 9:08:28 AM Well friends, my wife and I are away for a couple of days of quiet and sunshine. Grim, if .....
» 5/10/2010 5:51:00 PM Dear Peter Hume, you raise fascinating considerations here. Economy is indeed a part of hu.....
» 5/10/2010 7:27:53 AM Dear Grim, As always, I agree with most of what you say, except here, where you begin: <.....
» 5/10/2010 5:46:00 AM ..cont. Hopefully the survivors will have learned something and create a just and sustain.....
» 5/10/2010 5:43:02 AM Dear Sienna (PH?), First, it's unhelpful to keep spitting "socialist"; name call.....
» 4/10/2010 4:13:13 PM Darwin was a truly enlightened soul, much more so than many famous moderns or pious Christ.....
» 4/10/2010 2:05:13 PM Dear Gilbert Holmes, I'm mortified my post wasn't clear, I'm always at pains to be crystal.....
» 3/10/2010 1:54:20 PM Dear Gilbert Holmes, the central premise of Marxism is that capitalism (apart from being d.....
» 3/10/2010 10:58:33 AM Thanks for sharing that fascinating story, George. One of the great things about OLO is re.....
» 3/10/2010 7:31:53 AM Banjo to George: <In fact, as an ordinary labourer without any responsibilities, perhap.....
» 3/10/2010 5:40:19 AM ..cont The downturn into which the world has fallen will continue now for some time, and .....
» 3/10/2010 5:37:47 AM It suits the hysterical purposes of PH and co to denigrate "heretics" who take c.....
» 2/10/2010 6:43:54 PM What delusional drivel! The author even acknowledges that life in the future amounts to su.....
» 2/10/2010 6:30:46 PM Of course he shouldn't die. He was just showing the true entrepreneurial spirit. Since whe.....
» 2/10/2010 4:57:12 PM GH: <In my opinion we can witness in recent times a melting away of the negative polari.....
» 1/10/2010 8:37:49 PM It never fails, I'm away a day or two and miss all the fun! Dear GH, you might be surpris.....
» 29/09/2010 7:44:36 PM Dear davidf, I've had my suspicions before, but now I'm convinced that you don't even read.....
» 29/09/2010 6:33:45 PM Dear David F, thank you for your thoughts. The causes behind the corruption and the murder.....
» 29/09/2010 10:23:47 AM Dear Duncan Mills, I'm all in favour of making complex ideas as accessible as possible, bu.....
» 29/09/2010 6:24:10 AM Dear Poirit, thanks for a nice precis on the differences between Hegel's and Marx's ideas......
» 28/09/2010 5:34:48 PM Good points Grok, one does wonder, since we're at "the end of history", why its .....
» 27/09/2010 6:10:08 PM Aristotlean, Hegelian and Marxian dialectics are far more than simple syllogistics. Just a.....
» 27/09/2010 2:57:12 PM Dear Houellebecq, what a shame we can't tee up an interview for you with Kerry on the 7.30.....
» 27/09/2010 1:45:33 PM Kerry O'Brien is still best and fairest on television--not that the commercial media is ev.....
» 27/09/2010 1:42:45 PM How do I go about condemning this ignorant twaddle without flaming--which is what the scri.....
» 26/09/2010 5:59:14 PM Dear Crabsy, interesting thoughts, and I'm impressed you've read both Arnold and Williams......
» 26/09/2010 4:59:26 PM Dear Banjo, thanks for that interesting insight into your interesting life (I could well c.....
» 26/09/2010 7:12:46 AM ..Cont I'm also fascinated with cathedrals (and ecclesiastics. I even wrote a would-be nov.....
» 26/09/2010 7:11:44 AM Dear Banjo, Do I understand from your glowing assessment of your individual life that you .....
» 25/09/2010 5:53:16 PM Dear Stephen, thanks for a very nice little parable that I can relate to deeply, though wi.....
» 25/09/2010 9:29:08 AM Dear Banjo, I do think humanity needs some kind of spiritual (for want of a better word) c.....
» 25/09/2010 3:16:12 AM Dear Ludwig, I didn't read the whole thread when I posted, only enough to get peeved, incl.....
» 23/09/2010 4:10:25 PM Bad idea. Joe Public is an ignoramus......
» 22/09/2010 6:55:51 PM Dear Banjo, my 1993 Shorter Oxford says a little more, but I concede the point--and emphas.....
» 21/09/2010 1:06:16 PM Dear Banjo, "militant atheism" is just an inflammatory phrase religious interest.....
» 20/09/2010 7:51:32 AM The whole campaign currently underway against so-called militant-atheists and secularists .....
» 19/09/2010 8:55:03 AM Dear George, I'm all for keeping matters in context; I believe others are far more guilty .....
» 18/09/2010 5:05:55 PM Dear George, I've referred above to "established and pseudo established" religio.....
» 17/09/2010 11:52:27 AM Dear Banjo, that sounds very much like my own position. Dear George, I don't want to appe.....
» 17/09/2010 7:34:10 AM I'm with you, Poirot, and a great many others who consider George W an ignorant (and dange.....
» 16/09/2010 10:56:37 AM George: <You gave a sweeping description of the role of religion in history that has be.....
» 15/09/2010 4:27:59 PM Dear George, having studied theories of history somewhat, I tend to the Hayden White scept.....
» 15/09/2010 7:37:54 AM <religion provides important social, medical, educational and welfare services to its c.....
» 13/09/2010 6:39:51 PM Dear Ludwig, did it never occur to you that it's not just about us humans? So as long as w.....
» 13/09/2010 8:38:02 AM Dear DavidF, Congratulations on attaining that age and still being so engaged and energeti.....
» 12/09/2010 6:25:30 PM Banjo: <The world would be a better place if all debate could become dialectic, but I g.....
» 9/09/2010 8:28:29 PM Dear Poirot, thanks for the wonderful material you've posted on this thread. I knew of Iva.....
» 8/09/2010 5:59:44 PM Dear DavidF, I made that comment in the context of what preceded it. However, I stand by i.....
» 8/09/2010 8:44:38 AM Dear DavidF, yes thanks for that considered argument, some of which I agree with, but some.....
» 7/09/2010 7:45:19 PM Dear David F, you could write revival music for Hillsong! No one listens to the words anyw.....
» 7/09/2010 1:50:05 PM Dear Runner, of course you are right. I take that as read. Obviously ideology structures a.....
» 7/09/2010 1:17:28 PM Dear Meredith, I wholeheartedly agree. I am a father of six, four of whom are currently ne.....
» 6/09/2010 12:54:09 PM Dear Banjo, I like the quote from Hegel. Enlightenment thought is of course a dialectic. K.....
» 5/09/2010 7:09:18 PM Well thank you for the thoughtful response, DavidF. You must have agonised for hours and I.....
» 5/09/2010 4:39:28 PM Dear DavidF, Any social system that operates under capitalism must by definition be unsust.....
» 5/09/2010 9:34:53 AM Dear Banjo and davidf, Neither of you seems to have a problem with the "startling equ.....
» 4/09/2010 5:26:37 PM David f: <There is not one capitalism. There are many different capitalist societies, a.....
» 3/09/2010 5:51:42 PM Dear Banjo, just to add, Marx is not a "closed book", he remains relevant as eve.....
» 3/09/2010 3:27:36 PM Dear Banjo, I agree wholeheartedly with the first eloquent half of your post; beautifully .....
» 2/09/2010 7:12:32 PM Dear Banjo, sorry if you bought that book and here it is free online. Dear David F, <I.....
» 1/09/2010 7:35:20 PM Dear Davidf, I am not a "true believer", howevermuch it might suit you to portra.....
» 1/09/2010 6:31:43 PM Yabby: <On OLO I constantly read this stuff from so called academics, about how the wor.....
» 31/08/2010 9:17:52 PM Dear davidf, a rather shrill rejoinder. And can you please stow the "corpses", t.....
» 31/08/2010 4:19:56 PM ..cont: Even the process of engaging in emotional relations is increasingly organized alon.....
» 31/08/2010 4:15:39 PM Dear davidf, You disposed of Chomsky and Marx in little more than 100 words, most of it hy.....
» 31/08/2010 2:05:16 PM Dear Davidf, for such a leaned man you seem bent on parading your wilful ignorance. Do yo.....
» 28/08/2010 4:20:29 PM << At this stage, the bigger threat to our social cohesion is not the burqa, but the.....
» 24/08/2010 10:15:14 AM AGW is CDF, but that can't compete against self-interest, ignorance and minimifidianism. T.....
» 23/08/2010 6:18:47 PM gillmc: <It is not just so they can have extras or the biggest house. The costs of chil.....
» 22/08/2010 6:43:12 PM Eclipse Now, try to get it through your shrunken head that I didn't come in here to talk a.....
» 22/08/2010 6:32:38 PM I've been away. I am really irritated by the garbage being spruked here. Why can't you all.....
» 20/08/2010 4:14:35 PM Dear Eclipse Now, I should know better than to be conciliatory. Now look, all the trouble .....
» 20/08/2010 10:39:43 AM Dear o dear, Eclipse Now, I didn't mean to upset you. As you've said, I don't know you, an.....
» 20/08/2010 10:08:33 AM I'm in favour of a "breeder pays" scheme. My wife and I both worked for years ti.....
» 20/08/2010 7:46:20 AM Dear Tristan Ewins, I agree that a transition to communism is all-but impossible in the co.....
» 19/08/2010 2:26:28 PM Dear Eclipse Now, the only item of Marx's thought that I, or anyone, is obliged to take as.....
» 19/08/2010 12:54:19 PM Dear Tristan Ewins, your response is disappointing. According to Marx's theory, alienation.....
» 19/08/2010 9:57:48 AM Pericles: <Sadly, human nature will never allow this to come to pass.> Dear Pericle.....
» 19/08/2010 7:38:55 AM Dear Tristan Ewins, there is indeed a rich tradition of so-called Leftist Christian though.....
» 18/08/2010 7:20:55 PM I'm glad hear that "a conscientious Christian could not vote for the Greens". Fo.....
» 17/08/2010 6:05:57 PM Dear King Hazza, this is actually a rather deep and revealing question. It seems to paint .....
» 17/08/2010 3:21:03 PM Dear JR and Paul1405, I too will be voting for the Greens, and am immensely gratified that.....
» 16/08/2010 5:38:53 PM A nicely argued article that exposes political involvement and agitation from the head of .....
» 16/08/2010 9:42:31 AM GilbertHolmes, I think the idea has merit. What about the idea of also putting a proximity.....
» 16/08/2010 6:28:19 AM Dear Foxy, I also enjoyed "The Moon's a Balloon", but Niven's second Memoir also.....
» 15/08/2010 2:25:26 PM Thanks, Poirot, for your very generous comments. I now look upon it (the would-be novel) a.....
» 15/08/2010 2:10:36 PM Dear Foxy, sorry I've been a while getting back to you. I've also read "Love in a Clo.....
» 15/08/2010 1:35:46 PM Dear Oliver, would love to discuss Kierkegaard with you on a thread one day; he's ties in .....
» 14/08/2010 5:38:52 PM Dear Foxy, I only wish I had time to read for pleasure. Poirot appears to have bolted. Hav.....
» 13/08/2010 9:46:17 PM Sorry, Poirot, this should work: https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1vcAkk5TPm5oVhF6.....
» 13/08/2010 8:07:54 PM Dear Poirot, here's a few of the late chapters that I'm not altogether ashamed of. Google .....
» 13/08/2010 6:21:57 PM Poirot: <My cleric is a bit of a rotter - and it's mainly set in a manor and it's surro.....
» 13/08/2010 6:10:50 PM Dear TBC, I agree with you completely, even with the note of millenarianism. The serious p.....
» 13/08/2010 2:14:12 PM Dear Foxy, thanks for the great links. Have you read Fry's novel, "The Stars' Tennis .....
» 13/08/2010 11:03:53 AM Alas, Poirot....I think the poem's lost in the dark recesses of a dead computer (..hmm, th.....
» 13/08/2010 10:27:46 AM Hi Poirot, what, no pigs! My uncle the bishop was actually sent packing by the church ami.....
» 13/08/2010 7:52:18 AM Dear Poirot and Foxy, I've been following your contributions with interest. I wrote a poem.....
» 12/08/2010 9:39:26 PM George: <I wanted to comment on your last paragraph in this post, however when I read .....
» 12/08/2010 7:52:37 PM Dear Rhian, of course I realise this and I'm in favour, as I said, of a proper separation .....
» 12/08/2010 11:35:22 AM I agree, pynchme! Shall we start up a chant? We want CJ... I scored a month suspension a .....
» 12/08/2010 11:04:02 AM Dear OUG, thanks for the reply, and for being easier to follow this time. I had no idea yo.....
» 12/08/2010 8:55:04 AM ..cont In any case, how can a popular democracy in a country that "has the highest p.....
» 12/08/2010 8:54:22 AM The US is and always has been a travesty of what the founding fathers so eloquently aspire.....
» 11/08/2010 6:59:30 PM Dear davidf, thanks for clearing that up, and I'm glad your mind is not closed to Marx. Ne.....
» 11/08/2010 12:02:40 PM davidf: <Some people who I regard as intelligent subscribe to Marxism. In spite of its .....
» 11/08/2010 10:48:23 AM The ABC is not Left wing; there is no Left perspective in this country. Neither is it undu.....
» 11/08/2010 2:16:03 AM Dear Foxy, I haven't read Solzhenitsyn, but must. I find it hard to read real-life account.....
» 10/08/2010 6:55:16 PM Dear Banjo, thanks for taking the time to read it. Freud is someone I admire very much, an.....
» 10/08/2010 6:21:11 PM I'd have to begin by saying that there is no left-wing media in this country, though admit.....
» 10/08/2010 3:27:01 AM Dear all, can I submit what Freud had to say on this specific topic in his last lecture: h.....
» 10/08/2010 3:13:24 AM Dear Severin, quite right, I'll knock off the deprecatory remarks. The link between ".....
» 9/08/2010 5:31:05 PM Foxy: <The totalitarian exaggerates the wickedness and weaknesses of man, in order to p.....
» 9/08/2010 2:35:39 PM Dear Houellebecq, apologies for being off topic, and for dragging Poirot off topic. Can on.....
» 9/08/2010 1:05:44 PM Urgent addendum: I don't mean the thread is lame due to any contributors, merely that it's.....
» 9/08/2010 1:01:19 PM Thanks, Foxy, for that evocative excerpt, which conjures rusticated Wordsworth and contriv.....
» 9/08/2010 9:53:35 AM Thanks all for responses--a bit of a lame thread I'm inclined to think now as not always e.....
» 8/08/2010 7:02:06 PM It seems to me our "guided democracy" gains pace with the increasing sophisticat.....
» 8/08/2010 5:30:53 PM Dear Graham Young, I too have to baulk at your sanguine view of (A)gw. It's interesting th.....
» 7/08/2010 3:34:31 PM Dear GY, I'm sorry, but this is below the pale! Tacky, nauseating rubbish that deserves pi.....
» 7/08/2010 3:22:18 PM In these decadent days of sound-grabs and puerile thought (thought is only as good as the .....
» 7/08/2010 2:00:48 PM Hi Poirot, one of my favourite reads was Boswell's "Life of Johnson", and one of.....
» 7/08/2010 8:48:43 AM What happened to the promised new thread, AGIR?.....
» 5/08/2010 2:02:52 PM I'm not in favour of the idea if it's going to bring too much regulation to the forum. We'.....
» 3/08/2010 9:00:42 PM we are unique: <As fanatical as Fundamentalists, you seem to be an Atheist of fanatical.....
» 3/08/2010 7:34:24 AM Dear AGIR, I look forward to the new thread, but it might be 24hrs before I get a chance t.....
» 2/08/2010 5:14:53 PM Dear davidf, while I agree whole-heartedly with the serve you give to AGIR above, does it .....
» 2/08/2010 10:42:55 AM Dear Examinator, "Squeers strident verbiage"? My posts are nothing if not econ.....
» 2/08/2010 8:22:58 AM I second that, Severin. The topic could only have been conceived by a rabid moralist like .....
» 2/08/2010 7:28:49 AM One of the things raised on Insiders yesterday was whether Laurie Oakes was disseminating .....
» 1/08/2010 5:32:56 PM Thanks to you too Poirot and Severin, it's been a long day with sick bubs and nothing like.....
» 1/08/2010 4:42:34 PM Thank you Severin for your good grace:-) Just to clarify; I suspect the dramatic shift in .....
» 1/08/2010 4:25:30 PM Oops! Severin is pure as the driven snow; 'twas pynchme!.....
» 1/08/2010 4:23:17 PM Excuse me for being cross-threaded (blame Severin), but this seems more apposite here: Py.....
» 1/08/2010 4:12:44 PM Pynchme: <Can anyone recall a male EVER being accused of "sleeping his way to the .....
» 1/08/2010 1:28:14 PM Davidf: <I am prejudiced. I have an aggressive refusal to interrogate my prejudice. Yo.....
» 1/08/2010 7:44:15 AM "The social emancipation of the Jew is the emancipation of society from Judaism.".....
» 31/07/2010 6:59:11 PM Dear Davidf, I find your last post extraordinary and am finally losing patience, especiall.....
» 31/07/2010 1:26:15 PM Very good TBC. It is curious that the RC church is such a staunch defender of doctrine whe.....
» 31/07/2010 12:14:34 PM Dear Oliver, You do realise I was being facetious above? I'm well aware of the Bible's mag.....
» 31/07/2010 12:00:11 PM How about GK Chesterton having the last word; he seems to speak somewhat for all sides: &.....
» 31/07/2010 5:38:32 AM Dear Davidf, I'm still assessing "Marxism" for reasonableness, though certainly .....
» 30/07/2010 6:31:24 PM Dear davidf and other heathens, this is sacrilege! The Bible is the Word of God for all .....
» 28/07/2010 12:44:49 PM Dear Poirot, Hitch is rather nasty, and a dogmatic defender of Western righteousness. I wi.....
» 28/07/2010 9:28:10 AM Dear George, I also find much in what you say (the parts I understand) that I agree with. .....
» 28/07/2010 9:20:44 AM Dear David f and all, I intended to start that new thread myself, but responded here as se.....
» 28/07/2010 8:51:14 AM Quite right, Severin. I don't even ask for proof, just a crumb or two of evidence would be.....
» 28/07/2010 8:19:07 AM Dear Banjo, I'm glad you and I appear to be in agreement. I think just about anyone who's.....
» 28/07/2010 7:51:59 AM Dear Joe, these are important questions of course, that I would need much time to research.....
» 27/07/2010 3:06:12 PM Dear david f, All the authors you mention are also heroes of mine and I know their works v.....
» 27/07/2010 3:36:19 AM Here is a link to Marx's "on the Jewish Question" for anyone interested in a fas.....
» 26/07/2010 7:27:30 PM Dear david f, you are wrong, in large part if not in toto, and your condemnations above la.....
» 26/07/2010 4:11:24 PM Oh dear, I read the article through carefully and still managed to mix up Calvin with Mich.....
» 26/07/2010 4:06:47 PM Oh dear, I read the article through carefully and still managed to mix up Calvin with Mich.....
» 26/07/2010 3:01:27 PM "The Marxist governments opposed secularism as they wished to wipe out or control rel.....
» 26/07/2010 1:39:07 PM Ah, glad you took the bait :-) I'm referring to my two posts earlier on in the thread, wh.....
» 26/07/2010 1:23:54 PM cont.. By "those who appropriate an inexhaustible commodity rather than develop spiri.....
» 26/07/2010 1:18:10 PM Thanks, david f, I’ll have a look too. Dear George, I guess nit-picking through each other.....
» 26/07/2010 10:59:41 AM Dear o dear, it looks like mjpb has bolted from the field :-( But while I was looking for.....
» 26/07/2010 8:24:52 AM Dear George, You said, "I never wrote that, and you know it". You give me undes.....
» 25/07/2010 8:04:05 AM Sorry about the dodgy link above. This was the one intended: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.....
» 25/07/2010 7:20:39 AM Dear david f, thanks for sharing that fascinating Woodpecker anecdote; nature is devious i.....
» 25/07/2010 4:18:02 AM ..ctd. It is perfectly legitimate to use "gospel" figuratively and without being.....
» 25/07/2010 4:17:12 AM Dear Oliver, I have to stop biting off more than I have time to chew! Sorry I haven't resp.....
» 25/07/2010 2:30:09 AM Dear Poirot, thanks for the link. Dear Cherful, apologies for my outburst, which was offe.....
» 24/07/2010 2:55:04 PM CHERFUL I have no words for unspeakable people like you. Your attitude makes me sick......
» 24/07/2010 8:45:32 AM Dear Javan, I also would say that it's not that we are "selfish by nature". &quo.....
» 24/07/2010 6:08:20 AM Dear George, thanks for throwing the bone. Quite right about the sainted David Attenborou.....
» 23/07/2010 5:31:26 PM I'm also glad to have received the secret(thanks AJP), having been in awe myself, ever and.....
» 23/07/2010 4:11:28 PM Hello Oliver and George, I'm just a quiet presence here as find myself out of my depth---t.....
» 23/07/2010 10:08:34 AM Richie10, What a load of absolute twaddle!.....
» 23/07/2010 8:27:17 AM ctd.. But this still doesn't solve the problem of human 'anxiety' (including religious ex.....
» 23/07/2010 8:26:52 AM Dear mjpb, my position is that we live in this physical reality, which is somehow unconvi.....
» 22/07/2010 6:24:18 PM Dear mjpb, it's been a looooong day and I'm tired, but I would prefer to have constructive.....
» 22/07/2010 12:55:35 PM mjpb: <So you are trying to say that you think religious people are stupid and atheists.....
» 22/07/2010 10:35:51 AM An excellent potted history of the goings on in that part of the world that has me wonderi.....
» 22/07/2010 6:44:15 AM Pynchme, thanks for the excellent link. Just to clarify my position above; I don't say th.....
» 22/07/2010 5:13:53 AM Quite right, George, I was about to pick you up on that :-).....
» 22/07/2010 5:08:24 AM Pynchme: <*Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude.....
» 21/07/2010 8:12:43 PM Foxy: <I somehow get the feeling though TBC, that you're simply stirring here. You rea.....
» 21/07/2010 4:58:44 PM mjpb: <The relevant Churches believe that God has a particular spiritual function for m.....
» 21/07/2010 6:50:33 AM Dear we are unique, I wasn't "after a bite". I am genuine in my comments (which .....
» 20/07/2010 8:28:22 PM Dear Foxy, it's nice, but somehow discomforting to find you equivocal on this issue. The C.....
» 20/07/2010 5:44:18 PM Given the equanimity with which the latest ex-cathedra misogyny appears to have been recei.....
» 20/07/2010 9:43:28 AM Dear Graham Young, Sorry I don't have time to search through threads, but I don't think yo.....
» 19/07/2010 12:43:48 PM qanda, I well recall some of the attacks you sustained from GY on AGW and don't blame you.....
» 17/07/2010 6:19:41 PM Ok Ginx (or TBC?), I'll come out and be a man. I started composing a post on this thread t.....
» 17/07/2010 3:50:34 PM Severin, yep, I lucid dream a lot (very common I think). What impresses me the most about .....
» 17/07/2010 12:04:56 PM Severin: <Your post leads me to consider just how much our personalities are mere const.....
» 16/07/2010 7:35:30 PM It could be argued (in light of recent and not so recent theory) that to talk of conscious.....
» 15/07/2010 3:57:36 PM Dear Peter Hume, Why don't you stop beating around the bush and tell me what you really t.....
» 14/07/2010 8:57:07 PM Thanks for the stimulation, Oliver. That "even if its existence lies in part beyond t.....
» 14/07/2010 8:12:25 PM Good grief, Herr Mises! Is that the best you can do! He's a 40 years dead fundamentalist w.....
» 14/07/2010 7:08:52 PM I think it's a shame that we're only looking at this conundrum through the bipolar (have t.....
» 13/07/2010 6:54:42 PM Peter Hume: <Ultimately there are only two possibilities: private ownership of the mea.....
» 12/07/2010 6:56:25 PM Yabby, you only strengthen the argument you trifle with. China and India are the new bourg.....
» 12/07/2010 5:28:37 PM Peter Hume, <Well I can only address one issue at a time, and it took an unprecedented .....
» 12/07/2010 11:09:23 AM Dear Yabby, just because a few wealthy eccentrics make a fetish of appearing poor, and a f.....
» 12/07/2010 9:20:47 AM cont.. This is patent nonsense, since you don't account for the ingenuity and lengths hum.....
» 12/07/2010 9:19:30 AM In any event, if you are proposing capitalism as the most efficient systemic means of regu.....
» 12/07/2010 9:18:04 AM Thanks for the compliment, Poirot, though the credit goes to Peter Hume; he makes a wonder.....
» 11/07/2010 7:37:27 PM Dear Peter Hume, I've only read the first of your new posts as yet but am eager to interca.....
» 10/07/2010 6:50:18 PM There's a lot of soul-searching going on here, which is nice. I didn't know how long OLO .....
» 10/07/2010 11:39:56 AM Dear TBC, I do indeed ride a bicycle too; I have two very inexpensive machines and use the.....
» 10/07/2010 8:41:10 AM b) I do not rashly make proposals for alternatives to capitalism out of consideration of t.....
» 10/07/2010 7:58:23 AM Dear Peter Hume, First apropos your three strikes: Strike 1: It was not bad faith or min.....
» 10/07/2010 7:20:04 AM Dear TBC, thanks for providing those links to the work of Tim Jackson; they make me feel u.....
» 9/07/2010 6:14:53 PM Dear TBC and Poirot, thank you for dealing with Stern. He exasperates me! Poirot, I do li.....
» 9/07/2010 6:07:54 PM Ctd... Point 3: <I am not going to box against shadows [unthinkable]. You need to succi.....
» 9/07/2010 6:05:51 PM Dear Peter Hume, I don't know what a "Marxist" is, I mean apart from the bogey-m.....
» 8/07/2010 9:02:22 PM Sienna: <squeers, why wouldn't any system be faced with the same problem if it is to pr.....
» 8/07/2010 6:51:52 PM Not much more to add. Caro is much more conciliatory than I am. So far as I'm concerned th.....
» 8/07/2010 6:26:43 PM I've only watched part one of this rollicking yarn so far, and I have to declare my bias u.....
» 8/07/2010 4:36:13 PM Dear Peter Hume, I don't "assume" anything. Capitalism "is" predicate.....
» 8/07/2010 12:39:48 PM Just in case of misunderstanding; in this sentence: <I'm sure many parents blithely thi.....
» 8/07/2010 12:13:31 PM Petersen: <Religion has been the driving force of man-kind from day one. It’s in our bl.....
» 7/07/2010 4:55:51 PM <Anti-capitalists *still* argue that capitalism makes the mass of people poorer, while .....
» 7/07/2010 4:52:14 PM Excellent, Peter Hume, what fun! Much as it pains me to be a damper on such rhetorical fl.....
» 7/07/2010 12:03:21 PM Stern: <You sound more like Grim everyday The same small minded envy, the mad blood lu.....
» 7/07/2010 10:58:10 AM Foxy: <The mysticism of Buddhism offers the believer salvation at a spiritual level, wh.....
» 7/07/2010 9:02:55 AM Stern: <its called the work ethic – where one expects to work and not being pandered t.....
» 6/07/2010 9:19:42 PM Dear Forrest Gumpp, 'tis our pleasure that you bring a little intrigue to this "humbl.....
» 6/07/2010 5:19:20 AM Grim: <It [capitalism] just sucks less than any alternatives so far trialled.> Dear.....
» 6/07/2010 4:22:45 AM Dear Severin, Adam Smith was prescient about the danger of monopolies and specifically war.....
» 5/07/2010 8:30:30 PM My first wife and I named our first child (now nearly 14) Phoebe Frances, after a white ro.....
» 5/07/2010 3:45:05 PM State schools should be places of learning as well as sanctuaries from the religious tripe.....
» 5/07/2010 2:31:34 PM Stern: <No system of economic ownership can control “sustainability”.> This sounds l.....
» 5/07/2010 11:02:59 AM I've long tentatively concluded that everything has already happened, just not for us hear.....
» 5/07/2010 8:14:18 AM Dear Yabby, Ludwig, floatinglili and Benq, I think I address your points more or less abov.....
» 5/07/2010 5:52:59 AM Dear Poirot, I'm not at present in a position to home-school my kids (I've already heard t.....
» 4/07/2010 5:30:15 PM I only just happened across this interesting thread. I've discussed homeschooling with my .....
» 4/07/2010 1:43:10 PM Sahdow Minister: <Funny how in most of the established capitalist countries the popula.....
» 4/07/2010 11:37:00 AM Dear Yabby, We're actually close to agreement. Absolutely, it's about human nature, about .....
» 4/07/2010 11:30:29 AM Dear Pelican, thanks for your constructive response (one too often gets dismissed as some .....
» 4/07/2010 11:06:05 AM Yabby: <Capitalism is not driving endless growth.> Dear Yabby, capitalism is abou.....
» 4/07/2010 10:52:34 AM Dear Stern, comparing capitalism to failed alternatives the way you do is precisely the bi.....
» 4/07/2010 8:59:03 AM Dear Examinator, I appreciate the point you are making here. I can only assure you, howeve.....
» 4/07/2010 8:51:38 AM Dear AGIR, I only think "Capitalism is EEEEEEVIL" in as much as it is comparable.....
» 3/07/2010 2:00:31 PM For me it is only logical that the answer to this question is resoundingly in the affirmat.....
» 3/07/2010 9:40:51 AM Dear Proxy, thanks for illustrating my point about binary thinking :-).....
» 3/07/2010 9:05:32 AM Thanks for a splendid article steeped in ethics, Brian Holden, I'm sure you speak for many.....
» 2/07/2010 5:47:05 PM "unique Australian identity". My first question to this dubious proposition wou.....
» 2/07/2010 8:11:27 AM Dear Examinator, I'm glad to hear we're singing the same tune, though it's still a rather .....
» 1/07/2010 9:06:41 AM davidf: <The assumption that we can have a science of ethics depends on the assumption .....
» 1/07/2010 8:09:39 AM Foxy: <Dear Squeers, I wish that I could see things your way...> Dear Foxy, sorry .....
» 29/06/2010 7:55:25 PM Foxy: <The hidden agenda [is to] ... win the next election> Dear Foxy, if I may obs.....
» 29/06/2010 6:36:03 PM Oliver: <If existence can be explained by fuzzy stuff in QM and particle physics, do we.....
» 29/06/2010 5:02:28 PM TBC, I couldn't agree more. There is no place in politics for religion, indeed in public l.....
» 29/06/2010 8:31:02 AM Dear George, it seems you and I have more in common than some of your other antagonists, t.....
» 28/06/2010 10:37:20 PM Dear JL Deland, thanks for your thoughts. One under God gave me the epithet Ssssqueers one.....
» 28/06/2010 2:56:44 PM Dear Davidf, thanks for the reply. I have no interest in defending socialist/communist reg.....
» 27/06/2010 8:03:17 PM Dear davidf, thanks for the reply and, btw, I'm not a committed Marxist, far from it. But .....
» 27/06/2010 5:57:40 PM Rhys Jones: <We should start by making contraception far more readily available than it.....
» 27/06/2010 11:09:52 AM It occurs to me too that there's a case for euthanasia when the subject expresses him/hers.....
» 27/06/2010 9:10:13 AM Dear Rusty, I don't think those fundies are fading away into irrelevance just yet; I'd sug.....
» 26/06/2010 5:57:50 PM I come to this thread very late, and so haven't read any of the comments, so sorry if I'm .....
» 26/06/2010 2:20:45 PM Dear Rhys Jones, your position becomes less tenable or defensible the more you go on, rely.....
» 25/06/2010 8:03:13 PM Apologies, davidf, for my short attention-span; I read this: "we do agree about fundi.....
» 25/06/2010 3:25:35 PM I have an arts degree in the anachronistically titled "English Literature". I al.....
» 25/06/2010 7:25:17 AM Condolences CJ and co. I imagine you've all dried your eyes by now. The link below is to s.....
» 25/06/2010 4:26:34 AM Dear Rhys Jones, thanks for the extra detail, though we still disagree. It seems to me you.....
» 24/06/2010 7:36:06 PM Rhys Jones: <It is not sentience or self awareness or any other particular human attrib.....
» 24/06/2010 6:17:30 PM Hasbeen, that same logic surely applies to sport! I resent paying for the Olympics, for in.....
» 23/06/2010 6:19:40 PM Of course we already have a gutless and inhumane form of euthanasia that Rhys Jones would .....
» 22/06/2010 9:03:46 PM Dear Shadow Minister, you plainly do not have a clue......
» 22/06/2010 11:14:32 AM What a load of rubbish! Where is the author's evidence that we're "fixated on legalis.....
» 21/06/2010 4:48:18 PM Dear Shadow Minister, my time is too precious to waste it refuting whatever gross distorti.....
» 21/06/2010 7:00:23 AM Amicus, you lot are not sceptics, as I keep saying, you're minimidianists. A sceptic ".....
» 21/06/2010 6:45:12 AM Dear Shadow Minister, you are only parodying your own shallow thinking, not mine. I won't.....
» 21/06/2010 6:36:31 AM Celivia: <Did you deliberately leave out the word "deliberate" when quoting .....
» 20/06/2010 8:33:31 PM Celivia and CJ, Kewell is a pro soccer player with a sixth sense for the ball and reflexes.....
» 20/06/2010 6:20:18 PM So, Patriots, was it a professional foul? I say yes; Harry Kewell deserved the red card.......
» 20/06/2010 5:49:05 PM Leo Lane, maybe take a look at this link: http://www.skepticalscience.com/Empirical-eviden.....
» 20/06/2010 4:59:54 PM Protagoras, I've been staying out of this one, but I'm cheering you on the sidelines!.....
» 20/06/2010 4:48:00 PM Dear Richie 10 and ALGOREisRICH (pigeon pair?), More cliched thinking. The standard utopi.....
» 20/06/2010 8:53:38 AM Dear ALGOREisRICH, thank you for your sympathy, though I think I can make a much better ca.....
» 19/06/2010 5:01:59 PM Thanks Sowat and Pelican for the endorsement. I am unashamedly for some kind of democratic.....
» 19/06/2010 8:10:04 AM ALGOREisRICH Thank you for epitomising the ignorant stereotype I allude to above......
» 18/06/2010 4:51:06 PM Jacques Derrida.....
» 18/06/2010 4:38:35 PM Loudmouth: <I use an extremely crude test of whether or not global warming is happening.....
» 18/06/2010 10:36:57 AM A good article that will fall mostly on indifferent ears. The one matter I disagree on, if.....
» 14/06/2010 4:13:22 PM Sadly, sport has degenerated into the same kind of formulaic procedure as war and life hav.....
» 12/06/2010 8:12:28 AM I'm not really into sport, apart from cricket, which has been ruined by commercialisation......
» 9/06/2010 7:47:25 PM I think we're in danger of romanticising the bogans, or at least letting them have a tug o.....
» 7/06/2010 5:58:04 PM Pericles: "Charles Dickens provides illumination into the same syndrome with his port.....
» 26/05/2010 5:11:44 PM OUG: <im sure i should react to oli,ver,... but am reluctant to enter his/and squeers l.....
» 26/05/2010 10:29:33 AM Oliver: "Life is a diminutive happenstance in the great ocean of entropic events.&quo.....
» 25/05/2010 10:36:42 AM While we're on the subject of mythical figures, one of my favourite's is Sherlock Holmes. .....
» 24/05/2010 10:26:00 AM Dear DavidF, thanks for the link to the Hume-Rousseau spat, which I wasn't aware of. I rea.....
» 23/05/2010 3:03:51 PM Dear David, sounds like a fascinating project and hopefully you'll put the odd article up .....
» 22/05/2010 10:16:58 PM Davidf: <Which mutations are viable and passed on are not haphazard. I don't agree that.....
» 22/05/2010 6:46:20 PM I agree, intelligent design is a desperate attempt by religion to stay relevant in an incr.....
» 19/05/2010 7:01:20 PM If Rudd's tax puts a halter on economic growth, and slows down the rape of the planet, goo.....
» 19/05/2010 2:23:40 PM Csteele, I despise the ivory towers and can assure you I've had my fill of life experience.....
» 19/05/2010 10:12:51 AM Continued.. Of course it used to be that only the aristocracy enjoyed culture to the point.....
» 19/05/2010 9:22:42 AM Csteele: <But don't you think that tilting your lance at a thread on poetry might be a .....
» 18/05/2010 9:28:39 PM Well these are deep waters and I think I'll sleep on it......
» 18/05/2010 6:33:45 AM Continued. “A Shattered Illusion” On everything poetic Your moderns look askance: And da.....
» 18/05/2010 6:31:28 AM Dear Csteel and all, Tried to post this last night but computer issues. I’m still growing .....
» 17/05/2010 6:26:24 AM Dear Csteele, thanks for your thoughts. I will be very busy brushing up on Keats today, bu.....
» 16/05/2010 6:42:14 PM Surely the real issue hear isn't sexuality, but consumerism. It's a joke to go on blaming .....
» 16/05/2010 4:34:01 PM Well, Robin Hood was disappointing; my boys got bored with it. My girls had sense enough n.....
» 16/05/2010 11:24:28 AM Severin, you're right, my apology 'was' disingenuous; it was more in the nature of sympath.....
» 15/05/2010 7:37:02 PM Foxy: <You seem to want an argument of some sort.> I do not. Apologies for the intr.....
» 15/05/2010 2:09:40 PM I've been off watching my boys play the 'beautiful' game, and thus dragged from the field .....
» 15/05/2010 10:03:19 AM Severin, I wasn't aware I'd been trumped. Indeed I'm complacent I hold all the cards. &quo.....
» 15/05/2010 7:59:50 AM Dear Foxy, I wasn't accusing you of prudery, dear, I just 'happened' to append some choice.....
» 14/05/2010 5:12:01 PM Dear Foxy, much as I hate to be the spoiler in all this fun (and I don't want to be the su.....
» 13/05/2010 6:37:34 PM In case any of you honking geese are capable of being objective, Rudd said he was absolute.....
» 12/05/2010 8:16:34 PM Ah Thomas Hardy, one of the great geniuses of the age, who wrote on pointlessness far more.....
» 12/05/2010 6:40:33 PM Pericles, <As far as I'm concerned, poetry is the performing seal of literature. Cleve.....
» 12/05/2010 3:54:41 PM Foxy: <Dear Squeers, Your suggestion is not quite appropriate. You see, David agreed q.....
» 12/05/2010 1:23:25 PM Dear Foxy and David, perhaps you two should get a motel room? There's a certain poetic lic.....
» 10/05/2010 8:26:52 PM Poirot, you most certainly are a poet, if that means inspiration comes from within, as Per.....
» 10/05/2010 7:00:50 PM Has anyone mentioned Gerard Manley Hopkins. His "Binsey Poplars" is apposite, si.....
» 10/05/2010 6:48:26 PM I'm blushing again! It's called "The Whitsun Weddings" and here's the link: http.....
» 10/05/2010 6:41:29 PM Dear Foxy, I to wish you a speedy recovery. This is a poem I wrote an essay on once. I wa.....
» 10/05/2010 6:01:10 PM Vanna: <C J Morgan, Is there any post you have ever made that did not contain name call.....
» 10/05/2010 6:54:01 AM At the risk of stirring the pot, Nietzsche's misogynist lines spring to mind: "woman.....
» 9/05/2010 6:23:01 PM Yes, well I'm feeling rather neglected lately, since Col Rouge took his leave, I mean! I t.....
» 9/05/2010 6:22:23 PM Apologies folks, the post above was intended for another thread. I'm blushing!.....
» 9/05/2010 6:20:21 PM Pelican, I don't 'believe' in anything and I wouldn't dream of misrepresenting you. I'm no.....
» 9/05/2010 5:58:10 PM Yes, well I'm feeling rather neglected lately, since Col Rouge took his leave, I mean! I t.....
» 8/05/2010 2:50:26 PM I'm not smoking anything, but I suspect Ho Hum's pinched a bit of Coleridge's opium. Or do.....
» 8/05/2010 10:07:03 AM Stev, my suggestion, that women are not aggressors by nature, does not of course mean tha.....
» 8/05/2010 8:59:44 AM Stev, try to keep up. The argument is that women too are caught up in patriarchy, includin.....
» 8/05/2010 8:12:31 AM A nice bit of innovative thinking, Joseph. Of course there are a great many conspiracies i.....
» 8/05/2010 6:58:19 AM Peter the Believer, you're dreaming! Only about 7.5% of Australians attend services on a r.....
» 7/05/2010 6:49:15 PM Well, I didn't even know severin was of the fairer sex before this thread! And I have no i.....
» 7/05/2010 9:49:38 AM sonofgloin: <your acceptance of low standards regarding the govt we pay for finds me th.....
» 6/05/2010 10:14:02 PM A smack is just a gesture when they're very small (or should be). I don't know how wise th.....
» 6/05/2010 8:46:54 PM Sonofgloin quote: "Back when Rudd and I would still catch up for dinner or coffee, I .....
» 5/05/2010 5:07:55 PM Pelican, the trouble is that women can and do deny the father any meaningful role in the c.....
» 5/05/2010 5:00:42 PM Well Spindoc, while Rudd is a consummate performer and inveterate fabricator (that's the j.....
» 5/05/2010 2:53:53 PM Truish PH. Just as Vidal's assessment is true--though treated as satire by those who conde.....
» 5/05/2010 8:04:38 AM Well that's anecdotal, Antiseptic--though the fact that Australians and businesses live on.....
» 4/05/2010 8:16:00 PM Foxy, sorry for dragging you back; I know you've been trying to quit this thread for a whi.....
» 4/05/2010 6:56:41 PM Wow, you guys have got this all to yourselves don't you! The instigator of this thread con.....
» 4/05/2010 6:12:26 PM I can't improve on PH on all this I'm afraid, he cuts through the crap just as well as his.....
» 4/05/2010 4:23:57 PM Very interesting comments, Oliver. A relative of mine received a dodgy MBA that fits your .....
» 3/05/2010 5:49:09 PM Dear me, Foxy, you're so busy being indignant that I don't think you've really considered .....
» 3/05/2010 4:36:42 PM Mind you, it's not just standards at the entry point that are falling. The whole academic .....
» 3/05/2010 2:36:31 PM Dear Foxy, You're not a nun, are you? Forget sonnet 129; watch Julianne More's splendid fi.....
» 3/05/2010 12:32:00 PM Severin: <Most people are inherently good.> I don't disagree with your comments, bu.....
» 3/05/2010 11:27:41 AM I'm afraid PH is right. Social norms and rules are enforced because without them men would.....
» 3/05/2010 5:12:40 AM I quite understand, AJ, having been misrepresented and taken out of context and attacked w.....
» 2/05/2010 9:29:45 PM AJ Philips, I do apologise for not hanging on your every word; I've got a bad habit of thi.....
» 2/05/2010 7:32:43 PM Proxy, I've offered a real argument. Do you have anything but cliched thinking to put forw.....
» 2/05/2010 7:07:39 PM I don't know about Masters degrees, but I'm doing my doctorate on the strength of my first.....
» 2/05/2010 4:45:56 PM Jay of Melbourne: <Africans think the same way now, they're blaming God or their neigbo.....
» 2/05/2010 4:24:19 PM I've been away and missing all the fun. Yabby: <morality is of course nothing more the.....
» 2/05/2010 3:28:01 PM Dear o dear, I went away for a few days, just when the debate gets interesting! I want to.....
» 27/04/2010 5:24:53 PM An interesting and well written article (though the last couple of paragraphs let it down).....
» 27/04/2010 4:36:41 PM Yabby, I've read my share of natural science and certainly don't take the simplistic appro.....
» 27/04/2010 3:23:19 PM Jay of Melbourne, you're a legend in your own mind, mate; yet your claptrap is no doubt ap.....
» 26/04/2010 8:39:09 PM Proxy: <Squeers, If nationalism and racialism are: "base instincts" "pr.....
» 26/04/2010 6:19:08 PM Lifeskills, Hmmm? Sounds a bit formulaic. But then, life 'is' formulaic for some people, .....
» 26/04/2010 4:58:52 PM Glenc I think your 'misdirected' comments were meant for me. You don't seem to have inten.....
» 26/04/2010 3:32:34 PM Thanks Yabby and Foxy for your responses. I agree particularly with your comment Yabby abo.....
» 26/04/2010 1:42:26 PM "Ideal", proxy? Marriage is what's messing us all up: <Men and women are dis.....
» 26/04/2010 12:03:53 PM Peter Hume: <Squeers >Is it still monogamy, btw, when the faithful husband masturbat.....
» 26/04/2010 11:53:10 AM Jay of Melbourne, The issue seems peculiarly black and white to you. Perhaps you should be.....
» 26/04/2010 8:54:47 AM It does seem that social monogamy is common in nature, though according to studies cited i.....
» 25/04/2010 7:17:32 PM Dear Proxy and Foxy (sorry about the alliteration). There are perfectly lucid arguments be.....
» 25/04/2010 7:10:27 PM Foxy, there is nothing at all the matter. My comments on this thread, and elsewhere, have .....
» 25/04/2010 4:13:24 PM Foxy: <I remember friends of ours who had problems with their son, they ended up paying.....
» 25/04/2010 3:45:37 PM My dear lady (Foxy), the truth is always outrageous, and the virtuous a lie. You need not .....
» 25/04/2010 3:04:00 PM "Is monogamy 'natural'" Foxy, you surprise me. Of course it's not! Monogamy is t.....
» 25/04/2010 2:28:50 PM Individual's idea (a boring refrain) comes straight out of establishment. The initiator of.....
» 24/04/2010 4:55:44 PM GlenC, you need to revisit the books--more likely consult them for the first time! "c.....
» 24/04/2010 1:35:28 PM Crabsy, I don't think there's anything wrong with the kind of influence you exert with the.....
» 24/04/2010 11:17:07 AM This debate, as so often happens, seems to have got polarised. Surely all reasonable peopl.....
» 23/04/2010 9:19:37 PM Quite right, Francis, it was "without", as in "outside". Where did yo.....
» 23/04/2010 8:52:10 PM I think I know what you mean, Runner; but I'm not running with the hare 'and' the hounds. .....
» 23/04/2010 8:23:49 PM Dear o dear, Runner. Evolution has nothing to do with faith; it is the best, most reasonab.....
» 23/04/2010 7:49:44 PM Francis, I'm cut to the quick. I can take any amount of correction and criticism, but this.....
» 23/04/2010 8:30:15 AM Fair enough, no witch hunt. The unpleasant fact of course is that probably all human being.....
» 22/04/2010 9:56:45 PM Francis, I respect your position, and while I do think the Catholic hierarchy is anachroni.....
» 22/04/2010 9:23:02 PM I think atheism, like theism, might be an admirable thing if it were free-standing--vested.....
» 22/04/2010 3:08:28 PM The Catholic church's record on child abuse, more particularly on hushing it up, is simply.....
» 21/04/2010 5:52:49 PM Nice to see an article on Buddhism, though the author doesn't differentiate Theravada Budd.....
» 8/04/2010 7:38:57 PM A (not)funny thing happened to a Baptist friend of mine the other day (yes, I've befriende.....
» 7/04/2010 7:27:11 PM Joe, (rather than the appalling appellation "Loudmouth") Dawkins and co are taki.....
» 7/04/2010 7:37:39 AM Joe, I'm unchastened. I acknowledged the success of "the method", and I applaud .....
» 7/04/2010 7:28:46 AM Hello George, thanks for the feedback, and the links! I've only browsed Sokal's new book s.....
» 6/04/2010 6:39:14 PM I acknowledge the success of scientific method as a way of explaining and improvising upon.....
» 5/04/2010 5:19:25 PM The article isn't really about water, except insofar as it's about testing it--the politic.....
» 2/04/2010 7:43:54 AM Good to see you're still with us, OUG, I was beginning to think you'd been 'taken up'. Sor.....
» 1/04/2010 3:31:42 PM Foxy: "You certainly do sound very mystical. However - it was meant merely as a joke.....
» 1/04/2010 1:41:19 PM A delightful little parable rather than joke, Foxy, that beautifully portrays (for me) the.....
» 31/03/2010 4:00:35 PM It shouldn't be a gender issue, and strictly it's not; both sexes are complicit in the sta.....
» 30/03/2010 6:49:19 PM You forgot to mention, Foxy, that we enjoy these privileges, and our individuality, at the.....
» 30/03/2010 6:00:04 PM One of my favourites: Jesus is watching; everybody look busy!.....
» 30/03/2010 7:41:01 AM Hi Foxy, I too hope the health scare you had was just a glitch, and many years of this lif.....
» 29/03/2010 6:53:04 PM Sells, having just read the introduction to Alan Sokal's new book, "Beyond the Hoax&q.....
» 26/03/2010 8:46:42 AM Well thanks for the response, Pericles, though there's nothing persuasive in it. <Going.....
» 25/03/2010 7:27:28 PM All is rhetoric, Pericles, even faux-objectivity. The "sanctity of life" is, as .....
» 24/03/2010 6:45:42 PM Severin, either silence, or the jeering of cynics from the other side. Forrest, I did read.....
» 23/03/2010 6:52:59 PM Thanks Nicole, for a really good article that lobbies for creatures that can't lobby for t.....
» 23/03/2010 8:08:49 AM No need for apologies, George, now or ever. I wasn't the least bit upset, slightly irritat.....
» 22/03/2010 6:02:09 AM qtd. <As for Lacan, he explicitly claims he uses mathematics (in the way physicists do).....
» 22/03/2010 6:00:18 AM George: "Squeers, Did I understrand you properly that you see yourself as a “poststru.....
» 21/03/2010 10:24:35 AM George: "how can a philosophy of (natural) science be responsible or political? Of co.....
» 21/03/2010 7:52:19 AM All, I can't comment much on your "pig poo", except to say its an apt metaphor f.....
» 20/03/2010 6:44:41 PM Welcome back to the fray, Bushbasher. Pseudo-science (astrology etc.), in the sense the au.....
» 19/03/2010 12:52:01 PM Daviy, you ought to throw out your reference books, as you don't appear to have the fainti.....
» 16/03/2010 5:46:33 PM I'd recommend everyone listen to Peter Singer at this link http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigide.....
» 16/03/2010 1:27:32 PM Pynchme, sorry about my little dummy spit, though I wasn't specifically thinking of you (a.....
» 15/03/2010 6:27:50 PM Well I'll just butt out while you all have your own little love-in, sniff each others armp.....
» 15/03/2010 9:12:54 AM There's an ancient couple, a male human and a non-descript (like a four legged Joda) canin.....
» 12/03/2010 6:05:49 PM I'm dumbfounded by the nodding nincompoops who can't imagine human life outside their (s)h.....
» 12/03/2010 2:32:21 AM George, Thanks for the Habermas piece; I've finally ploughed through it(since our one year.....
» 11/03/2010 6:33:40 PM George: "Squeers, If you are referring to my post, please note that I was not objecti.....
» 11/03/2010 3:54:34 PM Peter Hume, you rightly satirise the logical extremes to which this line of reasoning tend.....
» 11/03/2010 10:26:38 AM George, thanks for speaking out on the painful realities that underpin our lives. We all f.....
» 11/03/2010 7:46:34 AM I'd have to agree with AJP and TBC. Oh yes tolerance is very commendable, we all have to t.....
» 10/03/2010 9:24:50 AM Hanrahan I'd love to contribute to OLO more but it already exacts too much time that I oug.....
» 9/03/2010 6:59:45 PM huonian: "The greatest problem with democracy at the moment is the level of cynicism .....
» 9/03/2010 4:49:44 PM I agree completely with the proposition that democracy is terminally ill, only I don't bla.....
» 8/03/2010 6:46:17 PM Hanrahan, I don't know what you're on about either, except that you seem determined to pai.....
» 8/03/2010 7:16:19 AM George, "The Moon's a Balloon" is the title of David Niven's delightful autobiog.....
» 7/03/2010 4:53:06 AM Thanks for your patience, George, and I hung on every word. My position is simply that que.....
» 6/03/2010 2:57:00 PM Severin, I'm glad my view is congenial to some. George, sorry to be taking you to task ag.....
» 6/03/2010 8:37:13 AM Can Squeers be psychoanalysed here? I think I can lay claim to being occasionally infuriat.....
» 6/03/2010 8:12:45 AM I should start a new thread, I could call it "Shooting Baskets; the subtleties of fai.....
» 5/03/2010 6:07:18 PM Hanrahan, thanks for replying, though what have you said? "Tradition"; you've co.....
» 4/03/2010 6:03:01 PM Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! I've been going on about climate change and ethics forever .....
» 3/03/2010 6:07:14 PM Hanrahan, I take it as a compliment that you don't deign to engage with my post, directed .....
» 2/03/2010 12:16:58 PM Hanrahan, atheism is not a doctrine and it has no creed. It need not even have a political.....
» 1/03/2010 5:34:40 PM George: >>(I) don't believe in belief.<< I already reacted to this before. Tak.....
» 1/03/2010 5:34:09 PM George, an abiding regret of mine is that I'm innumerate, at least in higher maths. I reme.....
» 28/02/2010 11:17:31 AM George, This debate has been going on since the Greeks, through Kant to the pomos. Derrida.....
» 27/02/2010 12:28:20 PM Dear Bush Bunny and other minimifidianists. I do hope you're listening to today's science .....
» 27/02/2010 10:41:00 AM George, I certainly wasn't implying that your response was dishonest, as you say, you enga.....
» 27/02/2010 8:45:18 AM I think you'll find that the Scandinavian welfare states are starting to tighten up; the t.....
» 27/02/2010 8:11:11 AM DavidF: "I do not know that any human being can fairly be classed as an idealist or a.....
» 26/02/2010 8:01:39 PM George, thanks for struggling with an impossible question--that is impossible if you appro.....
» 26/02/2010 1:26:23 PM DavidF: "Why is it that the JCI religions invented God and others didn't? Is it arbit.....
» 25/02/2010 6:56:28 PM Bushbred: "I am trying to give Obama a go, though could say with what's been happenin.....
» 25/02/2010 5:39:48 PM Bushbred, sorry my attitude was a bit brusque, but then I do recall being called a "s.....
» 24/02/2010 8:29:52 PM For heaven's sake bushbred why don't you but out! Who put you in charge of setting the age.....
» 24/02/2010 6:21:35 PM DavidF. I agree, there's no point discussing the matter further, however you said: "I.....
» 24/02/2010 10:17:51 AM I agree 100% Examinator. The news these days is utterly commercial and contentious, adjust.....
» 24/02/2010 2:07:52 AM Rusty, I have enormous respect for scientific method, so far as it goes, but it should be .....
» 23/02/2010 8:24:30 PM DavidF you have not substantiated your position on Marx or Marxism, and your links between.....
» 23/02/2010 8:14:59 AM George, thanks for the thoughtful response, and the Rorty article. For a long time now I'v.....
» 22/02/2010 4:10:48 PM DavidF: "Marxism is tyranny appealing to authoritarian peasant countries such as czar.....
» 22/02/2010 7:57:21 AM bushbred: "Certainly the greatest weakness of our OLO or OLO's is the lack of an Adj.....
» 22/02/2010 5:02:14 AM Rusty: “If science has established a good first-principle reason for action, or debunked a.....
» 21/02/2010 1:26:49 PM Dear David, My “we should all celebrate Marx” was a throw away line of “free association”.....
» 21/02/2010 4:29:16 AM Dear David, the dynamic is nothing grand; we are competitive social animals and our societ.....
» 20/02/2010 1:10:24 PM Dear David, Your gloss of Marxism is “perhaps” mostly a fair assessment, except for the l.....
» 20/02/2010 7:41:46 AM C J Morgan, I couldn't agree more old chap. The current ascendency of the anti-AGW lobby r.....
» 20/02/2010 7:34:16 AM Bunny, I'm not jumping ship and I doubt anyone else is, apart from the swaying voters who .....
» 19/02/2010 8:41:07 PM Dear David, Thanks for the stimulating stuff. All I have is some challenging free associat.....
» 19/02/2010 6:49:26 PM "Tis a dying thread and I've been delayed, but Rusty, vulgarity of course isn't a sin.....
» 16/02/2010 7:20:45 PM I'd have to endorse Grim's observation that "We are all prisoners of our own preconce.....
» 11/01/2010 6:37:35 AM I was careful to say that this criticism of women is based on "my" experience; I.....
» 10/01/2010 9:09:38 PM Someone sent me this this afternoon: Please look at the math below: They say only people w.....
» 10/01/2010 5:45:06 PM I've always supported the feminist cause and welcomed criticism of patriarchal culture. Bu.....
» 10/01/2010 5:12:47 PM Bushbasher is right on the money for mine. Moreover, if you can't put up, then how about s.....
» 10/01/2010 2:01:35 PM Sparkyq, as a devoted cyclist I'm shocked and disappointed at the behaviour you describe. .....
» 8/01/2010 7:29:26 PM How curiously serendipitous that I should be be reading this this afternoon, for the first.....
» 8/01/2010 9:45:58 AM Labour and liberal are virtually the same, differing only in their rhetoric. Their policie.....
» 8/01/2010 8:53:00 AM I'd suggest a compromise; cycleways outside the CBD and lower speed limits and shared faci.....
» 8/01/2010 8:06:13 AM Hilarious, Col, brilliant! I don't know though, socialism by revolution is more tempting-.....
» 8/01/2010 8:00:08 AM Relda, I too am far from convinced that materialism is all there is, however the material .....
» 7/01/2010 8:17:48 PM I'll be voting Green for the first time in the next election, since I see both Labor and t.....
» 6/01/2010 3:37:21 PM Excellent post, Pelican, and I have to acknowledge to Jayb that men also feel themselves t.....
» 6/01/2010 10:47:42 AM "Marxism" a "totalitarian system", Stevenlmeyer? Marxism is a humanit.....
» 6/01/2010 10:37:59 AM I think it's a great idea even if it only spreads awareness of the issue of psychological .....
» 6/01/2010 9:55:42 AM A good but unfortunately partisan article, Roger. That is, it's unfortunate that the issue.....
» 5/01/2010 6:30:13 PM Sells: "My article is not about freedom of speech, it is about the honest search for .....
» 4/01/2010 6:34:53 PM Oscar, it's not a matter of conditioning the people to believe that god doesn't exist. It .....
» 3/01/2010 7:03:02 PM Kenhd. All discredited crap! The absence of your precious redspot can be explained by the .....
» 3/01/2010 6:46:53 AM Bushbasher. Beautifully put! I have acquaintances outside OLO who are loons of the same il.....
» 1/01/2010 8:08:33 PM Loudmouth: "Yes, Mr Squeers, the trouble with democracy - as with genuine science - i.....
» 1/01/2010 1:54:10 PM You denialists are a bad flipping joke! You have the cheek to jump up and down over the le.....
» 31/12/2009 5:57:06 PM We need to move on from whether climate change is real or not and ask, what can we do abou.....
» 21/12/2009 6:39:14 PM As to squeers perception of some shadowy secret society…. “Yes! That is, Australia is gove.....
» 21/12/2009 10:51:10 AM "Is Australia an autocracy dressing itself up as a democracy?" Yes! That is, Au.....
» 10/12/2009 8:09:58 AM Oliver, I like the Buddhist texts for their disinterested philosophy/psychology. Of course.....
» 7/12/2009 7:36:06 PM George, I know nothing of mathematics, but I draw your attention to the first paragraph on.....
» 6/12/2009 6:00:32 PM George, you have a lot to say about "truth"; I think the lesson is that there is.....
» 27/11/2009 7:17:39 PM What effect does OLO have? Presumably we all want reform of some kind--those who don't mus.....
» 26/11/2009 11:00:11 AM You inspire me to keep going, Ludwig! This is only my 173rd in my first year, and I've oft.....
» 23/11/2009 5:06:48 PM I do agree, Bluecross, 'twasn't "mild praise", but heavy satire. Schools should .....
» 23/11/2009 4:21:40 PM The scientologists are shrewd business people; they've followed the scent of Vatican gold .....
» 22/11/2009 7:35:55 PM I have twins, ten months old. They had full human rights at their earliest point of gestat.....
» 20/11/2009 6:59:35 PM Kant (and his dromedaries), however, is decidedly not the way to go, at least not writ lar.....
» 20/11/2009 5:27:53 PM Jennifer, this is a subject very close to my heart, in fact I'm a little miffed that you'v.....
» 15/11/2009 8:18:32 PM Oh God, this is getting really boring, but I can't help myself! I'm really impressed about.....
» 13/11/2009 7:49:56 AM Great points, David. In one of my less edifying rants of late, I said there were not too m.....
» 11/11/2009 9:14:36 PM Great lyrics, fellas, but if you want a tune too, you can't go past Tom Lehrer. Here are t.....
» 11/11/2009 7:17:31 PM Oliver, There are none so blind as those who will not see. Sells has failed to say anythin.....
» 8/11/2009 5:26:03 PM Democracy is not so much popular government as government by populism, or auto-government,.....
» 7/11/2009 6:21:49 PM George, I'm in my late 40's so not as young as all that. Snow's two cultures phenomena has.....
» 7/11/2009 4:14:10 PM Col, haven't we just seen via the GFC a stunning example of corporate responsibility? And .....
» 6/11/2009 12:19:42 PM George, I have little to recommend myself (apart from being well-read) in terms of qualifi.....
» 5/11/2009 6:53:48 PM King Hazza, Deja vu! Haven't we been down this path before, apropos these democratic socia.....
» 5/11/2009 4:53:12 PM George, Taylor’s stand-alone sentence, “High Standards need strong sources” (Sources of th.....
» 5/11/2009 2:44:47 PM DEMOCRACY, hallowed be thy name! Democracy is the West's sacred cow; her bovine indiffere.....
» 4/11/2009 9:44:48 AM George, I'm talking ontology and ethics; Taylor suggests that both need "strong sourc.....
» 3/11/2009 2:41:10 AM Spindoc, thanks for your gracious concession. "not sure I agree that personalities an.....
» 1/11/2009 4:06:07 PM We have to hold on to public assets, period! My mother, an old Brit, holidayed in the UK r.....
» 1/11/2009 2:03:14 PM Spindoc, while I’m on your side, the cognitive view of phenomena is relatively new; since.....
» 30/10/2009 7:06:01 PM George, being "a Christian disqualifies somebody from practising anthropology (or oth.....
» 30/10/2009 7:28:45 AM Contra some recent comments, I would argue that the "global" (cerebral) issue of.....
» 28/10/2009 9:15:13 PM Peter, we already have "unanimity among our politicians"; they have a hard time .....
» 28/10/2009 8:23:45 PM We're back on line! But where are all the recent contributions? And what about an explanat.....
» 27/10/2009 7:49:02 AM I'm a fan of (GW) Bush bashing myself! I just want to see if Sells can say anything cogen.....
» 26/10/2009 6:54:28 PM Sells, since you have entered this debate, after having instigated it, it seems to me that.....
» 25/10/2009 8:39:09 PM I do apologise, Blue Cross (and Bushbasher), for my appalling want of subtlety--I beg your.....
» 25/10/2009 8:18:06 PM Brian, your testimony here reads like something banal from a scandalous corporate transcri.....
» 25/10/2009 8:40:43 AM I like the Blue cross analogy; the journey's the thing, or ought to be. An interesting &q.....
» 24/10/2009 7:18:58 PM Bushbasher, I have no taste for this. I find myself on the wrong team. However. I actually.....
» 24/10/2009 5:45:25 AM Bushbasher, I’m in an awkward spot! 1) I agree with you that Dawkins is attacking stereoty.....
» 23/10/2009 11:44:53 AM Terry Eagleton criticised dawkins when the God Delusion came out, indeed lambasted him. Ea.....
» 22/10/2009 7:14:35 PM Well. Having perused the day's posts here ... it's a poser! And these are passionate matte.....
» 22/10/2009 5:16:40 PM I would just add, Fractelle, a crucial rider. The skeptics always hide behind the admitted.....
» 22/10/2009 2:50:03 AM Yes, CJ & Belly, this is disturbing news. Separate issues, and yet if true, I find whay sy.....
» 21/10/2009 4:37:29 PM Forrest, I'm a big fan of Diogenes myself and have an illustrated limited edition (cartoon.....
» 21/10/2009 2:27:50 PM Thanks Fractelle. I'm more than happy to demure when I get things wrong, but in this insta.....
» 20/10/2009 7:24:50 PM Forrest Gump, allow me to express my admiration. Your handle is apt: the resident savant o.....
» 20/10/2009 4:41:20 PM The usual knee-jerk reactionary nonsense, with a few worthy exceptions. To be fair to OLO .....
» 20/10/2009 7:16:30 AM This principal should indeed be sacked! But of course this kind of long-term indoctrinatio.....
» 19/10/2009 7:11:37 PM theMissus, this simply isn't so. University gets a lot of bad press, some of it deserved, .....
» 19/10/2009 4:03:52 PM As I assert, democracy is only the optimal system in a panglossian world, where people &qu.....
» 19/10/2009 2:07:06 PM my contention is that democracy fails us in situations like climate change (indeed, look a.....
» 18/10/2009 2:42:43 PM By all means, follow a code of conduct and morality; seek to transcend the mean existence .....
» 18/10/2009 2:41:04 PM MartinS Your “clarifications” do not clear up anything, nor do they offer any kind of answ.....
» 16/10/2009 4:10:11 PM I don't know about forward movement, Desmond. The one thing I always had on my side, was I.....
» 16/10/2009 4:09:45 PM "The old man walked away and said nothing. Clearly he had encountered this many times.....
» 16/10/2009 1:50:54 PM 'Tis true, Desmond. I left school at 14 after an indifferent education and spent twenty fi.....
» 16/10/2009 12:38:32 PM An interesting article that makes some sense, I would think, from the Christian perspectiv.....
» 15/10/2009 6:57:39 PM Ah dear Col, you cut me to the quick; am I too not worthy of a few epithets? But this is e.....
» 15/10/2009 3:36:39 PM What do I do that's proactive? First, I acknowledge that I too am prejudiced, and in ways .....
» 15/10/2009 3:35:54 PM Country Girl, I apologise for being so abrupt. I've been married to two country girls, fro.....
» 14/10/2009 8:47:26 PM Country girl, "Not all farm employers are racist"..... Just most of them, hey? .....
» 14/10/2009 7:50:49 PM Dear Forrest, I’m still comparatively new to OLO and had naively thought it all to be mere.....
» 13/10/2009 6:34:09 PM Deliciously ironical, Grim, but way too subtle for the likes of Col and co, who can't seem.....
» 13/10/2009 6:09:05 AM Peter Hume (Mises' obstreperous representative on Earth?), perhaps you should wipe the slo.....
» 12/10/2009 8:12:11 PM I hesitate to venture here, but who can resist such parabolic prose; not just the article,.....
» 9/10/2009 7:22:40 AM Well thanks, fellas, for the feedback, though no one has really explained anything to my s.....
» 7/10/2009 6:53:20 AM Among the considerable archive of my ignorance, is a childish grasp of economics. Now that.....
» 7/10/2009 5:48:55 AM Otokonoko, yes, fair enough; historiography is the history of history--I threw it off in a.....
» 6/10/2009 7:59:33 PM StG, I'm more an agnostic. I got married twice in a church merely to be compliant. I refer.....
» 6/10/2009 7:54:47 PM Well thank you, Foxy, for those nice thoughts. Gore vidal does push a rather bleak line. I.....
» 6/10/2009 7:09:06 PM "accurately teach History"; that's a laugh. Historiography is a crock. Not only .....
» 5/10/2009 6:55:36 PM Having perused Gillard's patronising swill once again, I regret that I responded at all th.....
» 5/10/2009 1:51:51 PM Please PLEASE, Julia, spare us any more of the empty rhetoric about Australian values and .....
» 3/10/2009 5:34:40 PM And the last little bit. Now we can go back to being romantic about it all. "...When .....
» 3/10/2009 5:33:09 PM .........Certainly, women today are more candid about their preference for other women. Al.....
» 3/10/2009 1:22:08 PM OUG, the mainstream churches, funded by taxpayers, are at the forefront when it comes to c.....
» 3/10/2009 10:51:44 AM Being the only species capable of a semblance of objectivity, we ought now to be conscious.....
» 2/10/2009 4:25:01 PM particularly if they have the Book to throw? But while we are still here, I suggest a chan.....
» 2/10/2009 4:22:31 PM ...then one begins to understand why men and women don’t get on very well within marriage,.....
» 2/10/2009 4:20:20 PM ....Apparently, the first human societies were tribal-extended families. Then the pre-nucl.....
» 2/10/2009 4:17:07 PM My second wife (partner if you like), is quite delightful, and fully 16 years my junior! S.....
» 30/09/2009 8:41:00 PM Now how did I miss this thread. Ethics yes, philosophy even better! There is so much agre.....
» 30/09/2009 9:46:36 AM Pericles, idealism is precisely the charge I don't want to attract. I don't have my head i.....
» 30/09/2009 7:41:56 AM Grim, my wife's family are cattle farmers in Biloela. It's refreshing to hear someone from.....
» 29/09/2009 10:34:51 AM Delightful, david f Tolstoy was indeed an opinionated fellow--he hated Shakespeare with a .....
» 28/09/2009 9:12:03 PM The only good thing Howard ever did, for mine, was get rid of guns, and in so doing aliena.....
» 28/09/2009 7:07:22 PM Pericles, I'm surprised, as you usually make such sense. One can always take a relativisti.....
» 25/09/2009 9:31:58 PM Clownfish Before I can defend eco fascism, you have to substantiate it. In my experience t.....
» 24/09/2009 6:28:37 PM Thanks, Clownfish, for the best laugh I’ve had in ages. One does strive to be noticed (not.....
» 24/09/2009 1:53:53 PM Being a non-expert on the science of climate change, I put my faith in the experts rather .....
» 23/09/2009 3:06:03 PM Environmentalism is just another ideology that people either deny or hop on board to assua.....
» 16/09/2009 7:01:54 PM This is getting like a game of chess, Antiseptic, but it’s at the endgame stage where to c.....
» 16/09/2009 9:13:14 AM Antiseptic: "squeers:"full-blown, blind cynicism (what you call “wisdom”), ".....
» 15/09/2009 11:36:04 AM Antiseptic. “Certainly the wisdom of age includes the knowledge of what has failed to work.....
» 14/09/2009 9:13:54 PM Antiseptic, We’re off on a bit of a tangent—but what the hell, there are no fair dinkum fe.....
» 13/09/2009 9:33:35 AM All very reasonable and urbane, Antiseptic, but your formative development thesis is a sym.....
» 13/09/2009 6:39:39 AM JamesH I'm afraid you'll find that leftism of some degree prevails among any intelligentsi.....
» 8/09/2009 12:06:54 PM Great ideas, Examinator, in fact very similar to ones I suggested in a letter to an Editor.....
» 6/09/2009 2:22:38 PM Nick, I was taking my kids to the library today anyway, and we’re now in possession of “Pe.....
» 6/09/2009 9:37:25 AM Sorry I seem to have dropped out of the thread, folks. I've been at a conference in Brisba.....
» 2/09/2009 7:03:12 PM Nick. It’s all a game of egos out there, and I dare say mine’s as developed as anyone’s. B.....
» 2/09/2009 7:39:45 AM Glorfindel, all eminently reasonable points. I have six kids and can certainly relate. Iss.....
» 1/09/2009 6:53:02 PM Jay, I don't deny your right to write, I just don't have a lot of time for the literary lo.....
» 31/08/2009 7:18:25 PM Having just re-read Jay's piece, it strikes me as even more supercilious than it did on fi.....
» 30/08/2009 3:51:26 PM Glorfindel You seem very sure of yourself. I, on the other hand, am not. Personal morality.....
» 30/08/2009 7:28:05 AM My position is simply this; if we lived in a less exploitative world, in which one could c.....
» 29/08/2009 5:21:31 PM I'm concerned that this thread seems to be dominated by men's men or female fence sitters......
» 27/08/2009 10:50:41 PM Pelican gets the gold star again for making the most sense. Men are not the oppressors the.....
» 27/08/2009 9:17:47 PM Well I'm glad I got a bight, as I felt sorry for poor Jay; the thread wasn't going anywher.....
» 27/08/2009 9:46:46 AM Goodonya, Bronwyn--well said! And thanks for your rigorous and eloquent contributions--not.....
» 26/08/2009 7:07:27 PM An excellent article by Nina that is overdue. We are producing a generation of women who m.....
» 26/08/2009 7:48:30 AM As an academic, presumably Jay also publishes in academic journals, and pursues other text.....
» 26/08/2009 6:23:53 AM Well I've enjoyed the chat, all, and I'm not so deluded as to think that there aren't vali.....
» 25/08/2009 6:44:52 AM Horus, "And I’m thinking that what you said about Westerners could equally have been .....
» 24/08/2009 7:24:36 PM "The principle remains wether you give criminals freedom or just punishment for their.....
» 24/08/2009 5:06:18 PM By ”Defenceless people are forced to ignore their ideals and be realist to survive in a do.....
» 23/08/2009 4:44:07 PM Very amusing, Hasbeen, and ego is an obstacle to ethical progress in the world. You do rea.....
» 23/08/2009 1:56:08 PM Belly, Banjo and co, thanks for the practical illustration of the points made above......
» 23/08/2009 9:12:28 AM Examinator, I’m a mazed at your post as I might have written it myself—even on the subject.....
» 22/08/2009 7:03:45 AM Yes it's an emotive issue. But what I'm talking about is the gesture implied in the Scotti.....
» 21/08/2009 7:25:15 PM Today the Scottish government demonstrated enlightened thought for us; they did what the U.....
» 21/08/2009 5:05:56 PM OUG have you ever thought about setting it to music? All your responses are just a refrain.....
» 17/08/2009 4:46:38 PM KenL I think there is a kind of collective superego at work when issues such as this come .....
» 16/08/2009 3:41:50 PM OUG, You talk as though rationalists never had a spiritual thought, or went about their bu.....
» 16/08/2009 11:13:57 AM OUG, The rationalists “have” been spelling it out for themselves, only to have their thoug.....
» 15/08/2009 8:54:21 PM "... The deepest, in the gut, answer [to the question of our origins] lies in the hum.....
» 15/08/2009 8:50:45 PM "Neither evolution, nor any science, can access the subject of ultimate origins or et.....
» 11/08/2009 9:28:49 PM Touché, OUG. lol I must confess I'm suspicious of positivism. Did you read the Eagleton ar.....
» 11/08/2009 6:57:03 PM In early societies the terrors of religion were instantiated to keep the population in che.....
» 10/08/2009 6:14:27 PM I don’t think we love to hate, it’s just that we are terrific at rationalising our positio.....
» 9/08/2009 6:31:40 PM Don't know why the link doesn't work, but if you google "eagleton dawkins" you'l.....
» 9/08/2009 4:23:48 PM Before this thread drops stone dead, and in the interests of balance, I highly recommend t.....
» 8/08/2009 4:41:13 PM The blog has been descended upon by evil angels, OUG! I almost want to take your side ... .....
» 7/08/2009 7:09:27 PM Sorry, here be the link, I think. Worth a look if you haven;t seen it. http://www.google......
» 7/08/2009 7:00:34 PM .......But this is all too heavy! Here's some light relief: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....
» 7/08/2009 5:57:23 PM Well I must say this is an anticlimax OUG--hilarious as ever but somehow lacking in substa.....
» 7/08/2009 1:15:25 PM Bravo O2, but of course OUG only has to respond to his own satisfaction, lol, and is exemp.....
» 6/08/2009 6:22:49 PM Epiphanies are grossly exaggerated. The undisciplined brain is capable of feats of supplem.....
» 5/08/2009 7:43:24 PM OUG says, “some things..you just accept/..by their signs...ask the previous posters..to f.....
» 5/08/2009 1:53:08 PM Opinionated2, I don't think I've been harsh if all the posts are read in context. And I ca.....
» 5/08/2009 11:47:43 AM Oliver, I absolutely applaud that kind of self-critical approach; one should never be comp.....
» 5/08/2009 8:49:56 AM Blackwattle, you clearly enjoy your narcissistic little fantasy, but like OUG, you're not .....
» 4/08/2009 4:43:36 PM Dan, the point of my codicil, re the hypothetical, is that scientologists could not be tru.....
» 4/08/2009 2:11:33 PM Oliver, not sure what you mean by "null hypotheses"? While I admire your patien.....
» 3/08/2009 7:38:20 PM I quite understand your boredom, Col, perfectly alright. I blame myself. One should not ca.....
» 3/08/2009 5:59:00 PM Thanks Oliver for some sensible diversion. UOG's levity is contagious. I laughed all the w.....
» 3/08/2009 12:40:47 PM Great hypothetical, Priscillian. I attended a scientology seminar many years ago, and read.....
» 3/08/2009 8:54:35 AM OUG "you..sir are a fool...believing without ability/skill of actual/validation..gull.....
» 2/08/2009 7:40:47 PM Underonegod (you should try it on top?) I’m devastated ... but here goes. As it happens I .....
» 2/08/2009 4:30:19 PM underonegod. perhaps you should take a step back, or preferably out of yourself (this comi.....
» 2/08/2009 2:04:20 PM I think first of all we need to put intelligent design to bed. Intelligent design was a re.....
» 1/08/2009 4:31:22 PM Dear o dear Mr Palmer. The concept, and the political reality, of “Human Rights” is secula.....
» 31/07/2009 11:15:29 AM On the contrary, Col, my life is analytically and philosophically rich … but not naïve. No.....
» 30/07/2009 7:09:08 PM These are deep waters you find yourself in, E Knox. I haven't read all of the foregoing bu.....
» 29/07/2009 10:04:48 PM It disgusts me that we are driven to these tactical manoeuvers just to get noticed, just t.....
» 29/07/2009 3:40:54 PM Adults love to patronise kids and feed them all the same stuff they were fed and struggled.....
» 28/07/2009 4:14:27 PM Wow! I'm 48 myself and I'm really impressed that Danny still looks forward to birthdays! I.....
» 28/07/2009 4:42:38 AM SU and Shine are not merely "religious", they are "fundamentalist", he.....
» 26/07/2009 5:28:19 PM MIKK gets my vote. Because climate modelling is so complex, it's open slather for sceptics.....
» 26/07/2009 12:21:27 PM These comments interest me greatly, Grim, as I’m researching in a related area. It’s entir.....
» 25/07/2009 6:54:03 PM DavifF it's a pleasure to read your refreshingly lucid thoughts. Education in the humaniti.....
» 24/07/2009 3:07:59 PM Indeed, Blue Cross. Christianity is a profoundly negative and otherworldy religion. As Nie.....
» 23/07/2009 7:03:58 PM I guess that's what makes these people fundamentalists; they are deaf to reason and above .....
» 22/07/2009 6:59:44 PM 1 deals merely with precedent. Evolutionary history is replete with the unprecedented. 2 .....
» 21/07/2009 7:08:30 PM Further on the “Shine” proselytisation scandal. The girls in the class were asked if they .....
» 20/07/2009 6:50:35 PM Alas, Blue Cross, the warning comes too late. My daughter attended her first “Sunshine” in.....
» 18/07/2009 6:11:01 AM I can only add my voice to the above as Mander has been thoroughly routed. As I too have s.....
» 15/07/2009 7:52:35 AM The government collects "revenue" to provide services. But because they have to .....
» 14/07/2009 6:40:42 PM Shadow Minister (let’s hope you never get into power) Unfortunately, as you demonstrate th.....
» 13/07/2009 9:00:28 PM I've twice married into farming families and am familiar with many in the rural community,.....
» 13/07/2009 6:57:51 PM I'm also in favour of death taxes. I'm against such obscene accumulation of wealth in the .....
» 12/07/2009 8:57:55 AM Rusty Catheter My cosmology has no need of a deity either. But while “Philosophy and ethi.....
» 11/07/2009 6:45:49 PM I can’t quite leave this dead thread without commenting on that “paradise for some”. For w.....
» 10/07/2009 7:52:47 AM Secularists merely object to the proselytisation of their kids. Religion is a cross-cultur.....
» 9/07/2009 6:25:50 PM How can one but be ambivalent on matters of mysticism; without such a faculty what else is.....
» 1/07/2009 4:08:42 PM The problem of overpopulation is a fascinating impasse. There is no ethical solution to de.....
» 1/07/2009 7:37:44 AM All we can do is defer to the experts in the matter of climate change, the vast majority o.....
» 30/06/2009 4:30:37 PM Our human obligations are monumental indeed since we are capable of a moral perspective on.....
» 30/06/2009 12:32:03 PM The deepest meditations we might indulge over Jackson are by way of seeing him as a mirror.....
2193 comments in total: 1557 article comments, 636 general comments.
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