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[Reudh]

You have school chaplains? Oh, y'all are screwed. That's how they get the young.

yeah, we have for quite a long time - we have Religious Education in state schools from Prep - about Year 2-3. Chaplains tend to just be counselors who help you with problems of being a teenager, with a little bit of Jesus thrown in for good measure.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Well, that's kind of foolish. A chaplain is no more likely to be helpful than any other person for dealing with your problems, and at least in my experience a "bit of Jesus" can go a long way towards fucking somebody up for life instead of helping them.

[alexandertnt]

To be fair, religious stuff here is generally less extreme than in the states.

[Reudh]

Well, that's kind of foolish. A chaplain is no more likely to be helpful than any other person for dealing with your problems, and at least in my experience a "bit of Jesus" can go a long way towards fucking somebody up for life instead of helping them.

Yeah, our religiousness is a little more moderate than the US brand, from what I hear. That said, I'm still pretty disgusted at the lack of non-Christian options.

[Osmosis Jones]

Yeah, our religiousness is a little more moderate than the US brand, from what I hear.

You'd be surprised. Ken Ham, of AiG fame, is Australian, and founded AiG with Australian money (sorry for that, btw). Queensland is our bible belt...

[misko27]

The point isn't some attempt to deprive religion of followers (please, never ever repeat that. Gives the right ammo, feeds the persecution complex), but to keep schools religiously neutral. What about the Muslim students?

[Descan]

The only Muslims are the boat people, so they don't deserve any consideration!

... Am I doing it right? Do I need to be more acerbic, or...?

[Reelya]

Any thoughts on the Palmer United Party? I've been keeping out of politics for a while, was wondering how these guys got elected, took a look at their policies and they're sort of half-way between Labor and Liberal, I was expecting them to be right-wing kooks, but it looks like they're positioning themselves as centrists with a sort of pro-regional development agenda. That's actually pretty clever. Labor and Liberal both really represent the interests of the big city corporations / populations, so a regional party which isn't tied into kooky religious extremism has a shot.

[Jimmy]

It lives!

So, today this happened:

Ricky Muir and Palmer United senators vote with Greens and Labor against repeal of carbon tax

For those not following the recent parliament circus, here's the summary:

Tony Abbott declares the first order of business of the new government is to scrap the carbon tax (it's his election mandate). He says if it's blocked in the senate he'll call for a new election to get rid of the obstructive elements for good.

The government goes to the senate and pushes for a vote to block any debate over the details of the scrapping of the carbon tax. This will push for an immediate vote instead of allowing time to work out deals. With the support of the minor parties, in particular the Palmer United Party, they succeed.

The government gets their vote, but the PUP block it instead of supporting the government. They say it's because they want to ensure any savings from the energy companies go directly back to the consumers instead of getting pocketed as profits. They claim the government wasn't tough enough in their original version and they won't support scrapping the tax until their version is used instead.

My personal opinion?

Clive Palmer just became my favourite senate troll.

I love how he gave the government enough rope to hang themselves with. He supported the rushed vote on the bill and then promptly kicked the chair out underneath them in the vote.

I don't really care one way or the other if the carbon tax stays or goes. I doubt Tony Abbott would risk calling an election with his current popularity polls so he's going to end up looking impotent and powerless with his empty threats. I do think the carbon tax will get scrapped, but the cost will be Clive Palmer getting a lot more credibility at the expense of the current government.

So everyone give the big man a rousing hand of applause. Well played sir, well played.

[Osmosis Jones]

I think Palmer is a greasy scumbag and a terrible human being, but goddamn me if he isn't good as this politics game. I guess there's a reason why he's a multi-multi-billionaire after all...

[Edmus]

Clive Palmer is ballsy for sure. I can't help but like him for the amount of shit he gives Tony Abbot.

[Reelya]

Joe Hockey: Poor people shouldn't care about tax hikes on petrol because they don't have cars.

I'm sure the people with cars, who probably voted Joe Hockey & co in are beaming about the tax hikes too. So much for election promises to abolish the carbon tax when you just stuff all the tax shortfall onto "fuel" instead!

Can you imagine the stink Joe Hockey would be making about tax rises if Labor was in right now?

[Reudh]

Joe Hockey: Poor people shouldn't care about tax hikes on petrol because they don't have cars.

I'm sure the people with cars, who probably voted Joe Hockey & co in are beaming about the tax hikes too. So much for election promises to abolish the carbon tax when you just stuff all the tax shortfall onto "fuel" instead!

Can you imagine the stink Joe Hockey would be making about tax rises if Labor was in right now?

Couple that with Abetz's comments that abortion causes breast cancer (cited from a paper written in the 1950s!), and Pyne's suggestion that the rise in HECs costs to certain courses (dentistry and law, for example) won't affect women because they don't do those courses. 58% of dentistry graduates and 61% of law graduates are women, in Australia.

And all that together makes me think...
are we going back to the fucking 1950s!?

[Reelya]

You should see the ones we laugh out of politics:

One Nation candidate Stephanie Banister 'doesn't oppose Islam as a country'

PAULINE Hanson's One Nation party has nominated a woman facing criminal charges over alleged anti-Muslim behaviour to contest the Queensland seat of Rankin.

Stephanie Banister, a 27-year-old mother of two, is facing criminal charges after allegedly placing anti-Muslim stickers, like "Halal food funds terrorism", on Nestle products in a supermarket.
Arguing for a ban on Halal food last night, Ms Banister said "less than two per cent of Australians follow Haram."

The term "Haram" refers to something which is prohibited. It kind of works in this context. If you really think about it. OK not really.

In any case, Ms Banister doesn't have a problem with Jewish Kosher food.

"Jews aren't under Haram, they have their own religion which follows Jesus Christ," she said.

And this Pauline Hanson person makes similar gaffs to the above. So there's an entire party full of these kooks.

Couple that with Abetz's comments that abortion causes breast cancer (cited from a paper written in the 1950s!), and Pyne's suggestion that the rise in HECs costs to certain courses (dentistry and law, for example) won't affect women because they don't do those courses. 58% of dentistry graduates and 61% of law graduates are women, in Australia.

And all that together makes me think...
are we going back to the fucking 1950s!?

Liberals are trying to make up the crazy-quota that's fallen since the One Nation people all went down in flames.

[Edmus]

Hey look, another fuck you to rural Australia. Why the hell are the Nationals supporting the Libs again?