Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it,
follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given
their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
[Australian Politics] Death of the Liberal Party
Posts
I'd definitely support the type of breakaway party mooted in that article because the Liberal Movement, as the writer called it, is the kind of party I'd happily vote for. But yeah, if it didn't get enough support, then we'd be back to a coalition.
Actually, would it be a three-way coalition? I mean, no one's really mentioned the Nationals, but they're still there and they seem to be aligned with the more conservative elements of the Liberals. Ideally (for me), the conservative conservatives would pile into the National party and leave the moderates with the Liberal party. But that's a rather screwy idea.
I mean, they don't ALL go around hiring male prostitutes to set up a high court judge just because he's gay. I mean really, what the fuck was that about?
Abbott's announced his new cabinet. Its design is conservative and wooden. Minchin takes energy and resources (haha!), Joyce takes finance, Hockey stays as treasurer, Bishop's doing seniors :winky: and Ruddock's making a comeback as secretary to the shadow cabinet.
Snap!
You can't take Ruddock out of the shadows, if you put him into direct sunlight he'll either crumble into dust or sparkle.
e: I hate myself for actually looking for this, but these dudes:
We're underwater?
There was an interesting interview on Lateline last night with Dr James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Science and a key figure in climate change science, about his opposition to emissions trading schemes. His preferred solution is, as I understand it, to simply introduce a rising carbon tax on (big) businesses to wean them off fossil fuels, which are still the cheapest energy source.
It almost makes too much sense to me.
Businesses then have a huge incentive to try and drop costs by reducing carbon emissions, while taxpayers are compensated for price increases in services and encouraged to try and buy from people with lower emissions as they become available.
EDIT: I suspect the major benefit of emissions trading schemes is that it introduces flexibility into the way your reductions proceed if you reduce the number of permits each year and don't give them out like candy in the first place. Industries which take time to re-engineer their base can buy permits in the interim to give them more time to transition, more flexible ones adapt faster but also get to reap economic benefits from being the first to do so.
EDIT 2: Also some politician needs to smack down all the utilities who keep scaremongering that prices will rise. Yes they will rise - they will rise because prices have been going up like 60% since they were privatized.
Joyce is going to be hilarious.
As for Bishop, talk about a tin ear. Or a tin nose, since apparently Abbott's forgotten about that whole kerosene baths incident...
What, she's gone forever? Goddamnit, she was the best part of the SMH's politics spreads.
He actually mentioned it in an interview and claimed something like the response to that incident was to improve accountability or something equally humorous.
Nah, she's writing heaps of stuff, its just at abc news's site.
Exactly, by Liberal party standards he's charismatic and likable.
Oooh. Snap.
Ahem.
In a poor turn of phrase, Abbott has named his "Battlers" (cough) "Abbott's Army" and he's also decided that he wants to send "his army" to Afghanistan...
Edit: some choice quotes
That Joyce thing was pretty funny, mind you. The rest...
He's embarable.
e: I wasn't able to see the bit about him wanting to send "his army" to Afghanistan, but then again, I kind of skimmed. Whereabouts was it?
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums.
He didn't say that, he just said that he "wouldn't rule out sending more troops to Afghanistan."
It's just the Australian's front page said "Abbott's named his army, and he wants to send the Army to Afghanistan" obviously poking fun at him. And I thought i'd play along.