"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...

but is there not a common sitting length over the year?

No. It used to be 21 or 22 weeks of the year (can't remember which) but
under Howard, they reduced it to 18 weeks because they could guillotine
discussion and ram legislation through.

to me, the difference between 18 & 22 is not much :-)

The trouble is that when the poor *******s aren't in the House, they're in
their electorates dealing with all sorts of drongos. Sure, they get the
genuine cases that need help, but they also seem to get an enormous amount
of the knuckle draggers just taking up time and resources because they
haven't a clue who to turn to for 'help' (or to whinge to). They spend
thier life being exhausted from what I've seen of them.

yes, well. somebody has to do it :-)

i tend to feel sorry for them re workload, but then again, they get their
perks & that was their choice. ( & i'm glad SOMEBODY does it!)

And really, if he can do the job (still waiting to see) who cares what his
ties look like?

well, clearly, i do. g

but i knew about the tie problem before the election, so i can manage.

i loved paul keating (he's hilarious) and something else was that you always
knew that when he was on the news, he would NOT be wearing an aqua tie!!

truthfully though, i don't care as long as the right thing (or soemthing
similar) is done. i just HAD to have a whinge about that man's ties!!!!!!!!!
bomber beazley had a makeover in the 80s (ex- brown safari suits -
remember?) and look what it did for him! oh... hang on...

Well there is that. Given how sick I am of the coverage of the Democratic
contest, by the time the real contest comes round to elect the new
President, I don't think I'll give a flyer either.

it is an unbelievable waste of resources & time that could be better spent
on something worthwhile. that in itself makes it immoral imo.

oh dear. i think the truth is that most people worldwide are "a bunch of
idiots". truly. the modern world is ridiculously complicated & lots of
people simply can't keep up.

Can't or don't want to. I can cope with those who can't, it's the one's
who
don't want to who give me the irrits.

admittedly, i have more patience with those who simply can't - it's not
their fault.

but the thing is, if i get the shits with people who won't, then that just
doesn't help, it would only make me angry, it wouldn't achieve anything! you
get further working away gently on people (if it is something important - if
it's not, then just walking away unconcerned is also viable.) like i said,
it doesn't mean people don't have some value or things to contribute.

Sadly it is. The coverage of the un-thought-out idiocy opinions that
aren't
really news, but noise, is all too frequent. These days, it's like the
Enlightenment never, ever happened.

well, all forward steps involve some going backwards temporarily. you have
to take the longer view! and, as nomad said on "gladiators", the bridge to
enlightenment is full of obstacles. tee hee hee hahahaha. it's true, though.
(dh & i had a long conversation concerning whether it is right to touch
shallowly on philosophical or religious matters in a low-brain show like
"gladiators" & he thinks it is a good thing really. i disagreed. if you've
run out of things to discuss today, try that one!)

but modern democratic types expect everyone to have a say, based on the
assumption (i suppose) that if a person is required to make a decision,
they'll probably put some thought into it, since it is going to affect
them. thus we try to drag each other up through the primordial slime :-)
it kind of works, doesn't it?

I have doubts about that and the Tampa is a good example of that. Foment
it
into a "they're coming to get us" issue and dumb old Joe Public goobles it
up and screams "keep 'em out". Those who actually knew something about
illegal immigration and refugee issues were screaming that these people
were
genuine refugees while stupid Joe Public was wittering on about "queue
jumpers".

firstly, some people don't want to be saved from themselves.
secondly, concerning that & iraq many people came to regret what they
thought at the time. everyone's learning curve is different. it's just the
way it is! if you don't make mistakes, you can't learn - that's just the
truth of things.

In the case of the Tampa and much else in the past 11 years it was a case
of
sinking backwards into the primordial ooze, not furthering the cause of
rational thinking or high human ideals.

that's true. i suppose i would say it was certainly a learning experience
for some!

to be fair to them, they weren't executing their own populace in droves,
&
stuff like that.

No, they didn't execute people, but I'm not convinced that they wouldn't
have tried it if they thought they could get away with it given the tricks
they used right across the board. I should lend you a book called
"Silencing Dissent". The chapter in that about what they did to the
Public
Service is tame because only the top of the iceberg gets a mention. I
know
they did a lot more. Intimidation, threats, bullying and punishment - you
name it, they did it and not just in one area of influence.

i absolutely agree. i don't think most of us really took seriously just how
dreadful they had become (not to mention, anti-democratic) & now it's over
perhaps we have moved on too quickly.

however, at the end of the day, i don't & would never believe they compared
to china or places with similarly appalling human rights problems. the point
is mainly that we need to be better & be good role models (if we're so
thrilled by democracy, we need to live it daily, not just when it suits. in
the end they weren't doing that. in fact, i doubt they were in the
beginning, either ;-)

:-)) Take up genealogy/family history and you start to read about
illnesses
that are still out there in other parts of the world and in places we
think
of as first world countries. TB being just one of those diseases. Just
for
info, we chose not to be vaccinated for Japanese encephalitis and won't be
taking the malaria treatment. If I suddenly stop posting, some tropical
nasty got me (either that or my ISP is giving me probs as it has more than
once).

well, don't die horribly, then! :-)
kylie