Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Was just wondering how much press coverage this has gotten over there. Any of you guys know who Kevin Rudd is (let alone care)?

For the record, I think he's an alright fellow. I just think that Obama's praise of him is being overstated in our (Australian) media. Not to mention that I just saw a seven news headline that exclaimed that "Australia is America's best and closest friend!"

This made the news and was mentioned in a big broadcast Q&A here today.

Well it's gone from Bush and Howard being best budds, to Rudd and Obama being best budds!

I think Rudd is fantastic for stopping the in-fighting in the labor party and finally giving it a respectable image. I still don't like a lot of the things that are done, but I think it's a huge step up since Howard.

Definitely. I wouldn't call myself a Labor supporter but I'm really not big on the Liberals.

I remember when Obama was elected, I was watching the SBS live coverage and they crossed to the US ambassador and asked her how it would change Australian-American relations. She looked surprised and confused by the question and eventually managed to spit out something to the effect of "I don't think it will change anything, America is and will always value our alliance" she then grinned as though she thought it cute that we would worry about it.

Also, I received this the other day:

Subject: How to spend your Stimulus payment


ADVICE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Stimulus Payment Information.

“This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgin.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set or some such thing, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn’t that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. Shut up.


Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the Australian economy by spending your stimulus cheque wisely:

If you spend that money at Kmart, all the money will go to China .

If you spend it on petrol it will go to the Arabs.

If you purchase a computer it will go to India .

If you buy a car it will go to Japan .

If you purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan .

And none of it will help the Australian economy.

We need to keep that money here in Australia. You can keep the money in Australia by spending it at garage sales, going to a cricket match or footy game, or spend it on prostitutes, beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only businesses that may still be owned by Aussies.

Thank you all Australians,
Your mate,

K.RUDD.

Who writes this stuff??

"WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS SPENDING MY TAX MONEY??? NEVER!!!"

I'll stimulate your package

Thats good to hear, my package hasn't been stimulated by anybody for a while. I was looking forward to Kevin doing it next month.

I can deal with all the homoerotic innuendo, but please
spare me the Australian politics .... and isn't it all the same
as the Canadian politics, anyway ?

Not being Canadian I wouldn't have a clue. Besides. we need a thread so we feel important like all the other countries.

NotAbout wrote:Not being Canadian I wouldn't have a clue. Besides. we need a thread so we feel important like all the other countries.

Try invading a much smaller country.

Freakzilla wrote:Try invading a much smaller country.

New Zealand here we come!

Who cares? We should all just ignore Canada and Australia as much as possible. Everyone does

Uh, death to Kiwi's?

I hear everyone is hiding their cash in NZ banks now. They're supposedly capitalist extremists.

GamePlayer wrote:Who cares? We should all just ignore Canada and Australia as much as possible. Everyone does

Uh, death to Kiwi's?

Watch Flight of the Conchords much? Fucking hilarious.

A Thing of Eternity wrote:

GamePlayer wrote:Who cares? We should all just ignore Canada and Australia as much as possible. Everyone does

Uh, death to Kiwi's?

Watch Flight of the Conchords much? Fucking hilarious.

Love 'em!

Schu wrote:

A Thing of Eternity wrote:

GamePlayer wrote:Who cares? We should all just ignore Canada and Australia as much as possible. Everyone does

Uh, death to Kiwi's?

Watch Flight of the Conchords much? Fucking hilarious.

Love 'em!

They're coming to town in may but ticketmaster fucked everyone and presold ALL the tickets to resellers who instantly doubled or tripled the prices. If I want to take my girlfriend the cheapest tickets I can buy now will cost me 600$ for the pair (should have been 120$). I hate ticketmaster.

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Watch Flight of the Conchords much? Fucking hilarious.

Nope. What is it?

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Watch Flight of the Conchords much? Fucking hilarious.

I got my business socks on

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Watch Flight of the Conchords much? Fucking hilarious.

I've seen it and I didn't care for it. They're as good a reason as any to invade.

All we need is a charismatic (or perhaps prescient?) leader to take control of our nation and lead us to victory!

I liked how Rudd immediately ratified the Kyoto Protocol, pulled combat troops out of Iraq and also made that apology to aboriginals. I imagine he is very popular for making these smart decisions.

I wish Obama would ratify the Kyoto Protocol (even though it was not a campaign promise) although it is a little too late for that because it will soon expire.

Unfortunately, while Rudd is still more popular than the other guy, people here are just like everywhere else and have a "What have you done for me lately?" mentality. Nobody cares nor remembers about the things you've mentioned.

NotAbout wrote:Unfortunately, while Rudd is still more popular than the other guy, people here are just like everywhere else and have a "What have you done for me lately?" mentality. Nobody cares nor remembers about the things you've mentioned.

It 's still a healthy attitude.

I'll agree that that Kyoto was pretty weak. In fact, a lot of the vague promises made by politicians/leaders have been disgustingly pointless. They all act like they want to do something for the environment, but then they give ridiculously feeble projections such as "6% reduction in emissions by 2025" which in all truth is fucking pathetic. That figure was just an example, but all I've heard are proposals of equally-futile emissions caps. That's just what happens when politicians try to please both the hippies and the capitalists. They end up wasting time with these pathetically useless goals.

By setting these goals, the governments are explicitly acknowledging that there is a serious climate problem to be dealt with. But then they want to make it so that big industry isn't pissed off by the negative effects on their capital (which they are anyway). This goes back to what I always talk about regarding this monstrous capitalism that rapes our world. Politicians can't see past the fiscal consequences either, and since they're all lobbyists then nothing gets changed. They seem to think that economic growth can go on forever, and if they're not quite that idiotic, then they simply want to continue business-as-usual until retirement, and leave the problems to the next generation. To think that profit can continue without impact on the natural world is absurd, and I'm glad to see vague signs that that attitude is changing. The younger generation knows what's up, while the older generation is still trying to hold onto the old ways of free enterprise, baseball, hot dogs, and burning carbon.

GamePlayer wrote:

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Watch Flight of the Conchords much? Fucking hilarious.

Nope. What is it?

Really funny musical standup duo from New Zealand that got their own series. It takes a couple episodes to get into the (rather dry) humour, but once you do... man, fantastic.

Tyrant wrote:

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Watch Flight of the Conchords much? Fucking hilarious.

I got my business socks on

Nicely done. Business time is over though.

A Thing of Eternity wrote: Really funny musical standup duo from New Zealand that got their own series. It takes a couple episodes to get into the (rather dry) humour, but once you do... man, fantastic.

Oh, that thing they call television. Is it available on DVD or on the net? If so, I might watch it