So This Is Christmas 2014.

joe6pack Uncategorized

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Well Pubsters,we have survived our first full year under the prime ministerhip of the idiot.

First-Year-Done

WE have had ups and downs but we are still pretty lucky to be living here compared to a lot of other countries.

Labor hold a commanding lead in all the opinion polls and barring any monumental blunder I fail to see how the Idiot can recover. He has blown what little trust he had with voters and his miserable henchmen and women are not popular as well.All in all I am a lot happier this year at this time than I was 12 months ago.

The Christmas theme was the original theme when the Pub first opened it’s doors over 2 years ago so I thought it would be nice to revisit it at this time of year.

To each and everyone of you ,commenter’s and lurkers alike, I wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and a happy wondrous new Year.Like the man said “Lets Hope it’s a good one”

298 thoughts on “So This Is Christmas 2014.”

  1. They all become sick of him in the end, when they realize what makes him tick.

    and when it dawns upon their tiny minds that the abbott knows better than anyone else just how to rort the system and live a life of Riley at the taxpayer expense.

  2. Admirably spelt out, BB.
    In many ways the self trumpeted Christian Morrison defines the values and deeds of this ramshackle mob. It was Morrison who railed against asylum seekers attending funerals of family members in Cairns. That said it all. In Government he lived up to his values as he spewed forth against the dreaded illegals. Nothing will stop him now. Only us, as we pick up the pencil next time in the polling booth. And Abbott can get stuffed. It all happened on his watch, because he agreed.

  3. BB

    This young girl seems to be totally unprepared for life under Morrison’s regime. She will eventually have to forego her pension. That’s his plan.

  4. As some of us well remember, in his April 2012 address to the Institute of Economic Affairs in London, JoHo said, among other matters:

    In September last year I travelled to Hong Kong – a city of 7 million3 – which sits at the edge of the Pearl River Delta – home to over 100 million additional residents. As a Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong is now serving as a conduit between China and its global trading partners, particularly those with business directly to the north.

    So even though its destiny has changed, Hong Kong continues to maintain its own currency, laws and Parliament but is now totally wed at the hip to Beijing.

    Without a social safety net, Hong Kong offers its citizens a top personal income tax rate of 17% and corporate tax rates of 16.5%. Unemployment is a low 3.4%4, inflation 4.7%5 and the growth rate still respectable at over 4%6. Government debt is moderate7 and although there is still poverty, the family unit is very much intact and social welfare is largely unknown.

    The system there is that you work hard, your parents look after the kids, you look after your grandkids and you save as you work for 40 years to fund your retirement. The society is focussed on making sure people can look after themselves well into old age.

    The concept of filial piety, from the Confucian classic Xiao Jing, is thriving today right across Asia. It is also the very best and most enduring guide for community and social infrastructure.

    The Hong Kong experience is not unusual in Asia. Characteristics such as low inflation, low unemployment, modest government debt, minimal unfunded benefits and entitlements, and significant growth are powering a whole range of emerging markets and developing an Asian middle class that will grow to some two and a half billion people by 20308.

    The sense of government entitlement in these countries is low. You get what you work for. Your tax payments are not excessive and there is an enormous incentive to work harder and earn more if you want to.
    By western standards this highly constrained public safety net may, at times, seem brutal. But it works and it is financially sustainable.

    Click to access download.pdf

    And that, my friends, is what this disgraceful mob wants.

  5. Fiona

    Australia has a different culture. To try and introduce this overnight is impossible. It won’t work here unless it is introduced over a long period of time. It has only been since the late 70’s early 80’s that women have starting working to self support while remaining married. The idea for the superannuation was so that the aged pension would be phased out. Howard made it into a tax rort for the rich to get votes. They will have to stop all these rorts before they could progress to a non welfare state.

  16. kk

    Yes they are handsome and noble those Amur tigers. I wonder if “Amur” stands for “Amour”? Probably not. It could be a region.

  18. Fiona, I found Joe’s London speech in April, 2012, quite inspiring! Perhaps not as he intended…….

    The End Of The Age Of Enlightenment!

    Joe Hockey traveled to London,
    To make his declaration
    That it was time to turn the page,
    And bring to an end the age
    Of what he called Entitlement.

    You may well ask why didn’t he
    Announce it in North Sydney
    That we’re citizens of Asia,
    Neighbours of Malaysia
    And the Indian subcontinent.

    There, he said, they are satisfied
    With what their families provide
    To support them when they’re old.
    Now Oz could save amounts untold,
    With something the equivalent.

    When asked to whom the scheme applied
    He hesitated and then replied,
    “Oh, we’d have to have a means test
    Which would eliminate the rest…….
    ……Of us who prove ourselves non-indigent.”

    Alan Moir’s cartoon worked a treat – http://polliepomes.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/the-end-of-the-age-of-enlightenment-3/

  19. Patricia,

    Wonderful to see you, compliments of the season, and a superb commentary on a very nasty person.

  21. gigilene

    The river gives name to a region in Siberia.
    .
    Those tigers and looking into their eyes bring to mind the same feeling I got and loved up the NT when coming across a big croc. It is looking into their eyes on their home turf and them looking back at you , oh ‘mighty’ homo sapiens sapiens , with a look that says out here you are a mere possible snack. ‘Tis a good reminder.

  23. Kaffeeklatscher,

    out here you are a mere possible snack

    I agree with the (implied) feeling of awe, but I do NOT find crocodiles beautiful!

  24. I admit that I’ve never really feared tigers, lions, bears and other such creatures until someone said to me in scientific terms just how vulnerable the human body is to the kind of damage they can do.

    Basically most herbivores have very flexible skin and blood vessels located in places that they can’t easily be damaged with teeth or claws, while humans and other omnivores/carnivores don’t really have that luxury. It was a bit chilling to think of that, so now I’m a bit glad that there’s not that danger in this country. Sure the redbacks and taipans and box jellyfish are scary but at least they have antidotes.

  27. gigilene

    Got the photo’s of the foxes okay, just not the babies swimming, never mind, I’m sure they’ll turn up again.

    Patriciawa

    Great to see you here, hope all is well with you.

  28. Fiona

    I got to be a big admirer of crocs. Definitely not cute in any possible way but I think the littlies look cute.
    .
    .
    TLBD

    Re the “handbag” comment. May I just say 😆 !!!! Must admit to having a very nice wallet from a croc that I am sure volunteered for the job.

  30. I’m starting to be a bit nervous that in the UK there might be a Conservative-UKIP coalition government that will be victorious in May.

    For now it’s granted that the Liberal Democrats will be smashed, but increasingly it looks more likely that Labour won’t win a majority because of the unpopularity of Ed Miliband,

    While the SNP looks like it’ll form a very powerful bloc in Westminster, there’s still the chance in England that the Conservatives and UKIP win enough seats to form a coalition government that will make the next 5 years in the UK very dark indeed.

  32. Damn – I can’t remember how to put tweets up! If someone can help with that excellent one, please feel free!

  36. Rescued scientists bring back a terrifying warning from the Antarctic

    The icebound crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy made headlines but, a year on, the fruits of their expedition are revealed

    The voyage was meant to retrace the steps of Douglas Mawson, the great polar explorer and scientist who led the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911. What happened instead captured the world’s attention, something none of the scientists, journalists and paying public aboard could have foreseen

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/rescued-scientists-bring-back-a-terrifying-warning-from-the-antarctic/

  37. Lazy day today. Is it possible we will get a break from the NE over the break between Xmas and New Year, sort of 12 days of Christmas with no sign of a blue tie? Which has me thinking, how many and to whom were blue ties sold as Xmas gifts?

  42. Fiona

    A Thomas Mann quote

    “Not only will you break through the paralysing difficulties of the time you will break through time itself … and dare to be barbaric, twice barbaric indeed “

  44. Fiona

    From his “Temptations of Faust: The Logic of Fascism and Postmodern Archaeologies of Modernity” . Those ‘Chermans’ love a snappy title.

  46. Kaffeeklatscher,

    Shame on me!

    Dr Faustus is on one of the shelves of my study – just behind my chair, in fact – and I should have worked out the source for myself.

    One of those novels that had a huge effect on me.

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