IT IS WORTH looking back on what happened on Tuesday and how the Opposition, those born-again male feminists, got it wrong — so wrong.

Their plan, like that of Brutus and Cassius, was to execute, suddenly, the second highest official in the land, and devastate his wives, brothers and children, because he had compared a woman’s labia to a sea creature, and thereby harm the Prime Minister, a woman, for defending his right to a day in court and a proper process and a judge’s verdict, then in train. They imagined this would hurt her more than them.

But they somehow forgot the gender of the Speaker, homosexual*, and how much his sudden stabbing on the floor of the chamber would look like a poofter-bashing. And how soon after his dignified speech of surrender, in which he forgave Tony Abbott, the voting public would begin to think his punishment was disproportionate: a fine of two hundred thousand dollars and a public flaying for one word, ‘mussel’, in a private communication to another homosexual — something Julian Clary might have done, or Ellen DeGeneres. Or that great public figure, Les Patterson.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/how-abbott-stuffed-up-musselgate/

THE RECENT ATTACK by Prime Minister Julia Gillard against leader of the opposition Tony Abbott has been condemned in some sections of the media as hypocritical. At first glance – framed within the context of a defence for disgraced speaker of the house – this criticism would appear valid.

The text messages sent by Peter Slipper to his adviser, James Ashby, were indeed grotesque. They were misogynist and degrading and most people reading them would probably taste a little bit of vomit in their mouths. It will be left for the courts to decide if the comments constitute sexual harassment.

So well-trained attack-dog Abbott probably thought he could regain the moral high ground when he accused the prime minister of defending a misogynist and suggesting her government should “die of shame”.

It probably seemed a good idea at the time, but invoking the words of his now-disgraced mentor, radio ‘shock-jock’ Alan Jones, proved to be a game changer.

In the most mesmerising 15 minutes seen in Federal Parliament for many years, Gillard reduced the smug and sanctimonious Abbott to little more than a shame-faced schoolyard bullyboy, squirming in his seat as the headmistress admonished him.

Gillard agreed with the general assessment of Slipper’s texts ― they were indeed offensive. She then proceeded to list a series of examples of misogynist, sexist and generally rude comments and behaviour by the opposition leader since his time in parliament.

The list seemed endless: his association with baying crowds calling her a ‘bitch’ and a ‘witch’; the catcalls across the table in question time; his comments on women spending their time ironing, choosing abortion as an ‘easy option’ and not being physiologically fit for true leadership; his feeble attempt to distance himself from Jones’ comments and failure to discipline party members who attended the Jones’ diatribe all came under the spotlight.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/the-real-julia-revealed/

The Federal Government says Queensland must take some of the blame for an increase in the unemployment rate.

Bureau of Statistics figures show the jobless rate rose from 5.1 per cent in August to 5.4 per cent in September, which is the highest figure since April 2010.

Employment Minister Bill Shorten says he is happy with the figures because although the unemployment rate rose, more jobs were created.

"It shows that Australians have got confidence in the economy," he said.

But he says the jobs data for Queensland is grim.

"Every day since Campbell Newman was elected Premier of Queensland, there's been 130 jobs lost," he said.

"Where the rest of Australia has been going up, Queensland has been going down."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says nearly two-thirds of the increase in unemployed people can be accounted for by the result in Queensland, where the jobless rate rose from 6 to 6.3 per cent.

"Anybody who knows what is happening in Queensland would know why that's occurring, the explanation is a two-word explanation: Campbell Newman," she said.

"Campbell Newman and his approach to sacking and putting into unemployment Queenslanders is showing and showing in these figures."

But Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has defended Mr Newman's actions.

"It will create, particularly, small business confidence in Queensland to have a government living within its means," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-11/labor-blames-newman-for-grim-jobs-numbers/4308198

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Joe Hockey is a blabbering iddiott like Abbott... "Small business confidence" when people are being booted out of their job is like "Open All Hours" with Ronnie Barker... very funny but a bad joke in real life... 

If you’re after bragging rights over how expensive your home is, Sydney is the place to be.

The property data does not say if the top 25 suburbs are tree-lined, but 15 of them have in their names: bay, point, grove, park, hill, heights or beach. 

Australians have the world's highest median worth according to a Credit Suisse survey.

Australians have a median wealth per adult of $US193,653 ($A189,225) the Credit Suisse global wealth report showed, the highest of 216 countries surveyed.

With plentiful land, sparse population, natural resources and high home prices, Australia's proportion of individuals with wealth above $100,000 is the most of any country and eight times the world average, the report said.

Europe's sovereign debt-crisis contributed to a $10.9 trillion loss in the value of household assets in that region during the past year, according to the report.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/australians-are-the-worlds-wealthiest-20121011-27enm.html#ixzz28zDEqRbU

I have no idea how wealth is neasured... Do they use a dipstick?... Are the richest dudes, such as Gina,  included in the average, bumping up the figure by 10 points? Who decide on the value of stuff? Aussies pay more for cars and the price of housing is beyond the roof, pardon the pun..., especially if you live in Point Piper(see above)...