Bernice: The actual figures came up at 2.5 million!!

Greedy private landlords not maintaining their house and not caring how bad the conditions are in their accommodation. Several councils have had to get court orders allowing them to take over maintenance.

Capitalism at it's worse!!

A 15 month-long Australian Senate inquiry, entitled “A hand up not a hand out: Renewing the fight against poverty”, identifies a continuing decline in income for many poor households and emphasises the central role of employment opportunities in tackling poverty. It highlights these points:
> Between 1984 and 1999, the top 20% of Australian income earners saw a 1% increase in their disposable income, while the poorest 20% saw a 10% drop;
> Twenty-one per cent of Australians — about 3.6 million people — live on less than $A400 per week, which is $31 less than the full-time minimum wage;
> One million Australians are considered to be poor although they live in households where at least one adult works;
> 700,000 children are growing up with neither parent working full-time; and
> The poorest 20% of the population use government services less than people in the next two population bands.

The Democrats believe that the level of poverty in Australia is unacceptable. The wealth gap between the rich and poor in Australia has grown over the past decade. Despite more than a decade of continual economic growth, this prosperity has left many in middle Australia standing still and many of the poorest worse off.

In recent times, the Government has even pushed through legislation which is directly contributing to higher poverty by reducing the incomes of many sole parents and people with disabilities.

http://www.democrats.org.au/campaigns/poverty_in_australia/

Bernice: Aye.. because most Brits are just use flu to being just part of the yearly cycle of winter... they tuck up and drink honey and lemon!!

Bernice: It says copyright 2009 at the bottom an in the notes you'll see references to sources published after 2K.

Including such as ...
A hand up not a hand out: Renewing the fight against poverty (Report on poverty and financial hardship)

11 March 2004
© Commonwealth of Australia 2004
ISBN 0 642 71199 2
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/2002-04/poverty/report/index.htm

A bit hard if the link is "10 years old"!!

Deadly cat-flea typhus strikes in Australia
ANGELA POWNALL, The West Australian January 3, 2011, 2:10 am

Scientists have identified the first known cases of humans being infected with cat-flea typhus in Australia, four years after the R. felis bacteria was discovered in fleas in WA.

A nine-year-old girl became seriously ill in Melbourne and her younger sister and brother, grandmother and neighbour had to be taken to hospitalafter they were bitten by fleas carrying the R. felis bacteria from kittens the family brought into their home.

Microbiologists warned in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia published today that many more Australians might have been infected by R. felis, but did not get the most effective treatment because the infection was not diagnosed.

Dr Stephen Graves, director of microbiology at the Hunter Valley Pathology Service in Newcastle, NSW, said GPs and hospitals did not use diagnostic tests that were available for R. felis, which could be treated with antibiotics.

"It's likely to be present all over Australia, I suspect. It's just that people haven't looked for it," Dr Graves said. "This little girl was really quite sick and in intensive care. She may have died if she had not got the right antibiotics ultimately."

There are numerous different types of rickettsia disease, which is a type of bacteria that is found in parasites such as fleas and ticks. Dr Graves said murine typhus, a rickettsia infection from rat fleas, was particularly common in WA.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/8588207/deadly-cat-flea-typhus-strikes-in-australia/

(V): Are their behavioral characteristics?
If there are thousands infected without knowledge, how are they spotted? and should authorities be alerted?

The Col: Yes.. look for the ones wearing stockings!!

(V): bagpipe players?

The Col:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bERkPQ6Elvw

I hear on the news this morning where China has increased its military power massively and they say it is unsettling the region...Korea is the problem, they are very volatile. We were brought up to the following slogan..."Beware the yellow peril" It wont happen in my lifetime but it will happen

Bernice:  not to distract others from your statement.. I just wanted to ask if you were being affected with all the flooding over on your side of the globe??

ScarletRose: thanks for aking....we were flooded in on Xmas day and nth of us is still badly flooded and sth of us is in a terrible way....they are saying another 2 weeks before the evacuees will be able to go back to their homes which are currently under water.
We had a terrible storm last night which doesnt affect us but goes into the catchment areas which are already over full and causing all the flooding sth of us.

Bernice:  I had been rather busy the passed several months and as of late.. been seeing the films on the news regarding the flooding.. I had been wondering about you. I actually meant to contact you privately.. although, I am getting on this site so late anymore just to hurry and catch up my games.. Glad to see you haven't washed away.. sorry to learn though of the terrible mess.. how awful that would be.. I can't even imagine..

Keep some drift wood handy and try to stay dry..

ScarletRose: went to do my weekly grocery shop this AM and there were nothing on the shelves at the supermarket.....hardly any vegies/fruit and the groceries are running a bit thin....road and rail is closed so no deliveries and becasue all our stuff comes from down sth we suffer that way :(

thanks anyway

The USA's Fed gov report on the BP disaster came to the expected conclusion (except for the right wing conspiracy nutters)

... BAD MANAGEMENT AND COST CUTTING.

The only part that the Fed Gov has been criticised is on not enough regulation.

... In Northern Ireland people have been without drinking water through the lack of maintenance of the mains pipes by the private water company who's patch it is.

.. Cost cutting ..

yet profit margins and share prices generally are more important.

... The Bankers bonuses are due soon. Billions....

The best at the moment is a declaration that the banks will pay out less than they would have..

....MP David Chaytor has been jailed for 18 months for expenses fraud. yet the private firms hide behind the table... or under it... or behind the 'board'.

maybe we should bring back 'stocks'.

Jared Loughner... anti government.. thought there was "mind control"...

Just plain nutter, or found a cause in 'politics'.

.... One interviewer questioned the Tea party and others on the right wing with their use of posters with pics of opponents with cross hairs say "the next target" .. it maybe that some just cannot understand metaphor's and treat everything as literal.

Tuesday:

> Hold the person accountable for their actions, not the means they chose to utilize

Then why restrict any weapons at all? We hold the person accountable, but not the automatic assault rifle, or the company that makes a profit manufacturing it, or the retailer that makes a profit selling it.

By your logic, people should be free to buy fully automatic machine guns. A person should be able to buy an Uzi at Walmart, then it is OK, because it is not the gun the problem, but the killer behind the gun.

Not only that, but a person should be able to buy dynamite freely, because it is not dynamite the problem, but the insane idiot who buys it.

If that is the case, a person should be able to buy a nuclear bomb. If a person blows up a city, it is not nuclear weapons the problem, but the insane idiots who use them.

So a person should be free to open a business and sell machine guns, explosives and even WMDs. The logic is that the problem is not the availability of weapons, but the people who use them.

Guns don't kill people. People kill people.

Automatic assault rifles don't kill people. People kill people.

TNT doesn't kill people. People kill people.

Warplanes don't kill people. People kill people.

Bacteriological and viral agents don't kill people. People kill people.

Nuclear bombs don't kill people. People kill people.

I don't want some antidemocratic, fascist big government telling me whether I can own a gun or not.

Just as I don't want some antidemocratic, fascist big government telling me whether I can own ANY weapons or not.

But then, it is perfectly OK for a good Christian to defend the right of people to buy and own guns. Good Christians support and join the NRA.

In France, it's more difficult to buy a weapon but it's not a problem for me : I don't use some !
Anyway, I could take the sickle for my garden and easily kill someone with it !
The important question is : why do people buy weapons ?

Mélusine:

> Anyway, I could take the sickle for my garden and easily kill someone with it !

A person could take a chopstick out of a Chinese restaurant and kill somebody with it.

Violence is more complex than people think. Sometimes violence is carried out by individuals (such as serial killers), sometimes by social groups (such as terrorists, armies, etc.) Sometimes violence is unjustified (such as a serial killer murdering an innocent person) and sometimes we justify it (for example, self-defense, or some higher ideological principle.)

Why do people buy guns?

- Hunting: in the past it may have been a necessity, in this day and age it is mostly as a "sport", something done for entertainment

- Fear: people don't feel safe, so they buy a gun for self-protection. Sometimes the fear is justified, sometimes it is psychological (paranoia)

- Violent tendencies: some people buy guns as a means to prove to themselves or others that they are tough. For example, military wannabes who wear camouflage and carry weapons, even though they are not in the military.

- Criminal intent: people buy guns with the express purpose of committing a crime

- Entertainment: some people buy guns as a toy, then they head off to the firing range on weekends to play with their toy. They will never hunt, or be in the military, or commit a crime. They are merely playing with a dangerous toy.

- Stupidity: some people buy a gun and they don't even know why. Then they are really surprised when somebody gets hurt with their gun.

- Psycopathy: some people buy guns because they enjoy killing others. Their predatory instincts lead them to kill other human beings.

Ther are others reasons for sure. Of all these I listed, I don't see much justification, except for self-defense.

Hunting might be a sport, but wouldn't going out to play baseball be better? There are cases where controlling the population of an animal might be necessary since its natural predators are gone, or the animal was introduced from elsewhere (such as rabbits and cats in Australia). Hunting as a sport might be thrilling and fun, until some "accident" happens (such as Dick Cheney shooting his friend, or some animal being hunted to extinction). I have a friend who killed his son in a hunting accident. After 30 years he is still a psychological mess. I suppose there is such as thing as responsible hunting. Still, there is plenty of beef in the supermarket!

Some people truly fear for their life. They are under threat from somebody else. Self-defense is justified, but only when the threat is true. If the fear is very general (such as fear that some day a criminal might come into my upper middle class neighborhood), then it is likely more paranoia than justified fear.

People who buy guns to show off, or to have a "cool toy" are just plain stupid. That is the kind of people who treat weapons without giving them the respect and responsibility they deserve.

Criminals and psycophaths belong behind bars. It is those people who ruin everything for everybody else.

Übergeek 바둑이: Harold Shipman was a doctor.. he used his position as a weapon .. trust allowed him to kill over 200.

Guns don't kill, but the ease of access along with the ease of use makes killing easier for those of the deposition to kill. Along with it being considered by some a 'macho' weapon leads to it being a weapon of choice.

.. If a country is to have guns.. fine. But let full registration and analysis to make sure your not going to kill rather than defend with it.

Mélusine: A broom can kill... The Chinese worked out diversity of weapon shape millennium ago.

A chef's iron??

Tuesday:

> That's extreme.

That is my point. It is extreme to believe that somehow people have the right to own a weapon that could kill somebody. But then, a handgun is acceptable, but not an automatic assault rifle. I suppose killing 1 person with a handgun is an acceptable risk, but killing 100 with a machine gun is not.

In the World there are more guns than people. I think that is extreme too. Nobody wants to accept the truth. People kill people, and guns just make it easier to do so.

"In sharp contrast to most other developed nations, firearms laws in the United States are permissive and private gun ownership is common, with about 40% of households containing at least one firearm. In fact, there are more privately owned firearms in the United States than in any other nation, both per capita and in total."

Now, just based on pure statistics, if you live in the USA, 4 out of every 10 houses in your neighborhood probably has a firearm. 40% is a big number. If 0.01 % of the population has some mental defect, there are enough firearms to make sure that a lot of people will get killed.

Then we look at the problems of Mexico and Central America with gun running, drug traficking and organized crime. Violence is being fuelled by easy availability.

If manufacturing and selling guns were illegal, who would make the guns? Criminals would have to resort to the old cloak and dagger. It is a lot harder to kill 10 people with a knife. But then, guns are OK.

Übergeek 바둑이: some people can't/won't see common sense.

Übergeek 바둑이:I come from a family of hunters.I was taught responsibility. There are some major nut jobs out there. what you suggest is to disarm the people, so only the nutjobs will have weapons,because where theres a will...theres a way!
last year a teenager accidentally shot another teenager. We also lost 6 more in motor vehicle accidents.
it happens.we still drive.

Artful Dodger:

> I've never heard the loony left complain about cars in the way they complain about guns.

I work as a bus driver. Every day I see every stupid mistake that people make when they drive. Sometimes I wonder how it is that people don't get killed more often by cars. If making stupid driving mistakes led to losing one's driver's license, I think at least 50% of the people out there would not deserve to have a license at all. It would be good in a way. More people would walk and get their daily exercise.

The reality in all this gun debate is that guns are a symptom but not the disease. The real problem lies in human nature itself. We could take aways guns, knives, swords, machetes, etc. People would still go out and beat each other to a pulp with bare fists. We could chop off people's arms, and they would still kill each other with their teeth.

Human beings are the only animal that preys on its own species, and we do it for fun. We are nature's mistake. We have a brain. We know logically that fighting and killing are wrong. Yet we still fight and kill each other. We tell ourselves we do it for some higher principle, but that is just our excuse because we refuse to admit that we do it for the fun of it.

We are so insane that we have enough weapons to kill every living thing on this planet, and we still deceive ourselves into believing that we have all those weapons for "self-defense", "national security", or some non-existent abstract ideology.

We spend more money on weapons and weapons research than we spend on curing cancer or HIV, or than we spend on helping the poor. I see all these "good Christians" and "good Moslems" and "good whatevers" who care more about protecting their rights to own guns, or their right to get rich, but who would do precious little to help a hungry child anywhere else in the world. These people will say in the same breath that they love God, and that they will defend the right to own guns. I suppose there is no contradiction in saying that they believe in "God is love" and "you deserve to own a weapon".

Human beings are naturally selfish and cruel. That is the disease. Using guns to kill is merely a symptom of that disease. Take away guns and people will still find yet other weapons to kill with.

Take a piece of paper and quickly write down 10 ways to kill people:

Guns, knives, axes, swords, grenades, tanks, war planes, nuclear bombs, bare fists, kicking, poison, anthrax, mustard gas, a rope, etc.

That took 20 seconds.

Now, quickly write down 10 ways to save a hungry child:

Give money, give food ...

I think I am stumped.

Bwild: No need to disarm, just the need to weed out nut jobs. In the UK it was a case of a showing you can keep the guns responsibly to the police, and a interview to make sure you are not a psycho.

"I've never heard the loony left complain about cars in the way they complain about guns."

Like the incident of how Nixon was approached by the USA car manufacturers to delay the introduction of seat belts as it would cost the car firms some profit... To the progs like "Watchdog" that pick up on people's complaints (like with a problem with the electrical system that caused people's power steering to fail, BMW's wheels cracking, car firms selling 'written off' cars without telling the buyer..

The loony right ought to remember freedom is a state of mind, not a gun nor a piece of paper.

give money, give food, give water, help build basic's .. wells, buildings. Education and a means to watch and track slave trading in young kids as a cheap labour force ... One chocolate eaters to to think about.

Clothes banks, monitor western companies to make sure their suppliers do not use cheap or sweat shop labour. Buy fairtrade. Stop the manipulation of countries by foreign governments and the supply of cheap arms via dealers and treat such as murder..

Help the people be self sufficient.

And no... we are not the only species to wage war against each other. But we are the only species to be able to wage war on a global scale.

Another point.. making guns easy to get hold of by the nutter element all countries have... It takes more to cross the line to murder without access to guns. It seems that building up to being a killer is a stage thing. A gun makes that jump easier, whilst closer killing takes more and is less likely to be a big kill.

As to the numbers being less than car deaths. Yes.. they are, but that does not make the problem go away of nutters getting guns. It's just a poor defense of having a no system of protecting people from nutters with guns, and as such justifying that this is ok to protect your rights.

Well... what about those who die at the hands of nutters with guns right to live?

(V):  I agree with you .. there should be some screening done when selling a gun.. unfortunately as long as we have those selling guns and accessing guns illegally it makes it rather difficult to control whose hands they fall into.. I definitely don't think my ex should ever have access due to his drunken idiotic behavior.. to which he claims he never can remember. (A common complaint of those with Bi-Polar when mixing alcohol).. People however the more they strut they have their constitutional rights seem to remember when the constitution was written over 200 years ago the amount of people in the US was more manageable along with the ways society has changed.. I really think the constitution and some of the laws really need to be re assessed.. to match up with this day and age.

In France, it's rather difficult to get a gun, but the murderers often use a knife, so.... I agree with Übergeek : the real problem lies in human nature itself.

(V):

> And no... we are not the only species to wage war against each other. But we are the only species to be able to wage war on a global scale.

Other animals in this planet do it out of instinct.

Male lions will kill the cubs in the pride when they take over the alpha male position from an older male. So the females gang up on the alpha male to protect the cubs.

Male crocodiles will often eat the tiny younglings swimming in the water. So a female crocodile will carry her younglings on her back to protect them.

Many arthropods will eat each other, or their mates after mating. For example, dragonfly larvae often prey on their own species in the water. Female spiders routinely eat the males after mating.

Ants attack other ant colonies. So do bees.

The difference is, we human beings are "intelligent". Animals kill as a way to preserve their species or improve the chances that their own genes will be passed on ot the next generation. But we human. We kill for fun. We kill for oil. We kill for gold. We kill for religion, or race or sexual orientation. We kill for any excuse we can find, and when we can't find an excuse, we just don't care. It was not enough to kill with sticks, so we invented spears and arrows. Then gunpowder, guns, artillery, airplanes, bacteria, viruses, nuclear bombs, etc.

If you believe in the Bible, the Bible says that we we were made in God's image. But the Bible is wrong. I don't think God is insane. I doubt God thought making nuclear bombs was good. Neither did God think that owning weapons is a good think. I refuse to believe in a God who creates beings in his own image, and that image is one of murderers and cutthroats.

If you don't believe in God, then human beings evolved as nature's mistake. A being that will hunt everything that moves must be a mistake in evolution. At some point we have killed everything that walks, crawls, slithers, swims or flies on the face of the Earth. Humanity is proof that evolution failed. The human brain, for all its potential and creativity, is in essence a defective organ. Recent research shows tht there is a gene associated with violence and psychopathy.

Either God created that gene, or it evolved. Either way, that gene is a mistake, and there is nothing we can do to get rid of it.

Male - God created it.. WHY?? we will never know.. That sex IS a mistake;  and there is nothing we can do to get rid of it. LOL

Tuesday:

ScarletRose: I've seen a 11 year old kid in the USA showing off his personal gun collection. He had over ten plus a saber and other stuff. That most of what he had would knock the kid off his feet if he tried to fire them seemed irrelevant.

I saw on Fox news the other night moans about regulation in certain states over records being kept over buying high powered rifles, etc.. and that people couldn't buy more than two in 5 days.

... But looking back at talk and notes from those around at the time when the 2nd amendment was made.. Responsibility was part of having a militia and self defense..

.. The cheapness and mass production of arms today was not considered or thought of. We are talking of a time of muskets. Single shot slow loading arms... not semi or automatic weapons with large clips. One platoon with automatic weapons could wipe out an army of musket carrying soldiers.

BIG difference.

Übergeek 바둑이: .. Perhaps you should study a bit on human nature. Such is as described by the likes of yin yang and the two yetzer's that such as killing for gold, oil, etc is just an expression of our animal nature. The difference only between us and 'animals' is that we think.. such is that we can wrongly translate basic animal instincts into "logical" actions.

That is not God's fault, that is mankind being in denial of his basic nature and blaming the devil every time they do things like commit adultery or kill through feeling emotionally hurt.

but our PM has the guts to stand up and say what the majority of Australians would like to say....

'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT.. Take It Or Leave It.

I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. '

'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom'

'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'

'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'

'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'

'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'

'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.'

Bernice: Perfect! This is what I say about our country, and pretty much I think how everyone should feel about their own.

Come here? ADAPT!. Don't like it? LEAVE!

The immigrants in Australia are the Europeans.. The actual Australians are the Aborigines.. Guess the PM of Australia forgot that.

Might be the convict gene!!