Don't Feel Bad Americans

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A_Wanderer

ONE love, blood, life
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You're not the only nation with moronic politicians, their part of any society
A federal Labor backbencher already facing criticism for taking photos of a protester threatening to set himself alight outside Parliament House has called the global financial crisis an act of God.

James Bidgood, a first-time MP from Queensland, was forced to apologise to parliament after he agreed to supply pictures of Wednesday's incident to a newspaper in exchange for a $1,000 donation to a charity.

The MP, who was hauled over the coals by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd over his actions, has now emerged in an undated DVD showing him speaking at a function at parliament.

In the speech, he argues that Christian marches for Jesus in London caused the October 1987 stock market crash and says "when Christians pray, God does things", The Australian reports.

"In 1987 there was another march for Jesus. That took place in April. And guess what happened in October 1987? The stock market crashed. All property values lost one third of their value and over a million people lost their homes," he said in the DVD.

"I believe when Christians pray, God does things.

"I believe what is happening today is as much to do with God in economics bringing judgment."

Mr Bidgood also warned the world was in the end times.

"I believe that there is God's justice in action in what's going on here and we haven't seen the end of it," he said.

"The ultimate conclusion is like I say we look at Bible prophesy we're going towards a one-world bank and a one-world monetary system and if you believe the word of God and you read Revelations ... you will see clearly what's being spelt out and we are in the end times."
Financial crisis an act of God: Bidgood

:doh:
 
I was convinced this was about the UK then - I never knew you had a Labour party and MP's and backbenchers like us before, I really need to read up on Australian politics :|

"In 1987 there was another march for Jesus. That took place in April. And guess what happened in October 1987? The stock market crashed."

And, with that logic, what else can we blame on God? :hmm:
 
Ah yes, the photography guy. I was unaware of his other beliefs, but felt that the obligatory 'controversy of the week' about the photos he took and sold to be, unbelievably tiresome and indicative of the poverty to which Australian political debate has sunk.

In short, if the guy is that much of a dipshit as he is made out to be, he should be politely ignored and/or disciplined. But if I was Kevin Rudd, I would equally politely tell the opposition to take a flying fuck at a donut. They, lest we forget, no longer control the agenda. So why pretend like they do?

And yes, Australia most assuredly has a Labor Party (complete with American spelling). It may, to my knowledge, even predate the British incarnation.
 
And yes, Australia most assuredly has a Labor Party (complete with American spelling). It may, to my knowledge, even predate the British incarnation.

I think it does - the UK Labour Party only came into existence in the 1920's to replace the Liberal Party. I assume most other Labour ('Labor') parties have been around since before then.
 
Actually I think the UK Labour party was around from maybe the 1900s but never managed to be very effectual until the Clement Atlee administration.

For the trainspotters, the first Labour government anywhere in the world was in Queensland, Australia in 1899. They lasted a week. Damn socialists! Of course, later on they came back and lasted for about forty years. Then the conservatives got 32 years to try their version. We're like that in Queensland, Australia.
 
actually, kieran, it might be of some interest to you that australia adopted many american english practises at the time of the Labor Party's inception. they've since, as you certainly know, returned to the british spelling not long after.

Australian English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There was a widely-held belief in Australia that controversies over spelling resulted from the "Americanisation" of Australian English; the influence of American English in the late 20th century, but the debate over spelling is much older. For example, a pamphlet entitled The So-Called "American Spelling", published in Sydney some time before 1901, argued that "there is no valid etymological reason for the preservation of the u in such words as honor, labor, etc.",[12] alluding to older British spellings which also used the -or ending. The pamphlet also claimed that "the tendency of people in Australasia is to excise the u, and one of the Sydney morning papers habitually does this, while the other generally follows the older form".

i remember reading other stuff about this a few months ago, was a bit interesting to me at the time and still is i suppose.

not to digress too far from u2wanderer's intentions in this thread, but i've made it no secret how american english spellings bother me to no end.
 
actually, kieran, it might be of some interest to you that australia adopted many american english practises at the time of the Labor Party's inception. they've since, as you certainly know, returned to the british spelling not long after.

Australian English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



i remember reading other stuff about this a few months ago, was a bit interesting to me at the time and still is i suppose.

not to digress too far from u2wanderer's intentions in this thread, but i've made it no secret how american english spellings bother me to no end.

Yeah, I think I read something similar (maybe even at Wikipedia!) once. It makes sense, as among other things I gather that the Australian Labor Party's idiosyncratic spelling was the result of lobbying by one King O'Malley - an early Labor politician and in fact an American (as in, he came from the US). It was part of the then-current vogue (imagine spelling that word without a 'u') for the American spelling form as a sign of modernity. And Labor was, if nothing else, modern in the 1900s.

I'm not a linguist, so I don't know where the 'u' in those various words originated, but France would not surprise me. What we call English is a weird and wonderful amalgam of old Germanic, Latin, a hefty helping of French (thanks William the Conqueror), and William Shakespeare. As a rule of thumb, the very earthy and sharp words in our language (pike, hedge etc) tend to have Anglo Saxon origins. And thus are very, very ancient.

I'm all for sidetracking this thread! Nobody cares about Australian politics except Australians (and not even some of them), alas.
 
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