pulse
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Date: January 26, 2009 12:16PM
Indeed! Happy Australia Day. How'd you spend yours?
I spent mine chronically hung over & vomiting for the first few hours of it.
I don't know why I do these things to myself...
quasi
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Date: January 26, 2009 12:25PM
Happy Australia Day to our friends from down under!
SkullandChains
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Date: January 26, 2009 05:47PM
Posted by: pulse
I spent mine chronically hung over & vomiting for the first few hours of it.
I don't know why I do these things to myself...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Same reason I do it. It's fuckin fun the night before. 
GAK67
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Date: January 26, 2009 09:08PM
It's not everybody on this side of the globe - NZ's national day is next Friday Feb 6.
I spent Australia day with my girl, and then watched the Aussie cricket team get thrashed my the Jaapies!
Anony Mouse
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Date: January 27, 2009 12:16AM
Gees, isn't it about time we got rid of that bloody flag with the flag of a foreign nation in the top left corner, AND GET OURSELVES A PROPER ONE!!!
woberto
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Date: January 27, 2009 06:29AM
No, it isn't.
fossil_digger
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Date: January 27, 2009 03:30PM
lets just se how the Aussies like it when someone wants to change theeeeeir flag. uh huh
pulse
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Date: January 28, 2009 12:41AM
It'll happen. KRudd (or Mr Sheen as I call him) is going for the republic agenda again.
I've got no issues with going for a republic, but not in the manor they suggested last time. We were given a vote
1) Keep everything as it is
2) Remove the Queen as head of state, to be replaced by a President chosen by parliament
No thanks.
I'd rather vote for a president myself...
fossil_digger
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Date: January 28, 2009 01:44AM
Australia needs to divorce "the crown"/parliament government and vote.
-fossil_digger
woberto
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Date: January 28, 2009 07:06AM
The current system works just as well as any proposed presidential heads of state. Why change it?
When the time comes, a completely new form of government will take over. We just have to wait.
As for the flag, it would be an insult to everyone who has risked thier lives in it's name, to change it.
GAK67
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Date: January 28, 2009 09:43AM
Sorry berto, but I got to call you on that last comment. What a load of crap. The diggers, and more recent soldiers, didn't fight for a piece of cloth or even the design on that piece of cloth. They fought for what it stood for, and any new flag would still represent that.
woberto
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Date: January 28, 2009 11:25AM
People like you are the reason the Anzus treaty exists.
Mrkim
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Date: January 28, 2009 01:53PM
"Piece of cloth" ????? Dunno about anyone or anywhere else, and most certainly won't make any effort to speak for them, but our flag certainly means more than that to me
fossil_digger
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Date: January 28, 2009 05:04PM
HAfuckin'RUMPF!!
GAK67
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Date: January 29, 2009 12:57AM
Please don't get me wrong and think I am unpatriotic. I am as proud as anyone when I see the NZ flag, but I am proud of my country, not necessarily the flag. I would be just as patriotic if the flag was changed as it's only a symbol of the country, not the country itself. I personally think that the Union Jack should go from the corner of our flag, and NZ is nowhere near as far down the republic road as Australia is, but as a friend of mine said the other day, how do you come to a concensus on what to replace it with and is it worth wasting the money on the consultation and design process?
pulse
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Date: January 29, 2009 03:28AM
That's the thing. I don't want to confuse what the flag stands for with a cheap plastic flag bought at K Mart.
What our flag represents is a great thing. A nation with a colourful past, but full of character and good things these days. This will not change if you alter the design of the flag.
A physical flag though, is as GAK said, just a piece of cloth. Or plastic. And probably made in China. Nobody's ever died for a flag, they've died for what the flag represents. For that, they should be honoured.
I'm not saying whether I think the flag should be changed; it's part of our heritage, our history - but also if we remove the Queen as our head of state I see no real reason for the Union Jack to occupy the top left quadrant - so frankly I can see both sides to that coin.
I just don't want to see a day when our President is decided via a non-democratic parliamentary nomination. If a president is meant to represent the people, then he/she can be fuckin' chosen by the people. (edit: not that this system worked at the last election, but anyway..)
Flag issues always reminds me of a Bill Hicks quote. I'll paste it, stolen mostly verbatim from another website.
Quote
Bill Hicks
Did you watch the flag burning thing? Wasn't that great man? Boy everybody showed their true colours then didn't they?....Scary... People just flipped, they reacted like The Supreme Court approved of flag burning, know what I mean?
" Does that mean we have to burn our flags?.. They said that we ha-"... NO NO NO NO NO NO, they didn't say that. They said that if someone wanted to burn a flag, he perhaps doesn't need to go to jail for a year...Pretty harsh on their part huh?
"They said we should bur-".... They didn't say that, they didn't say that, they didn't say that
"Does that mean I have to go and -"....NO NO NO NO NO NO NO... Listen, read , think, calm down, relax, SHUT THE FUCK UP
"Well I don't get it..I don't wanna burn my flag"....THEN DOOOOOOOOOOON'T.
People snapped, they were like "Hey buddy, my dad died for that flag"
"Really?...I bought mine...They sell 'em in K-Mart..."
"yeah..He died in Korea for that flag"
"Wow, what a coincidence. Mine was made in Korea... the world is THAT big man..."
No-one, and I repeat NO-ONE has ever died for a flag. A flag is a piece of cloth, they might have died for freedom, which, by the way, is the freedom to....Burn the.. fucking flag you see??..Burning the flag doesn't make freedom go away, it's kinda like Free-dom ok?..ok.
And they've had 4 cases in this country's 200 year history, so it's not that big an issue. One of the hotter smokescreens they've put down the pipe. I don't wanna burn a flag, but what business is it of mine if you do?
Is it my business if someone wants to..Is it?...NO
Is it my business what other people read or watch on TV? NO IT'S NOT...THANK YOU
You see, when we talk these things through, it becomes a little clearer doesn't it? That's called logic and it'll help us all evolve and get on the fucking spaceships and get outta here.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 29/01/2009 03:31AM by pulse.
fossil_digger
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Date: January 29, 2009 05:24AM
so i can stand right in front of you and burn an Australian flag, stamping on it, spitting, and you will just say
ni ?!?!
(shaking head in shame)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 29/01/2009 05:25AM by fossil_digger.
pulse
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Date: January 29, 2009 10:22PM
Uuh.. yes actually. I don't have to agree with you doing it, I don't have to like it, but what business is it of mine if you do it? I also don't particularly want to watch you grease yourself up in baby oil and walk down the street rubbing against lamp posts. But is it my business if that's what you're into?
As Bill was saying in his rant, I also believe that it shouldn't be a jailable offence should you do so. Anyway, that's not why I pasted the quote, the main part was the "dying for the flag" part.
So I'll repeat my earlier statement..
Quote
me
NOBODY has ever died for a flag. They've died for what it represents. And for that, they should be honoured.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 29/01/2009 10:24PM by pulse.
fossil_digger
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Date: January 29, 2009 11:53PM
aaaaaalrighty then.
quasi
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Date: January 30, 2009 02:37AM
Gee, thanks a lot for
that visual, pulse.
Somebody wrap that oiley man up in a flag before I puke.
zxz555
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Date: January 30, 2009 12:03PM
That's called logic and it'll help us all evolve and get on the fucking spaceships and get outta here.
The spaceships are the meaning of life at this point in human civilization, but what flag are we to fly from it? I know it will have Union flag (that's Jack to you) on it, but what else? Some stars, and a something else. Photoshop here I come!
woberto
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Date: January 30, 2009 12:20PM
Damn, even I'm getting lost on this thread.
fossil_digger
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Date: January 30, 2009 05:00PM
i like
these
pulse
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Date: January 31, 2009 12:37AM
The last two look like a Subaru badge
woberto
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Date: February 01, 2009 04:17AM
Oh I nearly forgot...
