General Chat

I know you weren't singling out Australians Janey - you love us all ;-)

You are, of course, generalising because of course there are Australians and British people who are au fait with who is involved in the Afghanistan war or debacle. However like many people in any country we - in general - think of what is happening in the world in terms of how it will affect us. See? I forgot the New Zealanders in my efforts to impress :-S Sorry Persie - you know I care.

As I have said - I have a vested interest.

The most influential person in Australia? Well it doesn't say much for us as a country if I say that two of the most influential is apparently Elle McPherson - an international model who reportedly said she hates getting old and Dawn Fraser who has admittedly redeemed herself but who bombed out of the Tokyo Olympics because she misbehaved and therefore virtually ruined her swimming career.

This is a very interesting thread.

Sue

Good thing he (Suzuki) didn't hear you Sylvia.... you would have got poked somewhere around about your chest area and told not to demonize him.

Now Willie is lovely,,, he is quietly spoken and hmmmmm.....

Elle McPherson - yikes a bra and knickers ambassador for Australia. She doesn't even cater for the "fuller figure."

Sorry what were we talking about? LOL :-)

I did make it sound like we all sit up and pay attention re Afghanistan, general elections, world disasters, Gaddafi etc but we do have more than our fair share of apathetic people.

We don't rate very well world wide in a lot of bad behaviour characteristics as in child abuse, drug abuse and general criminal tendencies some of them absolutely mindless.

Persie

Larger ladies are apparently called 'real women' where clothing etc. are concerned. I hear that term more and more lately - well here in Orstraylia anyway :-D

Unfortunately we also seem to be a nation who hurts our children. Isn't drug abuse a world wide problem? We've also had some rather nasty murders in our area alone.

Is this off-topic or what:-0

Sue

I am very aware that troops from Canada Italy,Australia,and many nations in Europe have been operating in Afghanistan,having over a six week period while in Akroteiri air force base watched nations aircraft arriving and departing ,and seeing these lads come through arrivals to their debriefings and rest areas ,before onward Travel.
I have to agree though ,that for some reason ,nations other than Britain and America ,never seem to be mentioned,funny though ,the same thing seemed to be happening in the last World war,disgusting i call it.Fred :-(

I have to say that even though my son served in afghanistan, i could most probably not name every country that has troops out there, i do however know that the Danish have an outstanding team of medics out there, and i am thankful that my son was working alongside them on the day he was injured.
the british army has soldiers from a great many countries serving within it, so although the media may report the death of a member of the british army that does not take to account their country of birth, ie New Zealand, or the Gurkhas, or Fijian's. God bless all of those who have paid the ultimate price in the service to the armed forces whichever country they are from. xx

God bless them indeed, Izzy.

Sue

Re news from other places, I do watch and read about what is going on elsewhere in the world, but last night reading 'ethical consumer' I came across something i have missed totally!

The Alberta tar sands...now how could I not know about that? but thinking about it I realised that whilst i do hear about, for example , Sarah Palin on the presidential trail, storms in Oz and earthquakes in NZ, the death penalty in Uganda etc..very very little on Canada!

A good thread Janey, it is good to be enlightened about these things. And as Izzy says. "God bless them all and their families".

SueMaid, I know that's right -- just as Sylvia and I aren't representative of us Canucks in terms of being informed (we are), those who aren't informed aren't really representative either. Broad spectrums!

RR, tsk tsk. They're the "oil sands" now, you know. And they're a national disgrace. And the hard right-wing Stephen Harper and his newly elected government are their best friends. Tax breaks for the oil sands and the entire oil industry. Of course, not just them. Harper never met a huge corporation that didn't need a tax break.

Then there's asbestos, which we are still merrily selling around the world to anybody who will buy it (and going to international trade tribunals to try to force countries like France, which have banned it, to let it in). It isn't our fault that workers in India use bandanas to protect their lungs while they're tossing armloads of it around. We know that proper safety precautions are in place wherever we sell our asbestos. Jon Stewart on the Daily Show in the US (satiric news) did a whole segment on our lovely asbestos industry last month.

Our mining companies have stellar records around the world too. They don't destroy the environment and indigenous communities, let alone be complicit in human rights violations against union organizers ...

Sometimes it's best if you don't get any news about us.

Much as I may oppose our presence in Afghanistan (I'm ambivalent), one could actually say that our military does less harm, globally, than our corporations.

I was shocked that I didn't know anything about it Janey, i do try to keep up generally, even more shocked that in my ignorant bliss i always think of Canada in terms of awe inspiring mountains, forests, lakes, sophisticated cities and not in terms of industry or exploitation.

I did not know about Canada,NZ and Australian Soldiers being in
Afghanistan so please excuse my ignorance. I asked my OH if he knew
who was fighting there and he amazed me because he knew and named
the countries, he added that we do not here about their casualties so it
would not register with others. As has been said Janey good thread.Thank you and
God Bless all soldiers and their families.

Emmax

There you are, a broad spectrum. ;-)

Frankly, if asked, I would have said yes to Australia being there (cripes, they were in *Iraq*, they'll invade anything), since I did know that.

But NZ? Hmm ... well, I'd probably have assumed they were. I mean, they're just like Australians, aren't they?

Hahahahaha! Snork.

Little Australians Ha ha ..... tell that to the All Blacks......

Don't ya know .... New Zealand's national anthem is not "God Defend New Zealand" it is "anything they can do we can do better"

;-)

Persie

Oooh - you're treading on thin ice there Janey :-D

Sue

I think she enjoys treading on thin ice :-D

I think you're right Sylvia ;-)

Sue

;-) :-D