Asguard,.... While giving me excuses as to why you can't spell, I noticed the quality of your writing picked up almost instantaneously afterward. Forgive my rudeness in initially pointing it out, but if your writing improves then I've done a hell of a lot more for you than someone who says "dont worry about it".... right? YOU know, and thats all thats important. Dont tell me you cant control it, thats pure ****... DO something about it. In fact, it seems to me you've already begun to. Well done. Self advancement is knowing what our weaknesses are and dealing with them, trying to improve upon them. NOT just sitting back and thinking "well thats me, tough". Useless thought, counterproductive. Language is a powerful tool, and when used correctly can be a far more powerful statement than when abused. Write properly, and more people wil listen to you than when you don't. Personally, I blame the downfall of our education system and the unwillingness of teachers to get involved, but the end result is the same... B.O.T... Of course our country's PM deserves abuse. The real point is, so does every other one we've had. So why single out this one? The asians in fact respected Malcolm Fraser far more, because he showed an understanding of their culture and dealt with them from a position of strength. Thats why we have trade agreements with them today. Understanding does NOT mean "yes, we understand you do things this way, but from our point of view, we should do things this way and i really think..." BLAH... Blah... blah.. And thats how they see it too. Understanding means "Our point of view is THIS. Can you meet us on equal terms? Can we find a middle ground? Can we compromise?"
Thank you for your understanding *sacastic*. I have a learning dissablity and i can't sound words out so a spell check is no good. THANKS A LOT
More like our teachers seem to have a teaching disability... Every day I go on the net and find that, mostly in the younger generations, general language skills are going out the window. Too much american TV? After all, if you cant speak it, theres no way in hell you're going to be able to write it. All in all though I'd still lean towards blaming the education system... too many excuses, too any kids who cant spell.
You are right. I had the most usless teacher in prep but i had only BRILANT teachers since (and i would fight anyone who disagress). What ever the cause i can't sound out words so can we PLEASE drop it. by the way its ONLY my written skills that i have a problem with. I have a wider vocbulary than most of my parents older friends.
Yes, it is true that Australia has made a strong strategic alliance with the Americans and therefore it can seem that our policy is being shaped by outside forces. But the fact of the matter is that Australia's long term interest is always in securing and enhancing the prosperity of Australia above all else. In the 1960s or thereabouts, Australia could have become a nuclear power but decided against that path. It was also around that time that the alliance with the US became a lot stronger - essentially it was in our self interest to do so in the new nuclear world. Nevertheless, it should be said that we don't cow tow to the Americans or anyone else. This is evident by East Timor crisis, for want of a more recent example. After it was announced that there would be a referendum on independance in East Timor, intelligence communities had received increasing signs of potential problems. In fact there were American calls for a peace keeping force. But the Australian government pressured the Americans and others against in order to avoid humiliating the Indonesian government. If we went in or allowed others to do so well before the crisis erupted and became public, then there would almost certainly have been irrational, nationalistic fervour in Indonesia - culminating in attacks against the peacekeepers in the short term and against our interests in the long term. Even though Indonesia does not have a strong enough economy to take on a country like Australia, any instability in the region is clearly not helpful to Australia's long term prosperity. Of course, history has shown this to be a mistake on humanitarian grounds because some elements of the Indonesian army were involved in the brutal killings of many East Timorese. The consolation is that, today, General Wiranto and some other senior officers in the Indonesian army have been charged with crimes against humanity, and the Indonesian government has re-structured their military, moving power away from the army and towards the navy in the hope of avoiding similar problems in the future. Also, there's the incident of one DIO staff committing suicide in Washington after being accused by DFAT and ONA officials of illegally passing on AUSTEO ("Australian eyes only") documents to the Americans in regard to East Timor. Although this is an unfortunate incident, my point is that the Australian government bureacracy ultimately serves Australia's interest. We have strategic alliances and we are often actively engaged in international crises but always for our long term benefit. And it is fair to say that every democratic country operates in the same way. On our political leaders, I have to agree, Howard is an idiot. But the consolation for liberal supporters is that Crean is also an idiot, if not a bigger one. The sooner the younger, upcoming leaders move into place the better for all.
I find it hilarious, Barney Trubble, that someone who repeatedly criticises the spelling of youth today has such abysmal punctuation. It's also a pretty stupid stereotype. I'm sixteen, thank you very much, I'm the biggest spelling/grammar/punctuation nazi that ever lived, and no, I'm not a pimply nerd without a life. I'd like to point out that most teenagers abbreviate and mispell words on the internet, but not in school/on something serious. Even I do. It matters less when you're chatting to friends, and it's easier. Rant done. I can't stand John Howard, I appreciate that all political leaders make mistakes - usually big ones - and that he's only human, unable to please everyone all the time. However, I think that our involvement in, and the existence of the Iraq war is disgusting. There *are* certain standards, or should be, and I believe they've been violated by that, the blatant lies about the Tampa, as well as the disgusting policy we have on refugees. As the last post was a week ago, I won't elaborate now, but if anyone's interested I can go on for pages once I get started...*sigh* Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!.
Prior to your post, the last post was a year ago. And the one before that was a year before that. I've heard of threads being resurrected after long periods with no responses, but this is ridiculous! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
interesting thread, albeit long forgotten. With the election looming I really would like to put my two cents in.... I think John Howard is a champion, I think he's done the best job for my country than most prime ministers have in recent decades. My reasons for this are complex and simple. Simply, imagine you were him(Mr. Howard) for a moment. Imagine you were in the US when the planes hit the World Trade. Your the only major political figure in the entire world who is with George Bush, what the heck would you do? You'd go all the way with Bush Jnr. and thank the lord that you were given the opportunity to kiss ass with the world largest super power. The US is the future, get busy agreeing, or get busy becoming poor and uneducated according to societies norms.
Oops. I got it through a link and didn't quite look at the date. Nebuchadnezzar, for one, we're not a major power. Seriously. And, without John Howard/someone similar we'll be poor and uneducated? Excuse me? Who's pushing up the university fees, increasing places for full-fee paying students and increasing the rich/poor gap? J-O-H-N-N-I-E....Apart from that, do you have any idea of what education is like in the US? Sure, it's not Papua New Guinea or something along those lines, but I don't know that I'd call it something to aspire to...
