President Barack Obama ridiculed House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Thursday for refusing to allow a vote on a funding bill that would end a three-day government shutdown, saying the top Republican in Washington is in the grip of conservative "extremists".

Goldman Sachs' boss Lloyd Blankfein has warned that a failure to raise the nation's borrowing limit would be "extremely adverse".

from The Monthly ….

what Labor hasn’t learned …..

As the planet warms up, as the US economy is being held hostage, as the world is basically going bonkers (Aussie vernacular meaning mad, absurd, delirious demented, foolish, idiotic, frenzied, kooky, nutty) in many places as usual, should it not be time to reflect on our idiocy — er, I mean legacy... ?...

May be it's time for a beer.

It might seem like a world away but the impact of the US government shutdown is being felt much closer to home.

Former researcher at Melbourne's La Trobe University, Michael Lazarou, now works for the National Institutes of Health in Washington where he is researching Parkinson's disease.

This week he travelled to Perth to present some of his findings at the ComBio science conference being held in the city.

picture of Mount Rinjani, from google maps - 1258 AD — the summer that went AWOL...

Science and the study of the record gives us a great insight into the past... in 1258, some historical chronicles of Europe tell us that the summer was crap. Worse than crap... The year went pass as if winter never left. Crops were delayed and then rotted as they never dried, due to non-stop rain and fog. Trees barely fruited...

NSW senator-elect David Leyonhjelm, who admits he benefited from voters mistaking him for a Liberal Party candidate on the ballot paper, will receive more than $1 million from taxpayers as a result of his hefty primary vote.

from politicoz ….

sugar on the table ….

from Antony Loewenstein …

Well, that’s one way to see.

If you are an international jet-setter, you may have noticed that all the gang-planks, the access ramps and many of the corridors of international airports are sponsored by HSBC.

There are the same posters in Arabic, English or French depending on the city you've landed in and they will tell you the wonderful story of the future... The future is in good hands, the hands of the HSBC that in partnership with you will make the world prosper... Even the vegies that grow in your garden will be in partnership with HSBC... You will see your genetically manufactured turnip with a bio-engineered HSBC logo growing in the flesh. I made that last bit up...

It should come as no surprise that here in Canberra ACT Labor Party Chief Minister Katy Gallagher supports an increase in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and broadening its base.  It was Labor ‘Messiah,’ the neoliberal Paul Keating, who first proposed a broad based consumption tax for Australia in 1985 and only backed down when the unions got cold feet at the last minute.