pweedas the IRA is/was a staunchly catholic terrorist group, the UDA a protestant one. much of the genocide in african nations is committed by christian tribes. as PR said hitler was a christian, as is dubya. the crusades were christian, and the inquisition. whole peoples in europe have been wiped out in the name of christ, often by some other fanatical splinter group of christians.
and "blend in with our population"? what does that mean exactly? we are a multicultural society, have been since we invaded and always will be.
How about "Protect the North" and NOT allow ANY entry there....from ANY body.
Our front door and welcome mat should be Hobart Tasmania... make it there and if you have the required papers your in....
"You’re obliged to pretend respect for people and institutions you think absurd. You live attached in a cowardly fashion to moral and social conventions you despise, condemn, and know lack all foundation. It is that permanent contradiction between your ideas and desires and all the dead formalities and vain pretences of your civilization which makes you sad, troubled, and unbalanced. In that intolerable conflict you lose all joy of life and all feeling of personality, because at every moment they suppress and restrain and check the free play of your powers. That’s the poisoned and mortal wound of the civilized world" - Mirbeau, Octave
the italians and greeks and chinese and vietnamese all assimilated, they adapted to "our culture" within a generation and added their own unique flavours to it. the sky didn't fall in on us.
what makes you think any other culture is different?
The Western Force are improving. They led the Bulls last week after around three quarters of the match.
The problem is that they don't know how to finish off opposition teams.
Match detail
We are waiting for the kick off.
The match is underway.
2.00: The Stormers start well but Habana knocks on so the Force have a scrum.
3.00: The Force give away a penalty at the scrum and the Stormers run the ball.
4.00: The Stormers give away a penalty so Peter Grant will have the first kick at the posts for points.
5.00: Grant takes the shot.....He nails it. Stormers lead.
8.00: The Force are defending well.
9.00: Andries Bekker knocks on but the Force have an advantage which they take quickly and they move the ball forward but don't really get anywhere until they knock on.
14.00: The Force swing the ball through their backline - James O'Connor takes the ball twice and this creates space and he passes to David Pocock after sucking in two defenders and Pocock scores under the posts. Great try. Andries Bekker gets a warning for a very late tackle.
15.00: The Force add the conversion and they now lead.
18.00: Schalk Burger gets hit on the head by the ball after a big kick and he goes down. After a break get gets up. Staniforth comes off for the Force.
19.00: Gio Aplon goes down with a knock on the head after a high ball. The Force are awarded a penalty so James O' Connor takes the kick and it's short.
23.00: The Stormers enjoy a spell of attacking rugby but the Force hold them out.
26.00: The Force give away a penalty so Peter Grant takes the kick at posts and nails it.
27.00: The Force are starting to unlock the Stormers defence as Chris O' Young finds space and gets to within 10m of the line but gets caught and then knocks on.
32.00: The Force are controlling possession and keeping the Stormers pinned back in their 25. When the Stormers get the ball they boot it downfield. This time O'Connor goes to catch the ball and knocks on.
35.00: The Stormers are using the high ball to good effect. Hill gathers a ball and passes to O'Connor who takes his eye off the ball and knock it on giving the Stormers an attacking scrum in the Force's half.
37.00: Schalk Burger gets blown up for a big tackle. The Force take a line out.
38.00: Habana gets the ball on the wing and chips up but can't regather.
40.05: The siren goes for half time but the Force have the ball and keep it alive. They get over the 25 and then as they go forward they get a penalty. O'Connor goes for posts. He misses. That's it half time.
The half time score was Force 7 Stormers 6
The second half is underway.
43.00: The Stormers start strongly which puts the Force under pressure.
44.00: The Stormers pressure the ball into the Force's 25. They go forward and Sireli Naqelevuki gets to the line but loses the ball over at the line.
45.00: Ricky Januarie comes off for the Stormers.
47.00: The Force give away a penalty so the Stormers get a chance to take the lead after a vastly improved peformance in the second half.
48.00: Grant takes the kick and nails it.
51.00: The Stormers give away a penalty this time but it's too far to kick for posts so the Force kick for touch.
53.00: Schalk Burger gives away a penalty so the Force get the chance to take the lead.
54.00: James O' Connor takes the kick and nails it.
58.00: The Force get another penalty but it's long range so David Hill takes the kick and misses.
61.00: It's a game of penalties this one is folks. The Force give away a penalty this time so as Gio Aplon gets some more medical attention Peter Grant takes the kick and he nails it. Great kick.
63.00: Richard Brown and Matt Dunning comes on for the Force.
64.00: The Force use their boot to good effect and it gets them down in the Stormers half. The Stormers however boot the ball back. We go back for a penalty though. Burger gets a final warning. O' Connor will take the penalty kick.
65.00: O' Connor nails the kick and the Force lead again.
68.00: Another penalty. The Stormers this time so Peter Grant nails it to make it five from five.
69.00: As both teams are giving away so many penalties Dickinson has some words with captains Burger and Sharpe.
70.00: As the Force work the ball upfield Bekker gets the ball and bolts off towards the line and passes.....to no one. The ball rolls out.
74.00: Bekker gives away a penalty but the Force have to kick for touch. The Stormers however win the line out. The Force look a little hungrier for this match.
76.00: The Force build some pressure in the Stormers half. They start to look good but give away a penalty so the Stormers clear the ball.
77.00: Pieter Louw gives away a penalty on the half way line so the Force get a penalty. A little reluctant David Hill takes the kick and misses.
80.05; As the siren goes for full time the Stormers give away a free kick. The Force have no choice but to scrum.
81.00: The Force win the scrum and run the ball. They swing the ball out to David Hill who bangs over a drop goal to win the match ! The Crowd goes NUTS ! The Force win.
The full time score is Force 16 Stormers 15
i miss the old days where we just ignored the fact that they landed on Australian shore and then had a 50 mile hike to the nearest town. if they made it you knew they where hard workers.
Australia to appoint population minister; develop strategy... strategy like the Sydney metro 
Australia's population could grow by more than 50 percent to around 35 million in the coming decades, from its current level of around 22 million, fuelled largely by immigration....
Dang! I better buy some property while it's still cheap 
.
(With apologies for those of different cultural beliefs that might find that salutation offensive)
pweedas i think you are missing the point that we don't actually have a deep rooted culture of our own, we are a multicultural society comprised of a completely mongrel mix of races.
you keep referring to this mythical "way of life" you need to defend to the death. i assume you are referring to the scraps of british culture some of us still cling to despite being recent arrivals ourselves. 200 odd years is nothing, our society and culture is still in its infancy and is constantly shaped by new migrants, wherever they are from. who are you to refuse someone entry on the basis of their beliefs? you are a recent arrival too.
if you want to defend the aussie way of life then head bush and do something to help the poor bastards we displaced when we arrived en masse.
in boats and uninvited, i might add
For once I am not embroiled in a SeaBreeze ****fight. And reading some of the above I am really glad I am not.
Is there a shortage of wind this weekend that keeps people at their keyboards?
JB
Christmas Island not full yet, says Rudd
Updated Sat Apr 3, 2010 7:51pm AEDT
Christmas Island Detention Centre
Kevin Rudd says there is still room at Christmas Island's Dention Centre.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says there is still capacity for more asylum seekers in the Christmas Island detention centre.
So far 102 boats carrying asylum seekers have arrived in Australian waters this year, with 79 people arriving on the latest boat intercepted at Ashmore Reef on Friday.
The Government had previously indicated it had space for around 2,040 people in the detention centre, but the Department of Immigration says there are now 2,067 asylum seekers on the island.
Mr Rudd says there is room for more.
"The advice I have this morning is that capacity remains on Christmas Island," he said.
The department says a new building under construction will accommodate an extra 400 people by the end of the month.
WTH???? Good Grief....
That Last statement is simply stupid...so they are expecting at least another 400...2500 foreigners on and island + only 1500 locals..
I would love to know what the locals think of the boat people.
4th April 2010...another 50 asylum seeks picked up near Ashmore Reef.
Ok another 350 people to go and then the detention center will be full ...sheeeze
pweedas...... Man, you've listed a lot of examples of conflict from all over our ever more closely connected world.
I know you can't think that Australia can 'protect its she'll be right mate way of life' by not letting refugees (or boat people) in. That would be ignorant. You've referred to culture and religion as major contributing factors to many world conflicts, many would agree. (like all problems however, it can help to consider other complexities)
However the sentiments that elbeau has expressed reminds me that the vast majority of followers of all major religions share similar beliefs about important human values.
It's usually misplaced or misrepresented 'beliefs' followed to an extreme without compassion or understanding of others involved that leads to conflict. These extreme beliefs seem best fostered in times of fear. Fear that relies on lack of understanding and empathy for others involved.
I really think that as our community becomes far less isolated and far more interconnected world wide, the only positive steps forward will be based on our inherent ability as humans to empathise, understand and come to mutually satisfactory solutions to our problems.
People, religions and cultures will not work more smoothly or less violently if kept in their place as you seem to suggest. We need to value and learn from each other. Even in Aust we have race, culture and religion related violence that I'm sure you'll agree needs dealing with. Don't get me wrong, I love our country, and i'm not trying to compare us to war zones. Just pointing out that these problems aren't other peoples problems, they are also our own. We need to love the rest of the world we live in too.. We need to work towards solving all our problems locally and world wide, not just avoid people with different backgrounds and hope the problems don't annoy us.
In case you worry about your words not being read because your posts are so long, rest assured I'll keep reading them and contributing myself whilst on hols.
OK, I'm going to explain the whole deal to y'all.
We're living in a world that was shaped after WWII. My grandparents fought on the side of the Allies and we won. BUT the group that really won was the group that brought the Allies together.
We made deals; America got the atom bomb, England retained it's financial power but lost military power, Israel was created out of Palestine, ... there was a complete global geopolitical reshape.
Fast forward 45 years and this group with the fall of Communism have consolidated their power and are now in the position to complete their goal; world domination.
(World domination is the oldest game, its in our genes, every species aspires to it and most free thinking individuals aspire to it.)
As history has shown so many times before, you need to dissolve borders, unite the tribes, one ring to rule them all.
So there you have it... no more borders, multiculturalism is here and it aint going away. Doesn't matter how much you protest, vote... sorry but we vote for the people who give us the message; the TV personality not the policy.
So just relax, sit back and watch the show, you can see it in the USA, England/Europe... Allied countries.
USA it's the Mexicans jumping over the barbed wire, in England it's the people running down the channel tunnel, in Australia it's the rickety boats.
Sydney's population went from 3,366,542 in 2001 to 4,399,722 in 2008... and most of them didn't come by boat.
Sydney was so good back in 2001 , light traffic, rents were cheap, you could go to a Woolies and not have to queue up for 20mins only to be served by somebody who can't speak English.
If you don't like it... well we have "terrorism laws" for the insubordinate.
Boat people want a better life; I guess we should be grateful we enjoy that better life... not too sure they're fleeing repression, those folks usually just run to the nearest boarder.
I want a better life; I think I'm going to gate crash one of James Packer's mansions... who's with me, we'll take cars?
The world is basically still " TRIBAL " and tribals do to each other nowadays,
what they have done to each other for eons, ....., fight for dominance.
The gladiator did it and the football crowd does it still. Religion does it so does
Business. The first settlers did it to the Aboriginies, the Squatter did it to the
workers. The Europeans did it to the English, the Vikings to the Englanders,
the Jewish to the Arabs. Nothing is new. I think maybe I have done it to
others, and I know it has been done to me. Family's do it to family's. The
Whalers did it to the Whales and the sealers to the seals. Fishermen still
practice it as with everyone else. In the END there will be one big doo,
and everyone is invited. That will DOO ME 
We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobile rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
