but thought the rest were American

A society where there was more respect for parents, police and teachers.

Depression is a state of mind

Queen - If there WAS a drug in your drink (and there probably was) it was probably special K or Ketamine.

Can one of your teenagers please contact me with their supplier's name. They're way more expensive than that here.

What's the point of not agreeing with them, Maggie?

Having someone you care about break up with you and say "can we still be friends?"

Is like your dog dying and your mother saying you can still keep him.

I had a fantastic job which included working with registered nurses - people that you would think would be educated in depression. I was there for 18 months. One day the issue of bipolar came up among my colleagues as a general chat. I was "brave" enough to share that I suffered from this condition. Instantly my colleauges treated me different, two weeks later I was dismissed - accused of a act that I didt not commit at work and I have no doubts that expressing my suffering of bipolar lead to this. Im happy to be wrong but I believe that someone took advantage of "in their words" my "craziness" and used my admission to their advantage. In hindsight I should not have said anything. i take my medication every day, was never late ot work, very efficient at work and had only recently received a promotion before my "confession".

The only accents you encounter are extreme ones like Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin.

I think Cruise is a victim of his own stupidity.

When I'm king of the world/Australia, I'll be making all churches pay tax.

The celebs who crave attention get it, and the ones who genuinely want a break from it all manage to find that, too. Cruise is getting the feedback he signed up for.

I wanted to marry Tom Cruise when he was in Top Gun........god im glad I did'nt!!

GROWING UP IN AUSTRALIA
I'm talking about hide and seek in the park. The corner milk bar, hopscotch, billy carts, cricket in front of the garbage bin and inviting everyone on your street to join in, Skipping, handball, handstands, elastics, bullrush, catch & kiss, footy on the best lawn in
the street, slip'n'slide, the trampoline with water on it, hula hoops, stepping in puddles, mud pies and building dams in the gutter. The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.

'Big bubbles no troubles' with Hubba Bubba bubble gum. A choc-top. Mr Whippy cone on a warm summer night after you've chased him round the block. 20 cents worth of mixed lollies lasted a week and pretending to smoke "fags" (the lollies) was really cool!.. A dollars' worth of chips from the corner take-away fed two people (AND the sauce was free!!).

Being upset when you botched putting on the temporary tattoo from the bubblegum packet, but still wearing it proudly. Watching Saturday morning cartoons: 'AstroBoy', 'He-Man', 'Captain Caveman', 'Archie', 'Jem' (truly outrageous!!), 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Banana Man' and 'Heeeey heeeeey heeeeeeey it's faaaaaaat Albert'. When 'Monkey Magic' with fish face & pigsy had a cult following.

When around the corner seemed a long way, and going into town seemed like going somewhere. Where running away meant you did laps of the block because you weren't allowed to cross the road?? A million mozzie bites, wasp and bee stings. Sticky fingers, cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, riding bikes and catching tadpoles.

Marco polo in the neighbours' pool ("fish outta water?!""NOOOO"), drawing
all over the road and driveway with chalk. Climbing trees and building cubbies out of every sheet your mum had in the cupboard. Jumping out of the pool and making body shapes on the hot concrete, and burning your tummy when you did it.

Walking to school, no matter what the weather. When writing 'I love....?..' on your pencil case, really did mean it was true love. "he loves me? he loves me not?" with daisies picked form the school oval. Running till you were out of breath. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Pitching the tent in the back/front yard. Jumping on the bed. Ghosts stories with the next door neighbours. Pillowfights, spinning round, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for the giggles. Murder in the dark.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. Cricket cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle. Eating raw jelly, making homemade lemonade and sucking on a Funny Face, Paddle Pop or red Icy Pole.

Remember when there were only two types of sneakers - girls and boys. Dunlop volleys with the green 'n' gold or blue (yep, they were the only shoes back in the 70's) and the only time you wore them at school was for "sports day." Bloomers in primary school & Scungies under netball skirts. You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents!

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best friends" & you would ask them by sending a note asking them to be your best friend. You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas eve and pretended to sleep for the tooth fairy.

When nobody owned a pure-bred dog. When 50c was decent pocket money. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for 10c. When nearly everyone's mum was there when the kids got home from school. It was magic when grandad would "remove" his thumb. When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at the local Chinese restaurant with your family.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed her or use him to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a
much bigger threat! Some of us are still afraid of them!!! "JUST YOU WAIT TILL YOUR FATHER GET HOME AND HEARS ABOUT THIS."

Remember when decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" or dib dib's-scissors, paper, rock. "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest. Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in Monopoly".

Terrorism was when the older kids were at the end of your street with pea-shooters waiting to ambush you. The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was boy/girl germs, and the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.

Where bluelight disco's were the equivalent to a Rave, and asking a boy out meant writing a 'polite' note getting them to tick 'yes' or 'no'. Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot. Your biggest danger at school was accidentally walking through the middle of a heated game of "brandies".

Nobody was prettier than your Mum. Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. Taking drugs meant scoffing orange-flavoured chewable vitamin C's, or swallowing half a Disprin. Ice cream was considered a basic food group. Going to the beach and catching a wave was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dare".

A mistake..I'm sure you make them,as well.
Actually,you did...you misspelled "grammatical."

So basically most people who complain about circus animal are confabulating...or just talking out of their a*sses.

By contrast, the philosophy behind animal rights is that humans and animals are equal and that all use of animals by humans is in fact, exploitation. Therefore, the goal of this movement is to end all human use of animals – this may include the farming of animals for consumption or for their products (meat, eggs, milk, honey), using animals for any medical or veterinary research, keeping of animals for sport or entertainment (e.g., zoos,
circuses, rodeos, horseshows, dog shows, animals performing in TV commercials, shows or
movies), guide-dogs for the blind, police dogs, search & rescue dogs, as well as the practice of owning pets.

RSPCA Australia believes that man must
treat animals humanely. Where man makes use of animals or interferes with their habitat, he should bestow a level of care befitting man’s own dignity as a rational, intelligent, compassionate being, and a level of care merited by the nature of the animal as a sentient creature capable of responding to man’s care and attention. Such care should be marked by sympathy, consideration, compassion and tenderness towards animals.

The welfare of elephants kept in zoos is severely compromised.
Potential causes for poor welfare in zoo elephants include restricted space and opportunity for exercise, unsuitable climate, extended periods of confinement, hard or wet flooring, inappropriate diet, small social groups, lack of stability in social groups, lack of opportunity to exhibit natural behaviours, and exposure to aversive stimuli in training and handling. For example, zoos cannot provide adequate space for elephants. Elephants are, by nature, nomadic creatures that are constantly on the move. In the wild, an elephant will walk up to 9km each day. It is nearly impossible to provide, even an adequate amount of space and exercise, in a captive environment.

have found no way of 'editing' or correcting a spelling mistake once posted here

In a general sense I think one of the most frustrating reasons for rejection can be when a couple seems to be going great guns, and then one suddenly comes out with "I'm not ready for a relationship" or "the timing is wrong for me" type of stuff. Leaves the other one wondering why the alleged unready person started it in the first place. I suspect it's a little bit of a cop out myself.

Queen - what is the difference, I wonder, between sledging and banter?

"Banter" or "O-shaberi" (O-Shabs) in Japanese, is non-serious conversation usually between friends, which may rely on humour at the expense of those taking part or in-jokes.

The aim is to intimidate or distract the batsman into making a fatal mistake and being dismissed. Sledging thus tries to "break the flow" of the batsman's game.[citation needed] There is debate in the cricketing world over whether this is poor sportsmanship or good-humoured banter.

The Players' Spirit of Australian Cricket
As cricketers who represent Australia we acknowledge and embrace “The Spirit of
Cricket” and the laws of our game.
This Players' Spirit of Australian Cricket serves as a guide to the shared standards of
behaviour that we expect of ourselves and of the values we hold.
Our on-field behaviour
We play our cricket hard but fair and accept all umpiring decisions as a mark of
respect for our opponents, the umpires, ourselves and the game.
We view positive play, pressure, body language and banter between opponents and
ourselves as legitimate tactics and integral parts of the competitive nature of cricket.
We do not condone or engage in sledging or any other conduct that constitutes
personal abuse.
We encourage the display of passion and emotion as a sign of our enjoyment and
pride in the game, as a celebration of our achievements and as a sign of respect for
our opponents.

Our team
We take pride in our sense of the importance of the team and acknowledge the role
of the team captain and our direct support staff. We demonstrate this by displaying
loyalty and compassion to each other, by accepting our role as mentors and by
supporting each other to abide by these values.
We value honesty and accept that every member of the team has a role to play in
shaping, and abiding by our shared standards and expectations.
We strive to be regarded as the best team in the world. We measure this by our on
field achievements and by exploring ways in which we might continue to “raise the
bar” in respect of our own professionalism.
We acknowledge and follow the traditions of our game while encouraging and
accepting experimentation that will enable us to create our own traditions and history.
We do this in the expectation that we will leave the game in a better shape than it
was before we arrived.
Our opponents
We acknowledge and respect that our opponents may hold different cultural values
and beliefs from our own, and value the diversity and richness this adds to the game.
By treating our opponents with dignity and forging bonds of mutual respect, we will
overcome any cultural barriers.

Respect
We respect the governing bodies of the game, our support teams in every capacity
and our players' association. We demonstrate this respect by seeking and offering
frank and open communication in accordance with the Players' Spirit of Australian
Cricket.
Written by Cricket Australia contracted players, October 2003

Dinner with friends when you leave the table with a teary eyes and sore ribs from laughing

Right. What's your vision?

Well my vision for Cape York is that I don't want my people to be government recipients. I want them to have their own industries, to be proud, to have self respect for themselves and get out of that whole welfare-independent system that they're so induced in now, in 10 years, and have our own doctors and lawyers from Cape York and have more educated Aboriginal people from Cape York.

And you want to lose the sense of being victims?

Yes I wanna lose the sense of being victims and government recipients and welfare recipients more so than - yeah and welfare-dependency.

Hi what would you do when your going for a new job ?
Tell them at the interview ....
Tell them after your landed the job....
Tell them if it becomes a problem ....

its my perception the aboriginal people dont want our sorrow or cash but just recognition.

- the 'regulars' often overtake a thread with their banter.

- many 'strangers' feel 'intimidated' to jump in.

- sarcasim and criticism and is rife at times to those that dissent or disagree with 'the mob'.