Republicans

[pErvinalia]

They'll still find me.

Hang on, I think I hear black helicopters..

[JimC]

If this was the US, you could blast them out of the skies!

[Hermit]

They'll still find me.

"They" already have years ago, but after a quick squizz "they" worked out you're not worth keeping an eye on.

I know for a fact that I've been on file at the New South Wales Police Force's Special Branch back in the day. The nephew of a sergeant who worked there told me. Like you, I was not worth a follow-up. "They" found me without the help of the innerwebs, "back in the day" being circa 1975.

Now the NSW Police Force no longer exists. It's been replaced by the NSW Police Service, and its Special Branch was abolished in 1997. That means no dossier that mentions my name exists any more and nobody remains who could possibly spy on me remains either, especially since I moved to South Australia where Don Dunstan sacked the police commissioner in 1984 for lying to him about the existence of that state's special branch in 1970 and disbanded that branch. ASIO only concerns itself with protecting our country from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and terrorism. Provided we have nothing to hide we have nothing to fear.

[pErvinalia]

YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE CIA!

[Hermit]

YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE CIA!

Not at all. Those people are, as the acronym describes, our Comrades In Arms. If you have a problem with that I can only conclude that you belong in the Galaxian grade of paranoid schizophrenics.

[JimC]

I was arrested and fined in '71 for handing out "Don't register for the Draft" pamphlets within a certain distance of the Melbourne town hall (some weird by-law, from memory). My one and only court appearance. I doubt that the record remains, but I guess it could...

[Rum]

I'm sure I have a dusty old file somewhere in the bowels of one of our security outfits too. I was briefly a member of the Workers Revolutionary Party and CND and I was photographed at least once on a demo at Parliament in the early 70s. Filed no doubt under 'harmless'.

[Svartalf]

well, since I once hung out with notorious advocates of pot legalisation, I'm pretty sure I have a file with the French intelligence service, how dusty it may be, I have no idea

[Forty Two]

I'm sure I have a dusty old file somewhere in the bowels of one of our security outfits too. I was briefly a member of the Workers Revolutionary Party and CND and I was photographed at least once on a demo at Parliament in the early 70s. Filed no doubt under 'mostly harmless'.

[Cunt]

I know you have moved on, but when I read that Republicans were anti-university, I thought it showed they were stupid.

Then I looked into one for myself.

I was considering studying to earn my 'RMT' designation (Registered Massage Therapist)

It seems that there was a lot of bullshit included, such as most 'alternative therapies'. I asked if I had to be respectful of what was clearly bullocks, and the administrator answering said that I would be encountering acupuncure as part of the education, and that chiropractors were some of the instructors.

It doesn't surprise me that these bullshit practices are around, but it is laughable that she knew EXACTLY which ones to tell me about.

So as far as I can tell, massage therapy should probably end up in the trash heap with homeopathy, astrology and urethra-candling.

I've also seen 'universities' promoting Health At Every Size (which seems to only refer to the size xxxl), and every other kind of bullshit you can imagine. Lots of them are nothing to do with higher education. For example, I haven't known anyone who seemed smarter after getting a gender studies degree. Kind of the contrary, really.

[Tero]

Isn't massage thearapy an alternative therapy?

[Cunt]

Isn't massage thearapy an alternative therapy?

Yes, I just had higher hopes for it.

When looking at the claims made for it, and how well-supported they are, it seems they are no better than acupuncture, homeopathy or reiki.

Except for happy endings. At least the benefits of those can be measured (even if it is just in milliliters)

[JimC]

A properly trained physiotherapist can help all sorts of skeleto-muscular issues - mine certainly helps me when my back gives me trouble...

[Cunt]

A properly trained physiotherapist can help all sorts of skeleto-muscular issues - mine certainly helps me when my back gives me trouble...

Right, and I use the ones at the hospital, but the sketchy shit even comes from there...

For example, kino-tape went through all of them like a wave of fashion - then diminished completely after the kino-tape class-action lawsuit.

They know stuff, but there is so much bullshit mixed in, it's hard to tell what is what.

Chiropractic for example, is bullshit. Lots of practitioners, however, use physiotherapy along with their imaginary 'energy' and make-believe 'subluxations'. Are they bullshit? Or victims of bullshittery?

A university should be a place where the difference can be vigorously debated, but instead, when I asked about how to respect fake therapies, they directed me to their policies on respecting the opinions of others...

[Tero]

I can feel the energy already!