Singapore bans gay-themed books

[Burt de Ernie]

**** Tony, he is screwing all our pensioners and it is shameful.
Could be worse when I retire though.

*SHRUGS*...im gunna have to work until im 90 so they can enjoy their retirement.....

 

[malt and barley blues]

In a society where life expectancy is on the increase and on top of that there is the medical expenses for those of a greater age the government is going to be under increased pressure to provide heath and sickness benefits as well as aged pension, I think it should be up to the individual to put their own house in order with regards to retirement savings, increase in taxes is an unfavourable option to the tax paying public, cuts to welfare fares the same, as would cuts to pensions.
A line in the sand is going to have to be drawn some time, its every ones responsibility to make sure they have enough squirrelled away for what could be a lengthy retirement.

 

[Phoney]

But probably one of the few cities you can walk around at 3 am alone and feel safe. I'd give up legal sale of chewing gum to avoid the streets looking like London's any day (you can still bring it in for personal consumption).

Its a place which gives you the freedom of choice and leaves you alone unless you do something wrong you get punished and then punished hard.

As for the social engineering, maybe a bit of that. Call it a benign dictatorship if you like, but it works. They pay their politicians and public service equivalent to private enterprise so their is pretty much zero incentive for corruption.

Singapore is a user-pays society with virtually zero social security. No pension. No government healthcare. Low direct taxes capped at 20%.

Lowest crime rate in Asia and murder rate of any city in the world. Pretty much zero drug tolerance.

2013 GDP per capita for Australia 43K, Singapore 65K, reported by IMF.

Bribie, please tell me where you would rather bring up your kids..... ?

Personally I would prefer to put up with the odd bit of chewing gum on the footpath and relatively low crime (which we have) than live in a police state. Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei is another city which would probably appeal to you too. The citizens there pay no income tax at all, the streets are spotless, there are no drunks to be seen... Well that's because booze is virtually prohibited outside of international hotels, but as you say, it works. In fact most cities in benign dictatorships such as those in the Gulf Arab states are much the same. Doha, Kuwait City etc.

There was a saying that used to go around in the former Eastern Bloc nations (specifically Czechoslovakia) that used to go along the lines of 'beware of a city which appears too clean, for you only need to scratch under the surface to uncover the ugly grime'. Or something to that effect. Singapore might be a comfortable place for western expats who stay indoors, and the wealthy Malay's. But then you have the second class Indian population who are basically treated like ****, and then below them again you have the Filipino and Indonesian live-in maids and workers who are, lets not beat around the bush here... indentured slaves. Good for some, not great for all.

BTW: Have you heard of Singapore's maintenance of parents act? If your parents or your in-laws cannot support themselves, can apply through the courts to move into your apartment with you, or force you to pay maintenance until they die. That's the reality of no pension.

But the thing I found with Singapore as a visitor was, if you take away shopping and eating, what else left is there to do?

No thankyou, I would rather bring up my kids in Sydney.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

In a society where life expectancy is on the increase and on top of that there is the medical expenses for those of a greater age the government is going to be under increased pressure to provide heath and sickness benefits as well as aged pension, I think it should be up to the individual to put their own house in order with regards to retirement savings, increase in taxes is an unfavourable option to the tax paying public, cuts to welfare fares the same, as would cuts to pensions.
A line in the sand is going to have to be drawn some time, its every ones responsibility to make sure they have enough squirrelled away for what could be a lengthy retirement.

Thanks Tony.
Not everyone is a squirrel.

 

[Goose]

Yes I agree , its safe but most I know that live there want to live here.
Housing and car ownership is not easy for them, car ownership lottery is the norm.

ok look at the car ownership thing. Yes, its damn expensive to own a car. In fact, you have to have a piece of paper that gives you the right to buy one, that is called a Certificate of Entitlement or COE and it lasts for 10 years, after which you have to "scrap" your car or renew the COE and pay large taxes to continue running it. Now the place is small, and so the number of vehicles on the road has to be limited. The government does not set the price, instead it releases a quota which is then auctioned off. So the consumers set the price, not the government. The price has been as low a a few dollars or higher than 100 grand.... right now its around 80 grand just for the privilege of owning a Toyota corolla...yeah sucks big time... like I said, user pays.

You can eat for 3 bucks or 300. You can drive a merc or catch extremely cheap and efficient public transport, You can live in a house at great cost or you can live in a flat or condo quite reasonably. You can spend a fortune on booze, or you can drink tea. Or you can make your own booze like me.

No such thing as dole. You work for your own retirement or you rely on your kids.

Prefer not to live in Singapore ? Who doesn't prefer to live in Australia. Face it, its a great place to spend your money, but a crap place to earn it in...

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

No thankyou, I would rather bring up my kids in Sydney.

**** that.

Rather my kids grew up in a country town.

 

[booargy]

.....

 

[Phoney]

**** that.

Rather my kids grew up in a country town.

I hear you. I grew up in a semi-rural area, and SWMBO is from Armidale.

There's pro's and con's to both. You cant beat growing up in the bush for being in the great outdoors and so on, but then it often does limit their opportunities when they get to 16, 17. The choice is usually either study, move off to uni and then move to the city or get hitched at 20, get whatever job you can and start plopping out kids.

Of course it makes a huge difference to which country town/area/suburb IMO. There are deadshit towns and nice towns, scummy areas in cities and nice areas.

 

[pcmfisher]

I would like to know what led Yaacob bib Ibrahim to believe that the penguins were gay ?

Maybe they were Fairy Penguins.
But wait! They can not be called that anymore.
They are Little Penguins now. :blink: :blink:

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Actually when thinking about the sexuality of animals or birds, man would have evolved observing the bisexual behaviour of other animals and probably bisexuality was the norm amongst those early humans , but when did it begin to be frowned upon.
The groups of animals would have had the strongest looking after the females so if a young male growing up wanted a quick back scuttle it would more than likely have had to be with another male.
I'm no Desmond Morris but just a thought.

 

[Dave70]

This forum is 99% male. (allowing a 1% margin of error)
Just sayin..

 

[sponge]

This forum is 99% male. (allowing a 1% margin of error)
Just sayin..

Back to the pile!

 

[Dave70]

Dey tek er jerbs!!

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Actually when thinking about the sexuality of animals or birds, man would have evolved observing the bisexual behaviour of other animals and probably bisexuality was the norm amongst those early humans , but when did it begin to be frowned upon.
The groups of animals would have had the strongest looking after the females so if a young male growing up wanted a quick back scuttle it would more than likely have had to be with another male.
I'm no Desmond Morris but just a thought.

But in ancient civilizations buggery was the norm and animals weren't frowned upon either.
Want to go back to that ?

 

[Dave70]

But in ancient civilizations buggery was the norm and animals weren't frowned upon either.
Want to go back to that ?

Not if I were a horse, thats for DAM sure..

 

[wide eyed and legless]

But in ancient civilizations buggery was the norm and animals weren't frowned upon either.
Want to go back to that ?

That was my thoughts, that our ancestors were doing it why did it suddenly become taboo? Did somebody say hold on a minute,'I like sex but it hurts my arse.' Or was it when God was invented that buggery was outlawed, no I wouldn't want to go back to it but it is strange that it went from the norm to the abhorrent and why?

 

[Dave70]

That was my thoughts, that our ancestors were doing it why did it suddenly become taboo? Did somebody say hold on a minute,'I like sex but it hurts my arse.' Or was it when God was invented that buggery was outlawed, no I wouldn't want to go back to it but it is strange that it went from the norm to the abhorrent and why?

Like most religiously inspired prohibitions, the clergy kept the fun stuff for themselves, but told the credulous masses they'd go blind / to hell / be executed if they partook. Worse still, basically set in motion a mindset sexual guilt, prejudice and cynicism that's still embarrassing to witness.

 

[madpierre06]

That was my thoughts, that our ancestors were doing it why did it suddenly become taboo? Did somebody say hold on a minute,'I like sex but it hurts my arse.' Or was it when God was invented that buggery was outlawed, no I wouldn't want to go back to it but it is strange that it went from the norm to the abhorrent and why?

Like most religiously inspired prohibitions, the clergy kept the fun stuff for themselves, but told the credulous masses they'd go blind / to hell / be executed if they partook. Worse still, basically set in motion a mindset sexual guilt, prejudice and cynicism that's still embarrassing to witness.

Is it not possible that it was intially taboo, but the wilfullness and deviancy of mankind then introduced such behaviour prior to later rulings which brought about a declared unlawfulness of such acts.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Like most religiously inspired prohibitions, the clergy kept the fun stuff for themselves.

I would not find the "Fun Stuff" that much fun....you dont have " Fun" with alter boys.

But then again, Trappist monks had it sorted. I would become a monk for purely that reason

 

[madpierre06]

I would not find the "Fun Stuff" that much fun....you dont have " Fun" with alter boys.

But then again, Trappist monks had it sorted. I would become a monk for purely that reason

Yeah, but who knows what they got up to after a big sess on the Rocheforts.