Jun 30
I would like to congratulate FIFA on for this step in the right direction:
The referee who sent off Harry Kewell in the Socceroos’ match against Ghana is one of four referees who have been sent home from the World Cup.
But this should only be the beginning of the process. He should now be shipped to Abu Ghraib, waterboarded, stiripped naked and piled on top of other inmates, have electrodes strapped to his balls and be led around on a leash.
Only then, will justice be served.
Jun 30
According to social demographer Bernard Salt, the rise in single-person households in Australia is due to a whopping increase in our society of “sad, lonely old baby boomers. The widowed, separated and divorced”.
Oh, fuck off, Bernard.
Bernard belongs to that curious demographic of demographers and social researchers whose lives appear to be devoted to telling other people precisely how their lives are completely fucked (even if they’ve been blissfully unaware of this until now), how they’ll be fucked forever, and how they will die a lonely, feeble and unutterably miserable death, leaving naught behind but tears on a pillow and a few sad, solitary stains on the bedsheets.
Joining Bernard yesterday was Bettina Arndt, a woman whose life appears to revolve around telling other people how to fuck.
Try this quick quiz …
Three ACL related blog posts in 2 weeks. I really need to stop reading articles that mention them because they are very bad for my health. I promise that I will stop mentioning them here after today.*
The Australian asked the ACL for a comment on Julia Gillard’s statements about her lack of religion or religious belief. The ACL obliged.
THE Australian Christian Lobby has warned that Julia Gillard might have alienated Christian voters by declaring she does not believe in God.
Julia is alienating Christian voters with such provocative statements like:
“I am, of course, a great respecter of religious beliefs, but they’re not my beliefs”
“For people of faith, I think the greatest compliment I could pay them is to respect their genuinely-held beliefs and not to engage in some pretence about mine.”
And what reasonably minded Christian wouldn’t be alienated by that kind of statement? Such thoughtfulness, tolerance and respect. It sickens me. How dare she respect their beliefs by not pretending to hold them for political gain.
And it’s not like the ACL would ever encourage politicians to alienate any group of people. Especially not gays, non-Christians, women, refugees and even some Christians. That’s just not their style.
My favourite part of the article was this quote from ACL spokesman Lyle Shelton:
“I think she’s being honest and true to herself. Obviously, that position will alienate some in the Christian community and some in the wider Australian community.”
Yes, as a member of the “wider Australian community” I am always aliened when people are “honest and true” to themselves.
Dicks.
*Unless they do something that really, really, really raises my blood pressure.
UPDATE: Lyle Shelton’s appearance this morning on Sunrise. Peddling the same disingenuous bull-shit that we have come to expect from the ACL.
Lyle, you just made the list.
Last Wednesday night the phone rang. It was Nick Xzennophone, and before I could say anything he shouted, “Spill!”
“I know,” I replied. “There’s Milo everywhere and Susan’s furious with me.”
“No, there’s a spill on for the Labor leadership!” Nick said. “I’ve been making some phone calls and I reckon you’ve got the numbers to have a crack.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Really.”
I was gobsmacked. How far a simple boy from Resevoir had come; from engineer to accountant to Prime Minister of Australia. It was the proudest moment of my life and I was determined not to let the chance slip away.
“What should I do?” I asked Xzennophone.
“Leave the campaigning to me,” he said. “You just worry about the vote tomorrow. Make sure you’re there shaking hands and networking. Wear something striking.”
“Okay,” I said. “Where’s the vote?”
Jun 30
The Herald Sun continues with the quality journalism:
TAXPAYERS could pay $13,500 to fly Julia Gillard to Queensland to pay tribute to a party godfather and raise money for Labor with the big end of town.
Ms Gillard, who has shunned the trappings of office and declined to move into The Lodge, was due to fly to Brisbane on a government jet for an ALP fundraiser last night for an exclusive $5500-a-head dinner with business elite.
Operative words in this article are “could” and “was”. Not once in the article does it say she did use tax-payer funds to fly to Brisbane.
But don’t worry, the Liberal party buzzwords were in there:
Led by factional warlord Bill Ludwig, the AWU is the power base of the party’s Right wing, which was instrumental in delivering Ms Gillard the leadership in last week’s unprecedented coup.
“Factional Warlord”: DRINK!
Seriously, it’s like the Herald Sun is just re-printing Liberal Party talking points.
Still waiting for that pay-wall.
Jun 30
Science has spoken:
Melburnians spend the least on a cup of coffee, burger meal or bottle of milk than in any other Australian capital city
Melbourne is the hipster capital of Australia. And Sydney:
Sydney was the most expensive Australian city
*ungracious victory dance*
I think I speak for all Melbournians when I say: ”Meh, I lived here since before it was cool”
Jun 29
I post this excerpt from the latest Citizens Electoral Council press release without comment:
PM Gillard, take notice: “Sustainable Population” actually means genocide
… LaRouche has also been the world’s leading economic forecaster since his first forecast in 1956, and the question becomes, PM Gillard: Will you listen to LaRouche on fundamental matters of economy, or to the lunatics from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) who are leading the charge for “sustainable population”? The same ACF in March made the formal claim to the Ministry of the Environment that “human population growth” is a “key threatening process” to the environment which must therefore be curbed, and the same ACF demanded that Kevin Rudd establish a “Ministry of Population” in the first place.
The founder and longtime president (1971-76) of the ACF, Prince Philip, openly advocates reducing the global population down from its present 6.8 billion to less than 2 billion. In 1961, Prince Philip, British Eugenics Society head Sir Julian Huxley, and former Nazi SS member Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands co-founded the WWF to make “presently unthinkable ideas thinkable”, in Huxley’s words, given that the Nazis’ death camps had at least temporarily discredited the idea of eugenics. That founding of the WWF is the actual modern origin of the anti-scientific, genocidal doctrine of “sustainable population”, of “population control”, and of similar euphemisms.
Jun 29
On Thursday I’m heading off for three months of amazing overseas travel. On the itinerary is Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco. To say I’m pissing my pants with excitement would be the understatement of the century. Most of the flights I’ve booked are with full-service carriers such as Qatar Airlines, Etihad and Qantas, but my first leg from Australia to Kuala Lumpur is with budget Malaysian airline AirAsia. Being an eight-hour flight I pre-booked a vegetarian lasagne (even though I’m going to have to mostly put my vegetarianism on hold in the countries I’m visiting.) An hour ago I received this email from AirAsia:
Trip off.
Jun 29
Write a story about boobs, Aboriginals and a big red rock and you know only our wisest intellectuals are going to be qualified to comment.
As many of you are well aware by now, a French woman has gained publicity by tastefully stripping on Uluru in order to “pay her respect”. Or something. Some Aboriginal people are unhappy with this because the Uluru is sacred to them, but, you know, Aboriginal beliefs are all made up and not worth five cents in this country.
So naturally, the scourge of the modern media, The News Commenters, came out in full force to give their expert opinions on everything Aboriginal:
Please note – all spelling, grammar and opinions are 100% unedited.
Kellie sagely notes that Aboriginals have been holding bachelor parties on Uluru for years:
Kellie of Melbourne Posted at 8:41 AM June 28, 2010
Dont watch the video if your upset, dancing on Ayres Rock…so what. Are we saying that only the aborigines can run around naked and dancing in the outback. Double standards.
Robin H prefers deeply thought out beliefs:
Robin H of Locksley Posted at 8:57 AM June 28, 2010
What hypocrisy. Aboriginals in their traditional ceremonial attire wear no more than this lady did. Just shows how shallow these indigenous beliefs are.
A common theme is the ownership of the rock. Who wants to pitch in and send male strippers to Andrew Johnson’s house?
Andrew Johnson of Melton, Vic Posted at 8:57 AM June 28, 2010
Let’s get real. I think it is great. It isn’t their rock. It is Australia’s rock. Get over it you PC clowns.
Since when have white people stolen anything from the Aboriginies?
dave wood of melbourne Posted at 9:00 AM June 28, 2010
and when you look at how little clothing most of the aboriginals wear as traditional you have to wonder why they are so petty and trivial about uluru…it’s not as if someone is gonna pinch your goddamn scummy rock now, is it? for crying out loud get a life and stop being nit-pickers over every bloody thing you wish you owned or was aboriginal!!!!!!!
I can’t actually work out what this means:
Atheist of friom the high ground Posted at 9:05 AM June 28, 2010
How dumb!!! Fancy thinking that any piece of matter is more important than any other .The equation E=MC2 is the same through out the cosmos .And the practice of not talking about those that have passed before! Well if you don,t want to have history and to improve your life style that,s one way to keep your potential back
White Aboriginals? Where have I heard this before?
David of Tassie Posted at 9:32 AM June 28, 2010
Ayers Rock !! I do not call it Uluru, just another bit of BS plolitical correctness. Please, it is a ROCK !! I imagine lots of things more SHOCKING have happened there over the years. I think the White aboriginies that are the main drivers behind all this crap should get a life. I am sure if you asked the real aborigines about it they would not give a rats. But then again, ooohhh another thing someone can say sorry about and not really mean hey Kevvy …
Elbo disputes the entire concept of traditional ownership.
Elbo of Wodonga , Vic Posted at 9:41 AM June 28, 2010
Grow up. it is just an f’ing rock. And it belongs to me as much as any “traditional” owner. I say she is welcome to perform on it.
Yeah! People walk on graves all the time! They probably dance on them too! Better call MTR and whip up some outrage!
Mchael of Melbourne of Melbourne Posted at 9:46 AM June 28, 2010
She is welocme and good don her. Only the silly aboriginal groups looking for more freebees would carry on about this. People walk on other peoples graves unwittingly every day in Australia’s cemetries, where’s the uproar there? Getting sick of these bludging indigenous peoples. It’s Ayres Rock to me too!
The concept of black people owning things remains morbidly unthinkable for Rob:
Rob of Melb Posted at 10:26 AM June 28, 2010
What offends me is that I am an Australian and I have pay to see a rock that was there before any aboriginal was around. The nude chic should stay as she also paid to see the rock.
Final comment goes to Daffyd of Sunbury:
Chin up…at least she shaved.
After reading all the comments Molesworth was left to wonder how many of these city dwellers claiming ownership of Uluru (sorry, Ayers Rock, the real name it had for a little over one hundred years of its million year history) also dispute the mining tax? Uluru belongs to everyone but minerals belong to the mining companies, apparently. One wonders how long it will be before mining companies claim to be the “traditional owners” of Australia’s mineral wealth.
(To be fair, there were many comments pointing out how far she’d go if she tried stripping in the Vatican but what they don’t realise is unlike Dreamtime beliefs which date back tens of thousands of years, Catholicism is completely real and certainly not made up 2000 years ago.)
I don’t know what came over me when I subscribed to the Australian Christian Lobby’s RSS feed. I guess part of me just thought that my blood pressure was too low. But thanks to whatever pearl of wisdom lead me to subscribing to their blog, I now get regular updates like this delivered straight to my RSS reader.
A staggering 50,000 people have called on the NSW Government to protect the place of special religious education (SRE) in schools and reschedule the proposed ethics classes to another time slot.
Christians from all major Christian denominations across NSW have signed a petition organised by the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) which was tabled in NSW Parliament yesterday.
ACL’s NSW Director David Hutt said today that the overwhelming support for the Save Our Scripture petition should send a clear message to NSW parliamentarians about the need to safeguard the special place of SRE in NSW schools.
You see, the ACL and other religious organisations are feeling threatened by the NSW governments decision to trial ethics classes in state schools in the same time slot as special religious education (SRE) classes. Under the current arrangement in NSW for one hour every week schools hold these SRE classes with leaders of their religions, with various religions being represented. These classes are optional, but there is no option for parents of no faith so kids who do not attend one of these classes are left to do private study for an hour. What this leads to (and presumably what the religions like about this) is kids attending religious classes because there are no other options, even if they are not especially (or even at all) religious.
This is where ethics classes come in.
Ethics classes provide a secular alternative to SRE classes for those kids who are currently attending a SRE class out of convenience or simply not attending any classes for that hour a week. The problem is, apparently, that ethics classes are ‘competing’ with SRE and children are forced to ‘choose’ between the two.
“The Government should not be discriminating against children of faith who will not be able to attend both SRE and ethics. The classes should be run at separate times.”
I have an even better solution. Let’s not run SRE classes in public schools. Then there will be no problem about conflicting schedules.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with children being taught religion in public schools, but only when it’s done with the same scepticism that is afforded politics and history (after all, it really is history and politics). I do not support kids learning particular religious narratives in public schools. If parents want their children to learn a particular religious narrative then those parents should be taking their kids to church and enrolling them in private religious schools, not expecting public schools to offer it to all schools.
Religious education not being offered in public schools is not an attack on religion. I am not anti-religion. Religions are not being discriminated against by not being allowed into public schools and to claim that they are is cynical and disingenuous. The opposite is true. Allowing religious education in schools the way NSW does discriminates against students who do not belong to a religion. Offering secular ethics classes to children is a step in the right direction, but I still don’t believe SRE or ‘scripture classes’ has any place in public schools anywhere in the country.