Mining massively increases $ to Lieberals

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"How To Annoy A Street Preacher" - Cult of Dusty

What a fuckin utterly inspiring video.

This altercation is some nut on the street threatening hell to this bloke Dusty. How he responds is pretty much the sort of thing I would do if I was being helled  at by a street preacher guy.

In fact the other year when Sydney was unfortunate enough to host the Catholic youth whatever world wide event bullshit, I myself was unfortunate enough to witness this religious pomposity invade my local streets. The local shops to be precise. 

I was innocently drawing some money out of the machine, when to my horror on my right a procession started encroaching into my secular space. Through my head was like, FFS can't I even get my money without being preached to?

Only this was worse than preaching. It was a whole group of people singing groaning some sort of bla to all, entreating all us secularists to the bloody Catholic church. The front of the group they even had a big banner sign with a picture of the latest fossilised pope. I couldn't fuckin believe it! At my local peaceful shops, an invasion of Catholicism! WTF would be next? The Crusades? My ire was up.

I was almost finished the money out of the machine thing. But no, they couldn't fuckin stop could they. They had to invade my space so close to me as to be right in front of me after I turned from the machine. They were right in my face. With some kind of bizarre entreating thing on their face that I considered a false and invented look. 

I am the one that knows "the truth". I see through the facade. I see the hate. It is enough. I must take the moment, in response to that hate.

I have a very loud voice. Comes from 30yrs of factory work; you have to yell to be heard a lot. Took a couple of steps from the bank machine and stood in front of them for a moment, as they groaned and entreated on about some bullshit that I could tell not even they believed.

And asked yelling "Does your priest wear condoms?"

 

The true Adam and Eve?.... :s

Abbott brings back Knights and Dames :s

It's head doctor day :)

I'm going to bother to turn up to this one. My HIV prescriptions are due too so will get them as well while I'm there.

Think it's probably been better to wait until a couple of weeks later to see the psychologist anyway. It's given me more time to access the moods and possible causes.

I've just not been feeling very well as far as my moods have been, probably about a month now. Have sort of reached an impasse with it at the moment.  Like it's stubbornly sticking around for some reason beyond me presently. Everybody gets up and down days, but some of those days lately have been pretty dark. The sort of darkness that suffocates.

"Left wing are zealots" - Robertson

What I find so strange about this is that this Christian guy is openly advocating the extremist capitalism that exists in the US and advocates those policies. Policies which have left half the population poor, and until recently 45 million people without any health care coverage. It's a system that has failed spectacularly, creates poverty and an almost Darwinian view of society; that the strong will survive. Why would a Christian advocate that?

I dunno WTF this Robertson is crapping on about anyway with the pre-Obamacare health system in the US. It's well known (outside of the US) how expensive and inefficient the US system has been. Not to mention it had failed 45 million people who couldn't afford it. So, does this Christian think it's OK to have all those people with no access to healthcare? Well he must. My how very Christian of him.

 

Has Abbott spent his political capital already?

The Abbott gov came to power only a few months ago with a large majority. Now the opinion poll trend is decidedly away from the gov, with some of those polls having the gov now 6 points behind. Pretty much the reversal of the election result.

Lenore Taylor makes the point in her article, asking the question like WTF is Abbott doing? He appears to be out to give everyone the shits:

A quick whip around draws up a long list of groups this government has deeply upset in recent weeks. 

There are migrant groups, the Jewish lobby, many indigenous Australians and countless others more concerned about the freedom of Australian citizens to go about their daily lives without suffering racial abuse or intimidation than they are about Andrew Bolt’s freedom of speech. 

There are republicans and, well, pretty much everyone, really, except maybe David Flint and George Brandis, who think the idea of reintroducing knights and dames is anachronistic and a whacky indulgence for a monarchist prime minister who should really have more important things on his plate. 

There are seniors’ organisations, financial planners and consumer groups who have protested so loudly about the proposed winding back of consumer protection laws for financial advisers that the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, has had to put them on “pause”. 

And there are more than 50 charities, including World Vision, the RSPCA, Lifeline, Wesley Mission Victoria and the RSPCA, that are pleading with the government to retain the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. 

Are these the fights upon which Tony Abbott really wants to expend his political capital? 

The changes to the Racial Discrimination Act are opposed even by some on his own side and leave the impression the government somehow condones bigotry. more

And for what? What landmark policy might Abbott be remembered for that advanced Australia to a better society? Instead he's frittered away his lead, or his political capital, on bits and pieces of gung ho bullshit that everyone can see through. Taylor finishes her article by asking this question:

Are these the changes upon which a leader should expend capital if he has just spent five years trying to overcome the impression he is a bit of a zealot and supplant it with the assurance that he “governs for all Australians”?

And, in particular, are these the changes upon which a new government wants to expend capital if it is already trailing in the opinion polls, and before it has even begun to implement the truly difficult parts of its election agenda, such as spending cuts to reshape the budget and eventually return it to surplus? more

So then, will Abbott ever get to implement any of his so called signature policies at all? Even if the WA senate re-run election goes OK for Abbott, he's still going to have to negotiate with independents in the senate to get any legislation through (Abbott? Negotiating?). How likely are those independents to vote with a gov that is deeply unpopular with the electorate?  Hence another senate stalemate. 

Maybe, just maybe, it'll force Abbott into a corner where the only way forward is to go to the polls...... 

Gina xxx Barnaby

This is seriously revolting. 

Apparently Barnaby Joyce and Gina have a bit of a thing going. 

In April 2013, Barnaby Joyce and Gina Rinehart were both guests at the IPA’s 70th birthday bash. Mrs Rinehart later contributed $50,000 to Mr Joyce’s campaign to enter the House of Representatives, attended his election after-party, flew to Canberra to hear his maiden speech, and afterwards invited a small group of Coalition friends for drinks in her private hotel suite. Aside from Mr Joyce, these included some of Mrs Rinehart’s closest political friends, the Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Liberal Party senators Cory Bernardi and Michaelia Cash. more

Looking at the above pictures, one would have to wonder what's going on behind closed doors with this lot, and are those going's on in the national interest? Let alone the 99%.

Pollie pigs at the trough

State Queensland politicians have just been awarded a 28% pay rise. That number again; 28%. This is whilst the rest of the public service gets all of 2.2%. 

What a fuckin joke, if it was fuckin funny. WTF happened then to the belt tightening and terrible things that pensioners are supposed to be doing with their all of about $420 a week? Apparently us pensioners are rolling in it and our measly rises are "unsustainable". Not so for the pollies, including QLD premier Newman who will get just under $70,000 a year in a pay increase. How many measly pension rises would that be able to pay for?

Premier Campbell Newman, his ministers and Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk were this week awarded significant salary increases of between 21 and 35 per cent - five months after the tribunal made a separate ruling on the base pay of backbenchers. 

But Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie has rejected Labor's call to overturn this week's decisions, arguing the opposition supported the establishment of an independent tribunal to decide politicians' pay in July last year. 

His salary is rising by $67,640, or 27.9 per cent, to $310,066. more  

Union challenges under Abbott

This is from Western Australian TV in Perth. A very good and informative piece about where the union movement stands now under an Abbott gov, and the way forward for the unions to continue to represent Australian workers.

BTW, WA telly looks much better than our poxy eastern seaboard telly. When was the last time we saw anything like this in Sydney's main stream media?

 

Thus Spake Mungo - Pell and Hell

Cartoons and that

Strange Bible rules to quote to the god squad :)

Lots of Biblical religions often use the Old Testament quote out of Leviticus (18:22) as a reason why us gays are apparently an "abomination" to that invisible sky man they call "god". You know, that one who is full of love for us but sees fit to threaten us with all kinds of bad things if we don't do what he wants.

So I got an email from a friend about this very subject. Really funny read:

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians? 

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her? 

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense. 

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbours ... they claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them? 

5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it? 

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shell fish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination? 

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here? 

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die? 

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves? 

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend).

"Crackdown on Wasted Welfare" - ACA

A Currant Affair, that bastion of tabloid TV entertainment journalism, has had a report last night entitled "Wasted Welfare". Here it is:


Apparently there's going to be a "crackdown" on people who "fritter away" their welfare payments. Eureka! Let's just tell everyone how to spend their money? 

It's actually a good service for people who genuinely need such intervention and who decide themselves to use the service. But the idea of a blanket system like that across all welfare payments is an affront on the integrity and capacity of sick people to manage their own lives. Yes, people can have problems and the services are there to help them, but we're not all alcoholic chain smoking fuckwits. Many times in fact ill people will cherish their ability and capacity to control their own money, as it can be one of the few things left that they can control. To rob people of that capacity is to strip them of their pride.

How would Gina react for instance, if the gov suddenly announced that they were going to tell her how to spend her money?  

Un-Australian Abbott

Sally Farrell has written a great piece describing her experience with the March in March protests. There are many reasons why people marched, but she seems to sum it all up in one short paragraph:

The motivation for me to step up and become involved is the coming of my grandbaby in July, and the shame I feel at being associated with a nasty, horrible, mean Australia that will violate human beings for a few political points. The Rudd and Gillard Governments were pretty ordinary, but Abbott and his henchmen took disgusting to a whole new level. I experienced this shame first hand whilst I was in Europe after the Australian election last year, when people commented on how detrimental Australia’s policies are on the Global Village. - See more  

She also uses these words:

To me, the premise for this divide comes down to those who are open-hearted, caring and compassionate, and those who are not. Those who have regard for the good of the whole, and those who are motivated by self interest and greed. The MiM movement, over two successive weekends, in locations across the country, showed that around 100,000 people are prepared to show their open hearts, their caring natures and their compassion, and that the heart of Australia still beats. - See more

I'd say Australians know morality when they see it. They don't see it in Abbott, even if he does profess Christianity as some kind of moral compass.  

Abbott had the nerve the other week to accuse the gov funded ABC of being "un-Australian" because he didn't like what they were saying about his gov. I'd suggest there may well have been a bit of projection going on there from Abbott. Indeed Abbott didn't become an Australian citizen until he was 23 as he needed it to go study in England in 1981. His actions in this case, trying to silence the independent broadcaster from criticising him, would be considered as un-Australian by many, particularly those who hold dear the ability of free speech and a fair go.

His continued actions in gov many would consider as un-Australian; a country that in the past has championed human rights, cared about it's vulnerable, and valued being treated with respect by their gov. Abbott's actions show disgust, xenophobia, racism and hatred. Yes, Australia has had many problems in the past with such things, but until now the direction has been to address those issues. Now Abbott is taking our compassion in those areas and replacing it with fear and hate. To me this is an attack on the very Australia that we have been striving for for decades, the very fabric of the society we've been trying to create for each other. If that's not un-Australian, then what is?

Not in my fuckin name Abbott. 

Depression struggle continues

I was going to see the psychologist for my monthly head reading Monday before last, but ironically felt so down I didn't want to go. Emailed and got it postponed, he was off this week so I', seeing him this coming Monday now.

Have still been struggling with my mood. At times it seems like darkness and mental paralysis. Other times I'm not so bad. The happy pills put a floor under it all.

Started getting all this anxiety the other day. David was disturbed by it and suggested it may have something to do with missing my psychology appt. I dunno. I rave a lot here on the blog and get shit out of my system that way, although the psychologist to bounce things off would be better. In the end everything helps, there's no magic pill or bullet.

Another thing David suggested was that it was coming up to the anniversary of my wife's death in May. By now these years later it doesn't have much of an effect on me anymore. In fact I was surprised last year when my daughter took the whole day off work because of the anniversary I mean I loved her deeply and all, but it'll be 8 years this year since she died. Anyway David thought there might be something subconscious about this anniversary this year after how my daughter has excommunicated me from her life. Who  knows, will discuss it Monday and see what the psychologist's take on it is. 

Courtney Act - A Little Party

Clarke and Dawe - The right to be wrong.

The US system is in failure

Life with no god - Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry narrates a brilliant little piece explaining living life without a belief in any god.

 

 

Bill Mayer's anti-god rant :)

Have heard about this but not seen it until now. Evidently the Christians are all up in arms about it. Excellent! 

 

 

The best March in March pic ever

It's in a collection of pics on that DW German news thing. This one was utterly brilliant. 

My wife was in a wheelchair months before her death, and as her carer I can tell you it's a lot of fuckin work to get somebody out and about in a wheelchair. Hats off to all those who helped her whoever they were, and hats off to the old dear who was so angered by Abbott as to be wheeled along in the march.

How's that. The best picture I've come across from the March in Marches is from foreign media on the other side of the world. 

The plane! The plane!

No, this isn't fantasy Island, although that doesn't seem to be stopping the fantasy. FFS enough of this missing plane already! It's 2014 yes, but it's still a bloody big ocean out there. It's not the first time a plane has been lost at sea and it won't be the last. How much longer is this pathetic money making corporate media circus about the plane going to keep going? I mean they just won't let it go. I'd say at the expense of the families emotional states. Now they're suggesting a black hole. OMFG. Apparently this passes as news now.

 

GetUp funds second reef court challenge

GetUp has raised, purely through donations, $300,000 to fight for the Great Barrier Reef in court and save it being dredged for an expanded Abbott point coal port. They funded the first challenge to the dredging, a court case which involves the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority giving the OK for dredging despite concerns within it about the impact of such dredging. 

The second and latest case involves Lieberal environment minister himself, Greg Hunt.

Led by the Mackay Conservation Group, represented by the Environmental Defenders' Office Queensland, the challenge focuses on Mr Hunt's approval of the project last year. 

While that approval was endorsed officially by the marine park authority, which also had to assess the project, internal documents released earlier this month revealed concerns were expressed within the marine park authority about the project's likely environmental impacts. 

The case will argue that Minister Hunt had "failed in his obligation" to protect the reef's World Heritage Area in approving the dredging and dumping proposal. 

Conservation group co-ordinator Ellen Roberts said the case could have legal implications for developments at State Government-owned ports along the Queensland coastline, and the key arguments had not been tested before in the court. 

 "The world will be watching this case," Ms Roberts said. 

"The World Heritage Committee has expressed concern over the Australian and Queensland governments' efforts to protect the reef, particularly from mega-port development and the associated dredging and dumping. 

"Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act states that the Australian Government must protect World Heritage properties," she said. more 

Things pollies won't say about the economy - Truthloader

Gina loans $.7billion off US taxpayers

Australia's Gina Rinehart, who has become the richest woman in the world after inheriting a mining empire, has succeeded in borrowing just under $.7billion from US taxpayers. Yes, the same US that is currently cutting back on foodstamps for the poor over there. WTF?

How Australia's richest person, mining heiress Gina Rinehart, secured a $US694 million ($764 million) loan from American taxpayers is surely one of the great ironies of the capitalist system, reports The Australian Financial Review. 

The case is the latest example of a flaw in the United States political economy: what some see as crony capitalism. 

Rinehart's mining group, Hancock Prospecting, last week signed off on a $US7.2 billion debt package for her highly anticipated Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia's Pilbara region. 

There are 19 international lenders, including Australia's big four banks, in the syndicate. Government export credit agencies including the Ex-Im Bank in the US, as well as Japan and Korea, were crucial in helping the massive debt-funding deal over the line. 

Commercial banks and bond investors were reluctant to shoulder all the risk. 

The US Ex-Im Bank says it "assumes credit and country risks that the private sector is unable or unwilling to accept". 

In return for the US government loan, Hancock Prospecting will purchase American mining and rail equipment from Caterpillar, General Electric and Atlas Copco. The Export-Import Bank says their involvement will "support" 3400 US jobs. Read more

Why oh why does the US lend money when it's bloody as broke as me? It'd be like me getting $700 cash out on my credit card at fuck knows what interest rate (21%?) and loaning it out, whilst I'm half starving without food.

Hey US, beware of Gina. She wants people to work for $2 an hour, like in some mining slavery camp in Africa that she was on about. Fuck you Gina. 

 

"It's enough" - feeling bad.....

Have tried all the coping mechanisms that I know, but the last month or so I've not been able to shake off this feeling..... this feeling that I've just had enough of it all.

Going through my head has been all the love and effort for much of my life, and look at where I've ended up. Sick and poor with a daughter that doesn't care, a gov that doesn't care. A daughter who doesn't want to know me anymore, and a gov as well.

At the moment the only thing keeping me here is David. I love him like mad. I'd not want to do something that would hurt the fuck out of him. Not to mention his cats. They love me.

At the same time that doesn't take away from my terminal feelings. At times it just the only conclusion in a row of thoughts; that although there is the bestest of love, there is still the worst pain. Pain inflamed by the most recent of occurrences with my daughter.

I do feel a determination to overcome this. A search for a solution.....

I won't let her hurt me again. Not fuckin again. Oh shit, I'm hurting again.... Well I'm not going to let her have the same power as she did over me the last times. It's her life now. She can take what she will from my parenting. Perhaps in years to come she may realise what she's done.

One thing is for sure. This will be the last bloody time she hurts me.......
  

Ex PM Fraser blasts the US

Malcom Fraser was Liberal PM way back decades ago, in fact during the cold war. He's left the Lieberals now in disgust. I wasn't here when he was PM but he certainly looks like a very moderate sort of leader to me. Australian politics lurched to the right when the Hawke Labor gov stole the middle ground from the Liberals and forced the Liberals to the right. Was it coincidence that this happened around the time the Reagan nightmare began?

Fraser tells it like it is. No punches pulled. A fascinating interview, and as was said at the end, an interview that wouldn't have been possible in the old days of the cold war. And the interviewer actually asks questions about the issues and doesn't say anything about a missing plane.

 

US takes action against Uganda

It really does look to me now beyond any doubt, that the US is making an example out of Uganda and it's "jail the gays" law. With US evangelical nutbags stirring up gay hate across Africa, I think it's pretty fair that the gov of the nutbags causing the problem takes steps to address it. Which is exactly what the US is doing:

“As we continue to consider the implications of President Museveni’s decision to enact the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the United States has taken certain immediate steps to demonstrate our support for the LGBT community in Uganda, deter other countries from enacting similar laws, and reinforce our commitment to the promotion and defense of human rights for all people — including LGBT individuals — as a U.S. priority,” Lalley said. 

Money will be shifted away from the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda, a group that has publicly come out in support of the anti-gay law and has received millions of dollars in grants from the United States to help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Some $2.3 million will continue to go to the IRCU to continue treatment for some 50,000 current patients, but an additional $6.4 million intended for the IRCU will go to other organizations. 

Second, because the law makes “promoting homosexuality” illegal, a U.S. funded study to help identify populations at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS has been suspended. The study, which was going to be conducted by a Ugandan university and the Center for Disease Control, has been suspended out of fear that both staff and survey respondents could be put in danger. 

Third, because any LGBT person or LGBT ally who now enters Uganda is at risk, money intended for tourism programs will be redirected. “Therefore, approximately $3 million in funding designated for tourism and biodiversity promotion will be redirected to NGOs working on biodiversity protection,” Lalley said. 

And finally, the Department of Defense had several events scheduled in the country later this spring and those will be moved to other locations. “Certain near-term invitational travel” for Ugandan military and police personnel has also been suspended or canceled. more

I have mixed feelings about the effect this is going to have on HIV services in Uganda. There's no doubt in my mind that these cutbacks will cost lives. In the end I'd have to put the blame fair and square at the feet of Ugandan religious homophobes. If not for them passing the "jail the gays" law then none of this would be happening.

At the very least, other African countries also considering implementing the same sort of laws may well have a look at the level of aid they get from the west and decide otherwise. It's one thing to pump up hatred against a minority and embrace that rhetoric. It's another thing entirely when that rhetoric sends you broke.

Wikileaks Party add for WA

The Wikileaks Party has two candidates for the soon to be Western Australia senate vote re-run. I dare say the video footage included will make a few people squirm.

 

DSP not rorted - Disability Discrimination Commissioner

It's no shock, surprise, or anything, that the Disability Discrimination Commissioner has come out very critical of the gov's line that Australia is about to go broke because of greedy disability pensioners. 

Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes has hit back at the idea that there are too many people on the disability support pension, slamming claims that the system is being rorted as "completely unhelpful".

In the wake of fresh reports that Australia's spending on the disability support pension is unsustainable, Mr Innes said that there was no crisis with the payment.

"The numbers aren't increasing and won't increase for 30 years," he told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.

He said that while there had been an increase in people with a mental illness coming on to the DSP, as a percentage of the working age population, the number had actually fallen slightly from 5.5 per cent of the population in 2011 to 5.4 per cent in 2012. 

....................................... 

Mr Innes said that the DSP was pegged at a higher growth rate for a "very good reason", given the high cost of living with a disability. 

He also said that going on to the DSP was not an easy process, and noted that in 2011 Labor tightened the criteria to qualify for the payment. 

The Disability Discrimination Commissioner added that rhetoric around people rorting the DSP was "completely unhelpful". 

"I'm in the disability [sector] 24/7. I don't know of anyone rorting the DSP," he said. 

"Why would you want to be on DSP? Why would you want live on less than $20,000 a year?" Read more

No shit Sherlock. Try living on the bloody thing and then come and talk to us DSP'ers about "rorting the system". Fuck, you get so little there's fuck all to rort. Just because it's more than the dole doesn't mean we're all rolling in it.

But no the line is that we're engaged in an evil plot to live off $20,000 a year and laugh all the way to the bank, or something like that...... 

Abbott cuts cleaners wages by approx $200wk

Abbott's chucking out a whole bunch of red tape this week. 50,000 pages of it. 

Meh, so what you say? How boring. Look there's a chance of a plane being over there somewhere.....

Well if you're a cleaner employed by the Australian commonwealth gov, I'm afraid you're going to be in for a rude shock. See, although it sounds like a marvelous idea to "cut red tape" (3 word slogan anyone?) some of what's going out in that red tape includes the Commonwealth Cleaning Services Guidelines from July first. Just like that. Chuck them all in the bin. Better off without all that red tape.

Those guidelines ensure the cleaners are employed above the award rate through collective bargaining agreements. Well, Abbott's tossing them all to the curb.

Some of the country's lowest-paid workers could lose almost a quarter of their weekly wages under changes quietly introduced by the Abbott government. 

Thousands of workers will be hit by the changes, which will strip between $172 and $225 a week from the pockets of full-time contract cleaners who work in government buildings. 

The changes are among the 9500 regulations to go under Prime Minister Tony Abbott's red tape ''repeal day'' on Wednesday. 

Buried in more than 50,000 pages of regulations and acts of parliaments to be scrapped is the revelation the government will abolish the Commonwealth Cleaning Services Guidelines for cleaners employed on government contracts from July 1. 

The regulations are a form of collective bargaining introduced by Labor that lift the wages of workers hired by businesses that win government cleaning contracts, by between $4.53 and $5.93 an hour above the minimum wage. This brings their weekly wage from $664 to $836 for a 38-hour week for level 1, and from $724 to $950 a week for level 3 workers. 

United Voice, the union representing cleaners, would not comment on the changes before consulting its members. It is understood the union was not aware of the changes and is trying to negotiate with contractors and the government in an attempt to mitigate the effects on its members. Read more

Just like that. A stroke of a pen, or in this case a massive great lob into the paper recycling bin (50,000 sheets of paper is about 20 or so A4 boxes worth).  

''People do have a right to be bigots" - Brandis

A stunning insight into Leiberal thinking by Lieberal George Brandis today in Canberra. Whilst debating possible Abbott changes to racial vilification laws (the boys still have the shits after their mate Andrew Bolt got done by them). And this is what he said:

Senator Brandis said the problem with the current law was that it dealt with racial vilification in ''the wrong way'' by ''political censorship''. 

''People do have a right to be bigots, you know,'' Senator Brandis said. 

"People have the right to say things that other people would find insulting, offensive or bigoted." Read more

Oh quick! Look over there! Is it a plane?

BTW I would suggest that those at the receiving end of bigotry know full well the difference between vilification and "political censorship". Yes, people have a right to be bigoted assholes, but (well at the moment at least) that includes those assholes living in a community who don't accept that they be able to preach their bigotry and hatred without consequences. Fuck it's just common sense; don't attack people over their race and all. WTF is wrong with that?

Oh yeah. The poor dear Andrew Bolt reckons he was wronged, so they want to change the law. And they have the nerve to talk about politicising the law? Bolt was found guilty by the judiciary, not the gov of the day. 

 

Denial - a new Christian behaviour

It's clear as bloody day that US evangelicals have been exporting their gay hatred to Russia and Africa, promoting over the years laws in those places that are anti-gay. Yet now they deny they had anything to do with it.....

 

Rachel Maddow on Phelps carking it

Very well thought out editorial/commentary on the life and hate that was Fred Phelps. 

 

"Cure Me I'm Gay" - undercover doctor

This looks like an interesting doco. The bloke from Embarrassing Bodies Dr Christian Jessen, who is gay and in a long term relationship, goes undercover to a gay cure place.


It aired in England the other day, and their on demand thing doesn't work down here in Australia. Here's the link if you want to watch the whole thing online on UK's Channel 4. I can't find it on YouTube yet though, maybe in the future.  

Determined to play fair, he started out by proving his gay credentials with a test that involved a penile arousal gauge. It involved looking at porn; you can fill in the rest. It revealed that the good doc was more turned on by clouds (used to bring testees back to an unaroused state, bad news for cloud-fanciers) than women. That is, scarcely at all. Visibly chuffed, Dr Christian told us: ‘I’m about as gay as they come.’ 

So, off we went on a stomach-churning round of aversion therapy, Bible belting and much besides. Things got a bit confusing when he met an ex-ex-gay – a gay man who’d done rehab, become straight for a bit, then went back to being gay. It was an encounter that encapsulated the odd feeling we were going around in circles. 

Dr Christian took all the ‘cures’ and, at the end, was entirely unflabbergasted to find, courtesy of the penile arousal gauge, that he was just as gay as he was at the start. So, the cures don’t work. However, we never really got to the bottom of why so many are available. more

Update:

For those into torrents, it's here.

Stephen Fry tried suicide when making doco

This is old news but I'd never heard anything about it. It was during the making of the two Out There documentaries (YouTube here) where Fry interviewed some particularly hateful people who opposed gayness (as Fry is). 

One of them I remember some gov guy in Africa saying to his face that if Fry lived in his country "I would kill you". Think that one's in the second one of the documentaries. I remember wondering at the time how he was dealing personally with all this hate being directed at him personally. He had such a cool head during the interviews.

Turns out it was during the making of these that he attempted suicide:

During the making of a documentary for the BBC the TV personality and author met a range of people promoting gay rights, but also challenged those who oppose them, including United States campaigners claiming to be able to cure homosexuality. 

He visited Russia, America and Uganda for the series exploring how the lives of men and women in different communities have been impacted by their sexuality. 

Fry revealed yesterday that during the making of this film last year he took an overdose of pills of and alcohol while alone in a hotel room. more

I guess it just goes to show, even those who appear strong and capable are still affected by gay hate against them. You can only be so "tough". 

Perth WTV coverage March in March

West TV in Perth has actually covered March in March. Live coverage even. Here is the live coverage of Perth's March in March. This is the sort of thing we should have seen in other centres, Like Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane to name a few that the eastern main stream media completely ignored. It's interesting as the reporter gets in amongst the people marching and asks them specifically why they're marching. Those reasons being pretty well everything.

(For those overseas, Perth is clear on the other side of Australia in Western Australia, three time zones from Sydney). 

WA is where the new federal senate election is soon to be. 

 

Latest cartoons and stuff

Adelaide's message for Abbott - March in March

Wow, this is full on. If Abbott thinks the protests are all over and it's all been gotten out of our system then he's grossly mistaken. This video is truly inspiring.

 

Thus Spake Mungo - Active corruption

Sometimes I wonder if this bloke Mungo knows where some of his political commentary ends up; in this case on a blog about HIV :)  What he has to say though is certainly of interest to Australians whoever they are.

 

Immigration only to Christians - Fischer

So much for "love thy neighbour" then. It's interesting though in the context of Australian politics, and how for the last 10 or so years both major parties have demonised boat people, the inference being that they're Muslim terrorists. 

BTW over 95% of boat people end up being deemed legitimate refugees and are (or should I say have been) settled in Australia. Sometimes after we've done years of mental damage to them in our immigration jails.

 

"Why Felix is leaving ANZ"

10 countries who've blocked YouTube

I seriously can't imagine life anymore without YouTube. It's interactive and so much more informative and interesting than the corporate crap on the telly. Yet some countries have banned it. Good grief! It'd be like banning TV. I do take note that most of the places at the top of the list appear to be  countries where they want to keep the population dumb.

 

Coughing & nausea aplenty

Not having the best time of it today, so far anyway. We both had a not so good night. David had a cough that wouldn't stop. He seems to be so allergic to things. Dunno what set him off this time but he's sounded quite bad this morning with it. 

Not to be outdone I've had coughing, sort of dry retching, this morning after taking my pills. Similar to yesterday. These days I'm usually fine taking the pills but there's the orange big one that sometimes just doesn't agree with me for whatever reason. I start getting a bit hot and feeling really nauseous, and yesterday simply couldn't keep from spewing. Dunno how much of the pills came up.

Today as well has been the same thing; really nauseous, hot, and trying like fuck to keep the things down. It's not just the HIV pills, but the high anti-sad pill dose isn't the most pleasant of things to happen if the dose is cut drastically for a day.

So we've both been walking around this morning coughing and burping. I said to David that we make a good pair. Fuck knows what the neighbours think hearing that as the coughs are quite loud. One time a while back when David had an attack in the middle of the night, they told us the next day that they were wondering if he needed an ambulance. 

Safety net - Billy Bragg

This is Billy Bragg at the protest on the weekend, after I left saturated from the rain.

 

"Hate everyone" - Jesus

Fred Phelps has carked it

He needs little introduction. Infamous pastor of looney tunes Westboro Baptist Church that did revolting things like protest at servicemen's funerals blaming the gays for their deaths. I imagine few people will miss him.

He did give us some comedy though, with spinoffs like this from others who opposed his message of hatred. An interesting fashion statement I thought :)

 

"The Scream" cactus

It's a hobby of David's, growing cactus's in pots. Laughed at this one as to me it looked a bit like The Scream by Munch, so he put a face on it. Glad to say it looks like a much more happier scream than Munch's :)

Muslims bought down missing plane - Fox

Online news is flourishing

No shit Sherlock.  Note to all US like minded people, we are with you and we are fighting with you. Australia will not become what we are not; hateful, xenophobic, homophobic assholes. The strength of a democracy is it's capacity to resist I would suggest. We surely must resist this threat to our very democracy; the notion that it's fine to be corporate slaves forever poor.

This is a riveting interview. Discussed are much of the issues about the corporate media and some valuable insights into it's machinations.

Laid bare. The Emperor has no clothes.