Sunday 31 May 2015

Budget 2015 - most of it won't pass senate


The problem is that the Abbott gov is linking aspects of last years 2014 budget disaster to the 2015 budget. Instead of throwing out the turd, they're trying to dress it up this year as a warm and fuzzy turd. It's still a fuckin turd FFS, yet they keep trying to get bits and pieces of that turd through the senate. 

They may have done a touch better initially on fooling the public into thinking this was a soft budget, but as people look into the detail they discover the gov's con job. Economically at least it's looking every much a budget disaster as last years.  
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison wants the family tax benefits cuts proposed in last year's budget passed to pay for his new $3.5 billion childcare package. While Labor, the Greens and many crossbenchers appear to like the package itself they are steadfastly refusing to back the cuts. 

Victorian senator John Madigan says it seems like all the big-ticket items of this year's budget are linked to bombshells from the previous one. 

"I don't support budget booby-traps," he told Fairfax Media. more

In fact it's come to light that the much vaunted "forward estimates" that the gov spin claims to show the budget coming back to surplus, relies on these budget measures from last year that won't pass the senate. Over ten years it amounts to a whopping $100billion that the gov is saying is there. But it's not. Click to enlarge.

 

Adelaide Archbishop charged with concealing child sex abuse - Australia

This isn't even from the current Royal Commission into child sex abuse, but from a task force set up by the New South Wales police. A very long way from Adelaide where  Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson was residing. Alas for him though the long arm of the law has caught up with him, even half way across Australia (interesting that actually him ending up so far away from his crimes like that.....). As I mentioned in another post, unlike Josh Duggar in the US, there are no statue of limitations on child sexual abuse in Australia.
Adelaide Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson has been charged with concealing child sexual abuse.

The charges relate to Hunter region paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, who worked with the Archbishop in NSW in the 1970s.

Wilson announced in a statement he would take leave from his position after being notified of the charges filed against him by NSW Police.

NSW Police said its operation, Strike Force Lantle, launched in 2010, investigated allegations of concealment of serious offences related to child abuse by clergy "formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church".

They alleged that Wilson, 64, concealed a serious offence. more
What's more, his being charged looks like it will result in more clergy coping the same fate. I wonder if George Pell is getting a mite worried by now? 
Mr Geraghty told Radio National's Religion and Ethics Report that the charging of Wilson was a big blow to the Catholic Church. 

"If Philip Wilson is getting charged, there will be others I would think going to be charged too and they'd be running for cover worrying what's going to happen," he said. 

"He's a very senior member of the clergy in Australia, he's now going to be standing up in court, he'll be addressed as the accused." more

Saturday 30 May 2015

Gay Nazi's will take your home school kids and endanger christianity = gay marriage doom US

Three short videos of the latest wacked out shit from US christians on what will happen if gay marriage happens over there. I just put all three together and came out with the post title. 

The Weekly - Marriage equality :)

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Update:

Joe De Bruyn has had his tribute upon retirement pulled due to his ridiculous stance on gay marriage. All I can say is that it's about fuckin time he retired. His marriage views are positively prehistoric.
A tribute to long-serving union leader and retiring ACTU senior vice-president Joe de Bruyn was pulled on the final day of the ­labour movement’s triennial gathering because of outrage over his stance on gay marriage and his union’s approach to industrial agreements. 

Based on a draft resolution obtained by The Australian, the ACTU congress would have awarded Mr de Bruyn its ­“meritorious service award” in recognition of his long leadership of the conservative Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association. 

.......................... 

Other delegates had planned to stage a protest by turning their backs on the union warrior, who is known for his outspoken opposition to gay marriage and his long leadership at the SDA dating back to 1978. Some are upset the ACTU has been unable to take a more definitive stance on the issue of gay marriage, which they said was because of Mr de Bruyn’s blocking influence, while resolutions were passed on a range of other issues including the right of the Saharawi people in the Western Sahara to self-­determination. more  

Marriage equality rally tomorrow - Sydney Taylor Square :)

Think I might go to this one. There's been so many of them over the years, but this one may be different given the current climate pushing for equality now.

 

UBS estimates for Australia 2016 - "Recession"

*Update: Business economists are now talking "recession"
 
The adults are in charge spending at a rate equivalent to Labor under the GFC, running away from the green industries of the future whilst hugging the coal commodity that everyone is divesting from, letting entire industries die without gov assistance, cutting back and firing public servants left right and centre in the name of blind austerity, and have now reached this point.

UBS is predicting the worst predictions it's ever done for Australia. I'm not sure exactly what this graph means but it looks pretty fuckin bad to me:



 

Housing costs forcing people to live on $18 a day - Salvation Army


It's gov policy pure and simple, why Australia's housing and rental market is so outrageously over priced. It may well be good for those investing in property and selling on for more, but for the average person it's a big ask. It goes without saying that those on meager benefits are the one's being hit the hardest, many of us being forced into living on just $18 a day after paying for accommodation according to a new survey from the Salvation Army.

I can believe it. For example us. I dunno how much daily it is but this fortnight's pay we had to pay back money loaned off a friend, and had to get Zac registered for life at the Council before they took us to court over it, making a total of $100 down for the fortnight. We've managed to pay for everything (including the monthly internet *whew* Not letting that one go) and we appear to have enough food until next Wednesday, but other than that we haven't got a cent to our name until then.

Still waiting for that trickle down from Gina :s  Sorry SSJoe, still can't do any heavy lifting for you.
Major Paul Moulds said the average person had just under $18 a day to live on after paying for accommodation. 

"If people didn't have to spend so much on housing if there was greater access to affordable housing options in the community, or even if there were some major policy changes that led to the rental housing market being a little bit more affordable for people, then that would solve a large part of the problem," he said. 

"People who are on an aged pension or a disability pension are in a slightly better position than the kids we are seeing who are on parenting payments, NewStart allowances, which is people who are unemployed. 

"So we have been saying to government, you have to re-look at these because there is very limited indexation there been no real shift in those payments for a long time." 

The Salvation Army said most respondents said a lack of relevant skills, health problems and parenting responsibilities were preventing them from finding jobs. more  

Another US ultra conservative anti-gay hypocrite - had sex with wrestling student

Another one bites the dust. This one is a beauty. 

He's another high profile anti-gay christian morals bla bla bla bloke. Over many years has voted against anything gay. He is christian hero extraordinaire Dennis Hastert. A "former House Speaker" in the US Congress. Described as a reliable voter for christian values and all.

Only thing was it turns out he was fucking a youth wrestler before all of this, one of his male wrestling students.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Hastert, alleging that he agreed to pay a man $3.5 million over several years in exchange for the latter’s silence about his prior relationship with the lawmaker, the Associated Press reports.

According to the indictment, Hastert gave $1.7 million to the man between 2010 and 2014, who Hastert knew from his past career as a high school teacher and wrestling coach, as compensation for Hastert’s “past misconduct,” and for said misconduct’s concealment.

Although the indictment provides little information about the nature of that misconduct, the Los Angeles Times, citing law enforcement sources, reports that Hastert was paying to cover up sexual indiscretions with a a person of the same gender he knew from coaching youth wrestling.

“I felt a special bond with our wrestlers,” Hastert wrote in his 2004 memoir. “And I think they felt one with me.” more
Here he his bla bla-ing about the good fight against gays and the rest to much hero applause .....  

 

 

Abbott's captain call to end all captain calls - rolled by his own cabinet


A fascinating look/leak into the Abbott gov's cabinet meeting on Monday night. In it there was open revolt against Abbott, even by his own deputy Asbestos Julie. The subject matter was of extreme importance to Australia, to do with one of humanity's basic human rights; that of the right of citizenship and not to be made stateless.

Unbelievably, Abbott and Dutton wanted to be able to strip an Australian of their citizenship over some expansion of anti-terror laws. Incredibly, not after the person had gone through the courts and been found guilty of terrorism, but simply on the suspicion of the defence minister Dutton. A stupendously stupid idea that would no doubt be roundly condemned in the community at large. Not to be dismayed by this though, Abbott, Dutton and (of course) Morrison actually argued the implausable case for such an outrageous measure.
The Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, was proposing that he should have the power, at his own discretion, to strip an Australian of his or her citizenship. Even if it's the only citizenship they have. It was not for any random reason, however, but specifically for use on people suspected of terrorism-related offences. more
But, as if that wasn't enough, this plan had been hatched in secret and the cabinet had no notification that this was going to be discussed at the meeting. Not even deputy PM Asbestos Julie knew about it. A situation completely beyond protocol and which beggars belief. The legislation was a giant captains call, ambushed onto the cabinet by said captain. 
The matter was not listed on the cabinet agenda. There was no cabinet submission. There was no written proposal of any kind in front of the ministers.

Abbott brought up the subject only at the end of a cabinet meeting on other business, then asked Dutton to speak on it. It emerged during debate that there was a discussion paper on the subject, and Brandis volunteered that he had seen a copy and had been debating the idea with Abbott in the inner sanctum of cabinet's National Security Committee.

It was at this point in a tense and difficult debate that Bishop stunned the meeting with a further revelation: "I haven't seen a discussion paper."

The ministers around the table instantly understood. The Prime Minister had tried to ambush his cabinet.

Bishop is the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, the Foreign Affairs Minister, the minister with oversight of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, a member of the National Security Committee of cabinet and a central figure in Australia's effort to defeat the terrorists of the so-called Islamic State.

The depth of mistrust between the Liberal leader and his deputy was starkly exposed. more
Judging from the article, the discussion that followed wasn't in the least measured or polite. Abbott ended up being rolled on it, by none the less than his own cabinet.

What's more, the Terrorgraph had been informed of it before Abbott's own Cabinet.
Turnbull was incensed: "Here we go again," he told his Prime Minister in the meeting. "Talking about something as momentous as this and there is nothing in front of us. There's a discussion paper that only a few of us have seen. This is a shambles." 

Turnbull asked Abbott directly if the Daily Telegraph had been briefed on the proposal for the next morning's paper, which would have meant the cabinet meeting had been pre-empted by the Prime Minister's press office. The Telegraph is a favoured Abbott outlet for signalling his moves in advance. 

It had not, replied Abbott. 

Yet the next morning the Telegraph carried a report saying that the proposal would be "included in the bill" that had been approved by the cabinet the night before. Oops. more
So we have a situation where Abbott's own cabinet, including his own deputy the second in command, the deputy prime minister, doesn't trust Abbott. How in the hell are the rest of the community supposed to trust him then? 

FFS on Monday he lied to his own cabinet. He just can't help himself.  

 

Friday 29 May 2015

Gov says Q&A is biased to the left :s


The Abbott gov is all up in arms about the ABC's Q&A show. The one where the audience member grilled SSJoe about his wife's Canberra house he stays in whilst claiming staying away from home allowance. They say is an evil leftie biased show. Are they fuckin serious? 

 

15 million views since 2011 - surely "It's Time"?

In frustration with the political system and how it wasn't representative of Australians views on marriage equality, GetUp made this video and put it on YouTube way back in 2011. For a time it was the most trending video on YouTube in the world.

Three and a half years later the political impass has remained and we're still waiting. Abbott even annulled Canberra same sex marriages via the courts only hours after they were married a while back. 

Surely now, after Ireland, it's finally and belatedly time. 

 


 

Big business takes full page add out for marriage equality


After years of disappointment in Australia I'm very loath to get hopes up, but this time I get the feeling something is in the air that wasn't there any other time. 

Abbott has been caught out by Shorten who has forced him to take action on marriage equality. Not because he wants to, but they've put it in political terms for Abbott which is about the only thing he understands. Abbott, freaked out that Labor and the minor parties will get all the glory on a very popular issue, has had his hand forced into action. I suppose that's one way of booting him up the ass about it.

Now big business in Australia, including large multi-national corporations, have taken a full page add out in The Australian newspaper backing marriage equality.   
Corporations including Google, Qantas, Optus and the ANZ and Commonwealth banks have put their names to a list of Australian businesses backing marriage equality. 

Others supporters include law firms Slater and Gordon and Gilbert and Tobin, and the Football Federation of Australia. 

Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome said the corporations approached the organisation send the message that Australia's business community was behind marriage equality. 

"It was about corporate saying it's not just about us individually supporting this, we want to do it collectively and send the strongest possible message," Mr Croome said. more

US Tea Party bloke busted for child porn

Oh look, another self righteous anti- gay ultra conservative paedophile. Good grief, they're falling like flies:
An ultra-conservative one-time Brooklyn city council candidate — whose campaign slogan was “Our children are our future” — has been nabbed for possessing and sharing kiddie porn, prosecutors said Friday.

Joseph Hayon, 37, was arrested Thursday and admitted to police that he traded the sick pics of kids between the ages of 2 and 12 in December 2014 using his email account ArtModel@juno.com, according to a criminal complaint.

At his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court, prosecutors said a tip led police to search Hayon’s Midwood home, where the stash of child porn was found.

Cops confiscated Hayon’s two laptops, five desktops, video camera, Samsung cellphone and one DVD, prosecutors said.

He was also slapped with an order of protection Friday barring him from coming in contact with his four children, ages 9, 7, 4 and 15 months. He was released on $50,000 bail. more   

Josh Duggar with Rick Santorum in March - also mocking videos:)

A tweet from paedophile Josh Duggar with Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum in March. Rick Santorum has sad he was sickened by Duggar's actions.

I do note the reference to "Religious Freedom" though in the tweet. Apparently for Duggar that meant the freedom to cover up child sexual abuse and sue the DHS to try keep them out of his life, and then pretend to be all holy and righteous, condemning gays to be the biggest threat to society ever or some shit.


Cats hugging - love aplenty :)


Another evening of cat love aplenty. Zac decided he was going to give Natasha a big hug. I'm not sure how much she's enjoying it but she certainly let him have his way. Zac is about the smouchiest cat we've ever known.

Thursday 28 May 2015

Microsoft's new hololens - makes physical screens obselete

This technology is still in it's early stages, but it's already working and mind boggling. And it runs on Windows 10. Check it out. Think I just got future shock.

 

Abbott plays politics with marriage equality

*Update: Conservative Australia Is Giving Up The Fight On Marriage Equality 

 .

Does anyone in Canberra have any idea how excruciating it is to see such a basic right as marrying the one you love, be turned into political conning by the prime minister? 

So Shorten has offered a way forward by putting up a bill next week. Abbott turns around and says no we can't do it that way because Labor will take credit for it (um, who fuckin cares?) and refuses a conscience vote if the Labor bill is involved.

He then proclaims some moral high ground (yes, Abbott claiming moral high ground, you read that right) by saying it should be "above party politics" and a bill should be presented by someone more neutral. Bullshit. If that was the case Abbott would have allowed a conscience vote by his own party zonks ago. He's playing politics with our fuckin lives. And what about annulling the Canberra marriages a while back, was that "above party politics"? Oh he just so full of shit.

He wants to take credit for marriage equality in Australia. The idea would be hysterical if it wasn't so offensive. After spending years blocking it, leaving Australia in the western dark ages in this issue, now he wants to maneuver his way politically to take credit for it? How stupid does he think gay people, and the wider population, are? 

If it does happen in this parliament it will be the end of a very long period of frustration with Canberra politicians and Abbott in particular. We are hardly going to be thankful to Abbott for that.  

BTW, even if all that happens, then the Lieberals first have to vote in the party room, to decide if they can vote with a conscience on the parliamentary floor without having to resign their ministry.
Speaking in the Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Abbott, who remains personally opposed to broadening the Marriage Act, acknowledged that momentum for change within the community, and within his own party, meant a vote would occur at some point, However, he made clear, progress would not be ceded to the ALP. 

"If our Parliament were to make a big decision on a matter such as this, I want it to be owned by the Parliament, and not by any particular party," Mr Abbott said. 

That was a response to an attempt by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to seize the initiative on Tuesday through his own private member's bill. 

Mr Abbott believes the reform, if is to be debated, must be relieved of any such party branding. To that end, he has given his imprimatur to former government whip Liberal MP Warren Entsch to seek a suitable backbencher on the Labor side to co-sponsor a new private member's bill. more
Like I said, it's just absolutely excruciating watching this dumb fuck weasel his way through this. 

The ultimate goal I'd suggest is that he doesn't want to be going with this into the election next year without it being sorted out and becoming a bloody great election issue. Pathetic. 
Some pro-gay marriage Liberals might be railing against Bill Shorten’s pre-emptive private member’s bill but its effect has been to suddenly raise the prospect of common political ownership of the issue. 

Liberals remain divided on marriage equality but united on not wanting Shorten, who has given notice he’ll introduce the bill next week, to have carriage of the push for reform. 

Tony Abbott’s opposition to marriage equality won’t change, but one gets the impression he’s realising this tide can’t be held back for much longer. 

Abbott might be thinking about how to avoid personally looking too bad in defeat – and also the way to prevent Shorten or the Greens taking all the kudos on a popular issue if a vote is carried before the election. more  

Josh Duggar sued US DHS over molestation findings - story reaches MSM Australia


It seems the Duggar story of sheer hypocrisy is going viral worldwide. It has now ended up on my home page in Australia, referred back to the New York Times. 

With new even worse revelations about Duggar christian hypocrisy, if that's even possible. It has come to light that after the police closed the case due to the statute of limitations running out (BTW there are no statute of limitations in Australia for child sexual assault) the case was referred on to the US Department of Human Services. The DHS then had the power to intervene in the family to address Josh's behaviour. Something that one would think the parents and family would welcome as a plan forward for the whole family; a helping hand in a time of terrible distress and need.

But no. Incredibly, Josh sued the DHS to try to get the DHS out of their lives. This is beyond belief. 
Police referred the matter to the Families in Need of Services agency, which has jurisdiction over minors. The Department of Human Services (DHS) was then brought into the case, In Touch has learned. Nine months after those agencies entered the Duggar molestation case, Josh Duggar sued the Arkansas Department of Human Services. A trial was held on August 6, 2007.

The results of the investigation into the Duggars and Josh’s trial are sealed. But a source familiar with the Duggar investigation told In Touch it was likely that Josh “appealed the DHS decision or finding from their investigation.” The source notes that DHS had the authority to apply “restrictions or stipulations about him being at home with the victims.

“Josh would be considered an in-home offender, giving DHS the authority to do an investigation. As part of your appeal rights you can request a DHS hearing to challenge what they found and their ruling.”

The Duggars are refusing to comment on the intervention by either department and Josh’s trial against DHS. They also are refusing to say if their family was monitored by a state agency after the 2007 actions and forced to undergo counseling by a licensed mental health professional. more
So that was the family's response to the offer of help from the DHS. Shoot the messenger and cover it all up. How very righteous upstanding christian of them. Sounds very much like what happens in churches worldwide, particularly the Catholic church doesn't it. There is a pattern of shooting the messenger, covering up the crime, and moving on. All the while proclaiming to the world how fuckin holy and clean they are. *pffft*

Incidentally, one of Josh's victims was only 5 years old. 
Although many details in the police report are redacted, based on the ages of his siblings and the dates of the molestations as described to police, one of Josh's victims was as young as five-years-old when Josh touched her private parts. It was part of an escalating series of attacks by Josh. more  
I've said it many times before, I'd put secular morality up against christian morality any day. 
.....part of the reason the Duggars are hated by so many good, decent Americans, is that they are EXTREMELY anti-gay, they tell people that transgender people are going to rape their little girls in the bathroom, and other stuff and things. These are people who portray an entire minority segment of the population as predators. It’s not that people are “bloodthirsty,” and they’re certainly not HAPPY the Duggar girls were sexually abused. God, no. This is a story about how wingnuts really shouldn’t go around baselessly calling entire groups of people child molesters, especially when they’re hiding their own child molesting past. Read more  

Cat love continues - pic :)


They are just the best of mates now. Play with each other, sleep with each other, wash each other. This last night in the warmth at the heater :)

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Ireland's LGBT social revolution - Democracy Now

Interesting the observations about the weakening influence of the Catholic church as moral guardians over revelations of it's role in paedophilia, given the current atmosphere in Australia with the currently running Royal Commission into child sex abuse within the church. 

   

Human Rights Campaign pushes back against "religious freedom" laws - US

Indiana and Arkansas became flashpoints between those pushing for discriminatory anti-gay "religious freedom" laws and the wider secular community. This video is a summary of how the HRC push back against those bills will likely have an affect on the many other anti-LGBT bills being introduced across the US.

 

"Religious freedom" explained - Betty Bowers :)

SSJoe squirms on his double dipping canberra wife's residence - video Q&A

Smokin Sloppy Joe, it's well known, claims a taxpayer funded staying away from home allowance when in Canberra of over $200 a night, to rent a place to stay in. He rent the same exact place every time, which just happens to be owned by his wife. And father Tony Jones also mentions.

As a tweet at the bottom of the screen said, that's not double dipping, it's putting your whole tongue in the dip! :)

What as SSJoe tries to defend the indefensible. The age of entitlement is well and truly not over in the Lieberals.

 

Shorten gives "Notice of intention to present bill" - marriage equality


I'm so sick of getting hopes up only to see them dashed. I think the worst occasion was when Abbott annulled marriages only hours after people had been married in Canberra. Sickening. 

However this time the momentum seems to be much more forceful.   
     
Surely the days of fossils are long gone. Maybe, just maybe..... I'm not holding my breath though.....

I note Shorten is the first Australian Labor leader to introduce such a bill.


 

Pell will appear in person if asked by the Commission


Pell has said in a letter this week to the Royal Commission into child sex abuse that he will appear before the Commission in person, if asked to do so by said Commission. 
CARDINAL George Pell has told the chair of the royal Commission into child sexual abuse he's prepared to give evidence in person. 

"I want to make it absolutely clear that I am willing to give evidence should the commission request this, be it by statement, appearance by video link, or by attending personally," he said in the letter to Justice Peter McClellan on Tuesday night. 

Cardinal Pell has previously rejected allegations by abuse victims that he tried to bribe one victim to keep quiet, ignored complaints and was complicit in moving Australia's worst pedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, to a different parish. 

In his statement on Wednesday Cardinal Pell also said he had been horrified by the allegations of abuse in Ballarat and was saddened by the way church authorities dealt with reports of abuse. more
Given the public pressure by all (except Abbott who is about the only one so far not to demand his return - strange that) it's hard to imagine the Royal Commission not demanding his return also.

Abbott must be feeling a bit nervous by now I expect. Not to mention the rest of the Catholics in his gov.

Incest should carry death penalty - Josh Duggar's father 2002


Another example of biblical rhetoric by christian maniacs, but when it comes to affecting them it's a different story isn't it. Quick to point the finger and condemn according to their wacked out world view, but also quick to cover up and change their tune when the finger gets pointed squarely at them. Complete hypocrisy.

Turns out Josh's father Jim Bob was running for the senate in 2002, and his stance on incest has been immortalised in the internet. He says those who commit incest should die.



His son Josh however remains very much alive. Strange that isn't it. These people are just full of so much self righteous bullshit. Cherry picking their way through the bible and their morality.

Incidentally, the kill the gays pastor's wife agrees with version 2002 of Jim Bob Duggar that Josh should die.
“I believe that all pedophiles are reprobates, that they are unregenerate and in fact can never change, and that they, like all sexual deviants, should be executed as the Bible demands, lest they spread their abusive ways and corrupt more innocent lives,” Anderson said. more
I wonder if she would still say that then if one of her kids was as guilty as Josh Duggar? I think not.

Tuesday 26 May 2015

Shorten moves for marriage equality


 Finally some fuckin leadership from Shorten:
 Labor leader Bill Shorten will ratchet up the pace on same-sex marriage next week, forcing his own party and the Parliament to deal with the issue quickly via a private member's bill to be co-sponsored by his deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek. 

The bold move, which follows the historic yes vote in favour of marriage equality in the socially conservative Republic of Ireland last weekend, was signed off by shadow cabinet on Monday 

"I know this private member's bill will not have the universal support of my colleagues," Mr Shorten told Fairfax Media. 

"It will challenge the deeply held personal beliefs of MPs and senators on both sides of politics [but] I believe the time has well and truly come for the Parliament to debate marriage equality. 

"Our current law excludes some individuals, and to me, that is unacceptable." 

The move reflects Mr Shorten's success in seeing off a Left faction preference for a binding vote of Labor MPs on same-sex marriage once it had been agreed by the ALP national conference in July. 

It also represents a growing confidence by pro-reform MPs including Mr Shorten, the Greens, and some Liberals, that the numbers in Parliament have slowly but surely shifted in their favour, pointing towards possible success in the House of Representatives, subject to a free vote being granted to all Liberal and Nationals MPs. more 

Abbott chicken dances in parliament :s

This man is prime minister FFS......

abbott dance photo tony1_zpsoebrzjes.gif  

 

US Presidential hopeful - won't obey supreme court over gay marriage

Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential hopeful, has come out and said he won't obey the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) over gay marriage, if the court comes down in favour of it. In this interview, his stance is compared to not obeying SCOTUS over desegregation. 

 
 

Nationwide protests against Commonwealth Bank - don't fund coal Reef destruction

There were protests at over 100 branches of the Commonwealth Bank in Australia and the world, protesting against the bank being in talks with Adani about possibly funding it's planned mega coal mines in the Galilee basin, Queensland. Overseas banks have all refused to fund this over environmental concerns; it would mean dredging the Great Barrier Reef and having coal ships going through it. Not to mention the huge effect on Australia's green house emissions, further affecting the Reef.

 

Pell visited St Patricks College in March - fine to travel then

To the surprise of many, some of them even in his own church, George Pell travelled to Australia as recently as March, just weeks ago, and visited St Patricks College. It's in their April Newsletter. Why then should he not front up to something as important as a Royal Commission into child abuse to answer the allegations against him involving said child abuse in the church? 
Cardinal George Pell visited Ballarat and a school at the centre of clergy abuse claims just weeks before the royal commission hearings began in the town. 

The Cardinal is pictured walking the halls of St Patrick's College with the school's headmaster John Crowley in the April edition of the school's magazine The Shamrock. 

The development comes as public pressure builds on Australia's most senior Catholic cleric to front the commission to answer explosive claims that he bribed a victim to remain silent about a notorious paedophile priest. more

Court statement insights - my vile older brother planned it

Being as the court hearing for my nephew psycho Phillip (who bashed David at new years) is next month, on top of the subpoena for both of us to attend the court to provide evidence the police also supplied us with a copy of the statements we made way back in early Jan to the police about it all to refresh our memories.

The bashing in the hallway I don't need reminding of as it's there in my head now forever. However the circumstances around it are a bit blurry after nearly 6 months and neither David and I have had the opportunity to compare each others statements, as we were of course interviewed separately making them. So last night I read out the bits of mine that were relevant (apart from the usual bla at the beginning of these things) which David found quite interesting, and he did the same with me.

They pretty much correlated exactly with each other, even complementing each other as we each covered things that the other left out. But there was one thing in David's statement concerning my brother that lifted the veil on him.

David has some kind of photographic memory. He can remember names of people in TV shows from decades ago for example. Weird. But anyway so he remembers exactly what my brother Kevin said to him when Kevin asked him for a head job. It was the beginning bit that clicked in my head:
"I've given those two enough alcohol so once they have passed out how about you give me a head job"
Which is why David told him to get the fuck out. But WTF? What does he still think he can control me or something, manipulate me? I'm the one who decides if I'm going to have a beer or not, not him.And so this is going around in my head for a minute or so and then I realise what it meant; he had planned this. Planned to get me pissed and David suck his dick (fuck, talk about delusions of grandeur photo emot-barf.gif No wonder David told him to fuck off quite apart from all the other reasons photo emot-barf.gif ).

The fuckin vile prick!

He'd have done it before too. I know for a fact years ago he said he would take trips up to Auckland from Taranaki in NZ for "sanity control". Last time I'd seen him was at a restaurant with my sister and her husband along with David. David was the one who after that meeting, long before I ever knew anything about his sexuality, that he was coming on to David. What, did he honestly think that he was going to come down here to Sydney, and have my partner of two years at that time get with him, in our own home? photo emot-barf.gif 

Man was he ever wrong about that. He had no idea of how David and I feel about each other, the love and commitment we have for each other, the respect and caring. It's beyond belief that he could even contemplate coming between that.

The worst thing is that he was doing it to me; his own brother!

He's always been jealous of me, looks like insanely jealous now. Reckoned me and my younger brother were spoilt and the older ones did the hard yards on the farm. Like I've said I can't remember a single kind thing he ever did for me growing up. Looking back he hated me deep down. 

At dad's funeral years back I went back to NZ for it, afterwards the family was having a couple of beers in a trendy pub, and in front of everyone he asked me "So did you like those Christmas presents you got, that we worked so hard to pay for on the farm?" Fucks sake, I was a child. I had no control over circumstances but yet he's been blaming me all these years.....

He must have been livid at that restaurant meal we had with my sister and all. Here I am in Sydney, succeeded after leaving Taranaki in the dust decades ago, with a hot partner living authentically. Compare that to his fucked up life; three failed relationships, kids everywhere, frustrated sexually. 

I'm sure as he planned this, in the back of his mind he'd have been thinking payback to me. Fuckin hell man, the nut needs medication.

Which brings me to a discussion I was having with my sister about it all. If he's that screwed up, frustrated, angry, and all, in the head, then FFS go and see someone. Like I do, like David does, like my sister used to. Why put everyone else through hell because he's so fucked up like that? To me it's the height of selfishness to expect everyone around you to cop your shit because you can't be bothered getting psychological help. Or take pills. Or whatever.

  

Depp's dog day afternoon - could be jailed or fined

*Update: Depp's director spits the dummy (ie pacifier) at Australia :s

It's all been rather a laugh at Australia's expense over Barnaby and Depp's dogs, but the simple fact is that smuggling live animals into Australia is a very serious offence. There are diseases overseas (like rabies for example) that don't exist here. The quarantine laws aren't there just for a bit of an inconvenience, they're there to protect Australia's wildlife and agriculture from disease and pests. Going against quarantine laws carries tough penalties if caught.

The case is now the subject of an investigation in the senate as to why customs officials didn't find them on the plane before everyone left the aircraft.
Government officials have confirmed Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp could face up to 10 years in prison or a maximum fine of $340,000 for illegally bringing his two dogs into Australia. 

His pilot could face up to two years in prison for his role in the undeclared importing of Pistol and Boo. 

These were some of the details revealed as a Senate committee hearing in Canberra turned its attention to the high-profile quarantine case.

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An ongoing investigation by the department understands that Depp, his fellow passengers and the flight crew all failed to declare the presence of the dogs. 

Customs officers did not find the terriers when they boarded the aircraft before the passengers disembarked. more