What “gays” really want…. and it ain’t marriage

Most of us would agree with gay rights pioneer Professor Dennis Altman, who recently criticised a few activists’ fixation on “gay marriage” and described the whole push as “self-indulgent crap”.

Certainly, the research findings, and these community attitudes align with the latest data out of Tasmania, and New Zealand, where the numbers of relationships registered under the various schemes available in those places are just over 100, and less than 1500 respectively.

The very people who are supposed to be clamouring for relationship recognition are literally staying away in droves.

As a same sex-attracted man, and a Catholic, I must say I read Muriel Porter’s comments about gay Christians apparently needing to keep their identity secret from church, family, and friends (The Australian, May 6, 2008), and wondered if she’d actually spoken to any committed gay Christians, or same sex-attracted Catholics.

Could it be that Porter, and others, while aiming for compassion and fellow-feeling, have instead fallen into shallow political correctness and adopted patronising attitudes that don’t conform with the lived experience and expressed desires of real same sex-attracted Australians?

John Heard in the Herald Sun

Interesting…

In the previous thread about gay marriage here at my blog some of my pro Gay marriage correspondents were getting very hot under the collar about the issue and most cited the notion that to not allow same sex couples the right to “marry” was a terrible “discrimination”. All were making the assumption that a “marriage” was what most homosexuals wanted out of life, John Heard’s article makes it clear that this is very far from being the case for most same sex attracted people.

As I said previously a marriage between a man and a woman has the purpose of creating and nurturing the next generation, It provides a recognition of a child’s linage, confers some innate rights of inheritance to those children and it is the foundation stone of our society. The fact that only a very small minority of practising homosexuals actually want to be in any sort of exclusive monogamous unions that are even vaguely analogous to heterosexual marriage suggests that the gay activists have grossly missread their own constituency and that the model offered by the government reforms is in fact a better fit for what gays actually want.

Cheers Comrades

Hat tip To Mark Richardson

Swan’s song, and the Aurukun appeal

Solicitor-General Walter Sofronoff QC, for the attorney-general, today argued errors had been made during sentencing.

He said the Court of Appeal had, in previous cases, made it clear adults who rape young children should be sent to jail.

Subsequently, Mr Sofronoff argued, the three adults in this case should each be sentenced to eight years’ jail with a set parole eligibility date.

Mr Sofronoff suggested the juveniles receive detention sentences of between one and three years, arguing there were “no exceptional circumstances” that should prevent convictions from being recorded.

However, defence barrister Ken Fleming SC told the court today there had been no error in the original sentencing as the prosecutor had specifically requested non-custodial sentences.

Mr Fleming said the nine perpetrators had “skewed” senses of moral judgment about appropriate behaviour because of the “dysfunctional community” in which they lived.

He also said his clients had not realised their actions were wrong because the girl had “actively encouraged” the sexual activity.

However, Chief Justice Paul de Jersey said he had “great difficulty” in accepting that consent from a pre-teen lessened the severity of the offence.

Court of Appeal President Margaret McMurdo agreed, saying the law clearly deems a 10-year-old “incapable of consent”.

Mr Sofronoff argued that Judge Bradley, in sentencing, had already given too much weight to the suggestion that Aurukun’s “dysfunctional” society had been responsible for the nine offenders’ lack of moral standards.

He told the court the offenders should receive custodial sentences as the law was duty bound to protect all citizens against community-condemned acts such as rape.

“Even a dysfunctional community requires and deserves the law’s protection,” he said.

Mr Sofronoff said Judge Bradley also had erred by treating all offenders the same and not taking into account age differences and relevant prior convictions.

He also said it should have been necessary for her to explain the reasons behind the sentences, adding that the punishments given to the nine did not reflect the principle of general deterrence.

The Brisbane Times

Call me a cynic if you like…

but I could not help but think that the story about the long awaited appeal against the manifestly inadequate sentences handed down By Sarah Bradley in the Aurukun Rape case has a good chance of slipping under the radar while the frenzy of commentary on Wayne Swan’s first budget runs its course, I am not at all surprised because no matter who is in government we are fed the details, or at least the overall intentions in a series of “leaks” in the period leading up to the budget, I though that it was a better use of my time to take a nap rather than listen to Swans less than dulcet tones as he droned through his speech, looking through the reports this morning certainly shows that there are no real surprises, a means test for the baby bonus that cuts in at $150,000 which makes one wonder just how many fewer Bonuses will be paid, not that many I guess, likewise the increase in tax on luxury cars will probably make very little difference to those who can afford them because you can bet that when they “trade up” they will get just that bit more for their older model and as someone else has pointed out elsewhere the whole point of having a swanky car is for the ostentatious display of wealth and increasing the cost of such cars merely makes them more of a status symbol, the old line about if you have to ask the price of a Rolls Royce then you can’t afford one comes to mind…

But I digress…

back to the appeal we should all hope that the arguments being put by Solicitor-General Walter Sofronoff QC finds favour with the court because we should not tolerate the notion that a lesser standard of behaviour is acceptable when it comes to rape within the context of indigenous communities than is the norm for the wider community. The sentences handed down by Bradley and the patronising assumptions that clearly underlie them need to be addressed and I for one will be following the progress of this appeal in a keen interest.

Cheers Comrades

China Earthquake

“Facing disaster, the most important thing is calm, confidence, courage and strong leadership,” said Mr Wen, talking to China’s CCTV on the flight from Beijing.

“I believe that under the leadership of the party and the state council, the general public and themilitary will unite to turn themasses into an impregnable fortress.

“We will definitely overcome this major earthquake disaster.”

The speed with which the 65-year-old Premier was dispatched to the epicentre, within hours of the quake, indicated how seriously the ruling Communist Party was responding to the disaster.

This rapid and public response and flow of information from the Chinese authorities came in marked contrast to that of the neighbouring Burmese authorities after Cyclone Nargis.

The Australian

The measure of any government, event totalitarian ones like those in China is how they address natural disasters like an earthquake or a Cyclone and as my quote above points out the response of China has been so superior to that in Burma, while it is too early to tell for sure I have a sneeking suspicion that in the end we will find that the death toll in Burma will ultimately be greater than the death toll in China even though the cyclone is a disaster of a much lesser magnitude than the earthquake in China; a 7.8 on the Richter scale is a very nasty shake indeed.

There is only one thing worse that a totalitarian government and that is an incompetent totalitarian government, and the Junta in Rangoon stands condemned by every man, woman and child who is even now succumbing to disease and despair as it procrastinates about accepting assistance from the greater world. While I don’t have any love for the Chinese communists the Chinese people will see a substantial response that the poor people of cyclone ravaged Burma can only dream about.

Very Sad News Comrades

A hard day’s night

Yesterday was not what I would call one of my great days I was rather distressed about being hacked and rather weary after franticly having to change passwords and security for my blogs and emails. however while I was out and about I picked up the DVD of “A hard days night“. I am sure that I have seen it before but there is no way that I could tell you when.

It was certainly long enough ago that it was like watching the film for the first time. Of course I recognised the songs, they were after all the soundtrack of my childhood. But the film itself stands up very well indeed. The film has such a sense of fun and some lovely repartee between the lads, a humour  that is based on clever wordplay rather than relying on the nasty put down . In all it was the perfect prescription for this tired and still angry blogger last night.

Cheers Comrades

Jaws, WA style

A Western Australian beach remains closed on Sunday morning after a Perth man was attacked by a shark while swimming there.

Jason Cull, 37, was about 80 metres off Middleton Beach on the state’s south coast on Saturday morning when a four metre white pointer shark, one of three circling the area, attacked him.

He underwent emergency surgery for lacerations to his left leg and was in a stable condition, an Albany Hospital spokesperson said.

Joanne Lucas, a volunteer at the local surf club heard Mr Cull’s cries for help and dashed into the sea, pulling him to safety.

SMH

I have a very healthy respect for the sea, I don’t swim in it, or allow my children to do so either. This may seem terribly un-Australian  but I do this out of respect, I respect that the sea  is a foreign environment and that  humans are interlopers there. In the Sea sharks are the top predators and it is a fool who thinks that you can gambol around in the territory of a predator and not be viewed as a  potential  meal. Which is a roundabout way of saying that although I am glad that this chap managed to survive relatively intact that we should not try to  hunt down a fish  that was only doing what is in it’s nature, when we enter the sea we enter the realm of the shark who, unlike us, only kill to survive.

Cheers Comrades

Hacked

When I checked my blog this morning I discovered that some scum-bag had hacked into my WordPress account and edited my last post about the cyclone in Burma to add the word “fucking” wherever they thought it would be amusing, at the end of the post a link was added that led to a pornographic image. I removed these edits and changed the password to my blog but that was not enough because when I returned just before midday two of my Hotmail accounts and all of my blogs were locked to me. it was only after a mysterious and anonymous phone call to my mobile, so I could not trace it, that I was told a new password that has allowed me to regain control of most of my blogs and my Hotmail accounts. I know who the hacker was because he left a trail when he sent at least one (probably more) abusive email using my Hotmail.

Now regular readers will have noticed that about a week ago I reduced the number of my blogs open to the public to just this one and my car blog Iain’s Seven, I did this in attempt to get away from the futile flame war with that coterie of bloggers who frequent “Grods corp.” and who continue to harp on about events of late 2005. It takes a lot of effort to battle so many leftards and clearly I have been at a serious disadvantage because of their numbers and the fact that many of them hide behind the internet’s easy anonymity. I had my doubts about the willingness of of my antagonists to leave me alone and it seems that those doubts were well and truly justified by recent events, but I am still determined to get beyond the trite moralising as evidenced by the “end of an era” post at Grods corp, which has the full measure of scumminess, the “facts” of the post were largely wrong or misleading but the comments thread was a perfect example of just how vile this cadre of leftards are; three individuals posting in my name, Bruce Everett pontificating, , Bridgit Gread living up to her Hannibal Lectar avatar. I am just so tired of the lot of them and I want to do other things rather than having to look over my shoulder all of the time wondering what new web of lies and provocation they will use to try to get me to descend to their rather putrid level.

Being hacked is a horrible thing and you just feel violated knowing that a scumbag has been searching through the private correspondence in your email archive and even the private blog kept by my eight year old daughter, as well as all of my blogs. Nonetheless I maintain my resolve to move on from this flame war so to that end I am going to reject all comments from that crowd, I will not read or comment at their blogs nor will I write about any of their opinions, no matter how stupid they may be.

There are plenty of better ways to address the issues that interest me.

Angry but determined Comrades

The dead in Burma

The survivors made the journey in rickety wooden boats with makeshift sails fashioned out of blankets, dodging the bloated corpses of buffaloes and dead neighbours floating in the murky waters.

It was a journey from horror to misery for most, who described in video shot by a Burmese journalist their desperate hours clinging to trees and debris, fuck, followed by days of waiting for aid.

The footage provided a first glimpse of Burma’s worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, which has been cut off from the rest of the world since Cyclone Nargis struck on Saturday, unleashing 3.5m storm surges that flooded low-lying rice paddies and bamboo homes.

“I was hanging from a 6m tall coconut tree for a long time until the weather subsided,” a sobbing Phan Maung, 55, said. “Fuck, I don’t know what happened to my wife and young children.”

Many survivors were shaking and had trouble telling their stories. Some were angry, others hysterical. Only a few were willing to give their names, fearful of retribution by a government embarrassed by its failure to bring prompt relief.

“I am the only survivor of a family of 11. The entire village was wiped out,” said a man from the village of Yay Way.

The Courier Mail

Like all compassionate people I have been horrified by the level of destruction and the number of deaths in Burma. It is a very clear example of how fucking repressive totalitarian regimes so often fucking fail the people they rule. I think that we forget though that incompetence in the face of natural disasters is the norm rather than the exception. Even the mighty USA can make a dogs breakfast of coping with a large natural disaster as the experience of New Orleans showed. It is fair though to offer the most strident approbation to the SLORK regime in Burma , their failure to even warn the people of approaching cyclone was not just an incompetence it was a criminal act. My suspicion is though that they failed to warn the people because they had no contingency plan for any natural disaster in the first place, no evacuation plan and no plan for disaster relief or response . Here in OZ we do disaster very well and it is all too easy to think the rest of the world should be able to do likewise, but don’t underestimate the power of denial within a totalitarian government, or their ability to see the death of 100,000 of their people as a positive outcome in an overcrowded nation.

Until next time Comrades

A place on the list…

In the case of Voois – who raped two women and sexually assaulted another in the early 1990s, and later sexually assaulted fellow prisoners – his renal failure is the only reason a psychiatrist downgraded him from a high risk of re-offending to a medium to high risk.

Voois was diagnosed at 15 with a kidney problem and receives taxpayer-funded dialysis three times a week at the Wolston Correctional Centre.

“He is on the transplant program,” psychiatrist Josephine Sundin noted in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court last month.

The Courier Mail

I just have one question for anyone who has ticked the organ donor box on their driving licence. Would you want your body parts to sustain the life a of a serial rapist? Surely any duty of care does not extend to offering this scumbag a transplant when other more worthy individuals languish on the waiting list?

Unbelievable Comrades

Gilding the lily, because some idiots run into each other

About 50 cyclists - including Australian racer Kate Nichols, who was injured in a 2005 German road racing crash in which a teammate was killed - have been involved in a hit-and-run crash in Mascot this morning.

Another well-known Australian cyclist, Ben Kersten, was also involved in the smash.

Witnesses to the crash have told smh.com.au the group of about 50 professional cyclists were riding south on Southern Cross Drive, just south of Dacey Avenue, Mascot about 6.30am when a driver, agigtated with being held up, accelerated in front of the pack and then slammed on his brakes.

“The driver’s come up close behind them and was worrying the rear of the pack and then [the driver has] gone past and got in front and slammed his brakes on,” one of cyclist in the pack said.

“Everyone’s slammed their brakes on and slammmed into each other … there were broken bikes - wheels busted and wheels snapped - and people lying on the road.”

SMH

While any one can suggest that the car driver in this incident may well have been a little lacking in compassion and just a little careless , to suggest that he has done a “hit and run” is rather stretching credulity, He has not actually struck any of the cyclists at all and as such he has not breached any obligation under the traffic act. These cyclists have collided with each other and they have brought it upon themselves by failing, as required by the traffic act, to ride in single file at the left hand side of the road. I see packs of these jumped up adrenaline / hypoxia addicts getting in the way of other road users all of the time and it is a wonder that more people don’t get visibly angry at their repeated breaches of the road rules.

Sadly too many people have a thought process that goes like this

• Riding a push bike is a “healthy” thing to do.
• people who undertake “healthy” pastimes are therefore virtuous
• Virtuous people can do no wrong on the roads.
• in the event of an accident virtuous people are blameless victims

The facts of life however show that even the most evil villain may be a health conscious exercise junkie who is indifferent to other road users.

Cheers Comrades