40 weeks

Here we go with another pregnancy update, because it's my 'due date' (i.e. estimated due date) and there's still no sign of any action.  I would swear at times Junior has been trying to dig his way out, but as far as my body helping him along, nothing.

Actually that's not strictly true. Since precisely 39 weeks I've been having loads more braxton hicks contractions- stronger and more uncomfortable than before as well as more frequent. I've also (TMI, sure, but a fact of life) gone from being on the verge of being constipated and needing to constantly manage my fibre intake to needing to go to the toilet at least twice a day and definitely not needing to manage my fibre intake. To tell the truth, the latter is quite a relief. Supposedly it's the effects of prostaglandin on the bowel (similar to what can happen around the time of a woman's period), but I was under the impression that this effect appeared right before labour. Wrong, it seems, as it's been like this for a week.

The absence of anything resembling labour hasn't stopped my overexcited mother from calling every single day for the last week or so to see if anything has happened, mind. I feel almost cruel asking my parents to give us 3 days at home (couldn't bring myself to ask for any longer) after Junior's arrival to settle in, because I know Mum would rather be here now. Or yesterday, even!

These photos were actually taken almost 2 weeks ago, just after I hit the 38 week mark. Right on 38 weeks I developed belly stretchmarks... I'm only a little bit bitter! I could kind of tell they were coming, as my belly felt horribly itchy for nearly a week before they appeared. After they appeared, there were little red itchy bumps in the stretchmarks- a condition called PUPPP that is apparently more common in women having boys. It's nothing serious, but it's very annoying. Anyway, as much as I was hoping not to get stretchmarks (first at all, then at least nowhere obvious), it seems I was not so lucky. And I decided not to spare anyone the full horror- most women get them, even if they are airbrushed out for Vanity Fair and pregnancy magazine covers. I am vain enough to hope that they fade quickly, but hopefully not vain enough to be devastated if they stick around. My stomach is going to be quite a sight in the few weeks or months after it's emptied of this purportedly large baby anyhow, I imagine. I've never had a squishy stomach in my life, but after so much stretching and more than a little weight gain (I'm now 80kg), I'm under no illusions that it's going to snap right back to what it was pre-pregnancy.

You can see how tight the skin is across the front of my belly around the (bizarrely discoloured) bellybutton- it looks pretty much like there's no blood flow there! That's actually a thinner area of skin that used to be around the size of a 10c piece and is now blown up to the proportions of a saucer- and seriously reached its limit! I honestly feel at times like I'm about to split open...

My hips are still causing me agony, particularly at night- that's probably the main thing making me long to be pregnant no longer. After a few precious days of feeling relatively normal I also went through another couple of weeks of being horrendously tired- probably partly due to low iron levels, which it turned out had gotten lower since being tested at the beginning of pregnancy (they were borderline low then). I successfully fought off a cold or two, and at the 38 week blood test my iron levels had ticked up slightly- I'd started taking a liquid supplement with chelated iron instead of the godawful constipation-inducing tablets I was on previously. If my haemoglobin levels aren't at least at 100 by the time I go into labour (they were 96 at last count, I think) I have to have a cannula fitted for quick access in case of haemorrhage. Other than that it won't affect my treatment, thankfully. I've had slightly more energy in the last couple of days, but still need at least one nap a day. That probably has something to do with the poor quality of sleep I've been experiencing at night rather than a need for extra sleep on top of the standard 8 hours. After having it relatively good with regard to nightly toilet trips (making 2 instead of the pre-pregnancy 1, while drinking a cup plus an entire drink bottle full of water), I now have to make at least 4, as well as many more trips during the day. Probably due to Jr's head engaging in my pelvis and squishing my bladder, I guess.

We were told at 36 weeks that Jr's positioning in my pelvis was not optimal- he was presenting occiput posterior instead of the desired occiput anterior- and that I should spend more time practising optimal foetal positioning, namely any way of spending larger amounts of time on all fours so his back would swing down and face my belly instead of my back. The obvious solution was to play lots and lots of Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360 while lying over a beanbag- and it was working! Sadly, yesterday the 360 packed it in, experiencing the Red Ring of Death for the second time in its 2-and-a-half year life. I can't remember how much the warranty was extended the last time we sent it off to be fixed, or indeed when it happened. I'm hoping perhaps I have some paperwork on file or something, so it at least doesn't cost us anything, however it's such bad timing that it's quite infuriating! Especially since the fix last time was supposed to make the Red Ring of Death less likely to happen again. We do love our Xbox, however, so it's not like I can stamp my foot and say we're never getting one again... if anything I think Gam's probably hoping it's out of warranty so he can upgrade to the 'Elite' model!

Anyway, looks like I'll have to start reading all the Maxx Barry novels that Gam bought on Amazon a few weeks back if I'm to find any way of entertaining myself while lying on my stomach on a beanbag, as TV is pure shite. With the exception of Costa and Maeve on Thursday nights on SBS, of course. We always wind up watching Heston's Feasts afterwards, but Heston Blumenthal is so smug and nowhere near as clever as he believes himself to be that I inevitably wind up more annoyed than awed.

I'm not sure if I'm any bigger now I've hit 40 weeks, but I suppose I'll take some more photos soon if Jr doesn't hurry up and arrive.

We had what was probably an inevitable argument with Gam's father a couple of days ago on the topic of circumcision and christening. We're expecting to cop it from both sides of the family (my Grandma in particular)  for deciding not to have Jr christened. We figure if he wants to be religious when he's older he is perfectly free to choose his own crazy moon god religion. Or not. We may be disappointed, but it's his choice to make. Gam's father is so desperate that we have it done that he said he didn't care whether it was Anglican or Catholic (I'm not sure my Grandma would go so far, given her theories on The Great Roman Catholic Conspiracy to Steal Away Young People) To be honest it's hard to see how anyone who doesn't subscribe to the (frankly abhorrent) 'unbaptised babies go to hell' school of thought (my Aunt does, incredibly) could really think christening is so essential. The kid has no idea what's going on, after all, and no christian religion will turn him away when he's older based on the fact that he's unbaptised, so the reason we're being asked to do it is still unclear to us!

As for the circumcision thing, that's culturally important to Gam's father. However, as important as culture is, objective medical evidence and a child's right not to have perfectly functioning bits chopped off them without their consent is more important to us. Not to mention the very small but horrific risk of something going wrong during or after the procedure and leaving our baby with lifelong complications. That would be just too awful to contemplate, and the guilt unimaginable. So... Not happening. Gam's father has said that as soon as Jr comes to visit in Botswana or Ghana he'll take him away himself to be forcibly baptised (a la Ned Flanders and the Simpsons children) and snipped, but it's hard to take that seriously. More likely we'll just be grumbled at for the rest of our lives for not having it done. Daddy ended the conversation by saying sadly "You know, he won't be able to carry my coffin!". Gam told me to tell him that no-one would be checking down Jr's pants before such events take place, but there was no placating Daddy. Lord knows how many times we'll have to have that particular conversation

So, it looks like GamJr will not be making an Easter arrival as predicted. I can always hope for tomorrow, then Gam won't have to go back to work! Currently he is still handymanning around the house, having decided to take on the job of restoring our living room ceiling... so that combined with our not-quite-finished bathroom means unfortunately the house is still a construction zone... psychologically difficult on a 40-weeks-pregnant woman with nesting instincts (which is hard to explain and make it sound rational, but Gam is very tolerant!). Speaking of bathrooms, it is looking damn good, is mostly functional (missing only a shower screen door, towel rails, toilet holder and soap dish) and we love spending time in there... it's gorgeous and not a bit cruddy. Unfortunately it has now taken around 10 weeks instead of the projected 3. Hmm! At least we got to have a proper shower for the first time in our own home after 4-5 weeks... nightly bathing at the kitchen sink was wearing a bit thin, to say the least. Photos to come, of course.

The Mad Monk and My Hymen

I don't have time to put into words right now my feelings on the whole Tony Abbott (and now George Brandis) virginity thing. Suffice it to say that I find the whole idea of men moralising to their daughters about sex pretty creepy.

However, there's an opinion piece in the SMH today by Gabriella Coslovich that sums Tony Abbott and his creepy attitudes up pretty nicely:

But in its own way, the Opposition Leader's description of virginity as ''the greatest gift you can give someone, the ultimate gift of giving'' was nauseating.

The comment both fetishes a woman's virginity and reduces her value to the presence of a hymen, to the unpenetrated state of her vagina. Why is that the greatest gift a woman can give someone? What about her mind? Her actions? Dare I say it, her soul? If I were one of Abbott's daughters I would be furious to have my value reduced to the state of my hymen. Is that really the greatest gift you can give? And if it is, what does this say about relationships between men and women? It's a pretty superficial exchange.

Somewhere here there is an important discussion to be had, about Western capitalist society's obsession with sex (so gently explored in Sarah Watt's recent film My Year Without Sex), about the exploitation of women's bodies as marketing tools, about the rise of raunch culture, about the pressures on young women to live up to ''porn-star'' stereotypes, about the differences between lust and love, about respect, and how to safely explore one's sexuality, when one is ready to do so, not when one's peers or politicians say you are ready to do so - but it is discussion to be had for both genders.

It's funny too that Abbott, who professes to be a Catholic, is so selective in his application of Christianity, although I should not really be surprised - that's been the way of religious fanatics throughout history. On the one hand, Abbott promulgates the need to safeguard a woman's virginity until marriage. On the other, he thinks nothing of pushing asylum seekers back into the sea, thinks nothing of resurrecting the divisive politics of hate of his beloved former leader, John Howard.

Abbott, as a devout Catholic, would know Christ's teaching: ''Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.'' Or does that not apply to desperate people fleeing persecution?

If I had to pick what is the 'greatest gift', or at least the most difficult thing to give to a partner, it would be trust. You can have a great sex life and a superficially functional relationship without ever giving that away. Despite the misconceptions of Tony Abbott, George Brandis and pretty much every man of any religious persuasion out there, the intact hymen is not a woman's most precious and vulnerable area.

Learning disability no excuse for Fielding's lack of moral fibre.

The federal senate's most ostentatious christian, Steve Fielding, yesterday voted with the Liberals and Nationals against the Rudd government's move to abolish the barbaric practice of billing refugees at a rate of $125 a day for their involuntary incarceration at the hands of the government. It's a long time since I've been to church... maybe Jesus really would want to persecute refugees and bill them hundreds of thousands of dollars for being locked up in the desert behind razor wire against their will... I'm sure Fielding would know better than I would, being one of the more rabidly evangelical varieties of christian.

Thankfully one person on the opposing side of politics (let's put aside the ongoing pretence that Fielding is not in fact a Liberal), senator Judith Troeth, had enough moral fibre to cross the floor and help ensure the legislation passed.

Not five minutes later, we have Fielding showering himself in self-pity over his 'lifelong learning disability' that he blames for causing several verbal gaffes. Nice try at a distraction, Fielding, but no learning disability is going to excuse your lack of backbone and overwhelming moral failing on this issue, you despicable, hypocritical prick.

Dying with dignity, beauty and love is... wrong?

When I read about the death of the death of British orchestral conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife, as sad an event as it is for their families, I couldn't help thinking that, of all the ways to die, that's the way I'd choose to go. So when the New York Times and every other media outlet that has reported the news does it like this:

... even among those who support decriminalizing assisted suicide, Sir Edward’s death raised troubling questions

... I'd just like to tell them to fuck right off.

I mean, an old married couple, incredibly close, one of whom is dying and the other an invalid, choose to die a peaceful death together, holding hands. How can anyone pretend there's something wrong with that? How can people keep pretending there's a debate?

The only thing wrong with what happened was that they had to fly to a foreign country and carry out this last act in a grotty anonymous building somewhere instead of being able to die at home.

I really hope that by the time Gam and I are that old that we will be living in a more civilised society that doesn't believe in forcing an agonising death and unbearable grief on people who've lived together to a ripe old age and can't bear to be parted. The way we do things now is cruel.

Success in Afghanistan!

Marriage counselling in the new, free, democratic* Afghanistan

Good news, the Afghan government we now partly own, headed by the nattily dressed Hamid Karzai, has passed a law on rape in marriage and women's rights in general. Afghanistan now has something it never had under the Taliban, marital rape and women's rights legislation. Of course it's legislation that legalises rape in marriage and strips women of their right to work or even leave home without permission, but it's a step in the right direction, if that direction is completely the opposite direction from where we were going.

This law represents the official failure of our adventure in Afghanistan. Anyone who supported it has now officially lost the argument and can go pound sand. Thankyou, you will be contacted next time we need someone to miguidedly support a pointless war with unclear aims as a kneejerk reaction to an incident.

*democracy refers to NewDemocracy, now with 30% less democracy

Catholic Church values foetus' life above that of raped 9-year-old. Media unwittingly plays along.

Now, I think everyone- except the world's nuttiest Catholics- can agree that the Vatican's response to the rape and impregnation of a 9 year old Brazilian girl is heinous in the extreme. To sum up, this 9 year old girl was raped and made pregnant with twins, allegedly by her stepfather. Because any pregnancy (let alone a twin pregnancy) poses a threat to the physical wellbeing, even the life, of such a young girl, the girl's mother and doctors decided to carry out an abortion. Clearly the main consideration for any sane, rational human being would be the life and wellbeing of a very young girl who had been raped, not the foetuses she was carrying.

For the insane and irrational, for those least interested in the wellbeing of children- namely the Catholic church, however, the idea of a physically underdeveloped 9-year-old girl being forced to give birth in the interests of potentially preserving the two 'souls', whatever the risk to the girl's own life, is perfectly acceptable. So the Catholic church excommunicated the girl's mother and the doctors who carried out the abortion. Who would want to count themselves among the membership of a church that holds beliefs like that I don't know, but we do know that being a child rapist is just fine in the eyes of the Catholic church; after all, not only have countless paedophile priests found 'forgiveness' in the eyes of the church, so has the girl's alleged rapist, her stepfather.

The regional archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, pronounced excommunication for the mother for authorising the operation and doctors who carried it out for fear that the slim girl would not survive carrying the fetuses to term.

"God's law is above any human law. So when a human law ... is contrary to God's law, this human law has no value," Cardoso had said.

He also said the accused stepfather would not be expelled from the church. Although the man allegedly committed "a heinous crime ... the abortion - the elimination of an innocent life - was more serious".

Coming from the Catholic church, none of this really poses any surprise to anyone familiar with its actions over the years.

What I was surprised at was the headline in the Sydney Morning Herald:



Yes, they put the word 'raped' in inverted commas. And kept it there.

Now, it appears to be common practice in the media to put things like that in inverted commas when there is an allegation that has not yet been substantiated in court. It's the media covering their arses, legally speaking, and fair enough that they do so. But when a 9-year-old girl is made pregnant there is absolutely no question of consent, whether a case is yet to be tried in court or not. She was raped. Inverted commas in this case are completely inappropriate and serve no purpose other than to make it look like there is a possibility that the 9-year-old was asking for it.

It wasn't just a single slip-up, however:



See, once again: if a 9-year-old girl is made pregnant, she was raped. She was not 'allegedly raped'. She was raped, allegedly by her stepfather. Using language that is ambiguous enough to imply anything else is disgusting and irresponsible. I'd expect it from the Catholic church, but I'm not yet seasoned enough to expect it from the Australian media.

Holocaust deniers welcome in Benedict's house.

I just love how Pope Panzerfaust is fiiiiine with welcoming a holocaust-denying bishop back into the Catholic flock, meanwhile a Brisbane Catholic priest has been sacked for focusing on issues of social justice not hating on the gays as much as official Catholic policy says he should- and all in spite of Fr Peter Kennedy having the full support of his remarkably unbigoted congregation.

Man, I don't think I need to say anything more. The Catholic church's stance on these issues says it all.

Homosexuality for Christians in two sentences:

Nomnomnom or no no no?
Christians, don't be hypocrites.

The 'eternal truth' is that you should love your neighbour as yourself. The 'truth' is not to be found in the minor reaches of Leviticus, where eating prawns and sleeping with a man are matters of moral concern.

Actor Sir Ian McKellen, quoted in the Guardian.

Another reason why the Gold Coast sucks

I don't get it- do these idiots really believe that because I'm white and Australian that I'm one of them?

The Gold Coast: It's full of bogans, we all know that. It should therefore be no surprise that it's full of bigots, too.

PROTESTERS have swarmed the Gold Coast City Council headquarters, and with blaring rock anthems vented anger over a planned Muslim school.
Almost 200 residents turned out for the demonstration, draped in Australian flags and shouting pro-Aussie slogans while Australian rock classics such as Down Under and Great Southern Land boomed across the parkland.

The Australian International Islamic College, planned for Carrara, has raised the ire of residents who fear it will lead to the local Muslim population withdrawing from the rest of the community.

Uh, yeah, they're worried about losing their muslim friends...

Resident's spokesman Tony Doherty said Muslim schools did not encourage multiculturalism.

"It's segregation, not integration," he said.

"They're not trying to integrate into the rest of society.

"Since we have started protesting against this our churches have been covered in hate-filled graffiti."

He denied it was hypocritical to oppose Muslim and not Christian schools.

"Catholics aren't a different culture," he said. "They are the same as us."

What Dickhead doesn't realise is that, early in Australia's history, Catholics were discriminated against too. What's more is that the 'culture' in Catholic schools is somewhat different to that of Australian public schools- public school students aren't forced to attend mass, for one (once a term, or once a year, I can't remember- not that it matters). There are a few Jewish schools in Australia too- I imagine their 'culture' is also rather different, however I can't imagine a plan for a Jewish school raising this much of an outcry among Gold Coast bogans.

When we stayed at Coolangatta I perused a promotional book of the Gold Coast that was in our hotel room. It spoke of the local aboriginal people being 'eased from their land'. Cultural sensitivity and acceptance has never been a strong point of the Gold Coast. I feel sorry for any non-bogan who has to live there.

Turnbull tries common sense on wingnuts

Oh dear... Malcolm Turnbull has, quite admirably, defended women's right to determine their own reproductive choices, and sorta sorta defended rights for gay couples (the old 'they can't have marriage because that's too special but they can have this second-rate civil union that gives them rights without allowing them to feel that their relationship is in any way equal to those of people who like to boink members of the opposite sex'). Good on him.

But, Malcolm, if it were possible to talk common sense to bigots, none of these things would be an issue in the first place, hence this-

If you think about it, if you discriminate ... against a gay couple, between two men living together, do you really think that they're going to say `oh well, that's no good, we'll go off and get married to a woman'?" he asked the audience.

- fine piece of logic simply isn't going to work.

Mr 2% might not want your uterus

Yesterday Family First senator Steve Fielding accidentally adopted a position on abortion that was not in line with the forced-pregnancy stance espoused by fellow religious nutters in the senate

In an interview on Thursday, Senator Fielding said abortion was "not a simple yes/no" issue.

"I've always said it is informed consent," he said.

Asked if there were any circumstances in which abortion on demand was acceptable, Senator Fielding said: "It's a decision that is a very difficult decision. In the end it is their decision."

See, that almost sounds like a person who recognises that being against abortion does not necessarily entail legislating for government to hold god-like powers over womens' uteruses.

But who would've thought that Family First could be out-nuttied but the nutty nutty fanatical forced-pregnancy catholics of the so-called Democratic Labor Party?

Victorian DLP Member of the Legislative Assembly Peter Kavanagh said Senator Steve Fielding should resign.

"He was given DLP preferences and received most of his votes on the basis of being against abortion," Mr Kavanagh said.

"Some DLP people even worked for Steve Fielding on the basis that he was pro-life. Steve Fielding's statements . . . show that he has misled the DLP and his supporters and those who voted for him over this fundamental issue. He must now resign."

Family First founder and federal chairman Andrew Evans said he had full confidence that Senator Fielding was opposed to abortion.

Basically, unless Steve Fielding is willing to point a gun at the head of any woman who expresses a desire to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, he is as bad as the dastardly babykillers themselves!

I, for one, was pleased to see that there was a recognition from Fielding that holding a certain position on abortion did not necessarily mean that every woman ought to be compelled to abide by his personal convictions. Who knows whether he'll stick by it? I hope so.

Not so flattering is this article on Fielding and his tactics in the Senate. 'Mr 2%'.

[Family First] desperately needs the profile which comes with the balance of power. Fielding was elected in 2004 with less than 2 per cent of the primary vote due to preference flows unlikely to be repeated. He faces re-election at the next poll.

Yep, who would have thought that Labor's stupidity in 2004 would still be coming back to bite them? I wonder if they've sacked the people whose bright idea it was to preference Family First over the greens...

Nuttery not the domain of any one religion

Four months ago in the middle of the night, six men dressed in wide-brimmed black hats, black coats, white shirts and black trousers burst into the Jerusalem apartment of a young Jewish woman and taught her a lesson.

Mikhail, who is reluctant to give her full name, had scandalised members of her ultra-orthodox Jewish community by leaving her husband and embracing a secular lifestyle. The men, all members of the theologically conservative Haredi branch of Judaism, tackled her to the ground, slammed her head against the floor and tied a rag around her mouth. One assailant sat on her head as the others kicked her while demanding to know the names of the men she was seeing.

They also threatened to kill her if she did not leave the neighbourhood, which contains many secular as well as religious residents. 'A woman is only OK if she has a family, kids and a husband,' said Mikhail with a sigh.

[...]

Self-appointed moral guardians, dubbed the 'modesty police' by Israel's modern secular media, roam Jerusalem's ultra-religious neighbourhoods enforcing the voluminous and ever growing list of rabbinical laws such as the recent decree banning the sale of MP4 players. About 100 Haredi women have taken to wearing scarves and veils to cover themselves much like Muslim women.

[...]

Much of Kreus's time is spent checking out reports of illicit use of new technologies by members of the Haredi community. 'If we discover someone has a computer at home we throw the children out of school,' he said. Enforcing dictates on women's behaviour is another vital part of his brief.

He runs a library housing copies of the enormous notices pasted on the walls of Mea Shearim and other religious neighbourhoods berating women for wearing wigs instead of scarves and advertising appropriate dress on buses.

Signs warning women not to enter if they are wearing trousers, short sleeves or a skirt above the knees, hang in the neighbourhood.

[...]

Extraordinarily, he admitted to slashing the tyres of women who have driven into the neighbourhood who, he said, were indecently dressed. 'There was a mess with the police,' he said. 'Now I'm trying new creative methods, not using violence. Now I make a small hole in their tyres and the air deflates slowly. I'm not destroying their car.'

[...]

Having secular people on the buses is a problem. They go like animals, without clothes. Non-religious girls don't dress properly. They encourage me to sin,' he said.

With the demographics skewed in their favour, government authorities are acquiescing to the growing demands of the ultra-orthodox. The transport ministry, which regulates and funds bus transport through private companies, has allowed operators to provide 'kosher' or 'pure' routes, where women are required to sit at the back and cannot board unless appropriately dressed.

When crazies who espouse oppressive, dangerous 'values' like this Yoel Kreus nutter, appear in the media and they happen to be Muslim, people are happy to tar the entire religion of Islam with the mud of the crazy minority's disgrace and use it to justify anti-Muslim bigotry.

That simply doesn't seem to happen in the case of Judaism. I suppose that could be partly because most of their crazies live at 'home' and keep themselves busy by picking on women who don't conform or living in settlements and harassing Palestinians. In the media we see plenty of examples of normal Jewish people, and only a relatively tiny minority of rabid racists would have anything bad to say about Jewish people in general. But most of the crazy Muslims live in tribal backwaters in the middle of Bumfuck Nowhere too. So what's the difference? 'Teh Jew' doesn't cross the mind of your average, garden-variety racist in Australia at all, I'd warrant, yet in the hick rural regions where 'Teh Muslim' is held in widespread fear and loathing, people have almost as much chance of encountering a Muslim as they do a Jew, i.e. none.

The notion that women should cover up or they invite 'sin' is widespread across Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The Kate McCullochs of this world have no problem with the nutty conservatism of these religions, they have issues with the skin colour, accent and variations in dress that cause ordinary followers to stand out. The media actively perpetuates these fears, both with its biased journalism and with opinion columns designed to appeal to the dumbest common denominator. Did anyone happen to catch Kate McCulloch on 'Embedded with Sheik Hilaly' on SBS last night? She was incoherent, as might have been expected, but also scared shitless over something she knows nothing more about than what she's read in the Daily Telegraph.

Let's not even get started on when someone in a high position in one of the Christian faiths starts spouting bigoted bullshit- then the media starts treating it like there's a legitimate debate, two sides whose views ought to be given equal weight. The media are happy to mock and condemn Iran for its ridiculous stance on homosexuality, for example- why not George Pell and Peter Jensen? Why do we seem to have an inability to treat this kind of bigotry with the contempt it deserves no matter what uniform it happens to be wearing at the time?

Brad Norington media blowjob special: Brad does the Brethren

Gee, it looks like my feeling that the SMH was becoming a mouthpiece for the Exclusive Brethren might not have been far off the mark. It looks like the EB are making moves to manipulate for media coverage in their favour. Now they actually have The Australian doing free PR for them. Or perhaps it wasn't free- who knows, given the Brethren's propensity for shuffling money around behind the scenes in order to obtain their desired outcome?

Given that the blowjob by Brad Norington (a bit of a specialist in the field of media blowjobs) is such an obvious puff piece I suppose it's no surprise that not the single mention of the way the Exclusive Brethren encourage their members to break the law and defy orders made by judges when it suits their cause is located as a single-sentence afterthought right at the bottom of the article.

Says the Brethren's designated PR man, Daniel Hales:

"We're quite happy to have our beliefs questioned, ethically debated, and points of religion looked at. That's not a problem. We don't mind being criticised. We don't even mind being despised because of it.

"But once it starts to be charged that we're acting criminally, we're acting illegally, we're acting immorally, we're acting against society, then we felt that we really had to put our point of view. We felt that it wasn't fair to our members."

Oh? Setting up fake companies to channel political donations to the Liberal party isn't immoral and possibly illegal? A police investigation not having found evidence of wrongdoing up until now just means that the planning was careful and arses were adequately covered. And besides, why would there be such objection against a Senate inquiry if there was nothing to find?

Openly funding and supporting a mother who indoctrinates her kids to despise and ostracise their own father because he left the cult and then defies a judge's orders to allow the father visitation? That's not illegal or immoral? Sure the suspended jail sentences handed down to the mother and a couple of other Exclusive Brethren members were overturned on appeal for being too harsh, but that doesn't mean they didn't commit the offence in the first place.

Come back and try again when you've got a leg to stand on, Hales.

Children go to Brethren schools. They are not permitted a university education afterwards, which excludes them from careers such as medicine, the law and teaching.

Something I'd like to know- if the Exclusive Brethren don't allow their children to go to uni and become teachers, and are not allowed to associate with non-Brethren, then who are the 'teachers' in Exclusive Brethren schools? Are the schools staffed with qualified teachers? If they aren't staffed with qualified teachers, should they really be getting taxpayers' money to run those schools?

Asked why Brethren children could not attend university, Hales says they would inevitably move away if exposed to campus life.

Hmm, why would they want to move away, I wonder?

Similarly, all Brethren members are expected to marry within the group. Hales dismisses as lies that the sect endorses arranged or forced marriages, but says those who marry outside leave. Asked why, he says: "They would find it wouldn't work."

Translation:

"Our cult is already so kooky that sometimes people become terrified by it and leave. If we couldn't indoctrinate our kiddies from birth then there is no way it would survive."

As for the notion of arranged or forced marriages- I believe him when he says that the sect doesn't do it. There is such a small pool of 'talent' that a young person's choice of who to marry is inevitably limited anyway. As for those marrying outside the cult leaving, their choice to marry is in itself the death knell for their participation in the cult, because they've already realised that 'outsiders' aren't all germ-carrying, hell-bound peons to bohemian licentiousness and that it's possible to have a normal, loving relationship outside the dictates of the cult. Once an Exclusive Brethren member starts thinking for themselves, they are already lost to the cult.

Anyone suffering from a poor public image and wishing to indulge in a pleasurable and relaxing media exposure experience should call The Australian... on 1800-NAUGHTY and ask for 'Brad'.

"I hate black people... er, I mean abortion! Yeah, abortion!"

The New York Times has a piece on how the Catholic vote is split between McCain and Obama. The people who prioritise legislating forced-pregnancy (aka 'pro life') above the wellbeing of the country are obviously going to vote for John McCain. Catholics who realise that just because they follow a particular religion doesn't mean they have to force everyone else to as well, and that things like health, education and not killing millions of people by starting wars on false pretexts are quite a lot more important than stopping someone whose sexual and reproductive life is none of their business from obtaining a legal abortion, are going to vote for Obama.

Apart from the ones who are such dyed-in-the-wool racists that they are putting their usual principles aside to vote for McCain because OBAMA IS BLACK! OMG!

What cracked me up, though, is that only one of them was prepared to say it out loud:

Paul MacDonald, a retired social worker mingling over coffee after Mass at Holy Rosary, said he had voted for Mr. Kerry four years ago and Mrs. Clinton in the primary but now planned to vote for Mr. McCain because of “the life issue.”

Let's see, is this a genuine (albeit nutty) belief in the absolute sanctity of the human foetus, or a transparent attempt to veil the fact that he's not voting for Obama because Obama is black?

Hmmm.

John Kerry- pro choice

Hillary Clinton- pro choice

Barack Obama- pro choice

And we are to believe that Paul MacDonald chooses now, just a couple of months after voting for Hillary Clinton in the primaries, to start pretending to care about preventing women from having access to safe, legal abortions?

While you're at it, I have these magic beans for sale...

One parishioner ruled out voting for Mr. Obama explicitly because he is black. “Are they going to make it the Black House?” Ray McCormick asked, to embarrassed hushing from a half dozen others gathered around the rectory kitchen. (Five of the six, all lifelong Democrats who supported Mrs. Clinton in the primary, said they now lean toward Mr. McCain.)

Yeah. It's ok to think it. It's ok to allude to it in conversation with potentially like-minded peers, until it becomes evident that those peers are just as racist, upon which time it becomes acceptable dinner-party conversation. But you would never say it out loud to just anyone, let alone to the New York Times! Your pathetic bigotry will be on display to the entire country, if not the world! Shhhhh!

Homophobia trumps poverty fight for Anglican church

From the BBC:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has accused the Anglican church of allowing its "obsession" with homosexuality to come before real action on world poverty.

"God is weeping" to see such a focus on sexuality and the Church is "quite rightly" seen by many as irrelevant on the issue of poverty, he said.

[...]

However, he said he sometimes felt ashamed of his fellow Anglicans as they focussed obsessively on trying to resolve their disagreement about homosexuality while 30,000 people died each day because of poverty.

"We really will not be able to win wars against so-called terror as long as there are conditions that make people desperate, and poverty, disease and ignorance are amongst the chief culprits," he said.

Amen.

Any self-professed Christian who even bothers to spend any time on the 'issue' of homosexuality is living a lie when they profess to be a Christian. Jesus himself, for whom the religion is named, had nothing whatsoever to say on the matter. He did, however, have quite a lot to say about issues of wealth and poverty and the socially marginalised. Hypocrites that they are, the rabidly anti-gay 'Christians' simply don't give a shit.

Anti-abortion crazies march on Melbourne

Women! Know your limits!

Thousands of anti-abortion nutbags marched on the Victorian Parliament today to protest some well-overdue laws to decriminalise abortion in that state. They were supported and encouraged by Victorian Liberal MP Bernie Finn. I hope everyone in his electorate who isn't completely deranged takes note of his stance and votes accordingly at the next available opportunity:

Victorian Liberal MP Bernie Finn called on the protesters to write to their local MPs. "It's up to you to decide that the unborn are worth fighting for," he said. "And I want to know, are the unborn of Victoria worth fighting for?

What a dingbat. 'The unborn'. It sounds like some army of zombie foetuses, and Bernie is awaiting their arrival so he can recognise them as his new masters and they can rule the state. Or something. Regardless, the women whose uteruses carry those foetuses in their varying stages of development can get fucked as far as Bernie's concerned, because he's keen to make sure they have no say whatsoever in whether they choose to give birth to a baby or not. Funny how the most out-there of the political anti-abortionists seem to belong to the Liberal party. The party that was always the most keen to screw over single mothers and their living children. Those scumbags have no shame.

According to pro-choice counter-demonstrator Jason Ball, 80% of Australians are pro-choice. I suppose the other 20% are just plain deranged. Take 30-year-old mother of two Helena Lindorff, for example:

"If I listened to that crowd I wouldn't have these beautiful children. They (children) don't have a voice when they're in the womb and as human beings we have to make sure that we give them a voice."

Ms Lindorff seems to think that 'that crowd', the pro-choice demonstrators, are demonstrating for the right to forcibly abort all unborn babies, foetuses, embryos, blastocysts and zygotes, regardless of the mother's wishes. Cuckoo! No-one wants to force anyone to have an abortion, for crying out loud. All normal people want is for women to have the right to make such decisions for themselves, not have someone force a decision on them. The only people wanting to impose their decisions on anyone else are the anti-abortion brigade. The attitude of every women's-right-of-choice advocate is more along the lines of 'Don't like abortions? Don't have one!'


Meanwhile, if this deranged nutbar ever graduates from medical school, right-thinking women should take note and avoid the possibly-soon-to-be Dr Jacinta LePage like the plague.

Jacinta LePage, a student doctor, said she wanted to be a part of the day to express the concerns of some doctors, many who were against late-term abortions.

"I think to abort a baby that can live outside of the womb is murder," she said.

"I want to be an obstetrician, gynaecology doctor and I will be forced in my training to do abortions that I completely disagree with."

Dear god, they're actually going to let her near women? I pity any woman, whether she's seeking to end a pregnancy or just needing routine obstetric care, who has to go within one hundred metres of this preachy nutter.

Doctors shouldn't be allowed to proselytise if they're representing their profession, and frankly I'm not sure someone who openly declares that women should be denied a particular medical procedure, i.e. an abortion, should be trusted to make decisions regarding anyone's health. Health is clearly not the uppermost priority to this kook. Yikes.

Cult kooks badmouth Brown

Exclusive Brethren cult-leader Bruce Hales in an old family photo.

The Exclusive Brethren are getting a voice in the Sydney Morning Herald? What next?

The cult has accused Greens senator Bob Brown of, effectively, lying and including 'factual inaccuracies' in a speech to the senate urging them to conduct an inquiry into the Brethren's activities.

The Exclusive Brethren are best known for their belief that John Howard was appointed by god to be Australian Prime Minister, and that engaging in underhanded, crooked, and possibly downright criminal activities in support of Howard were justified as a means to this end.

The Greens leader suggested the inquiry should examine $10 million in government payments to five Exclusive Brethren schools throughout Australia, even though they had a total of just 2,000 students.

Wow.

Brethren schools received funding in the same way as other non-government schools, Mr Hales said.

"Church members, their businesses and schools are subject to exactly the same regulations, laws and scrutiny by government agencies, tribunals and courts as other Australian individuals, businesses and schools.

"We obey the law scrupulously."

Oh that's a laugh and a half, when on numerous occasions the cult supported and encouraged some of its members in directly flouting a judge's orders in a family law case. Not to mention the shenanigans with their possibly illegal operations to hide their efforts to direct money to the Liberal party.

The Brethren called on Senator Brown to stop vilifying the church and it members.

The sect was embroiled in controversy before last year's federal election, when it was alleged it was campaigning for then-environment minister Malcolm Turnbull in his marginal seat of Wentworth in Sydney's east.

All Bob Brown wants to do is expose the nasties, the cockroaches in this creepy religious group and their bizarre ties to the Liberal party. Revealing the truth is in no way vilification.

You vote: Parody or Batshit Insane?

Earlier, an anonymous comment was posted in response to this post on the Catholic Church's interference with peoples' right to contraception and family planning in the Philippines.

Given how crazy anti-abortionists generally are, I'm rather stuck trying to decide if this person has written a sarcastic post with a fine parody of anti-abortionist beliefs, or if the commenter is for real. Here's what they wrote:

Abortion is almost a religion on its own : it's called satanism and wichcraft (cf witch doctors, ritual sacrifice of children, etc).

Abortion is a threat to all of humanity, not just women and children. They want to kill everything through the culture of death, a deadly poison created by politicans who are are often willing and practicing executioners.

For a female to advocate abortion is a total betrayal of the human race, to the guilty mother, the murdered child and the forsaken husband.

Because of this, the female becomes the bride of Satan and releases demonic energy into the whole world.

It has in effect been revealed by practicing satanists that abortion is a required ritual in order to achieve the liberation of evil souls from the gates and shackles of hell, then fullfilling a diabolical prophecy.

Please give your opinion- for real parody, or real nutter?

Catholic Church attempts popular genocide in Philippines

What the Catholic church has done, and continues to do, in the Philippines, is a crime against humanity.

From the New York Times:

He compares the Philippines to Thailand.

In 1975 both countries had similar population sizes of 41 to 42 million. Then Bangkok launched a major family planning effort.

Now Thailand has a population of around 64 million and is the world's top exporter of rice. Meanwhile, the Philippines with a population of 90 million is the world's top importer of the grain.

Thailand had a gross annual income per capita of $7,880 in 2007, while in the Philippines it was $3,730.

"Our studies show that if the Philippines had followed the (population) growth trajectory of Thailand between 1975 and 2000 the per capita income would have been at least 22 percent higher and there would have been 5 million less poor people," said Pernia. "That is a conservative estimate."

Yet the proposed reproductive health bill will likely never see the light of day as the influential Catholic Church is staunchly opposed to artificial birth control as a violation of its religious tenets.

[...]

Couples attending compulsory family planning seminars before their weddings are often warned off using artificial methods.

"One of the women leading our workshop told us the pill had given her varicose veins, diabetes and made her deaf in one ear," said one newlywed, who declined to be named.

Catholic clerics say natural family planning methods such as abstinence when the woman is ovulating are effective.

[...]

A lack of artificial contraception means that many women literally burst into tears when their period is even one day late as the only recourse for an unplanned pregnancy is an illegal abortion or giving birth to another child they can ill afford to feed.

Without an effective birth control policy, the Philippines, already the world's 12th most populous country, is projected to have a population of over 140 million by 2040. This will put a huge strain on its creaking health system, schools and other services, and its ability to feed itself.

We Have A Winner

After a lengthy and exhaustive community consultation process, similar to the one carried out by Anna Blight for the North Bank development, we have a winner for our lolpope caption contest!

well done 'b'. Regardless of what the poll says, you are the winner.