DesDownunder
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Posts posted by DesDownunder
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How do let it be known that the sarcasm is itself, sarcasm?
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Actually, the Indian voice is unusually decipherable. They usually speak much faster and in a higher pitched tone.
The Aussie presents no difficulties for us, but I do understand the difficulties for less advanced cultures. (sarcasm)
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Terrifies, is the better word for it. I have brought the article to the attention of the Labor party.
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You're a polyglot nation, aren't you?
C
I am fluent in English, American and Australian, with a smattering of foul and fowl language which means I often say, "Polly wants a cracker."
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Santa Claus or Father Christmas are used in Australia.
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I think there is value in liberating minds from religion by disassociating sex, including masturbation, from guilt.
There is absolutely no reason why anyone should feel guilty about a perfectly normal bodily function such as masturbation.
Indeed, I think it should be a celebration if not daily, then at least as the need arises to thwart religious demands to feel guilt about pleasure.
On Professor Dawkins, there is certainly a move afoot amongst the believers to criticize his objections to myth as truth. It is fascinating, if not horrifying, to watch irrational reaction to the scientific method of investigation of life.
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Great story, beautifully told and may I say it would make a wonderful 1940's style movie, in flashback from the present.
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This young man explains the Davis Christian persecution argument as being without merit. It doesn't hurt that his good looks are matched by his capacity to think logically,.
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Enlarge to full screen for best viewing
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He looks like Damien to me (from The Omen.)
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My homage to Bi Janus' poem is a little mainstream, but it brings to mind many of the protest songs from another era that is, perhaps, not so far removed from the tears of the one we are living through.
Warning: the images are confronting:
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It's like the musical HAIR had never existed.
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Unfortunately too much counselling that is being offered to the public in one form or another is coming from parties who are using it as a vehicle to promote religious ideas. This is not happening only in the USA but also in within the EU.
And in Australia, too.
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Great, just great.
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I agree with your opinion, Cole.
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As a member of the original Liberal Party here in the UK, I find it very strange and somewhat confusing that a party that calls itself Liberal can be conservative and right wing.
It dates back to the founder of the Aussie Liberal Party, Robert Menzies, who set the conservative direction of the party for more years than it should have. They usually have to form a coalition in order to govern, with the more extreme right wing, National Party (Country). The Liberals are all about small government and conservative values, hiding behind claims of individuality, much like the American Republicans. Needless to say they are not the friends of workers or unions.
The Liberal term is much abused in as much as it represents Menzies' rule of fear that communism would take over if the Liberals were defeated at the polls. As a result we have a very conservative attitude in our parliament from all but the most progressive members when they dare to speak out.
In this regard "liberal" means exactly the opposite to the actual definition of the word, and is merely a substitute for Tory.
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Yes I'm happy to see the village idiot has been replaced, but we still have a conservative right wing government.
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Is there no end to the religious lunacy? Evidently, not, but I like the idea that along with the 72 virgins, the recipients also get 72 mothers-in-law.
As for the 28 boys, they are probably regarded as being liberated for the sake of their eternal life, or some such twisted notion.
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From the article at the link above:
"She believes the upright penis broke off after the discovery of the tomb, despite speculation that it was stolen."
Perhaps someone bit off more than they could chew.
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We should put tracer chip on Tracy so we know where she is.
Good to see you posting, Tracy.
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I'm at a loss to describe the nature and extent of my disgust.
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The need for social service would be a practical consideration but isn't a state pension available whether you are married or not?
Yes, the pension is available whether married or not, but If social services (known as Centrelink in Australia) judge you to be in a de facto relationship, or if you are married, then they pay a reduced rate of pension on the grounds that two people living together in a relationship don't need as much money as two people living alone. I actually wrote this up as a warning when they did this for same sex couples a few years ago.
Whilst I might be sympathetic to not needing to marry, I think I might be much more aggressive in my attitude towards fighting for marriage equality, for those who want it. I certainly find it necessary to be loud and proud about the human rights equality aspect.
It's the anti-authoritarian in me that mistrusts politicians and our present staid Prime Minister Abbott seems intent on sidestepping the same sex marriage issue to the point of never allowing it to happen in Australia.
Will my partner and I ever get married?
If there is a political or a financial benefit then yes I guess we would drop into the registrar of marriages and sign the application.
We might do it just to annoy the bigots.
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Equality means just that, not more for some and less for others. The opportunity to marry, to choose to marry must be available for all.
Love has everything to do with whom you choose to share your life. You don't have to marry them, but here in Australia our social services assign a de facto status to my long, very long, relationship with my male partner - even though we cannot marry each other- yet. We don't get a choice if we want to claim our pension. And we can't afford to live without that pension. As long as we wish to live in this society we need that pension
As a lawyer friend pointed out to me, all the benefits and contractual agreements that accompany a marriage contract would be a legal nightmare if he had to try to cover everything that a civil marriage contract already covers under federal and state laws.
On your point regarding assimilation into the mainstream of the culture, acceptance to enjoy the same status as heterosexuals is the very objective of recognising LGBTQ rights as human rights. However, the recognition of human rights entails the right to live outside the boundaries of conformity. Indeed, conformity has always been the tool of totalitarian governments, not to mention, religions.
The recognition of the autonomous, independent individual who rejects that conformity as the hallmark of our greatest thinkers, is what drags us from ignorance into the light of reason. Marriage being available to all and not just some is not going to extend conformity, but if it is available to one group, it cannot be denied to others. Assimilation into a culture is something we do, that we permit ourselves to do because we want to participate in that culture. Or maybe we want to offer it new and wondrous directions with insights and discoveries yet to be found by those who reject conformity, whilst still living in our midst. Indeed, I think this kind of rebellion against authority is what gave us our freedom from being imprisoned in our countries, and will eventually spread to those countries who still persecute people because of whom they love.
It is also, too much to think that we can determine just how relationships will develop in the future. At the moment we have marriage as a commitment of two people to each other. This happens amongst primates and they like the sense of security it affords their love for each other.
Will it last? Obviously, not. "All things must pass."
Ultimately, we cannot tell others how to live their lives. We can however, agree to treating them equally under the laws of our society. That means they must have the right to marry each other if they so desire.
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School needs an education
in The Raccoon's Den
Posted
Ever since I screamed at my mother and the barber, when I was very young, I have to say I regard anyone's hair as sovereign territory, never to be the subject of violation by other people's demands to conform to their ideas of what is appropriate or acceptable. In other words I regard the individual's hair style, or lack of it, as a human right pertaining to freedom of expression.
Even so, cultural influences will persuade each of us to investigate particular styles at different times of our lives.
However, authoritarian, fascist, demands to conform must be protested against, even when, especially when, resistance is futile.
Anyone from the late 1960's knows that Hair is sacrosanct.