Bleurgh. I’m sick (nasty cold, not disco flu as some would have you believe) and stressed (big site goes live on Thursday, and I have to give a half hour paper I haven’t yet written on the site I haven’t yet completed at a seminar on ceramics and glass).
So no news, because it’ll just make me grumpy. Instead, hug a candle today.
Monthly Archives: November 2004
“A two-headed tortoise has come out of its shell in Dorset to find itself in the media spotlight.” (BBC)
I hope that we can make plans for passionate butt sex.
Leave it to Bush
Oh, the irony. An article about a famous swimmer says: “He spoke about his desire to get married and have children, contradicting persistent rumours he is gay.” There’s no logical reason why that’s a contradiction, except that he’s Australian. Citizen of a country moving back into the repressed, oppressive past as quickly as it can.
“John Howard has supported a parliamentary debate on abortion as conservative MPs push for a public inquiry into the number and timing of terminations.” (n.c.a)
vs.
“Abortion row ‘manufactured’
The Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) has accused Federal Government ministers and Governor-General Michael Jeffery of manufacturing a crisis over abortion.
Spokeswoman Eva Cox said … there was no need for a major inquiry into abortions because statistics showed the number of terminations was stable or slowly falling.
“Ministers, the Governor-General and others are manufacturing a crisis about abortion to promote their own moral views,” Ms Cox said.
“The current highly-misogynist dialogue about women who make casual decisions and ‘abort for convenience’ is an insult to many of the women who have considered this difficult decision.”” (n.c.a)
I don’t know how much worse this can get. This photo actually made me feel sick. I’m really ashamed of being Australian.
“AUSTRALIAN soldiers dressed as Ku Klux Klan members to intimidate young
black recruits just weeks before they were sent overseas to fight in the
name of freedom.” (n.c.a)
I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that it was released today, Remembrance Day, or not, as the photo was taken in 2000 and originally investigated in 2003.
Up and down. On the one hand, www.sorryeverybody.com does actually make me feel better, and www.fuckthesouth.com is beautifully catharthic, but this brings me back into despair:
“Some pharmacists, however, disagree and refuse on moral grounds to fill prescriptions for contraceptives. And states from Rhode Island to Washington have proposed laws that would protect such decisions.
…
The American Pharmacists Association, with 50,000 members, has a policy that says druggists can refuse to fill prescriptions if they object on moral grounds, but they must make arrangements so a patient can still get the pills. Yet some pharmacists have refused to hand the prescription to another druggist to fill.”
Incredibly cheesy now, but probably fairly ground-breaking (see what I did there?) back in the day, it’s the Ultimate Tour of Highgate Ceremony.
“Wives are to blame for violent husbands. Condoms don’t work, and Aids is ‘a pathology of the spirit’. Has the Pope’s view of sex and gender brought the church to its knees?” (Sunday Times)
The Pope’s view of sex and gender caused my mother and probably millions of women like her to leave the Catholic church after a lifetime devoted to it, so I’d say yes. I can’t wait until the evil bastard dies and is confronted by a hell where he’s taunted by the millions of people his stance against contraception has affected. (Hopefully they won’t put someone worse in his place when he dies).