Left Wing

Should the Church of England appoint women bishops? - vaginal discrimination?

nobody@vox.com(ed) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:53:52 -0700

Should the Church of England appoint women bishops? - vaginal discrimination?

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/threa...

The Church of England's General Synod will debate the issue of women bishops on Saturday. Can the Church unite over this and other controversial issues?The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, will lead a debate on Saturday on a report outlining the options open to the Church of England in proceeding with women bishops. Traditionalists want the legal right to opt out of the supervision of a woman bishop, and into the care of a male alternative. Last week conservative Anglicans agreed to create a global network to combat modern trends like the ordination of gay clergy.Are you an Anglican? How do you feel about the ordination of women bishops? Is the Communion heading for a split over controversial issues – such as the appointment of women bishops and gay vicars?

Let's put it another way - should the Church of England appoint bishops without penises?

...which makes me immediately wonder what the relevance of what's between my legs is to the Word of God.

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Mac vs Win vs You

nobody@vox.com(ed) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:51:05 -0700

There is no doubt that windows is quite the dodgy software. I've been using it since win95 through to winXP and am hesitant to fork out money for what will certainly be the latest DBI version of Vista (dodgy-but-improved). But one of the reasons why it is such a 'crap' OS compared to, say, MacOS - according to reports - is that Mac is competing with Windows whilst Windows is competing with previous versions of itself.

Here is where I apply what I call, 'the principle of relative relief', to understand this. In other words, so long as what we experience is better than what we are used to, we can potentially mistake it for 'good' simply because it provides us with greater relief than what we are accustomed to - that's why political systems, cultures, the human condition, etc, can remain is such a sorry state year after year.

But hey, who cares, that's capitalism for you - selling screwed up goods so that we can sell you upgrades for the future and depend on the Principle of Relative Relief to help the fat bast*rds rake it in. Anyway, I'm waiting for a Win version of the MacOS that enables software written for the windows environment to be used within a MacOS environment. All that Mac has to do is to write up a software compatible with software written for windows. Of course that's not going to happen anytime soon as the fangirls and boys waving flags under the loins of each company are too busy forking out money to maintain either camp without pushing for an amalgamative strategy. So long as Mac can keep their software attached to the hip of their hardware, they can rake in money for their hardware as well. That's 'progress' for you.

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Former U.S. senator Jesse Helms dies - Nope, can't even dredge up the slightest hint of a tear...

nobody@vox.com(paikea) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:14:40 -0700

Former U.S. senator Jesse Helms dies; unyielding Southerner relied on race-baiting campaign tactics

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-hel...

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-helms5-2008jul05,0,2715625,full.story From the Los Angeles Times Former U.S. senator Jesse Helms dies; unyielding Southerner relied on race-baiting campaign tactics The five-term senator from North Carolina dies of natural causes at 86. He abandoned the Democratic Party as it embraced civil rights and used senatorial privilege to champion his conservative causes. By Johanna Neuman Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 9:11 AM PDT, July 4, 2008 WASHINGTON -- Jesse Helms, the former U.S. senator from North Carolina who for half a century infuriated liberals with his race-baiting campaign tactics and presidents of both parties with his use of senatorial privilege, died today. He was 86. Helms, who won election to the Senate five times before retiring in 2003, died in Raleigh, N.C., of natural causes, his former chief of staff, Jimmy Broughton, told the Associated Press. A registered Democrat in the years before he ran for the Senate in 1972, Helms was not the only Southerner of his generation to defect to the GOP after his party championed the cause of civil rights and, as he put it, "veered so far to the left nationally." Nor was he, at his death, the only politician defending the traditional values of a rural South that had long since been suburbanized. But Helms will be remembered as different from his contemporaries in that he was unyielding on issues that were important to him. Unlike other conservatives, such as Mississippi's Sen. Trent Lott or Georgia's former Rep. Newt Gingrich, who fought for their causes then found ways to reach accord with Democrats, Helms never compromised. And unlike other symbols of segregation -- such as Alabama's Gov. George C. Wallace and South Carolina's longtime Sen. Strom Thurmond, who recanted their opposition to racial integration -- Helms held firm. He rarely reached out to black voters, who in the 2000 census comprised nearly 25% of North Carolina's population. The key to ...

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The solar panel subsidy

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:21:38 -0700

Solar cells

I have just been reading a petition for the removal of the means test for a Solar Subsidy when you put Solar panels on the roof of your house. It makes interesting reading and some of the additional comments make a mockery of supposed environmentally aware attitude of the folk who left them.

Firstly, I can see where the Government is coming from here. Assuming their figures are correct, and I’m happy to see them challenged, it offers a better outcome than subsidising the whole industry. Folk with the means to afford the panels (those earning over $100k by Government reckoning), should be happy to do their bit rather than ask the Government to help them be responsible.

The subsidy is designed to bring more folk into market. Those not quite rich enough to be able to afford the panels. If people of wealth drop out simply because we, the Tax Payers, won’t give them money, then the environment must be of little concern to them. I’d call that cutting off your nose to spite your face. “Yes, the environment has gone down the toilet but I gave Rudd a bloody nose.”

With the changes we are facing in response to Global Warming, people had better start thinking about how they can play THEIR part. It’s a cop out to expect the Government to carry your can for you. Especially if you have the ability to pay your own way.

I’m happy to concede that some folk on the subsidy margin are not going to be able to afford it, but I would rather see them raise the threshold to $150k or perhaps higher, than waste money on folk who will already do the right thing. That way we get the highest possible number of participants.

In all the complaining I don’t see too many asking for a threshold increase which seems to me to be the more thoughtful approach.

There is a long way to go on addressing Global Warming and of course it’s going to cost. Campaigns suggesting everything can be paid for out of the Magic Pudding of Government revenue are simply unrealistic.

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Raising our Daughters

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:35:26 -0700

Women's Lib was front and center in the Media when I was a lad. It was the time of Germain Greer's Female Eunuch and a ground swell of interest arose supporting the girls getting a “fair go”.

In those days the girls generally got lower wages for performing the same job and it wasn't until Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister that this anomaly was addressed. Unfortunately this "fair go" didn't extend down to the poor piece workers but at least the top end got a better deal.

These days the fire seems to have gone out of the equal rights argument with most folk happy to just play along but I'm worried things have actually gone backwards rather than simply marking time. I base observation on

- wait for it

- the Big Brother TV program.

Now before you flick to more mainstream comedy hear me out. Love it or loath it, Big Brother does give an insight into how some of our kids think. Regardless of the actual players in the show being representative or not, the show drops out players based on the voting audience. If the pundits are to believed, this is predominantly teenage girls.

Now take a look at who gets the boot. Every year it follows a path of the guys getting their heads together and dominating the game until the Producers modify the rules to evict the worse ones. Early on, the more self assured girls get dumped out and the dizzy ones (often bottle blondes) sail through.

I don't know about your daughters, but the McCarthy girls have been raised to reject the 2nd class citizen role. Dominant males are regarded with the derision they deserve. These blokes are generally not the brightest chaps you are ever going to meet too, so why would you allow them to call the shots? My daughters are smarter than them anyway so by my lights, these mental pygmies should be taking orders not giving them.

Maybe the pundits have it wrong. Maybe the votes are coming from some good old fashioned mothers who cling to the "male as head of the household" dogma. Either way, it's a pretty poor situation whoever is doing the voting and probably time for the Bra Burners to arc up and stop the girls back sliding.

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Clearly not ready to govern

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:05:42 -0700

Malcolm Turnbull in the Wings

The desperate situation of the Libs continues despite a small blip in Kevin 07's popularity last week. Kevin down to something like 63% while young Brendan was up to somewhere around 14%. If that’s the good news I'd hate to see a bad news day for Dr Nelson.

I believe the cause of the change was the petrol tax attack. Initially I wondered how the Voters might react to the Lib campaign against the tax on petrol. I don't blame them for trying to win some support on the matter, it looked like easy points, but happily it has hardly had a stunning result even though it appealed to our natural greediness.

I think the result is a reflection of why the Libs lost power last time around and their mishandling of life in Opposition.

Last Election is was bleeding obvious that the Libs had no idea how to deal with Global Warming. For years Howard was a denier of the concept and when he finally realised the Voters were concerned, he had Ministers like Nick Minchin still stuck in the original rut. It also destroyed their claim to be economic masterminds too. If you can't come up with ideas in times of change then you really aren't up to the job and if you can't understand that the changes are going to impact the Economy then you really have lost the plot.

On top of not having any idea of a plan for the future economy, they have been getting strident over things of very little consequence. Kevin's trip to Japan, our requirement to suck up to America by staying in Iraq, even our reaction to Robert Mugabe. Silly things that have no interest to the everyday voter. It makes the Opposition look like folk who have to disagree with everything as a matter of principal. Regardless of the merits of the case.

Labor actually learned about the self-defeating process of always taking the opposite view in Victoria. They had to move John Brumby from the position of Opposition Leader precisely because he came over too negative. Steve Bracks took over and shocked Jeff Kennett at the very next Election. Kevin 07 showed he had learned the lesson when he took over. He earned the label "Me too" by agreeing with some Howard ideas that he actually agreed with.

It's quite amazing to see the party that applied wedge politics so successfully has forgotten the rules so quickly, especially considering quite a number of the original crew of the good ship Lost Cause are still warming the Opposition benches. Both Brendan Nelson and Malcolm should both be aware of how to play the game but they seem distracted by their battles.

It should make the next Federal Election a pretty easy for Labor come election time. Unless they come up with some solutions to changing the economy why would anyone even think about putting them back in power? Kevin 07 won by being an ideas man. No one in Opposition can lay claim to that title. Even Malcolm Turnball is bereft of ideas.

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Really? Oh no, I just couldn't believe Rupert's stooges would be guilty of this. Oh well, maybe...

nobody@vox.com(Snowy) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:15:03 -0700

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=591496

Fox News caught altering rivals' photos

17:00 AEST Thu Jul 3 2008

2 hours 8 minutes ago

New York Times editor Steven Reddicliffe (original on left).

By ninemsn staff

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New York Times writer Jacques Steinberg (original on left).

The return of wowsers

nobody@vox.com(petermcc) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:43:42 -0700

Beer

As much as I am enjoying the intelligent style of Kevin 07, I must admit to a bit of nervousness when I see the blooming of wowserism of late. Now for those of you overseas I guess I had better explain this excellent piece of Aussie slang. A more recent term that has evolved recently is Fun Police but the original term generally was applied to folk with an inclination towards temperance coupled with the idea that everyone else should be forced to follow their non-drinker lifestyle.

As you can imagine, these busybodies were treated to a good deal of derision by the general populace in the thirsty climate of Oz but persistence they have in spades. Once they realised they couldn't convince folk with the assistance of their Invisible Friend, they resorted to trying to force a change via political pressure.

These things go through cycles of course. We have had anti grog movements before and can expect more over the coming decades, but we still have to deal with these attitudes each time they pop up.

I guess my main complaint is these folk always opt for making it illegal to do something, then start jailing folk when the inevitable happens. The current "war" on alcohol is a case in point. The problem is underage kids getting drunk often. Some of the solutions are bizarre, doomed to failure and encouraging folk to be comfortable with breaking the law.

Worst suggestion so far has to be raising the drinking age to 21. It currently stands at 18 Australia wide. Firstly, how does stopping a 20 year old drinking stop underage kids from breaking the law? The youngsters are already breaking the law. Do they think they will stop if only older folk can drink? All this rule change will produce is a bigger pool of kids breaking the law.

Lately we have had lots of new laws and increases in penalties when something is not deterring bad behavior. This is one of my pet hates. A law is introduced, people ignore it, hardly anyone is prosecuted then they crank up the penalty. Another case in point. Speed limits through road works. I obey these limits but plenty of folk don’t. I never see anyone booked for breaching the limit and I think some folk don't bother because so many other folk ignore them. The Government solution was to bring in hoon laws and impound vehicles. My solution would have been to set up speed cameras and hit the hip pocket.

The result of the new rules is ignorant drivers are being hit with a severe penalty that was supposed to just get the real dummies off the road. On top of that we have another law that weakens the moral authority of the government. And we weaken the social stigma of being classified as a hoon.

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Super Amigos

nobody@vox.com(Dirty Penguin) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:11:58 -0700

Super Amigos Trailer

Professional wrestlers with masks who dedicate their lives to fighting social injustice.

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ICH today

nobody@vox.com(Snowy) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:33:09 -0700

'Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime": Ernest Hemingway

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"How many does it take to metamorphose wickedness into righteousness? One man must not kill. If he does, it is murder.... But a state or nation may kill as many as they please, and it is not murder. It is just, necessary, commendable, and right. Only get people enough to agree to it, and the butchery of myriads of human beings is perfectly innocent. But how many does it take?": Adin Ballou, The Non-Resistant, 5 February 1845

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"There have been periods of history in which episodes of terrible violence occurred but for which the word violence was never used.... Violence is shrouded in justifying myths that lend it moral legitimacy, and these myths for the most part kept people from recognizing the violence for what it was. The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment thought of their act as violence; rather they thought of it as an act of divinely mandated righteousness. The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever committed': ~Gil Bailie

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"Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace": Charles Sumner

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