Howdy y'all and welcome to the blog...and it's a non-stop shenaniganfest from our illustrious leaders as Mt Gambier City Council steps briefly out of the 1960s...into the 1970s...whilst Prime Minister Tony Abbott does his level best to drag the rest of Australia back to the 1950s...(so where, or rather when, are we now-Ed)...Friday 13th 2013...
Helping the Little Ladies: realise their place is in the home looking after the children, and getting dinner ready for their husband, who has to be a man...(cos' you see the problem with unemployment is all those women not maintaining a home for their 'bread winner' and taking up valuable jobs that a man could and should have-Ed)...but what about secretaries and nurses and stuff?...(oh well, yes, that's women's work-Ed)...
Obviously I'm being incredibly facetious about the Liberal party announcement that they will not honour pay rises for Child Care Workers granted shortly before the September 2013 election...and I know there's an argument to be made sometimes about 'pork-barrelling/bribing/whatevs' certain sectors, groups, electorates, or even suburbs prior to elections, but I understand that these pay rises were/are well over due and hardly excessive.
This looks like an ideological 'slap-down' that will have a massive negative effect on the provision of official Child Care services as people decide...(are forced to concede-Ed)...quite...that it's no longer a career worth pursuing, and will inevitably lead to the creation of umpteen 'unregistered' home based child minding/care/sitting groups operating without regulation or oversight...(so it's all good news then?-Ed).
Beyond that, it appears to be part of the broader sub-text of heavily opinionated fundamentalist Christian values and 1950's gender roles that the intensely closeted Liberal Party are clearly committed to foisting onto Australia...(I mean, why would women want, indeed why do they need careers when they could be looking after their children and keeping a tidy home and getting dinner ready for their hard working man-Ed)...sarcasm?...(barely disguised contempt actually-Ed)...fair enough.
And thank goodness we've got the Christians - the Catholics and the Lutherans and the Anglicans - and all those other fine upstanding gentlemen to tell us how to run our lives, how we should think, how we should live, who we can and cannot love, and how we will and won't die...it's just a little bit unfortunate about all that institutionalised child rape and/or other abuses, and systemic official Church cover-ups of those abuses...thank goodness we've got the Royal Commission to sort that out...(sarcasm?-Ed)...not quite...more like abject loathing to be read through gritted teeth.
Coupled with the High Court ruling that the Australian Capital Territories 'Gay Marriage' laws are unconstitutional and/or conflict with the Federal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman...(to be consummated no doubt in the Missionary Position and then only for the purposes of procreation-Ed)...indeed...thank goodness that we have sensible White Catholic Men running the show now...none of this ridiculous respect or equality or basic compassion for your fellow human being...
And if you think I'm being overly critical, just tune into some of the extraordinary admissions and/or discussions coming out of the latest Royal Commission hearings; the simpering, empty 'mia culpa's; and even worse, the continuing denials and attempts to defer responsibility...I know I'm not the only person who finds it incredulous in the extreme that the Catholic's lawyer opened with a quote about "bring unto me the little children", but can't provide the Commission with an actual copy of what 'Towards Healing' actually is, eg, a mission statement, guidelines, etc.
And I don't know which bishop it was (and I really don't give a damn) blathering about 'attitudes of the time' and 'distinguishing between the needs of the victim and the Church, because we were focused on Pastoral care', and nobody's kept proper records of anything...and then it descends into a pedantic exchange about 'the Church as an entity is separate to the individuals and no-one can be held responsible for some-one elses mistakes'...
But the truly sickening thing about the Catholic's 'testimony' is that they continue to deny all the realities that they have worked so hard to cover-up and suppress, eg, 'Toward Healing' has been purely about gathering information and then locking it away with 'Confidentiality Clauses' whilst dolling out money to buy that silence...followed by yet more empty apologies for this carefully orchestrated bastardry.
They have knowingly moved paedophiles from diocese to diocese, attacked those who speak out, cover-up, lie, and deny...until held to account in the public eye, and then it's all pathetic 'oh gee yeah that wasn't good was it' and 'oh gee whiz we didn't realise', etc, etc...it makes me sick to my stomach.
Sitting Pretty: But to their credit, the Liberals have worked hard to find a place for women in Parliament, and that place appears to be on TV...and I know that Labor used to do it as well, but has anyone else noticed that during 'Parliament Question Time' as televised on ABC TV that in the cropped shot of the government member at the microphone, nearly all of the members sitting behind them are women...(I had-Ed)...thankyou, I know you have, you're the one who pointed it out to me...(well I find it quite incredulous that with only a handful of Liberal women in Parliament, that nearly all of them are sitting right in shot, giving the impression that there's lots of them-Ed)...
Are you suggesting it's a deliberate manipulation to convey a false image and therefore a deliberate deceit?...(exactly...you disagree do you?-Ed)...no, no, fair point...and I'm not casting nasturtiums about the 'attractiveness' of female members with 'Sitting Pretty' other than to state that there are some very unattractive men in Parliament...(thank heaven we're all so attractive here at TMGI-Ed)...speak for yourself...but seriously, it's hardly coincidence that with only a handful of women in the parliamentary Liberal party they all happen to find themselves 'framing' any TV footage.
So, no money for lower income workers in the Child Care sector, and you gays are third class people...what an enlightened society we live in...(yay-Ed)...
And good ol' Mt Gambier City Council have momentarily lurched out of the 1960s in deciding to fly the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders flags in Council Chambers...(only 30 something years after every other Council in the land-Ed)...one musn't rush into these things...(musn't one?-Ed)...no, one musn't.
As Explained To Me: and pardon my ignorance in that I note that there are separate Aboriginal flags and Torres Straight Islander flags, but I'm not sure how Council will address this in Chambers...I had thought that the Aboriginal flag (Black/Red with a Yellow centre) could be used as a collective flag, but the Torres Straight Islands are considered a separate nation with their own flag.
At this point I'd like to have something witty and insightful to say, but I'm tired, angry, and deeply, deeply concerned for where we are as a Nation...and even more concerned with where we are clearly heading.
Tomorrow: Have A Very Lutheran Christmas
There'll be turkey, puddin', and the ever present steaming pile of crass hypocrisy...and the insidiously complicit behaviour between Council, who all know that the Lutherans are covering-up the gross abuse of children at St Martins School, and that pack of sanctimoniously self-important Christian folk, the Lutherans themselves.
I am Nick Fletcher and I am not a happy camper...and this is my blog...cheers and laters.
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