Saturday, February 13, 2016

There's just time to bang the bigoted reptile drum one more time ...


But enough of politics and the notion of the pond taking a short break, because the whole world is waiting on the cabinet shuffle of the deck chairs on the Maltanic.

How Malware must be pleased that he has Bill Shorten to save him, and yes, the pond is staying tucked safely inside this day in bed, for fear of stumbling across a Shortenista in the streets, on the way to the town hall ...

If Bill turns up on the TV, the pond can be relied upon to reach for the remote, but strangely, the pond gazed in awe last night at The Drum, transfixed like a wedding guest in company of an ancient mariner ...

Now Polonius has prattled in his usual ineffable way about The Drum ...


Well the goose would say that, wouldn't he? If it isn't B A Santamaria, it shouldn't be on the telly. Oh unless it's a doc about Ming the Merciless ...

Ah, the fine, almost lost art of how to be disagreeable on almost everything. Polonius must be in a pique about not being invited to pontificate, or better still, be the host of the show every day of the week.

But no, the pond was startled by the way The Drum seemed to have just discovered the angry Sydney Anglicans, who have transfixed the pond for years ...

It seems that the angry Sydney Anglicans are in the business of sending "mixed messages to young girls", though how the local equivalent to Daesh might be said to be "mixed" completely mystified the pond ...

Wouldn't "straight out bigoted messages to young girls" be more accurate?

Anyhoo, it didn't take long to dig out the offending text, what there was of it, because people discreetly didn't keep a transcript ...


And so on and on, and you can discover the full story at the ABC here.

Naturally the pond was alarmed that some sensible people were also quoted in the story ...

The Reverend Jeannette McHugh said the Archbishop's words were consistent with the fact that "the diocese of Sydney stringently upholds the teaching of male headship, which limits women from roles of leadership within the church and the home, whereby the male is the 'head' of the household and his wife is to 'complement' him his role". 
 "Alarmingly, many men and women in the Sydney diocese believe this is the true interpretation of biblical texts written nearly 2,000 years ago, despite our education systems, the corporate sector, all tiers of government, the defence forces and sporting world increasing their dedication to initiatives that establish great equality and fairness to women," she added.

Well yes Ms McHugh, but if you can't believe in talking snakes and Adam's rib and the garden of eden and submission and silence in the complimentary Calvinist church (free misogyny served in a cold platter each week), what's the point of it all?

How would the pond fill its weekly dose of humour?

Even worse, some people counselled disbelief ...


Outrageous, shocking stuff. If this sort of idle chatter goes on, the angry Sydney Anglicans will be held up to universal mockery, and the next thing you know, the pond won't be able to scribble about the way a real Adam set up the real deal for women way back in garden of eden days because it's all the fault of the shameless hussies ... always ready to fall for a talking snake when all that's needed is that they worship Bazza's one-eyed trouser snake.

Oh dear, the pond feels a spurt of vulgarity coming on, so naturally the pond turned for relief to the reptiles of Oz ...

And what do you know, the lesser Shanahan, the one who should submit and sit in silence, was up off the pew and sounding the alarums ...


Now the pond was heartened to see that, along with the usual reptile alarums, there was reassurance that it was a good time to go searching the intertubes to score a fuck ...


Phew, thanks Bettina, that's high on the pond's 'need to know' list, but back to that stuff about sexual politics causing waves ... and a dangerous cultural push that might see the entire nation go gay, and then where would the sheep breeding programs of the Mallee be?

The pond wondered if it might have anything to do with this little note in The Weekly Beast here...


Happy days (and if you go to the Graudian, you can read there about poor old Kristin Davis, in a bit of television the pond accidentally witnessed while sitting in a waiting room - is there enough serendipity and astonishment in the world or what?)

What a tremendously agile and innovative rag Boris is now running ...

While Bettina explains how to score a fuck, here was Natasha doing her bit for the business plan and for consternation and concern ...


There's a lot more for those who know how to google text, but much as the pond loved it, the pond has to interrupt this service, because in shaggy dog style we started talking original Shanahan and her refusal to submit and be silent.

Well it would be wrong to leave her like a dry stick flapping in the breeze.

The pond knows that the one thing that's certain is that when the reptiles of Oz get into crusader mode, their commentariat will be encouraged to scribble endlessly about the things that shock and enrage the ageing lads in their masculinist bunker ...

Sure enough ...


Oh what fun, to chortle and clap hands with glee about invisible gays. So many giggles ...

But wait, the Christians haven't got into it yet ... there should be Christians ... oh wait, don't worry, the Christians are here ...


Indeed, indeed. If Christians can't bully the shit out of gays, what's the world coming to?

What we need is a Daesh-led 'bully the gays' program ... that'll sort the wretches out ...

As for the young students today?

The pond dearly hopes they can look past the angry Sydney Anglicans and the Shanahans and the fundamentalist Christians and reach a more tolerant world ... though it won't be easy, because the Daesh of the heart, mind and spirit lurks everywhere ...

Was it only a coincidence that the pond finally caught up with episode eight of Simon Sharma's history of Britain, featuring the Calvinist Puritans and rioting Anglicans and the dictator Oliver Cromwell? Centuries later ...

And now, if the pond might pause for a song, in memory of a gay high school student in Tamworth who long ago blew himself away ...




14 comments:

  1. According to Shanahan, we must try and stop children being 'prematurely sexualised' but we must let nothing stand in the way of their being 'genderised'.

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    Replies
    1. Let's just try to stop minors being prematurely exposed to any and all indoctrinating religionist "thinking" - something like the restrictions on sex, tobacco, and alcohol, and for much the same reasons.

      Jesuits, to pick one bunch of religionists, have a saying: give them the boy until he's seven and they'll show you the man. Paedophiles, many of whom are religionist, have a saying: sex before eight or it's too late.... so it goes.

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  2. Poor Bill Shorten. If he was a conservative leader opposing a Labor government that had lost its first-term Prime Minister, Treasurer and high-profile Speaker after only two years, as well as a number of ministers, and forced the government to abandon a major taxation policy dedicated to the welfare of its key constituency, he'd be considered a political genius.

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    Replies
    1. Irony? Anon, I have to ask do you believe liblab's Babbling Snookems was responsible for any of that, or were the COALition factions?

      Delete
    2. Abbott was given full credit for tearing down the last Labor government despite the presence of Kevin Rudd.

      Delete
  3. If you are thinking of going to heaven Dorothy, just remember it's full of Christians.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooh, plenty of humour there then, and raisins, lovely raisins, seventy-two each I hear.

      Dorothy, if you are taking your leave, thanks so much for what you've given.

      Delete
    2. Not if you believe Rowan Atkinson, JC, according to him it's full of Judaists.

      But 72 white raisins, ah yes, that's definitely a reward worth being martyred for.

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    3. Sorry to disappoint you, but it's 72 vergers.

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  4. I've heard that Kissinger was so outraged by Ruddock's appointment as special envoy for human rights, he returned his Nobel Peace Prize.
    I think the appropriate acknowledgment for Ruddock's role in human Rights is the Nuremberg Medal for Peace and Discord.

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  5. DP, thanks for the Patty Griffin intro. She do mostly sound like both kinds of wailing they got in the Tamworth bible 'n babble belt. I don't hold a whole lotta love for that bifurcatin sound. I usually fly over. I've landed there once or twice, well, not there exactly, more like I connected with John Williamson at Woodford one trip but. Patty Griffin grew up in Old Town, Maine... she may grow on me though I don't know about way down inside. Another town another Tamworth, and other "Tonys"...

    I first heard Griffin perform “Tony” at Somerville Theater, just outside of Boston, during the year before Flaming Red was released. The concert was actually introduced by the same Tony who had inspired her to write the song. She performed it solo, with only her voice and her acoustic guitar. Just after the portion of the song that’s quoted above, Tony points a gun at himself during the chorus, and then there’s a long breakdown of drums and guitars on the album version of the song.

    But in this solo live rendition, which was my introduction to the song, Griffin ripped a string right out of her guitar with a painful metallic screech, right at the same point in the song when Tony pulls the trigger. The ripped-out guitar string was left dangling from Griffin’s guitar as she played out the remainder of the song. The effect was precise, intense, and staggering. I’d never seen a musician do something like that on stage before, and I’ve never seen anything like it since. That moment remains one of my most indelible memories ever from a live concert. It’s the same moment when I was realized that the world would soon know Patty Griffin’s name.

    Back when Griffin wrote “Tony” in the mid-’90s, one-third of teenage suicides were attributed to being harassed at school for reasons related to the student’s perceived sexual identity. Almost fifteen years later, that statistic has become somewhat less severe, thankfully, and I can only hope that Patty’s direct, heartbreaking song has helped inspire that change, even in a small way.

    “Change,” track four on the album (Flaming Red), continues with the theme of red-hot and sometimes devastating life alterations, this time in the context of a semi-abusive relationship...


    Flaming Red
    PATTY GRIFFIN LYRICS "Tony"
    It Gets Better Tony - Patty Griffin.wmv
    Patty Griffin - Tony (Live In The X Lounge)

    Patty Griffin and Robert Plant - Highway Song | The Saturday Night Show
    Oops, onceJesus Loves Robert Plant and YOU TOO End Times
    Ooops, twiceRobert Plant (band of Joy) — Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down
    Patty Griffin and Robert Plant - "Ohio"

    Patty Griffin ft. Robert Plant - Highway Song (London, May 2013)
    Patty Griffin and Robert Plant Black Dog 12.15.2012

    ReplyDelete
  6. ...news.com.au retained first place for December and ... smh.com.au, came second.
    Here's another happy couple of first and second place fraudband retainers:

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/13/barnaby-joyce-and-fiona-nash-accepted-in-2005-copper-redundant-for-internet

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    Replies
    1. Just love that link Anon ...

      A paper, Future-Proofing Telecommunications in Non-Metropolitan Australia, was written by the Nationals leader and deputy leader when they were senators-elect with academic Troy Whitford for the National Party thinktank, the Page Research Centre.

      It was designed to address rural concerns about the sale of the last chunk of Telstra under the Howard government.

      The paper investigated options to “provide businesses and families in regional Australia with the same telecommunications capabilities as their counterparts in the suburbs of our major cities”.

      “Without competition, consumers are forced to use technologies or infrastructure which is fast becoming outdated,” the authors wrote.

      “The copper line network is a case in point. Most are in agreement that copper line is becoming redundant, but few companies are now actively introducing new alternatives.”

      Nash said it even more forcefully in her first speech in the parliament.

      “The Copper Age was 5,300 years ago, and that is where copper belongs,” she said in 2005. “We need to embrace optic fibre, wireless and satellite so that we have the right mix of infrastructure to take us into the future.”

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    2. Maybe someone, somewhere, sometime will pull her up on that last statement. but who? Where? When?

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