Equality for all! Not just the married!

So, it looks like this ill-conceived, expensive, non-binding, divisive, responsibility-dodging survey is going ahead.
When it was announced, rilestar made his feelings known:

So @TurnbullMalcolm & @LiberalAus you gutless wonders - I assume we'll get a plebiscite every time you want to raise taxes or cut services? https://t.co/ZZRT0fKZp7

— Riley J (@rilestar) August 8, 2017

Prognosis? Unlikely.
But ignoring the ridiculous waste and the fact these politicians can't just do their jobs and represent the people and vote in Parliament rather than making us do it for them and despite how terrible this decision is generally for the fabric of Australian society (*takes a breath*), it's good to see some surprising people coming out (no pun intended) in favour of the sensible, non-terrible option (that's Voting 'Yes', in case it wasn't clear).
Case in point, Amanda Vanstone of all people (and the whole article's good - you should read it!):

"Heterosexuals have been rushing out of marriage for decades. If gay people want to rush in I'm delighted. Let's not listen any more to that rubbish about marriage being between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others, for life. Our own laws support the "for life" rule going down the gurgler. Now it just means until such time as you think you might be happier in another marriage. "To the exclusion of all others" is less and less a likely outcome. The only one left is "between a man and a woman"."

And, even better, she succinctly states that this vote is about "whether we believe that we have the right to dictate how others live their lives." Clearly, we shouldn't.
"It's not about what you want for yourself. It's about letting other people have proper recognition of their relationships."

That's right - unless you're a gay person who wants to get married...this doesn't affect you. It's not about you. This will not force you to get gay-married. Just let them be happy! 

Of course, the churches - especially Catholics* - are doing their usual bit of ignoring the logs in their own eyes while staring uncomfortably long at people in their bedrooms (and making it like THEY are the real victims here). This guy in particular is probably just annoyed that priests can't marry their altar boys and says "It is true..." and "There is no doubt..." a lot, but, as we all know, "Only a Sith deals in absolutes"**. 

 

Also, here's a truth: There is no doubt you are a hateful monster, and the opposite of what Jesus preached.
Incidentally, the winning response to him was this, by good ol' Bazza:

Bazza Aug 18 2017 at 10:29am Yes we should listen to Catholics in this debate. They are the ones who believe that eating magic bread transforms into the flesh of a 2,000 year old dead guy so they can be forgiven for a sin they were born with because a magic rib woman was talked into eating forbidden fruit by a talking snake. They can take the moral high ground.

Plus this idiot, who says she's not against gay people, but she'll go to the effort of voluntarily voting 'No', just ... because?: "As a 30-year-old woman, everyone expects me to vote 'yes'. But I won't be"
Annie's response was perfect:

AnnieAug 23 2017 at 4:31pm
As an elderly, Catholic, long-married, rural woman, everyone expects me to vote "No" but I'll be voting "Yes". Why? It's not about me. It's about giving the same rights I enjoy to others. Yes, I believe marriage is the bedrock of our society and I believe we will be so much richer when it is open to those who have waited so long. Good, loving, committed marriages can only be beneficial to our country. Yes!

Annie reminds us that some Catholics are actually practising what they preach, and actually doing what Jesus (and the current Pope) would do. In fact, both St Ignatius' College in Sydney and Xavier College in Melbourne have "cautiously endorsed same-sex marriage in messages to parents, staff and students, directly rebuking recent statements from church leaders".
Of course, they're Jesuits, who are notoriously reasonable. Reason has no place here!
Anyhoo, just do the right thing in the upcoming 'plebiscite', and vote 'Yes'. It's easy, and everything's going to be fine. Oh yeah, and people are dying, including kids. Be a hero and help save their lives.
Encourage everyone you know to do so, too.

Show the world that Australia really is the land of the Fair Go. Be relaxed and laid-back. Or are you un-Australian? Maybe we should have another $122 million survey, sort that out...
* Disclaimer: I'm married and a Catholic. Well, I was raised a Catholic, now I'm a Pastafarian Jedi. But I am 100% convinced that (a) my marriage can cope with other people getting married, and (b) Christians will still keep doing whatever they want to do, just as they have since the time of Nero...
** Ironically, Obi-Wan, that is an absolute. Try "Only Sith ... and maybe some other dudes ... deal in absolutes, probably, bruh!"

Mega Rant

All right. I’ve had a bunch of rants building up inside me, and if I don’t let them loose on the unsuspecting world, it could get messy. Bits of rant everywhere.

So, here’s a quick run-through of things that have stuck in my craw in varying degrees recently.

1. Won't somebody think of the children?!?!?

Recently, here in the Wonderful Land of Oz, a lesbian couple tried to sue their doctor after their IVF treatment resulted in twins, not the one child like God intended that lesbians should have when using science to conceive. Of course, they ‘love’ their children equally, they just think the doctor should pay $398,000 for raising them – it’s such an inconvenience, you know?

Unfortunately, they lost. I mean, if they can’t successfully sue their IVF doctor, who are the rest of us gonna sue? Who’s going to pay for raising our children?

It’s just got to be like totally someone else’s fault.

Oh yeah, and this just in from the future: ‘Kids overjoyed to discover lesbian parents ‘cherished’ them whilst suing IVF doctor’.

Because we all know that, one day, they will find out.

Whilst on the topic of unworthy parents, here’s a little snippet from Lawrence Money (the guy I kinda bagged a few posts ago about his views on the Jesus T-shirt kid): Apply here for kids

This one talks to me on many levels:

“You want to breed? Then fill out a form, have a psychological screening, show you at least have the basic wherewithal to finance their upbringing, education. Are you mentally and emotionally fit for one of the most demanding tasks on this overpopulated planet? What's your family background like? Have you the slightest hope of giving your offspring the basic essentials of love, time, physical and spiritual nourishment. Or are you just going to let them run around like two-legged strays, accidental bonking by-products who bring in a bit of handy government moolah.”

But he’s right, no politician would or could ever go down this path.

Meddling kids…

2. Lockout, Schmockout

The Victorian Government recently implemented one of their dumb ideas and, due to an increase in violence in Melbourne, tried to enforce a bar lockout in the CBD – basically a policy that you can’t get into a venue after 2am, even if you were in there before. Apart from the flawed policy being successfully challenged by some venues, meaning it doesn’t apply to everyone (so drunken yobs only get locked out of some venues), it looks like the Government also knew it was flawed policy: Brumby warned of lockout risk. Plus, anecdotal evidence suggests it’s likely to lead to more violence, thanks to heaps of drunken yobs getting locked out of places at the same time, and then wandering the streets looking for cabbies to bash. Nice one.

3. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to pay for

A wag of my finger to the Canadian city of London, Ontario, which has halted sales of bottled water at all of its municipal facilities and instead plans to replace them with water fountains: Canadian city bans sales of bottled water. A representative of Coca-Cola, a real victim of this policy since it sells bottled water under the label Dasani, stated: "It's hard to bring your kitchen sink with you" While I have no idea what this means, he went on to say "To us, it's a matter of choice and a matter of personal preference."

That’s right, if you want to pay a stupid amount of money for something that’s free, and which produces 150 times more greenhouse gases to distribute than tap water, you shouldn’t have that choice taken away from you in municipal facilities, whether or not you have brought your kitchen sink with you.

4. Let he who has not judged get down to some serious judging

Just read an article by a travel writer, giving advice on the ‘types’ of people you might run into whilst indulging in a bit of group travel: On tour, hell is other people

She sounds like such fun, I’m just itching to book some kind of group tour just in case she’s going, too (she seems to do them a lot, so my chances are good)!! Her ability to categorise people and put them down with witty rejoinders like “To counter this time-sensitive soul, simply ask if he is in a hurry” (guffaw) will add so much to my experience! With luck, she might even categorise ME! Plus, I want to hang with her and play Twister.

Nah but seriously you’re all right.

5. Un-rant

And just so I don’t look like a total knob, here are some people I recently discovered I like:

• Leslie Cannold, with a very reasoned article about men and their propensity to get all uppity about abortion
• Joe Biden, potential vice presidential running mate with my man Barack. Biden’s almost a Jedi name, I can go with that…
• Julia Nunes, whom I just discovered on the YouTube. Her ukulele cover of Weezer’s Keep Fishin’ is the biz-ness…*

* I mainly put this on my ranty blog because then I don’t have to remember these links. Yeah, blogs have got it goin’ on for forgetful MoFos like my good self.

The force is strong with this one…

Does anyone else think that "Barack Obama" could be a kick-arse Jedi name? If you disagree, add “Kenobi” to the end of it…
If this nomination process goes all the way to the Democratic Convention, Hilary and Barack should sort it out with a lightsaber duel (Hilary would have to be banned from zapping Barack with her electricity fingers).