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politics
Liz(osaurus) is amazing.
She tells the government what she wants.
She’s giving away an inflatable dinosaur.
She loves cats.
She says other things we’re all thinking.
And she’s organising the Little Bloggy Blood Drive on October 8. Join us?
Reckon she’d like me in my cats ears when giving blood? :p
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- Slutwalk.
- The Rapture
- Cate Blanchett
- Muslims getting Billboards in Sydney.
- How I wish I was a mum and was running this blog as an atheist/raising freethinkers/evidence based practice mum blog just to enter it into the Top 25 Faith Bloggers thingy to irritate the Christian mums who were irritated at there being Pagan mums in a Faith Blog contest
How about you? What didn’t you blog about last week?
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From Live Toad
Annie’s Last Paper Not Coming Out
In a bizarre replay of Annie’s Coming Out (1980) the Department of Human Services is preventing Anne McDonald‘s oldest friend, Leonie McFarlane, from delivering a presentation in her memory.
Leonie’s case is to be taken to the Supreme Court today by Ron Meldrum, QC.
Anne McDonald and Leonie McFarlane were both admitted to St Nicholas Hospital as young children because they had severe cerebral palsy and couldn’t talk intelligibly. Anne left the hospital after winning a writ of Habeas Corpus in 1979, and went on to graduate from university and win a National Disability Award. Leonie remained in state care.
Early in 2010 Anne and Leonie developed a Powerpoint presentation comparing their lives in and out of state care. They planned to deliver the presentation together for the AGOSCI national conference on non-speech communication starting in Adelaide on 11 May – next Wednesday.
After Anne’s sudden death last October Leonie received a FaHCSIA-funded scholarship to attend the conference and deliver the presentation with the assistance of Anne’s carers – Rosemary Crossley and her partner Chris Borthwick.
All permissions were obtained and arrangements finalised with DHS on March 31. On April 21 DHS suddenly banned Leonie from attending the conference, and banned her from having any contact with Crossley and Borthwick. When questioned the Minister’s office said “there is no push at all from the department to stop this happening, rather the individual’s guardian has made the decision”.
On May 3 DHS admitted that Leonie, who is 48, does not have a guardian. Nonetheless the department and the Minister are continuing to pass the buck, with neither prepared to withdraw the bans.
Today Rosemary Crossley said “You cannot imagine how distressing this is, both for Leonie (who saw Anne as family) and for us. Anne fought for ordinary human rights for people with disabilities. It’s heartbreaking to discover that her struggle was in vain – that in 30 years the bureaucracy has learnt nothing about essential freedoms, and the right of all people to a life worth living.”
From what I have read online today, Leonie has now been prevented from further contact with Rosemary and Chris, and will not be allowed to present the paper in Adelaide, and it seems that those who have made the decision have deferred to the parents’ preferences. And from all accounts, Leonie is perfectly capable of making her own decisions should those with the power to listen choose to do so.
I don’t know all the facts, but I do believe that it is perfectly possible that the courts and DHS have chosen not to listen to Leonie as she does not talk.
Okay. Had to get that out there.
More on Anne at Deal.org.au
Edit 10/05 7pm – the age have picked up the story.
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Okay, who was the silly girl who decided to watch Tangled with a glass of wine while home alone eating leftovers while contemplating the future and life?
Oh, that would be me, hey?
Yes, I’m not into the romantic in real life, I’m not waiting for a prince, or spunky villain, to sweep me off my feet (maybe that’s already happened?) to live happily ever after, or something. I’m a republican, I think that princes and princesses are a ridiculously outdated concept (seriously, the French had it right, off with their heads, or something, noone should have a birthright to rule over me, itjust doesn’t make sense). Yes, I know you might like a royal wedding, but doesn’t it just seem absurd to have “royalty”? *blinks*
We need to ditch the monarchy, so I can enjoy fairytale and princes and princesses as the mythical creatures they should. Rather than having them tell us what we can and cannot put on television, hey? ;)
Which I did with Tangled. Loved the MOTHER character, I’m sure she wasn’t all bad, I mean, wouldn’t you kidnap and keep someone in a tower for life if it meant eternal beauty for you?
The movie had me watching til the end, despite its predictability (hey, it’s Disney, I don’t want too many surprises!) and the scenes that might be a little scary if I was under 8 instead of 28. But I watched them, even without someone there to hold my hand *sniff*
To win a copy of Tangled, just comment below with something your mother knew best about. You can once a day so long and your answer is different each time. For a bonus entry, re-tweet or post to facebook and post an extra comment telling me you did so. Entries close Midnight May 8th. The winner will be selected at random Good luck! :)
(winners must have an Aussie postal address)
Tangled is out on DVD May 11
Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of the DVD courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment via Aussie Mummy Bloggers. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own.
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Every Australian Counts is the campaign for the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme. The NDIS will revolutionise the way people with a disability, their families and carers are supported in this country.
The NDIS will be a new support system for people with a disability, their families and carers. It will transform the way services are funded and delivered, ensuring people are better supported and enabling them to have greater choice and control.
Over the next few months the Productivity Commission will report to the Government on the findings of its inquiry into a long-term disability care and support scheme.
We need every Australian to stand up and say that people with a disability, their families and carers in this country deserve better and that it’s time for change. We need every Australian to say that people with a disability, their families and carers are Australians too, and that their hopes and dreams count. That they are part of our community, and that they count.
We need to show the government that there is widespread community support for change – and that the time for action has come.
On the pages of this website you can find out how the NDIS will help people with disabilities at home and at work, and the ways it will help children, families and students.
You can support the campaign, by taking action to make every Australian count.
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Happy International Women’s Day! :)
Last night, we went to a public talk by Leslie Cannold (@LeslieCannold) at the ANU entitled “Lecture on The Sleeping Dragon: The Unfinished Business of Abortion Law Reform in Australia“. AMAZING. It astonished me, and made me angry that there are still so many “faceless” men and women making decisions thinking they know what is best for me and my body.
A 19 year-old Cairns woman and her 20 year–old partner are charged with procuring an abortion and hauled into court. This did not take place in the 19th century when the laws were framed. The couple were tried in late 2010.
In this lecture, Dr Leslie Cannold will argue that abortion law reform in Australia is unfinished business. Only in the ACT and Victoria is abortion not a crime. She will discuss why abortion is still a fundamental issue for women and how we can – and must – campaign for change.
Dr Cannold is an author, commentator, ethicist and activist. She is an adjunct Fellow at the School of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry at the University of Melbourne and senior lecturer at the Monash Institute of Health Services Research. She is President of Reproductive Choice Australia, a national coalition of pro-choice organisations that played a key role in removing the effective ban on the abortion drug RU486. Dr Cannold is also President of Pro Choice Victoria which was instrumental in the decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria in 2008. Her books include The Abortion Myth and What, No Baby? She has a chapter on abortion in The Australian Book of Atheism <(Scribe 2010) and her first novel, The Book of Rachael, will be published by Text in April 2011.
I believe the transcript and lecture will be available on Radio National in the not too distant future, will let you know! The transcript is here. (DON’T read the comments. Unless you feel like getting outraged once more)
I DO have issues with Catholic health care and any restrictions they place on us because of their beliefs, particularly as they are often the only tax payer funded facilities in a town. I have issues with Labor factions, with being lied to about whether I can access a safe procedure, whether I can access something in ACT but not in my home town of Newcastle in NSW, or even 10 km away in Queanbeyan.
I have issues with someone else’s “morals” dictating my actions, them thinking they know what’s “best”. I know I am not always the most coherent in arguing my point, but it angers and upsets me that there is so much shame about abortion, and that you need to lie through your teeth to get one, when having a surprise baby is not in most people’s gameplan. Nor is it always the best option :(
An author I need to read more of. Thank you Leslie for your talk last night. Thank you for alerting me to the fact that most Australians don’t have the same options that I enjoy in the ACT. That there is a still a way to go. Thank you for that.
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The Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) launched a new website designed to encourage individuals and families to think about the importance and impact of their answer to the Census question: “What is the person’s religion?”
This campaign is part of a wider education and communication campaign being run by the Atheist Foundation of Australia that draws attention to the fact that the wording of this question means many people will select the religion of their baptism or initiation at youth, despite not being a religious person at all.
This website — www.CensusNoReligion.org — has been designed as a resource for interested Australians in the lead up to the next Australian Census being held on 9 August 2011. It gives people information about how the results of this question can be misused to allocate funds, overstate the number of actively religious people in Australia, and exaggerate the importance of religion in modern Australia.
AFA President David Nicholls said, “Data from the Census is used by parliamentarians and religious leaders to sway politics and social policy in favour of complying with religious tenets and ecclesiastical notions. In fact in many cases, it makes a situation where a decision that should rely on empirical evidence is overridden by religious demands.
“The coming Census in Australia is an important chance to make sure your interests are met in decision making and funding and that views you do not hold are not over-represented in the coming years,” Nicholls said. “I encourage everyone to visit the website and make sure they are informed of the implications of their answers, and if you are not religious now to mark ‘No religion’ on August 9.”
For more information go to: www.CensusNoReligion.org
It seems simple enough, right? If you’re not religious, mark “no religion”…
Oh and not “jedi”.
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Yes, it’s brilliant that Australia finally has a female PM, but I’m still a little uneasy with it until the voters return her later this year. I still have this fear that we (as a nation) will show how backwards we can be, by voting in lock-up-your daughters-cos-there’s-no-sex-until-marriage Tony Abbott rather than *gasp* letting a WOMAN take the PM role.
A child-free, atheist, non-married, intelligent, professional woman, at that.
(Julie Bishop, are you ready to step up?)
Don’t screw this up, Australia.
(otherwise you’ll find me back on a plane any second. maybe to Prague, home of the pink telephone dude)
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