In years to come our children might ask, “What did you do in the Macklemore War, Dad?” My response will be, “Like a lot of people, I fought and died just a little bit inside.”
The noise around the same sex marriage voluntary postal survey has turned this country into a dismal, joyless place, where proponents and opponents quibble over meaningless symbolism like seagulls over a chip.
I confess I didn’t have the slightest idea who Macklemore was until earlier this week. I would be perfectly happy to bathe in that ignorance today. I might even have watched him perform in the NRL Grand Final pre-match, wondered out loud who he was before going to the fridge and grabbing another beer before the kick off.
By the time the match ended and the premiership trophy was held aloft by the victorious captain, Macklemore’s performance would have been a distant memory, rather like my knowledge of the 2004 coup d’etat in Equatorial Guinea in that it was a long time ago and didn’t really make a whole lot of difference to my life.
Full column here.
My congratulations to Dwight was buried under a pile of posts. Good luck to you and your bride.
Thanks sweetie.
Can I come Bald?
The World is shocked at the massacre in Las Vegas, Mr Insider. Words fail.
http://tinyurl.com/y8dv29b5
Sad news of Tom Petty, who, at 66, has either died or had life support withdrawn after suffering a heart attack on Sunday. He had just finished a tour with the Heartbreakers. Another great musical talent spirited away. This has been a dreadful year for deaths in the music industry. He had so many hits, with his band, and with the Wilbury’s, it’s hard to pick a favourite. ‘Running Down a Dream’ is on loop in the workshop this morning.
Very strange how this has developed during the day. After being pronounced dead, he was taken to another place where he was pronounced alive. For several hours reports confirmed or denied his passing, until a tweet from his daughter announced he wasn’t dead, only to be trumped within the hour by a statement from his family that he had indeed died. Gram Parsons all over again but without the cremation.
Refugee was a great song. So were Breakdown and Free Fallin’.
A fantastic musician.
As we were saying earlier Wiss, the 60’s were the best. Sadly those guys are reaching that age when falling off the perch becomes very much on the cards.
I’m almost at that barrier myself Boa. I’ve nailed my feet to the damned perch just in case. I ain’t goin’ nowhere just yet.
Talk about joyless and clueless. The First Lady sends books to libraries in all 50 states. Idiot librarian in MA makes it political:
In a long open letter she thanked the first lady — with a sneer about the wasteful postage — but said that while her students liked the “beautiful bookplates with your name and the indelible White House stamp” they would not keep them. First, because more deprived schools have greater need, though even hers struggles “to retain teachers of colour and dismantle the systemic white supremacy”. Second, because Melania’s favourite is “a cliche, a tired and worn ambassador for children’s literature. Dr Seuss’ illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures and harmful stereotypes”.
How many innocent people have to be slaughtered in one hit before America decides that a persons right to carry arms is not a good idea.
Appalling.
I think the first thing to say at this point is express sympathy to the victims and their loved ones. The other stuff can wait.
“From my cold dead hands.” Charlton Heston NRA USA
A very big ‘nothing’ will ever be done Boadicea while ultra powerful gun nuts, like the above organisation, think firearms are the answer and the question. If nothing changed even after all the littlies of Sandy Hook were murdered at the hands of a random gunowner, then this latest massacre won’t even make them blink. Madness.
I’m with you, Boadicea.
You’d think that it would be relatively straightforward to compare gun homicide rates with and sans gun controls, to see if firearms restrictions actually work.
Bella, Sandy Hook never happened. Just ask Alex Jones, who’s one of Donald Trump’s favoured whisperers.
On an interview somewhere this morning TO, I think I heard a figure of 30% reduction in gun-related crime after the gun laws were enacted here. I think it was an American quoting that number when suggesting Australia as a good example of what action to take.
Absolutely right Bella if Sandy Hook didn’t do it nothing will.
On another note Melbourne too good for your boys on Sunday. Plenty of promise for next year though.
The Supreme Court has ruled (correctly IMHO) that anything even approaching Australian-style gun laws is an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment. That leaves amending the Bill of Rights–which, for obvious reasons, has never been done in 228 years. Amending the Constitution requires a 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress, and then ratification by 3/4 of the state legislatures. As there are 100 million gun owners, that’s not going to happen.
You’re right about that, so for mine the next step is for the Supreme Court to think again. I haven’t studied US-style constitutional interpretation except as a contrast to the Australian way, but if our Constitution had a Second Amendment, I couldn’t see the High Court ruling that a psychopath in a hotel room full of machine-guns was a “well-regulated militia”.
Mind you, the High Court has done some pretty silly things in its time. My personal favourite was the 1981 finding that government funding of religious schools was not “establishing any religion”, because it was establishing lots of them. A bit like saying that a law against “stealing a car” doesn’t stop you stealing lots of cars. I think that one was the old school tie talking.
The High Court has always taken the view that the law and religion should mix rarely if at all, JOH and I think they are right.
There was a comment in a radio interview from someone saying exactly the same thing as you do here, Bella.
What I find extraordinary is his brother saying ”he only had two handguns” – as if that’s quite perfectly acceptable…..
One for each hand. At least he could count.
I buried my comment in the discussion with Voltaire by mistake – because I was reading his comments and think there are valid points raised.
However I’ll raise it up here again:
If the word “marriage” is the sticking point in this issue, why not change that word to “union” – across the board, regardless of the gender of the persons getting hitched?
I can understand why the word “marriage” has religious connotations for some – and I’m not going to be critical of them.
Maybe if the question on that piece of paper had gone something like “the union of two people, regardless of gender, to be considered as lawful” etc etc.
I really don’t think anyone, except maybe the ultra conservative (and I do not mean politically conservative in the use of the word “conservative”) has an issue with gay relationships these days. Dismayed take note: there may be conservative people around who are not “cons” as you like to term them when being derogatory about political leaning.
Also, Razor and JTI: regarding those who are fearful of parental reaction if revealing their homosexuality – do you really think passing legislation on same sex union will change that?
I don’t. Again it’s ultra conservatism within the particular family involved – and amending the law is not going to change that, in my opinion. . It’s sad indeed. I know gay people in that situation. All their social circle know and accept that they are gay – except the parents. Effective family counselling may help in that scenario if dealt with carefully.
Boa, you’re missing the point. We are having a national survey that is seen by gay men and women, in and out of the closet, as the rest of the community passing judgment on them and on their moral fitness to be our equals. It is a broken and miserable concept. Parliament defines marriage and most gay men and women I know are prepared to wait for that to happen.
Thanks JTI, for pointing that out.
I should imagine the Yes vote will get up easily – and hopefully it will get legislated without delay, and put an end to this awful drawn out issue that is generating so much negative social interaction.
It probably will but I’ve maintained throughout this is a really bad process, designed only to temoer brawling within the Coalition. A shemeful exercise really.
You’ve got a bit of the Troy Buswell going there, Jack. Glad I got turned onto that site. v funny.
Regarding the survey we’ve got form if you consider the 1967 referendum and its yes/no concerning Aboriginals.
Perhaps, JTI. But I think that he also decided to call Shorten’s bluff. Shorten was, and still is, in my opinion, trying to look like the hero in all of this and was no doubt hoping that the survey would be a complete disaster and he could use that as a powerful weapon to achieve his goal of The Lodge. He is two-faced.
MT must be relieved that, whatever the outcome, it looks like the percentage vote will be higher than may have been expected – bigger than that in Ireland.
I am not making a case for MT. I am just stating what I think, unbiased . I don’t support any of them at the moment.
Bassy, no need to ”sigh” !! 🙂
It’s not a perhaps. There is no other way to interpret the history of the postal survey. There was agitation within the party room and suggestions of private members’ bills. The plebiscite had been knocked back in the Senate and it would be again. This is how Turnbull dealt with it. It is pure political expedience. Save his own neck and the Liberal Party from becoming even more of a shambles and to hell with the consequences for anybody else.
There is no case for Malcolm Turnbull. None. Bill Shorten cannot be blamed for this. It is appalling behavior on Malcolm Turnbull’s part and I do hope that he pays for it big time at the polls. How anyone can truly say that it is OK for the majority to vote on whether other people in a minority can be afforded equal rights is just unbelievable. Blame Bill Shorten if it makes you feel better, Boa, but you seriously need to look at the ramifications of this whole debacle. You do keep on missing the obvious point that this is Malcolm Turnbull’s fault entirely. A pox on their house, they have proven to be the worst government for some time. I left the country in 2002 and came back in 2015. Things were bad when we left but things are just really, really bad now
i can recall talking to pro-change advocates about this when they were not keen for it to be done by parliament as they did not have the numbers and thought they might be long long time getting them,
at that stage they were keen on it being done by the priestly caste of lawyers down by the Lake and when that was cut off they were keen on some kind of plebiscite, as they figured that was a better chance.
it isn’t a vote decide the moral fitness of gays, nor a vote on sex education in schools for that matter.
it’s vote to encourage the parliament to re define marriage to include gays.
what has been remarkable to me has been how quickly community perceptions on this question have shifted.
The LGBTQI community says this has been rough for them. Whichever way you look at it, we still have an issue of a large group of people deciding whether another smaller group are worthy of joining them. The postal survey has lifted the lid on a lot of ugliness. God only knows how someone in the closet will deal with it.
You said it JTI. Disgraceful.
i find the current bunch of young folk a bit susceptible to suggestion and i am averse to telling them that people are voting No because they are disgusted by gay sex or wish gays would disappear or morph into something else.
Why not tell them that? because i think it is generally not true and because it sows division when none likely exists, and that can be damaging to the vulnerable.
i think we should be telling them that this is a very fast moving social change, really six or seven years ago this would have been a losing campaign, but that not everyone will get on board and not everyone changes views at the same speed.
we might also tell them that it is a helluva lots easier for them growing up gay in 2017 than it was in the 60s 70s 80s 90s.
All very reasonable, mate and eminently sensible. The No campaign team have veered away from sensible argument and into the anti-PC stuff, diminished free speech etc. They’ve done that for a reason. They knew their arguments against SSM on their own would not succeed and in fact many people who may be sympathetic wouldn’t vote at all unless the waters were muddied. It stands as one of the best reasons to have left this issue to this parliament or one that followed it. The gay and trans people I speak to tell me they didn’t want it this way and were prepared to wait for a parliament to amend the Marriage Act. Again, this all comes back to Turnbull.
Boa, it’s like the old joke from the US, what’s easier, growing up black or gay?
Answer, Black, you don’t have to tell your parents.
A vexed issue, jack. Although I do think that the majority of parents of a gay child are pretty cool about it these days.
It’s not the social stigma that may have been the case a couple of decades ago.
The world has moved on.
In your mind and maybe some others. There’s been a level of homophobia in this country and my gay friends tell me that has accelerated dramatically during this process. One friend told me he was abused on the street, called a faggot. He said, “I haven’t been called a faggot in 20 years.” You only need to go over the wall and see some people think it should be perfectly reasonable to sack someone on the basis of their sexual orientation or not hire them in the first place. These people want laws created in the name of religious freedom which will allow further black letter law discrimination. See, I’ve never been abused in the street and called a faggot and I’m betting you haven’t been either. So we’re not really the ones to draw some flimsy conclusion and say everything is fine now.
You’re right Jack. It is not nice to be discriminated against and made to feel unacceptable. On any issue.
I left a country because of the intolerable blatant discrimination shown towards people who were not ”white”. There was an infamous case where a schoolkid, classified (what an awful word) as ”white” but having ginger ”afro” look hair of a negro. On that basis alone it was decided that the kid must have ”black” blood and she was kicked out of the ”whites only” school. How traumatic that would have been. And of course the Basil D’Oliviera incident – and zillions of others daily.. I am no stranger to discrimination. But chose to leave rather than raise my children in that environment.
Actually, it was quite a surprise when we got to Australia and I discovered the discrimination that was directed towards Aboriginal people here.
Getting back to the subject – in my opinion, we will never totally eradicate the bogans who enjoy insulting vulnerable people. Bullies/rednecks – and believe me I know all about them from where I grew up.. But I really do feel that the acceptance of the gay society has come a long way – but, as you rightly point out, this whole debacle has brought out the worst of the intolerates. – especially as the time to make one’s vote has for some bizarre reason been dragged out. I still don’t understand that.
And yes, the Coalition is playing self-destructing games amongst themselves, The two major parties are playing games. Everyone is playing games – and there is no winner.
Sure we’ve come a long way. Consensual homosexual relations were still criminalised in Tasmania 15 years ago. Some of the detractors to long overdue reforms are in the federal parliament now. So there’s still a long way to go.
Really well said, JTI.
I see that Donald Trump has addressed the crisis in Puerto Rico following Maria by donating a golf trophy; https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-latest-trump-dedicates-golf-trophy-to-hurricane-victims/2017/10/01/235ee504-a71d-11e7-9a98-07140d2eed02_story.html?utm_term=.5d7add648572
Seriously??? You couldn’t make up this stuff.
How would Sir like his steak, with or without worms, Mr Insider. Hard to believe a restaurant could do this in this day and age, just happened in Sydney town.
http://tinyurl.com/y7mu2w99
How come that guy gets worms in his steak and I miss out! Bloody favouritism.
I’ve heard of reef and beef but this could take off. Let’s call it Earth and Boeuf.
Congrats to Boa for winning the tipping, good work in a tricky season, and a big thanks to Gryzly for putting it on.
btw mate, how did your GF bash go?
Thanks, jack.
AS I said earlier somewhere on the blog, and being a Richmond supporter myself, I have become used to the the Tiges always winning/losing when you least expect them to!
So I decided to go with my theory and tip them!
G’day Jack, we had a successful event again this year even though the lead up week and events were thrown into confusion. I was expecting and did receive a text on the Sunday from our guest Chris Newman. Being a former Tiger skipper he had been invited to the game and functions by the Richmond F.C. We completely understood his need to go to the GF so he came out to TP HCM anyway and we threw him on a plane on the Friday night, ETA Tulla 8.30am Saturday morning. Although we had to juggles our plans I can be nothing but complimentary to Newy. the Richmond F.C. and the Hawthorn F.C. who now employ him. An outstanding individual and a real good bloke.
Boa, prizes in the past have been donated by others and I have never made mention that I would provide prizes. However, if you are in TP HCM on Grand Final day, 2018, I will shout you a ticket to our 20th Anniversary brunch.
Sounds good Gryzly. What does TP HCM stand for though!!?
Saigon
I’ll start saving for the airfare! Cheers
Ah well, I’ll never know what I voted.
Because rather predictably, my vote form was not in my letterbox when I got home!
Ah well I’ll take that back. Went along to my P O Box and it was sent there! Bit strange – but sensible really!