When ‘Religious Liberty’ Was Used To Justify Racism Instead Of Homophobia: #USA AZ #DISCRIMINATION:...
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Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Monday, 3 March 2014
Human misery of transferred asylum seekers turns into big business
Human misery of transferred asylum seekers turns into big business: #PNG #AUSTRALIA #AsylumSeekers:...
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Sunday, 2 March 2014
The Manus menace that's a ticking time bomb
The Manus menace that's a ticking time bomb: #PNG #MANUS #AsylumSeekers: on paper, the concept of...
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#USA #RELIGION CRAZY PEOPLE: James Manning - always good for a...
#USA #RELIGION CRAZY PEOPLE: James Manning - always good for a bit of bare-cheeked effrontery.
QUOTE:
This is devastating what Obama is doing to the black man and the black woman, and how the white homo is now moving into the black neighborhoods looking for black men that have been converted into homosexuality. But black woman let me say something to you: you have a very hard time competing against a white homosexual male. He’s usually got money — a white homo usually has an American Express card. He usually has an opportunity at the theater — homos love the theater. They love to go out to dinners, parties, they love that kind of a thing… black people need to rise up in mass and recognize the utter destruction that Obama is going in to destroy the black family with these homosexual statements that he has done and release of demons.
/QUOTE http://on.fb.me/1hwvuqz
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Saturday, 1 March 2014
Maine GOP Rep [Lawrence Lockman] Apologizes for Saying Men...
Maine GOP Rep [Lawrence Lockman] Apologizes for Saying Men Should Get to Rape Women… Because Abortion
There’s no statute of limitations on the crime of being a jackass.
QUOTE:
“If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman?” Lockman said. “At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.”
/QUOTE
http://bit.ly/MaineGOP-rape http://on.fb.me/1hLHX84
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The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying
The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying: #RELIGION v. #FAITH: how Christians over-use the word...
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Tuesday, 25 February 2014
#AUSTRALIA #PNG #AsylumSeekers: former (conservative) PM Malcolm...
#AUSTRALIA #PNG #AsylumSeekers: former (conservative) PM Malcolm Fraser comments on the Manus Island situation.
"If the minister will not inform the public, then we are within our rights to assume the worst." http://on.fb.me/1fziWOC
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Paitim Garamut
Paitim Garamut: #PNG #CABINET RESHUFFLE: is it enough? Will it matter? Or is it just buying time?
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Saturday, 30 March 2013
Abu Ghraib - 9 years on
USA ABU GHRAIB IN HINDSIGHT: fascinating to read this article - written 9 May 2004 - featuring an interview with an Al Jazeera employee interrogated by US forces in Iraq.
QUOTE:
As I write, Rumsfeld is before Congress trying to explain how U.S. forces could do such things. Many of the journalists in Baghdad think that this will surely finish him off, that it’s only a matter of time. I watched Bush give his apology last night, but it all seems too late. The revelations of torture in Iraq by U.S. soldiers have pushed the country through a bloody and bruised event horizon. There is no apology that can bring us back.
/QUOTE
Yeah - amazing what time and disinterest will do to justice. No cakes and sparklers for this anniversary.
Again, I strongly recommend reading Rachel Maddow's book Drift and watching the MSNBC presentation of Hubris.
QUOTE:
As I write, Rumsfeld is before Congress trying to explain how U.S. forces could do such things. Many of the journalists in Baghdad think that this will surely finish him off, that it’s only a matter of time. I watched Bush give his apology last night, but it all seems too late. The revelations of torture in Iraq by U.S. soldiers have pushed the country through a bloody and bruised event horizon. There is no apology that can bring us back.
/QUOTE
Yeah - amazing what time and disinterest will do to justice. No cakes and sparklers for this anniversary.
Again, I strongly recommend reading Rachel Maddow's book Drift and watching the MSNBC presentation of Hubris.
DOMA
US #DOMA MARRIAGE EQUALITY ARGUMENTS: it's hard to maintain a stance that holds the US Constitution to be some sort of divinely-inspired & infallible document (except that one bit they forgot to put in but added later but that's OK because obviously, guns), while ignoring the bit about state-sponsored religion...
But since cognitive dissonance is NOT making their heads explode, here's a little snippet from the DOMA hearings that should make it extremely clear:
Collective moral judgement; enshrined discrimination.
At various times in history, it was the collective moral judgement that interracial couples should not marry; that women should not vote; that humans could be owned; that indigenous peoples should be eradicated; that old women with cats should be accused of witchcraft. Some people still hold those judgements, but we don't give them airspace any more.
Moral judgements change. DOMA, too, will find itself consigned to history.
But since cognitive dissonance is NOT making their heads explode, here's a little snippet from the DOMA hearings that should make it extremely clear:
Elena Kagan read from the House Report from Congress when it passed the law in 1996, which summarized DOMA's entire legal underpinning: "Congress decided to reflect and honor a collective moral judgment and to express moral disapproval of homosexuality."
Collective moral judgement; enshrined discrimination.
At various times in history, it was the collective moral judgement that interracial couples should not marry; that women should not vote; that humans could be owned; that indigenous peoples should be eradicated; that old women with cats should be accused of witchcraft. Some people still hold those judgements, but we don't give them airspace any more.
Moral judgements change. DOMA, too, will find itself consigned to history.
Monday, 4 March 2013
Coincidences
I've just listened to the Coincidence episode from This American Life and I SO wish I'd had the opportunity to contribute! I have a metric ton of them - growing up as a global nomad, running into people at unexpected places in random countries, etc... But this one's a doozy.
It's too late for TAL, but I decided it deserved an airing anyway.
*************
I graduated from a high school in Papua New Guinea in 1988, with 26 people (of 8 different nationalities) in our graduating class. Over the next 7 years, my best friend in the USA keeps track of everyone as best she can (pre-Facebook); then she gets married & sends all the notes and Contact slips to me in Australia.
So in 1998 I'm organising our 10-year reunion, to be held in Dallas, TX. One person in particular I've lost completely, and his surname is a common one; but I have a contact slip from 3 years prior, saying that he's in Philadelphia and marrying this girl with a very distinctive Polish surname. I call Information and there are two listings in Philadelphia - Charles Jr & Charles Sr. I call Jr, get an answering machine, leave a message saying "I'm looking for Paul L, he married this woman and was she by any chance related to you? If so, please ask him to ring me." Then I call Sr, talk to the guy, he has no idea who Paul is. Dead end - I write off the other number as well.
A week later, my phone rings - it's Paul! So I'm excited to talk to him but also a bit confused about the chain of events - I ask him, so how did you get the message?
* He says, what do you mean - didn't you leave me a message?
* I said, well, yes; but how did it get to you?
* He says, I got home and played it...?
Confusion reigns.
Took a bit longer to get to the bottom of it, but - turns out: he'd split up with his wife (she of the distinctive surname) 6 months earlier, and rented a random apartment where the phone was already connected. That phone? was the one listed under Jr's name. He literally came home & pressed Play.
o_O
I've had the chills over that, for 15 years!
Sunday, 18 November 2012
[Suzanne's Travels] Homeward Bound
It's 8am on Sunday morning. My flight back to Brisbane is Tuesday lunchtime.
I'm finding it difficult to sum up the "feel" of this visit: on the one hand, I have been reminded again of
* the incredible advantages of the wantok/tambu systems,
* the generosity of spirit overall and
* the joys of communal living;
on the other hand, I have been reminded again of
* the incredible bonds & disadvantages of the wantok/tambu systems,
* the frustration of dealing with "PNG time",
* the unbelievably annoying aspects of communal living and
* despair over whether or not it is remotely possible to do something which will genuinely (eventually) bring change to the underlying & perpetual potential for violence & corruption.
As I write this, it's 8am & I'm sitting on the front porch of my niece's house. My 9yo cousin E1 is up; one of my tambus (T1) has left for work (security guard) & one (T2) just arrived home, the worse for wear after falling asleep (drunk) at a bus stop & being mugged; my nephew D & 1 other wantok (Y) are asleep on the porch; my 2 aunties T3 & C who look after the house, & the wantok (L) who is the Official Babysitter to The Destroyer (my niece's 21-month-old daughter E2), are still asleep inside, as are my niece G & her husband R and (thankfully!) E2 herself. That's 10 people in a 4-bedroom house, and the numbers fluctuate throughout the day/week.
Last night there was a massive kerfuffle round the side of the house & I went out on the back porch to see what was going on. (First, I have to explain that the downstairs of the house is split into two flats: one 1-bedroom currently occupied by an American MK (M) on a Fulbright scholarship, the other a 4-bedroom rented by 5 sisters from Kimbe.) So, a man - who one of the sisters was acquainted with at Uni this year - had come to the house on Friday, when said sister (J) had expressed concern that he even knew where she lived and had told him to leave. He came back, drunk, last night. F, the only other sister at home had opened, & then immediately shut, their door - he shoved the door open, an altercation ensued & then he punched J in the head & split open a 1" long gash at her temple. So the kerfuffle was 9 of our lain (pronounced "line", means - at its most basic level - "family") all turning out to confront this guy. He was so drunk that he didn't even react when he was poked (or, as I call it, "stabbed") twice with a sharp machete/bush knife by T1, & eventually had to be physically carried to, & thrown out, the gate because he would/could not leave on his own. J said not to call the police because of how difficult it can be to get them to do anything without bribing them. M provided butterfly bandages to hold J's cut closed; I applied 2 of them after 15 minutes of J holding ice against the wound, then a carful of people (R, G, C, D, F, J) left to take J to the hospital for stitches, and I went to bed.
Variations of this scene happen over and over and over again in PNG, every night, and it's why I'm involved with the Domestic Violence group here. J is lucky enough to live in a private home with a group of people & access to a car to go to the hospital - many/most women don't have that option. The police corruption is another subject entirely.
S.
**********
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.". -- Edward Everett Hale
I'm finding it difficult to sum up the "feel" of this visit: on the one hand, I have been reminded again of
* the incredible advantages of the wantok/tambu systems,
* the generosity of spirit overall and
* the joys of communal living;
on the other hand, I have been reminded again of
* the incredible bonds & disadvantages of the wantok/tambu systems,
* the frustration of dealing with "PNG time",
* the unbelievably annoying aspects of communal living and
* despair over whether or not it is remotely possible to do something which will genuinely (eventually) bring change to the underlying & perpetual potential for violence & corruption.
As I write this, it's 8am & I'm sitting on the front porch of my niece's house. My 9yo cousin E1 is up; one of my tambus (T1) has left for work (security guard) & one (T2) just arrived home, the worse for wear after falling asleep (drunk) at a bus stop & being mugged; my nephew D & 1 other wantok (Y) are asleep on the porch; my 2 aunties T3 & C who look after the house, & the wantok (L) who is the Official Babysitter to The Destroyer (my niece's 21-month-old daughter E2), are still asleep inside, as are my niece G & her husband R and (thankfully!) E2 herself. That's 10 people in a 4-bedroom house, and the numbers fluctuate throughout the day/week.
Last night there was a massive kerfuffle round the side of the house & I went out on the back porch to see what was going on. (First, I have to explain that the downstairs of the house is split into two flats: one 1-bedroom currently occupied by an American MK (M) on a Fulbright scholarship, the other a 4-bedroom rented by 5 sisters from Kimbe.) So, a man - who one of the sisters was acquainted with at Uni this year - had come to the house on Friday, when said sister (J) had expressed concern that he even knew where she lived and had told him to leave. He came back, drunk, last night. F, the only other sister at home had opened, & then immediately shut, their door - he shoved the door open, an altercation ensued & then he punched J in the head & split open a 1" long gash at her temple. So the kerfuffle was 9 of our lain (pronounced "line", means - at its most basic level - "family") all turning out to confront this guy. He was so drunk that he didn't even react when he was poked (or, as I call it, "stabbed") twice with a sharp machete/bush knife by T1, & eventually had to be physically carried to, & thrown out, the gate because he would/could not leave on his own. J said not to call the police because of how difficult it can be to get them to do anything without bribing them. M provided butterfly bandages to hold J's cut closed; I applied 2 of them after 15 minutes of J holding ice against the wound, then a carful of people (R, G, C, D, F, J) left to take J to the hospital for stitches, and I went to bed.
Variations of this scene happen over and over and over again in PNG, every night, and it's why I'm involved with the Domestic Violence group here. J is lucky enough to live in a private home with a group of people & access to a car to go to the hospital - many/most women don't have that option. The police corruption is another subject entirely.
S.
**********
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.". -- Edward Everett Hale
Saturday, 10 November 2012
[Suzanne's Travels] "...a fire within you..."
"Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit light a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it.." |
Wilfred Peterson |
**********
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.". -- Edward Everett HaleFriday, 9 November 2012
[Suzanne's Travels] Ringworm! Yay!
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
[Suzanne's Travels] Where am I?
I was asked, "where are you?", and so was reminded that I'd never quite explained that!
I'm in PNG right now - been here 6 weeks, going back to Brisbane on 20 November. I'm looking for work up here so that I can be actively present & involved in the PNGns Against Domestic Violence (FB group) legal and practical work to break the DV cycle in PNG.
Donations to the group gratefully accepted via PayPal at this email address, or via direct deposit (accounts in PNG and Australia)!
I'm in PNG right now - been here 6 weeks, going back to Brisbane on 20 November. I'm looking for work up here so that I can be actively present & involved in the PNGns Against Domestic Violence (FB group) legal and practical work to break the DV cycle in PNG.
Donations to the group gratefully accepted via PayPal at this email address, or via direct deposit (accounts in PNG and Australia)!
Monday, 5 November 2012
[Suzanne's Travels] (non-comprehensive) smell snapshots of PNG
* acrid tang of mosquito coils
* delightfully fatty hot artery-clogging lamb flaps
* nastiness of kumul (boiled celery/pumpkin greens, fennel etc)
* clean, fresh rice
* filthy, never-bathed dogs
* rain on dust
* overarching fecundity
* lingering death (the cat doesn't like the mice's heads)
* choking wood smoke
* rancid pig fat
* bland boiled chicken
* tang of fresh ginger
* delightfully fatty hot artery-clogging lamb flaps
* nastiness of kumul (boiled celery/pumpkin greens, fennel etc)
* clean, fresh rice
* filthy, never-bathed dogs
* rain on dust
* overarching fecundity
* lingering death (the cat doesn't like the mice's heads)
* choking wood smoke
* rancid pig fat
* bland boiled chicken
* tang of fresh ginger
[Suzanne's Travels] That persistent whine...
Nothing reminds you more that you're in the tropics, than being in the loo (toilet, bog, dunny, "bathroom") at 2am with one rogue mosquito that you just can't seem to locate. No malingering!
Saturday, 3 November 2012
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Saturday, 1 September 2012
So this happened. A GOP delegate from Pennsylvania, Mark Harris, visited DisneyWorld in Orlando with his wife before carrying on to attend the Republican National Committee shindig in Tampa, and blogged about this outrage:
If the former, I assume you read "Jorge Estanza" or something on his name tag; if the latter, how do you know he was Mexican? Since you're not the police and this didn't happen in Arizona, you can't have asked him for proof of citizenship...?
I'm going to have to go with the "you're racist assholes" explanation.
Also - in two days you went from "highly offended" to "disappointed or dismayed"? That's a hell of a turnaround - and, frankly, not a terribly credible one.
Man up, random politician from Backwoods, PA! If finding "a Mexican" working at the America stall at DisneyWorld genuinely "highly offends you", then don't try to walk it back - stand by your convictions! - lest you appear to be spineless racist assholes.
During our time at Epcot we visited the different countries. It was neat seeing each country and the employees were from that individual country. Then we visited America . . . one would think you would find American employees. We were offended to find a person from Mexico working in America.What does this even mean? Do you mean "Hispanic" or "Latino" (or other PC term for "a person claiming to be American despite clearly not being white enough to qualify")? Or an actual citizen of the country of Mexico, working at the 'Murkah stand?
If the former, I assume you read "Jorge Estanza" or something on his name tag; if the latter, how do you know he was Mexican? Since you're not the police and this didn't happen in Arizona, you can't have asked him for proof of citizenship...?
I'm going to have to go with the "you're racist assholes" explanation.
Mark spoke up and told them he was highly offended after visiting the other countries and seeing employees from that country and then come to America and find a Mexican. He was very civil but his point was well made.The post drew some unwanted attention to the couple... two days later, they posted this:
As noted, only in the country of the United States, within Epcot, was a staff member representing and working, who did not have a name tag representing that country. I would say being offended may been too harsh, disappointed or dismayed may have been a better choice of words.So... wait, I'm confused. First off, the name tag thing again: the employee's name tag stated that s/he was not from America? Or it just contained a name you found too ethnic? Either way: still racist assholes.
Also - in two days you went from "highly offended" to "disappointed or dismayed"? That's a hell of a turnaround - and, frankly, not a terribly credible one.
Man up, random politician from Backwoods, PA! If finding "a Mexican" working at the America stall at DisneyWorld genuinely "highly offends you", then don't try to walk it back - stand by your convictions! - lest you appear to be spineless racist assholes.
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