Shortly after Bob Brown announced his retirement, Federal Member for Higgins and Abbott attack puppy in training Kelly O’Dwyer tweeted that we now had a female deputy PM as well as female PM. This observation prompted ABC journo Latika Bourke to ask whatever could Ms O’Dwyer know about Wayne Swan that the rest of us don’t?
Of course, Ms O’Dwyer was keeping alive the Opposition tradition of claiming that the Greens are really running the country and so their new leader, Christine Milne, is our deputy PM in everything but name.
I first noticed Ms O’Dwyer when she took part in a Qanda episode. If you’re interested, you can find this on her website. I formed the opinion then that she is given to belligerence, quite lacking in manners, and adept at the practise of “talking over everyone else not caring if your audience hears you because your objective is to drown out all other voices not to make an intelligent point yourself.” Yes. That.
I also formed the opinion that her subtext was “Look at me Tony look at me! I’m doing it just like you! Can I have a schmacko? Please?”
Had it not been for the notice warning “Puppy in training. Not to be fed or patted by anyone other than handlers” I would have chucked her one myself, being a sucker for unrestrained approval desperation. Below Ms O’Dwyer is pictured with Mr Costello who never became leader of the pack. It looks as if he’s eating a sausage. Or perhaps he’s going to feed it to Ms O’Dwyer. I don’t know what these people get up to.
In 2010 I wrote this article for On Line Opinion titled “Reclaiming marriage from the great big Christian hijack.” I wrote: Marriage has existed a whole lot longer than Christianity. The Chinese philosopher Confucius, born in 551 BC, offered this delightful definition: “Marriage is the union of two different surnames, in friendship and in love.”
Two years down the track and because our PM made a point of reassuring us the day after she took office that there would be no change in the Marriage Act to accommodate same-sex unions, we are no further ahead. It is rumoured that Ms Gillard was compelled to make this otherwise inexplicable statement by the Australian Christian Lobby. (I claim her statement was inexplicable at the time because Kevin Rudd had only just been rumbled, and the last thing on anybody’s mind was gay marriage.)
What remains inexplicable to me is that Ms Gillard is a professed atheist and personally uninterested in marriage. Some 60 per cent of Australians approve of same-sex unions and there are Christians among them.
Why the ACL should have such influence over Ms Gillard is also inexplicable, and quite unacceptable. Frankly, I’m a bit fed up with public Christians at the moment. That appalling performance by Cardinal Pell on Qanda did it for me. In the On Line Opinion essay I wrote:
Perhaps what is required from Christians these days is a little humility. An acknowledgement that they haven’t got everything right, indeed there are things they have got horrifically wrong, and that there is a collective as well as an individual responsibility for this that must be addressed before they can legitimately turn their rigorous attention to the maintenance of a broader human morality.
If I were imagining a god, she/he would care a whole lot more about believers destroying the bodies, hearts and souls of children than about preventing same-sex marriage, and same-sex adoption. If my god was going to smite anybody, I hope she/he would be smiting the perpetrators of those crimes against children, and those who enabled and protected those perpetrators and denied their crimes. I hope she/he would take positive action to enlighten those who would deprive children of love and legal security, solely because these people are unable to personally deal with the concept of love between same-sex partners.
My god would teach that loving one another is the only thing that matters, and from that all else will grow.
She/he would also be smart enough to admit that loving one another is the hardest thing we’ll ever have to do on this planet.
“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another,” said Christ.
“We must love one another, or die,” said the poet, W.H. Auden.
“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal,” warned St Paul.
It’s time to reclaim marriage from the Christians. They can’t claim it as their own. It belongs to everybody. Marriage in Australia in 2010 is about loving one another, whatever gender the other happens to be. It is about hope, and deeply good intentions. It’s about wanting to be the best a human being can be. It’s about wanting to create a living, breathing mystery, day by day, with the person you love and who loves you.
How may times must these sentiments be expressed, and by how many people, before politicians take heed?
Christians, your noisy gongs and clanging cymbals are making my ears bleed.
Finally, adieu Bob Brown. There are many ageing white males in positions of power that I can think of who would do well to emulate Brown, and bugger off. Knowing when to go is a rare talent, whatever your field of endeavour.
I have no idea if this is the beginning of the end for the Greens. As the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas observed about death: One does not know when death will come. What will come? With what does death threaten me? With nothingness or recommencement? I do not know.
And that, my friends, is why I can’t call myself an atheist, for I do not know. While this is unkindly described as “fence-sitting” by some, I argue that it is a sign of maturity to learn to become comfortable with uncertainty. Only children demand certainty. The adult knows there is none. Nowhere. Ever. Ever. I know that for sure.
Bob and Paul
No Place For Sheep 
Hi Jennifer. Marriage has already been claimed from Christians – since 2003-4, marriages have been, by % per annum, increasingly non-religious. The number went to >50% then, and is now >66% per annum in both Australia & the UK, and probably other Commonwealth & European countries.
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Somebody needs to tell them that! Like morality, they claim it for their own.
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Isn’t this just nonsense. The Liberal party cannot govern in its own right and has had to form a coalition with the Nationals. Hello!!!
As for your atheism. You will never know. That’s the point. It’s unknowable. Yet people still have all sorts of theories.
The end of the Greens. Nah. I was a member for a while. This was on the cards a long time ago. The Greens are decentralised and Bob was never really the leader. That was a situation imposed by the media. I have confidence in all the senators, bar Lee Rhiannon. I think Christine will perform well, as well Adam. And the Greens have remained steady in the polls at 12-13%. What will hurt them is how preference deals will be struck.
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No I don’t think the Greens will end either. Christine Milne has the runs on the board, though she’s very different from Bob Brown. We’ll adjust.
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Excellent article as usual, Jennifer.
Organised religion is a franchise business, with churches, synagogues and mosques manned (the word “manned” is carefully chosen) by priests, and benedictions are delivered to the faithful in return for lots of money. The whole franchise is backed up by advertising from head office and regulations and support are meted out as appropriate.
Striking at their claim to own marriage – when all they have done for centuries is to solemnise marriage – strikes hard at their bottom line.
.
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Did anyone read Chris Berg of the IPA on how secualrity comes from Christianity? SMH I think will try to find link. It is hilarious. I don’t think he’s ever heard of Seneca, or Aristotle, or Marcus Aurelius or Plato or…..Well, he is of the IPA.
Here it is: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/secular-world-has-a-christian-foundation-20120414-1wzyg.html
What a plank.
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It really doesn’t matter whether you’ve bothered to read Voltaire or not. If you’re operating as a spokesperson for a public policy think tank then you really ought to have the education to be able to tell the difference between ideas that exist in opposition to religious doctrine and those which are founded in commonality.
IMHO half way through Chris just sarted making shit up! I don’t think he got any of it from a reading of Locke or Jefferson.
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I’ve just had a big Twitter fight with him.
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Would you like me to summarise in 140 characters or less….
Don’t ask the IPA about atheism. Try asking an actual atheist, or at least read one first!
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I didn’t ask! I was complaining about Berg’s silly piece in the SMH and got into a stoush. As is my wont.
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A couple of months ago I saw Chris Berg on ABC24 on a panel debating the “nanny state.” The super (I learnt that word on MediaWatch tonight) described him as a “conservative commentator.” I thought to myself, that’s a lie; Chris Berg is a libertarian, not a conservative. Although conservatives and libertarians both belong to the political right, they are distinct breeds, and have only come together for political convenience, and to fight their common enemy, the progressive left. Now, with the publication of this silly pro-Christian piece, I have to revise my opinion of Mr Berg. He is indeed a conservative.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to call him a conservative-libertarian “fusionist,” a term that Peter Phelps, the NSW Liberal Whip, has adopted. I’ll let Peter Phelps speak for himself:
“Dr Phelps is a libertarian with social conservative tendencies, placing him within the ‘fusionist’ school of conservative political philosophy. His political hero is Ronald Reagan.”
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/members.nsf/0/AC368C4624E299BBCA2578710004443B
If you want to know what conservative-libertarian fusionism is, think Tea Party.
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I’d rather not; the image is thoroughly repulsive.
Phelps is a fool. I’ve read his maiden speech and advise no-one else to do so. Ever.
Berg I have some time for on occasions, his Drum articles are a patchy lot, and some make considerable sense. Many are IPA/libertarian cant of course, but our job ias readers is to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
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As regards atheism, I am in rare accord with Dawkins : on a scale of one to seven where :
1 is “I am a true, committed believer” and
7 is “No, there is no god of any sort”
Put me down as a 6.9 as well.
If the Second Coming appears across the sky with angels trumpeting and singing , and announcing it all, I will be one of the first to shout “Hallelujah!”
.
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As a dog lover I am duly offended,JW. 😉
(O’Dwyer definitely has an annoying, red-cordial, *look at me* persona. She has made obsequiousness into her own performing art. )
You are also correct in the observation of Kelly’s ample, sausage friendly mouth.
It’s a bit ‘baleen whale’ in the happy snap, above.And she looks so accommodating, in that photo op.(Guffawing away for Pete)
Not that being endowed in such a way should be seen as an impediment, or defect.
Au contraire!
It is, no doubt, a physical evolutionary adaptation.
Perhaps the ‘greed’ gene takes on this form,( some other possible mutations / permeations being huge stomach, rapacious appetite etc.READ Coalition ).
Which is why this has all led Kelly to her primary function.
To be Julie Bishops imminent successor.(Come on folks, you know it’s true.Serendipity)
Kelly will make an ideal first term Minister in Environment, Indigenous Affairs, Seniors, Veterans Affairs,Education, or some other portfolio not important to a coalition government.
(One of their token ‘ do we have to, what’s in it for us and our rich mates? ‘ portfolios)
Kelly’s Funding Strategies
Kelly is not all ‘just’ facial orifice and ‘mozzie in your ear at midnight’ .She is an ideas girl, too.
Kelly could easily harness her obvious ‘sausagerial dexterity’ {and other entertainment prowess}, to provide the funds for her chosen portfolio/s.(Nothing like a sausage *sizzle*.)( I said SIZZLE!)
She could also embrace (expand) the ‘Carny’ approach to fund-raising. (A popular Liberal approach for fiscal novices)
She could get on her knees and……. (WAIT!!! And, wash your mind out reader)
..turn her head slowly while punters place ping pong balls in her….(WAIT!!! And, wash your mind out AGAIN reader)
….clown like mouth.She then spits them into numbered buckets in front of her.
Ta dah!!
A personalised, customised version of the carnival / sideshow, multiple clown-head thingy.
(You know the one.It looks like the current Opposition front benches.
Just imagine them all wearing the hat Pell has on his pious cruet in the previous blog.
Now picture them rotating their wide-gobbed noggins slowly, from left to right in obedient unity.There! Got it now?)
Back to the Kelly mono-clown thingy. Two bob a ball, with cupee dolls,stuffed toys, spud guns, ‘egg carton’ cardboard ‘cowdy’ hats and little bags of ‘el cheapo’ bags of plastic farm animals and soldiers on the prize list.
Maybe even that Tony Abbott autographed “Ditch the Witch” sign that hangs in Anal Jones’ mirror tiled en suite?
The other Libs could run a raffle.Guess how many Clive Palmer’s can fit in the back of a 230 tonne Dump truck(Hint- work with weight limit, not area capacity !)
Joyce could frock up in his clown outfit (or borrow Pells) and scare kids.(oops, he already does that!)(Actually they both do)
Maybe Barney could run the count the jelly bean comp (With someone helping who CAN count)(Or maybe Kelly’s mouth can be the jelly bean jar!)
What about using Christopher Pyne as a greasy pig?
Did some naught reader just shout, “Go the Piñata !” ?
The big ‘cash Cohuna’ could be Tony Abbot himself, on one of them seats over the raised water-tank, perched in his red Speedo’s, as punters try to dump (I mean dunk???) him, with a deftly placed missile.
50 cents a ball.
$ 10 for a sharp rock? (Budget surplus potential??)
POOR Ms Bishop’s Future:
I can’t see Julie “Albatross” Bishop relinquishing her role ‘voluntarily’ as official scabbard to the Liberal Party power brokers any time soon, so she will probably continue as the permanent PA for their leaders until Kelly talks her to death, Catholic paedophiles are brought to justice, or Hell freezes over.Whichever comes first.
* * *
Fare thee well and thanks Bob Brown, a committed human being ,statesman AND politician.Rare indeed.
Go hard Christine Milne.
Politically, socially Australia’s face is set to change (in a big way) at the next election.It is literally a turning point in our history where once and for all we get to choose which one way track we choose to navigate.
************
The rumours of Abbott’s intention to increase the GST, to solve all / any of his promises are beginning to gain speed and volume.
(Some secrets are harder to keep. And remember these words. “Never,ever.” Bookmark them.)
In the same way the recent Labor leadership *non-issue* became an issue of *epic proportions* ,then an *involuntary spasm*, this has similar odours to it.Let’s sit back and watch with much bemusement, as the fawning press struggle to deal with whether they say it out loud (and upset their media mogul bosses etc.) or stay mum.
(As mentioned on ABC Insiders today, a quick double dissolution, post a successful election result is now OFFICIALLY on Abbott’s agenda. And a subsequently elected ‘friendly’ senate would see Abbott have ‘absolute’ power, to up the GST.*Especially* now the states are a majority of conservative electoral honey-pots, run by toadying box tickers)
The readily compliant *Clayton’s-media* can’t currently mouth the word ‘tax’ (or tax increase) and Coalition, in the same sentence. Not since Abbott’s incessant ‘Great Big New’ campaign, became the Lib’s favourite camp-fire team song.
(The ‘one story only’ rule, is a Newspaper proof reader’s / typesetter’s dream come true. You run the same set of text for 18 months straight! Just whack the presses on auto pilot and nod off)
And as we all know, our media only has two rules of their own, to follow.
Never reveal your sources.(Especially if they never existed)
Never ask ANY questions of the opposition.
(They’re ‘way too busy’, rotating their wide-gobbed noggins slowly from left to right, in obedient unity.There! Got it now?)
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EDIT
‘naughty’ reader
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I too love dogs, Hypo, that’s why I didn’t put up a dog picture. LOL.
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You must have two penis’s Hypocritophobe.
You wouldn’t get this f—— stupid playing with one!
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Steve’s back,everybody!
He must have punctured his blow up goat.
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Frightening isn’t it – Monica Lewinsky has nothing on that gob.
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Again, a brilliant blog, because I agree with every word (that is VERY nice) but also, because it is concise, not a word is wasted. I love it.
I am an agnostic too, simply because I don’t know, I can’t know. But I don’t care about that, I love my planet and that IS enough. And for me the implausible existence of a God, introduces more questions, and adequately answers none.
Now, if God were made in Bob Brown’s image??
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Ah, Kelly, the chinny Kelly, a mouth bigger than Costello’s. Give me Costello any time, keep Kelly away…in a kennel maybe…
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Well, thank you I do like it when people agree with me. I also like a good robust disagreement now and again, a bit of both is very nice.
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Baby photo, anyone?
http://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=216309&c=19
Sponsorship message?
Coming to kick down a dunny door near you(Sleep well!)
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I just released you from spam prison for reasons I just explained. LOL!
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You’re bloody good, is all I’m going to say!
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As you may have noticed, I look a little different.
It may be temporary, part of my campaign to give recognition to the real Shakespeare : Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford.
For 400 years the chosen impostor – the actor who died in 1616 at Stratford – has been credited with de Vere’s work. It is time we corrected the record.
..
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A noble cause, DQ but I was very fond of your previous avatar, it was dashing. 🙂
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It will be back; ‘gravatar’ apparently alters these things retrospectively – it seems a little disconcerting to go back weeks into archives and see there an avatar I chose only yesterday!
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“Why the ACL should have such influence over Ms Gillard is also inexplicable, and quite unacceptable.” Yes, religious influence over politicians, in this case Ms Gillard, is unacceptable. It is not however inexplicable. The question should be how. How do the acl effect such influence?
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edit: How do the acl garner such influence?
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Presumably because they have a lot of votes to offer. I can’t think of any other reason.
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Where’s the evidence for that though? As I understood it, the ACL’s membership was only a few hundred, if that.
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I guess, if they really wanted to start a war, those few hundred could trigger a blood lust for atheists and more, and Ms Gillard knows it.
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Member’s may be low in number, but the gullible sheep that follow is large.
Same for most lobbyists.
They inflate (and bully) if need be.
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Yes, and many Christians apparently distance themselves from the ACL. It’s a mystery to me. Anna Bligh, however, did describe them as right wing religious group and refused to meet with them during the QLD election campaign. Why Ms Gillard doesn’t do the same, I don’t know. Newman, of course, salivated all over them and said he prayed before every meal though he doesn’t go to church much.
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Maybe Newman’s just a lousy cook!
I heard that there was some organisation called the Catholic League in the States that emitted reams of complaints and treats of boycott etc at the least provocation mainly againt things like movies and commedy acts. And it turned out to be basically one guy with a computer!
Its almost enough to make athiests want to adopt an official sounding title for a heirachical system based on different styles of hats. That done all that remains is to set up a website and RULE THE WORLD!
Better come clear now Jennifer! Either you’re up to no good or you’ll need a new profile picture without any headgear 🙂
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The Sheep is the brand! Honour the Sheep!
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At Sunday school we were told … when it comes time to count the flock … it’s sheep to the right and goats to the left.
Maybe the lamas just sit down n chew the cud.
Bah!
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Julia, yes but only the Alpacas go the heaven…
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I was at atheist con over the weekend. Some speakers called for alliance with ‘progressive’ theists. When push comes to shove, if there is such a thing as a secular progressive theist, the only message they need carry is this, the church must submit to the state.
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Colin, I found one such fellow at :
http://www.shaunconnell.com/stop-legislating-morality/
His views are very much opposed to the right wing Taliban Christian types, with their banning and censoring wowser agenda.If only there were more of them; I suspect President Obama and his associates may be fairly agreeable as well.
.
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Doug, religion is neither ‘wing’ nor ‘type’. Religion is expression of submission to a claimed authority. To secure the ‘rights’ of all such authority must only be vested in the secular form, where religion has no right.
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This article speaks of one key aspect of this, now while it is an american opinion it rings true here as well…
“Unlike secular lobbies, religious groups that work with legislators on Capitol Hill don’t have to register with the federal government and are free from the stringent reporting requirements imposed on any group that seeks to influence legislation.”
http://www.alternet.org/story/154929/right-wing_religion%27s_war_on_america?akid=8589.226022.v1cKQA&rd=1&t=5
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(Have to reply don’t here! No reply button)
JW,said “The Sheep is the brand! Honour the Sheep!”
Yes I honour the brand of NPFS!
This ‘IS” “No place for the other type of sheep?”, is it not?
Maybe some sheep have canine teeth and eat accordingly?
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Settle Hypo!
Them’s jokes!
I rather enjoyed the response Jennifer made. Even if go the sheep isn’t exactly an inspiring slogan (…he said leaving all obvious Kiwi jokes well alone)!
Damnable lack of a reply button after about the 5th level!
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It’s difficult getting the nuances of mirth across in a limited time/wood setting. Innit?
HG,
JWs humour appreciated AND understood, mostly.Now I’m ‘slightly’ confused though.
If this is NO place for sheep, are we, or are we not sheep?
If we are, then is this therefore no place for us?
Or is it like we are nicknamed the ‘sheep’, because we ‘play’ here, like a sporting team.
The sheep being the icon/mascot/brand, no?.
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
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wood?
try word
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Sheep are there to be fleeced….to give the wolves something to wear.
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If this is No Place For Sheep, then by definition we are not sheep.
The state of ‘not being sheep’ leaves rather a lot of possibilities, other than the ovine.
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To err is human; to forgive is ovine.
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Is it fashionable to have a pic of a vintage car as your gravatar…is it to show that you are an older male poster?
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Many avatars seem to show little imagination, Helvi, but both HG and Julia (not a male at all?) have a joke car – look at the gravatars carefully. They are interesting.
My choices : the Knight mounted on the unicorn was Don Quixote’s view of himself, as the Knight to outshine all the knights in history.
The latest one is temporary, to promote the real face of ‘William Shakespeare’ – namely, Edward DeVere, 17th earl of Oxford.
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That vintage car with the great face is an Austin A-70 ute…1948 or somewhere near that year…(my beloved’s The Project!).
He lived in a paddock surrounded by friesians…(that’s cattle to you city readers)..
Every Christmas the farmer would dress him up with Father Christmas riding on the bonnet. And became a well-known local landmark seen from the highway.
One day we were returning from Melb. Bob comes to a skidding halt, starts backing the car, then we sat on the side of a very busy freeway looking at…for all I could see…a pile of rust with wheels.
Next thing I knew, we were headed up the highway to the first turnoff, then cruising along a series of dirt roads trying to get back to the farm…but Bob did find the farmer’s gate, chatted to him, and after walking round & round the pile of rust, Bob was handing the farmer $100 … being the same price he would have got if he’d sold the car to the local scrap metal dealer. All under the careful considered gaze of a dozen dew-eyed black & white cud-chewing ladies.
Another $100 to hire a tandem trailer and we had a piece of Aussie rural history.
These utes were once common among farming folk. They were designed with the Aussie farm woman in mind. During the week the ute was used to carry hay bales, move the goat or lambs, as the wife worked around the farm; and on Sundays she could drive in to town for church.
The provinence with this particular ute is even more interesting.
So the Austin is ensconced in our garage…The Project.
And after upsetting the locals by removing Santa’s Sleigh…the farmer now uses an ancient tractor/pile of rust…and Santa sits higher these days….so rural harmony restored.
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Quiet without Hypo.
Are you all asleep, or just resting your eyes, npfs
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Hypo, Hypo, HYPOOOO
Seems there’s and echo in here!
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Seems like there’s an echo in here!
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Resting eyes, I think Macabre. I’ve got a blog for later but first have to go to the Uni.:)
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On the question of reputation :
Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,
When not to be receives reproach of being,
And the just pleasure lost, which is so deemed,
Not by our feeling, but by others’ seeing.
For why should others’ false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,
Which in their wills count bad what I think good?
No, I am that I am, and they that level
At my abuses reckon up their own.
I may be straight though they themselves be bevel;
By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown;
Unless this general evil they maintain:
All men are bad and in their badness reign.
Edward De Vere (sub nom William Shakespeare)
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I re-read your article, Jennifer. I suspect that part of the price Gillard paid for becoming PM was an assurance to the Labor right (a socially conservative catholic boys club for the most part) that she would not support same sex marriage, not disturb the chaplaincy bullshit, and not rock the boat generally on their cherished conservative catholic dogma.
It may be that this leash could have been slipped had Labor won handily in 2010. History was not kind. But we must now work towards keeping Abbott the Antichrist just where he is – opposition leader in perpetuity.
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Any chance you could provide JW with your real email address.I may have some further relevant info.
Love your extensive website.So professional and new and shiny!
Not like a pub at all.
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It’s an awesome article designed for all the internet visitors; they will take benefit from it I am sure.|
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