Abortion!

That’s right! Todays topic is abortion, and recent developments regarding the issue.

Some of you may be aware that the State government is looking to pass a bill legalizing abortion. Of course this has stirred up a good amount of anger in the hearts of all sorts of religious zealots, and as a result they’ve decided to protest (like they somehow think that it’ll make any difference). What they seemingly fail to realize, is that with the current legislation, getting an abortion is absurdly easy despite its “illegal” status. All someone has to do is get the right person to sign a piece of paper saying “Yes, of course little Sally hear can have an abortion.”

The new legislation being proposed is just a realization that the law itself is so easily circumnavigated, that there’s no point in having it at all. The Jesus freaks don’t seem to realize this however, because the Bible says that abortion is wrong and we all know that such a popular book wouldn’t tell a lie! “

It doesn’t matter that they women getting abortions aren’t Christian, they still have to follow God’s rules even if they don’t believe in him!”

That is one thing i absolutely despise about religious folk, the fact that they seem to think it’s perfectly ok to force their views onto other people. Worship whoever/whatever the hell you want to for all I care, just don’t have the audacity to throw it in other people’s faces.

The worst of the worst are those self righteous people who feel the need to picket abortion clinics and harass the poor women coming in and out. Many of the women seeking abortions would no doubt be very upset and traumatized by the whole experience. They don’t need a group of zealots telling them that what they’re doing is wrong.

So if you’re reading this and are one of those people, I hope that you get hit by a car for making the lives of so many people that little bit worse. Perhaps we should picket your Churches and hurl abuse at you for a change!

The End of the World as we know it?

Just a few little topics that have been flying around the news for a while that interest me somewhat.

First of all is the Large Hadron Colider. Which is a huge device build by CERN near Geneva, with the sole purpose of smashing atoms into one another at almost the speed of light. The point of this is to try an replicate the conditions the occurred a split second after the Big Bang. It’s obviously much more complicated than that, but in essence that’s what they’re planning on doing with it. The LHC is going to be turned on and tried out on Wednesday, and then once it’s (hopefully) working A-OK, they’ll crank up the juice on the 21st of October.

The only worrying thing about all this (aside from the fact that the giant nerd inside of me thinks it’s so damn COOL!) is that it might, just mabey, create a mini black hole and destroy the entire world. But chances are that if any black holes are created, the radiation they produce will make them go away or something to that effect. But still, I can’t help but feel a little uneasy about the fact that they might be making black holes in Sweeden, which they think will probably not kill us all. How reassuring.

In other news, I wish I had a greater grasp on the intricacies of American politics because things seem to be hotting up over there. For those of you who live under rocks, John McCain (the right wing candidate) has chosen Sarah Palin as his running man(woman?) in the upcoming US election. Palin, who despite her hot legs, is a gun toting Nazi who hates gays and minorities, loves oil, and is really quite scary. This has made a huge difference in the election leadup, because it means that all of the Democrat voters who were backing Hillary, now have someone to vote for rather than Obama.

My personal opinion is that if Obama were to be voted in, it could be the best thing for America in decades, but either way, George Bush is getting kicked out so I’m not complaining.

p.s. Speaking of the Bush administration, their recent $25billion gift to the major US money lenders to ease the housing crisis (and potential recession) has been one of the few good things they’ve ever done. But a good thing none the less.

Post Olympic Thoughts

Well, now that the Olympics are over and done with for the time being, I believe that it is due time to wriet about some of the issues surrounding the now past event.

First and foremost I thought that this years Olympics were one of the best yet, with next to nothing going wrong whatsoever. The opening and closing ceremonies were both breathtaking spectacles (as the should be) and the events themselves seemed to be very well organized.

Also, I am very pleased to say that there were no fatalities due the the air quality. Although even with the media instilled hypochondria surrounding the quality of the air, I am not at all surprised. After all, no one died at the Athens Games where the air is appalling (I have been there). But then again, back in 2004 they had the “unfinished Olympics” to worry about instead. I wonder what the international headlines were like in the lead up to the Sydney Games (there were no negative headlines in this country, we’re perfect)?

Another thing that greatly annoyed me about the Games, was the issue of Tibet in the lead up to the Games. Did I miss something? Did the issue of China and Tibet not exist before earlier this year? When America next hosts the Games, I assure you that they will not bring up the issue of America unjustly occupying other countries.

And now that the Games have finished, the issue of Tibet has ceased to occupy the headlines and faded into obscurity.

I would be willing to put money on the fact that in the lead up to the Football World Cup, that the horrid class divisions, massive crimes rates and general poverty in South Africa will be brought to our attention by the media. Then when the World Cup starts we will congratulate South Africa for putting on such a good show, and forget about it for the next X years.

I think that’s what disgusts me most about commercial media, the total ambivalence towards anything in the world that isn’t flashy and profitable. Since when was a celebrity baby more “news” that the ongoing oppression of human rights by military governments in central Africa? Why isn’t the rest of the world helping to make a difference in places like Zimbabwe?

Oh yes, I forgot, they have nothing we can take. How silly of me.

The Public Transport Gestapo

The other day whilst on the way home from uni by train, I experienced something that you (the readers) have probably experienced yourselves before. Indeed this was not the first time that I had been caught red handed with my feet on the seat of a train.

The very instant I saw the inspectors walking towards me I put my feet down and made ready to present my ticket.  However from the look on the inspector’s face, I could see that I would not be let off easily.  Connex logo transformed into Deaths Head Badge, and blue wool overcoat turned to black leather…

“Do you know you had your feet on ze seat?”

I replied that yes I did, but claimed I did not know it was an offense. I was cool, calm and collected. These Nazi’s wouldn’t break me, I’ve handled them before and come off on top, I could do it again.

Adjusting his peaked cap and monocle, the commandant pointed the light straight at my face with a manic gleam to his eyes.

“Do you know vat ze penalty for your actionz are? Vone hundred and sixty five dollarz!”

I stood my ground, the damn krauts would get nothing out of me, I presented my ticket and concession card, all the while knowing that if my ID were asked for, I was a dead man. In that case I’d rather go down fighting than give those bastards the satisfaction of giving me a fine!

“Very vell, because zis is your first offense (it wasn’t), ve vill let you off with a varning!”

Heart pounding, I resumed my reading, and put my feet back up once they’d moved on.

Now in my defense I would like to say that the tickets that I purchase go towards the maintenance and upkeep of the trains and other public transport services I use (I may be wrong, but have no inclination to research the issue). It is then fair to assume that some infinitely small portion of my ticket is going towards the upkeep of the upholstery of the seats. In that case I feel that I am well within my rights to put my feet on the seats (so long as no one else wishes to sit on it) because I will be the one paying for it’s eventual replacement.

Perhaps when Connex manages to provide a service that is slightly more reliable and on time, I will be more inclined to give a damn about their petty “rules to insure the safety and comfort of other passengers.”

But probably not.

Welcome readers

Hello all, and welcome to my blog.

On this page I aim to discuss a wide number of different political topics from around the globe, as well as close to home (which is Melbourne, Australia)

To get this blog started I thought I would talk about something from that affects all Victorians, water and the lack thereof.

As a result of the drought, the state government has implemented a number of water saving programs to try and save and produce as much water as possible. One of these water producing projects is the desalinization plant that most of you no doubt would have heard of. A wonderful plan that’s in full swing with the full support of the Brumby Government behind it, and is sure to produce an awful lot of water for the impoverished farm folk.

However after a recent weekend down the coast towards Phillip Island, I discovered that the people down there aren’t as behind the idea as everyone else seems to be.

Signs dotted the motorways proclaiming the evil ways of the Brumby Government and their desal’ plant money making scheme (despite the fact that last I checked, a desalinization  plant was not very profitable). There were even signs saying that it wasn’t needed. Oh really? Well perhaps it is not needed down in Gipsland where there’s rain enough to ruin any nice weekend away, but have any of the intellectually challenged  coastal Victorians ever driven an hour or two North?

Perhaps they’re annoyed that it’s being placed in their backyard rather than somewhere else (one suggestion was Geelong). This would however be stupid. The Gippsland region is a hotbed of Liberal and National (read fascist) seats, whereas Geelong is a Labor strong area. Of course the Government wont build it there. Have you ever heard the expression “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”?

Anyway, this rant has gone on long enough. The point of it is that some coastal dullards are upset at the current State Government for (possibly) ruin their fishing.

Alex