If a transluscent sack of cells in the womb dies, Jesus will cry.

Dear God. It's bad enough that the banning of aid occurs in the US-but Australia too?

Seems so:

THE Labor chairwoman of a parliamentary group on population hopes the Government will act by the end of the year to lift its ban on foreign aid being used for abortion advice and services.

Senator Claire Moore said it was important this issue be clarified before an international conference on maternal and child welfare was held early next year. "This seems to be an appropriate pressure point on the Government," she said.

Senator Moore said only Australia and the United States banned aid being used in this way in countries where abortion was legal.

Liberal MP Mal Washer, former chairman of the committee, said he suspected the Government had gone cold on removing the ban because it feared offending Family First's Steve Fielding who, as a cross-bench senator, was crucial to the Government on many occasions.

...

Dr Washer said the Government's situation with Senator Fielding appeared "very similar to the Harradine problem we had". He urged the Government to have some "sensible discussion" with Senator Fielding. A spokeswoman for Senator Fielding said the senator supported the restriction, and had spoken to Mr Smith on the issue a few months ago.

and:

Kevin Rudd should overturn the policy championed by former senator Brian Harradine of not providing foreign aid for abortion advice.

BRIAN HARRADINE, former independent senator from Tasmania, was a thorn in Labor's side for decades. Gough Whitlam in the late 1960s actually put his leadership on the line, on Harradine's side, in a party dispute involving him. Several years later, Harradine was finally expelled from the ALP, only to win a Senate spot as an independent.

...

The Howard government, in recognition of how much it would need him, agreed to a ban on Australian aid funding advice on abortion.

Now, Harradine is retired from the Senate but this legacy is causing all sorts of trouble for the Rudd Government. There is strong pressure to scrap the ban, following a recommendation to that effect from a cross-party group last year. But there's also a big push back, especially from the Catholic right in the ALP, to stop any change.

...

"Unsafe abortion is responsible for 13per cent of all maternal deaths globally - many in our region. These restrictions deny women the same access to reproductive health choices, education and services we give ourselves, even in countries when it is legal to do so. Currently if a woman is dying or injured from accessing unsafe abortion only then can she be treated or given information ... this is cruel and illogical".

Of course, that's not how the Catholic-ultracons see it.

We need human sacrifices! Preferably from Africa!

And as for Fielding...

Putting Aryan Christian Families First!

Cross-posted at An Onymous Lefty.

Yes! We have power!

You wouldn't believe the past near-2 weeks I've had. 12 days ago, one of our spies took this photo from within the enemy's HQ, before being captured and executed.



General Blair has unleashed kamikaze winged monkeys to bomb our communication systems. These primitives, although low in intellect, are vast in number and have destroyed a number of intelligence facilities, which left us temporarily defenceless. Thankfully, winged monkeys are not bred for their wit (a mindless soldier is, after all, a loyal soldier) and in their ecstasy of destruction, we were able to regroup.

For the past 12 days we've been using WW1 methods (morse code, pigeons, horses, antique tanks etc) for our defense. It was, I can assure you all, not pretty. Thankfully, We were able to set up a temporary computer system to regain footing for the war (hence, the return to posting).



Unfortunately, we have been forced to use early 20th-century technology to build it.

America still racist (suprise, surprise).

Well... this is interesting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them "lazy," "violent," responsible for their own troubles.

The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points.

Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents — voters Obama can't win the White House without — agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Here's my polling question: is anyone really that surprised? You only have to take a glance through the ADL's website to realise that America still has a long way to go in resolving her race problem.

However, neither party will address it. The Democrats can't because Obama will look as if he's playing the race card. The Republicans won't because it detracts from their mindless " 'Merica, 'Merica, 'Merica, ra ra ra!" rhetoric that they love so much.

Racism won't be solved if Obama becomes President. It won't be solved if (sadly, not when) a public apology is made on behalf of Euro-America to Afro-America and Native America for the former's crimes of slavery and genocide against the latter two. It can only be solved when every American of every colour, gender, class and orientation looks into their core and asks themselves "What is wrong with American bigotry?" before asking "What can I do?"

Racism will be solved when a black guy can walk down the streets of New York City and pull out his wallet without being shot 40 times in the chest. It will be solved when politicians no longer resort to fear-mongering to win elections at the cost to the social fabric. It will be solved when the combined number of every neo-Nazi, KKK, skinhead and generic racist and anti-Semitic organisation's numbers hit zero.
Anything else is delusion.

As Jasmyne Cannick puts it:

White women still clutch their purses when Black men and women are near them and white people still falsely accuse Blacks of committing crimes because it’s an easy out. Hell—they’ve done such a good job on us, there are plenty of Blacks who share the same feelings of whites about Blacks—yes their own people!

Like white men in the White House, these polls come a dime a dozen and don’t do anything but create an outlet for the mainstream news to bring up the subject of race relations as breaking news—when it’s not. We know exactly how we feel about each other, we know exactly who we are voting for and why. And whether or not the candidates address race relations, we know that race has as much to do with our vote as the economy and the war in Iraq.

Tell me something I don’t know—like why we fall for this crap every time.

And just to be fair—here are some adjectives, nouns, and verbs that have been used to describe whites by Blacks:

P.W.T., trailer park trash, oppressive, backstabbers, selfish, greedy, racist, jealous, hateful, slackers, corrupt, culture bandits…

Icould go on, but you get the point.

Mission to Lorne: FAIL

I've been away for a few days (difficult to notice given how few posts are written here) down at Lorne, a small outpost from the main battlefield HQ of Melbourne. My mission was simple: enter nature reserve in a civilian territory, and take key shots of areas that would be useful hiding areas against teh enemy. There was, however, a minor hitch: I forgot to bring the photography equipment. If it weren't for the poor communications, I would have certainly been court martialled to General Mother.

Private's success in continuing the culture war: FAIL.

Latest BOW update

For better or for worse, a solid, if somewhat uneventful Battle of Wellington today. We rallied under General Debbie of the Battalion of Radical Women, firing several a few dozen rounds of rhyming slogans against the fundies in the opposing trenches (read: sidewalk across the road).

However, what was interesting was an anti-abortion poster I saw on my way to the rally. It was called 'Voices 4 voiceless' or something similar. When I saw the title, I could feel my irony meter pounding against the inside of my skull. That's probably because
Fetuses don't have voices because they have neither voiceboxes, lungs, identifiable mouth structures, brains, brain activity or anything else that makes them an actual human being and not a translucent sack of stem cells.
Thank-you anti-choice movement for giving yourselves a name that entirely proves the point of your opposing ideology.

Sorry. I needed to get that out of my system.

Women shouldn't be held hostage to a clump of stem cells.

From the Radical Women: the next Battle of Wellington at the Fertility Control Clinic, and then a pro-abortion rights protest on October 4.

Please distribute widely

The government bill to decriminalise abortion limits a woman’s right to decide to the first 24 weeks. For a post 24-week pregnancy, the decision would be in the hands of two doctors. Yet over 80% of the population wants full, unlimited abortion rights. The bill goes to the upper house on October 7. If we leave it to parliamentarians to decide -- without pressure from those they are supposed to represent -- we won’t win this. Now, more than ever, this voice has to be heard! In this critical lead-up to the final stage of parliamentary debate, here are two important actions to support. This is our one chance to get it right.

Come out to the following actions, and bring others with you!

Defend the Fertility Control Clinic

Saturday, 27 September, 10.00 am

118 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne

Rally for UNRESTRICTED access to free, safe & legal abortions

Saturday, 4 October, 1.00 pm

State Library (LaTrobe & Swanston Streets)

March to Parliament

For information about both, contact Radical Women: radicalwomen@optusnet.com.au

or Solidarity Salon: 9388 0062