Australia's Shame: Child Abuse

Australia's Shame

 By now everyone should have heard about the abuse of children uncovered by the ABC Four Corners program. 
 The short of it is that children held in detention centers in the Northern Territory of Australia are being abused and tortured for years with knowledge of the minister in charge.
 The government responded to public pressure by announcing a royal commission into the matter, but many are not happy with the terms of reference that this RC has been given. As an example the fact that many of the children being tortured are Aboriginal was not mentioned as needing addressing, in addition to the commission being limited to only the Northern Territory institutions.

 It should also be noted that the victims are suing the state institution and the Northern Territory has shamefully decided to counter sue, this is not how we should handle abuse victims.

 We are disgusted in this abuse and have to wonder what is wrong with people to be able to do this kind of thing. Lets have a look at some of the possible influences that may have led us to this.

 We know of the old saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and of the scientific studies showing that this old adage is indeed true. So more oversight, regular and independent review of footage, regular mental health checks for both inmates and staff, both might help in reducing instances like this in the future. 

 These particular instances of abuse obviously have a racial element, and with the rise of racist groups in Australia we really do need to clip this in the bud. People need to know it is not OK to abuse others due to their race. There may not be much we can do about the rise of racism in Australia, but we can educate our children, and continue to point out the racism of white supremacist groups. We can perhaps employ Aboriginal staff in centers where there are a large number of Aboriginal inmates.

 We need to stand up for the rights of children, when we have politicians attacking an anti-bulling program in out schools. When we have our Prime Minister bowing down to pressure from these politicians we cant be surprised when bullying of children is seen as acceptable in our society. You might think its just dandy for these people to fight for the bullying of LGBT children but what happens when its not just differences in sexuality, what happens when they turn their attention to race, gender, or class?

 Both major political parties in Australia favor offshore imprisonment of refugees. Refugees have been falsely imprisoned, abused, and killed in these camps. The refugees in these prisons are men, women and children. Can we be so shocked that our treatment of non Australian children influences our treatment of Australian children?

 This expose comes at the same time as George Pell, who has long been believed to have covered up pedophile priests within the church, faced more allegations of child abuse. We have chaplains in schools replacing skilled school counselors. We seriously need to keep church and government as separate as possible, when once respected institutions, that some still see as having the moral high ground, are complacent in abuse of children.

 We have hate groups and government ministers arguing that all Australians shouldn't have equal rights. When it seems acceptable to vilify and discriminate against innocent Australians, is it any wonder that basic human rights are being violated?

 Australia has a lot of work to do, we have a lot of damage to repair. This shame belongs to all of us, and you have an important role to play. Please stand up against racism, homophobia, sexism and the abuse of children, if we lose our humanity who knows where this could lead, it has already gone too far.

 Choose empathy and respect, instead of ignorance and hate.

 Why Power Corrupts
Cookie power trip 
torture device

Do Something Good:

Contact your Government representative:

Demand that every case of juvenile detention be investigated. Demand any accusation of abuse is investigated and the perpetrator charged. Demand the victims receive counseling, legal representation and proper compensation. 

Dismiss and charge the minister and all who knew of this abuse.

Fight for Marriage
Stop Abuse Business
Implement Anti-Bullying Program
Save Aboriginal Community's



 


 

Review: Australian Poltergeist

 Australian Poltergeist

The Stone-Throwing Spook of Humpty Doo and Many Other Cases.

Audio Review

Author:                                Tony Healy & Paul Cropper

Publisher:                            Strange Nature

Type:                                    Soft Cover

Pages:                                   292

Genre:                                  non-fiction

Published:                            2014

ISBN:                                   97819211340

 The book itself is well made, it is seven inches wide, ten inches tall and over half an inch thick. The book has a great amount of black and white photos thorough and a few newspaper clippings and sketches.

 The book delves briefly into the history of the Poltergeist starting off in 355 CE and examines cases up to 1998. I will note that the book does use the antiquated BC/AD instead of the secular BCE/CE. The difference between Poltergeists and Ghosts in examined as well as possible causes, folklore, and some very poignant observations about 'skeptics'.

 This book is at its heart a catalogue of cases. Each case is given a five star rating with the weakest accounts getting zero stars and the most documented getting five stars. Each entry is also listed by the name given to the case, the location it occurred and the year or years the Poltergeist manifested.

 Chapter one deals with the Humpty Doo Poltergeist from the title, from there each chapter deals with a particular case. 
 The second chapter in addition to detailing the Mayhap case from Western Australia, also references Min Min, UfO's and Phantom Hands. 
 Chapters three and four deal with a haunted cowshed and a haunted prostitute respectively.
 The cases in chapters five and seven are from 1935 and 1887. It is interesting to hear the language of the times used in the reports.
 Chapter eight may detail a gay ghost.
 The Dubbo poltergeist of NSW in 1891-1894 details an Australian Kobold and parallels the Bell Witch phenomenon.
 Chapter twelve is different in that it shows all fifty two cases in lesser detail. These cases come from all over Australia and manifested in1845 to 1998. 
  Chapter thirteen takes a closer look at some possible causes and some interesting scientific findings. 
 The appendix takes a close look at three Djinn cases, with some short descriptions on fish falls, ball lightning, spook lights, UFO's, cosmic prankster, Yowie, alien big cats, and astral travel among other topics.

The book has an extensive bibliography and index. Every page has footnotes where they are relevant. 

 This is an amazing book, and i can highly recommend it to anyone interested in Australian history, folklore, and of course Parapsychology.

Bigot Point: Political Correctness

Bigot Point: Political Correctness

Click here to listen instead

 I have really only ever experienced this term used when someone defends a minority or discriminated party with that action of defense being dismissed as mere political correctness (or PC).
 The term political correctness is often used by some as a pejorative to shut down opposition to their offensive behavior.
But what exactly does the term mean?

 The avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.

 So political correctness is basically being polite and not discriminating against or vilifying those who are already being vilified or discriminated against.
 In other words political correctness is not laying the boot in when someone is already on the ground bleeding. 

 What kind of monster would proudly proclaim that they were not politically correct?
 If you take a look at those who oppose "political correctness' it wont be long until you see some racist, sexist, homophobic or generally just bigoted views.
 Growing up i just heard the term political correct and assumed it meant to be aligned with the current government or something. Of course later after seeing the term used to silence the cry's of the oppressed i came to think of it as merely a term used by bigots to try to make illegitimate valid criticism of their behavior. I still never really liked the term political correctness and never wore it so to speak.

 But it is only that some are saying marriage equality is political correctness, that i actually looked up what the term meant. 
 I suppose the current marriage laws do exclude and marginalize a discriminated and often insulted group of people so marriage equality could be considered politically correct. But its far more truthful to say marriage equality is just fair and equal treatment of Australians. 

 I was at this party one night and i got motioned over to a conversation between this burly biker type and a few others. The person who motioned me over said something like 
"Dropbear might have an interesting perspective on this'
So burly biker looks at me and says; "Them gays they want to force schools into not saying mother and father, its political correctness garbage!"
 Now i hadn't actually heard of the story, but could imagine it was probably about a same sex couple asking a teacher to say parent or guardians so there kid wasn't excluded. I replied:
"I didn't get the memo, but i don't see a problem with teachers saying parents or guardians, it makes sense as not every child has a mother and father."
 He interrupted saying "We shouldn't change things just for the gays. That instead schools should be forced to say mother and father"
 I continued "Well its not just for gay parents, there are single parent family's, there are adopted children, blended family's, and children with guardians like i had.
Its only a minor change to wording, so why not do it if little billy doesn't have to be reminded of his dead mother every time the teacher tells the kids to get their mother and father to do something, it doesn't hurt anyone to be inclusive."
 He looked puzzled and looked around the group of people, it was pretty clear common sense had prevailed with them, he looked down a bit and said "i hadn't thought of it that way, the radio made it sound different."
 I sympathized saying something like "They sure do like to stir the pot."

 In any event being politically correct isn't a bad thing, its basically not being a bad person, but i still think the term is an unnecessary insult word used by those who don't want the facts to get in the way of their mistreatment of others. 
 If you are guilty of using this term in an attempt to stifle criticism of your opinion, maybe actually listen to the person instead. They may have knowledge you don't possess. If instead of trying to shut them down, you make a valid argument  you could convince them that you are right, try it, because everyone likes to be correct.

 So i still wont be wearing a PC badge any time soon. However next time someone trys to insult me by calling me politically correct, i may just say;
"Thank you, i do try to be a decent human being."

This is an interesting site: Religious Tolerance

Fair Dink'um: Murrandoo Yanner

Fair Dink'um 

 Murrandoo Yanner

 You have to admire the true Australian spirit of those who stand up for the little guy, who defend the underdog and say it like it is.

You can watch instead of reading

 Pauline Hanson a professional politician from the One Nation party. One Nation has racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and unconstitutional policy. Hanson herself has a long history of racism towards Aboriginal Australians, Asians and her latest target are Muslims.  She has been consistently prejudiced against LGBT Australians.
 She is popular among 'low information' voters who see her calculated fear mongering and oversimplified "solutions" as common sense.

 Pauline Hanson recently took a film crew unannounced to an Aboriginal art exhibit presumably to try to fool gullible people into thinking she was not racist. 

 Murrandoo Yanner is an Aboriginal community leader who defended his people and common decency by saying what most Australians are thinking. He was having none of her nonsense and colorfully told her where to go saying:

'-You picked on Aboriginal people. 
Now you are kicking the Muslims around, you are just a racist redneck with your red hair,
Go away, go back to Ipswich and your fish and chip shop, you're disgraceful, you are intellectually dishonest and you are not welcome here.'

 Unfortunately only part of the exchange was caught on camera. But we see Mr Yanner defend his people and then go on to defend Australians freedoms. As Hanson walked away not wanting to publicly address her behavior the crowd applauded Mr Yammer. 
 Perhaps she didn't expect Aboriginal people to be there or didn't expect to be called out on her past behavior, in any event she couldn't get out of there fast enough. 
 If i truly believed Hanson was just ignorant i would hope that this episode might show her how her abuse effects real people. But I don't think she is just ignorant, she has had many years to educate herself and to see how her abuse effects people, yet she seems to continue to offer scapegoats and illogical over simplified 'solutions' to 'problems' she herself often exasperates.
  Sadly we will see other racists try to twist this around and defend her racism. But i have an admittedly naive hope that some of her followers may see this and actually look into her past racism and realise discrimination and prejudice is not the answer.
 

Its Trash Day: Cory Bernardi

Its Trash Day: Cory Bernardi

 Cory Bernardi has a long and vocal history of homophobia. He denies he is a homophobic of course, i am not sure what definition he has invented in his head but he surely fits every definition of the word i have ever seen.

For those who don't know lets do a little history lesson of this radical far right politician and his extremist views;

Equal rights:

Bernardi shamefully opposed the 2008 same sex relationship equal treatment bill in the senate.
In 2012 Bernardi made the outrageous claim that marriage equality would somehow lead to bestiality.
Bernardi attacked what he termed "non-traditional families" in 2014, making the far fetched claim that they create criminal boys and promiscuous girls.
In 2016 he viciously attacked the safe schools coalition, a program designed to help schools reduce bullying and the lesson risks of youth suicide by creating a safe and inclusive environment.
Bernardi hypocritically advocated against a homophobic hate preacher, going so far as to say:
"At some point we will all have to confront the truth about where the inspiration for the hate speech comes from." It seemed the irony that he himself is a homophobic hate preacher was lost on him.
Most recently he has called on the government to break their election promise to have marriage equality vote before the end of the year, he went on to call equal rights a 'fringe issue'.

Refugees:

2011 Bernardi unbelievably claimed that Australia paying for the funerals of refuges seeking asylum in Australia was "wrong".

ABC:

Bernardi has called for a review into the ABC's funding, despite the fact the ABC at the time added to media diversity and was an important resource for regional Australians.
(the ABC was an independent government owned commercial free station)

Domestic violence:

in 2014 Cory Bernardi shockingly declared that 'There are times when it is appropriate for a man to put his partner in a headlock.'  
If that wasn't enough he has also directed others to a pro-rape blogger.

Conspiracy Theories:

* In 2007 he claimed that climate change was not caused by human activity.

* He has constantly insinuated, despite all evidence to the contrary, that allowing gay couples equal marriage rights would somehow harm children. 

* He makes the wild claim that Christianity is somehow under attack in Australia, despite a majority of politicians being Christian and Christianity being exempt from many anti-discrimination laws, and the freedom to practice religion being enshrined in our constitution.

* He is under the delusion that his views are "common sense" and that the majority of Australians support them.

* He has made the stunning claim that there is a major death industry that promotes abortion as a means of contraception despite any evidence of this industry existing.

 Of course these are not the only outrageous things he has said or done, he seems to be constantly attacking someone or against something, with single parent family's, foster families, non-Christians, blended families, non- married couples, dead refugees, women, moderate- Christians, the constitution, multiracial families, children, inter-generational households, and environmentalists, all drawing his ire at some point. 

 But he saves most of his hate for innocent LGBT Australians, who simply want the same human rights that he (has due to him being born straight), the same rights he selfishly guards from them.

 I am sure within a week there would be more to add to this incomplete list, but for the reasons listed here alone. 

 For the fact that he is a politician and should be responsible enough to educate himself on issues that he is ignorant in, before speaking out against them. 

 In my humble opinion, Cory Bernardi is trash.

Sources:

Defining Nontraditional Families
Marriage vote delayed
Traditional Families  
Cory Bernardi dangerous comments
Bernardi denies his own words
Non-traditional families upset Cory
Bernardi directs others to pro-rape advocate  
Climate change denial
Majority of Australians want equality
Orlando tragedy 

  And for those brave souls who have their tin-foil hat securely fastened to their head and can stomach the complete lack of common sense you can always get this kind of rubbish straight from the bigots mouth, so to speak. 

Cory Bernardi's totally not a parody website.

No really that is legit his website, you have been warned. In fact i would recommend you go to the Cory Bernardi Makes Baby Jesus Cry facebook page instead.

 

Bigot Point: Marriage Equality will lead to Pedophilia

Bigot Point:

Marriage Equality will lead to Pedophilia!

 Short answer no, no it will not. I had actually forgotten this disgusting argument until it was actually said to me in the comments section of our YouTube channel. It is shocking that even today there are some ignorant people who try to spread this filth.

 If someone is against marriage equality because they claim it will lead to pedophilia then they are sowing discord, plain and simple. They are just saying this to try to associate gay people and pedophiles in an effort to vilify gay people in order to further their own agenda.

 With homosexuality existing in only about 10% of the population its obvious if marriage lead to pedophilia it isn't gay marriage that would do the leading.

 

 But the argument is actually far more disingenuous then that, with less then 1% of pedophiles identifying as homosexual. 

 As you can see if the people using this argument were genuine they would be trying to outlaw straight marriage and fighting tooth and nail for gay marriage.

 For the record not one of the many marriage equality bills has ever promoted (or even mentioned) pedophilia. Because it is a completely different issue. If there is ever a bill trying to allow pedophilia in parliament there will be riots on the streets.

Again the definition of marriage should be the union of two* consenting adults.

 Be aware that the people making this horrific argument are also the kind of people who are advocating Natural Marriage with the legal age as young as 13 and Biblical Marriage with the legal age of 12. 

You have to wonder why these people are spreading lies about the gay community.

If you or someone you know is being abused in any way please seek help, you will not get in any trouble, you will be protected and you are not responsible. In Australia lick on the Report Abuse link below or talk to your school counselor (not Chaplin) and they will help you through this.

Report Abuse

Elsewhere please contact the police.

Sources:

Facts about Homosexuality.

Anti-Gay Myths

Common Sense

The false link

logic

 

A Koalas Tale: The Annoying Old Man

This is a true story it really happened to me. If you want an audio version click here.

 I had an older dog and every morning we would go for a walk around the neighboring block. I took her to the neighboring block because it was made up of mostly sports fields and vacant grassland. We could walk uninterrupted by other dogs guarding their houses and cars pulling in and out of driveways.

 She loved to go for walks and even looked forward to it despite the aches and pains of her old legs. We took it slow with lots of breaks for her to sniff the grass, and recover her strength. It was a square block so if she got too tired we could cut across or simply turn around and walk back, whichever was shorter. 

 Now one of the pathways had a small footbridge that she liked to cross. I don't remember when it happened exactly but a few times near the foot bridge i was greeted by an old man. There isn't anything unusual about that, when you walk a dog people tend to be polite. 

 It got to be a regular thing and before i realised it i was running into him walking slowly near the foot bridge almost every day. Now again this was not too unusual, there were regulars along our walk, people move in patterns and i often shared passing greeting with people that walked the same paths around the same times going about their early morning business. 

 Now he was a talker, many people just gave a smile and a nod, some greeted a good morning, some would want to stop and exchange a meaningless sentence or two, others like this old man wanted a full conversation.

 My dog didn't mind, she liked people and would just sniff around and would actually start walking off when she was ready to go, which was nice because it gave me a nice escape. He always laughed at it when she would just start up walking again, pulling on the lead and looking back expectantly. He would say the same "who is walking who" almost every time.

 So this was mildly annoying but when i noticed he was waiting for me on the footbridge every morning, that when it became a little bit much.  
 Sometimes i would take a slightly different rout and see him walk to the footbridge, he would remain there until his interaction with me and then usually leave when i did,or not long after.

 So that's how it went, every morning i he would be there waiting to talk to me and i would at the very least give him a polite good morning, it seemed the more i spoke the harder it was to get away and the longer he wanted to converse.

 I tried some different routs but they were ether heavily populated or had hills that were too much for my elderly dog. So i just kind of endured it, it wasn't horrible just a meaningless waste of time.

 It got to near xmas and here in Australia that means summer. Due to climate change the weather had been unseasonably warm, i mean it was over 30 c (86 f) degrees before nine o'clock in the morning. So i had been walking my dog during the evening when, even if it hadn't cooled down much, the sun wasn't melting the road or turning the footpath into a hotplate. After a few days of doing this i had a evening thing with my boyfriends family so i took my dog on a quick walk in the morning. 

 I noticed the old annoying man standing on the footbridge as i neared, i was kind of pissed off, i had a lot to do that day and really didn't have time for his inane rambling. As i neared he saw me and i saw his eyes light up and a huge smile come over his face. He was ecstatic to see me, he said he was a bit worried that something had happened or that he had annoyed me and i had started walking my dog elsewhere. 

 I felt like a bit of an ass so i stopped and chatted, explaining about the heat, and expressing my very real concern that no one should be out walking in it. Early in the chat i asked if he had family visiting for xmas. He looked forlorn, there were tears welling in his eyes as he said "Most of my friends they've passed an i don't really see my family much anymore, their busy living there lives i suppose."

 That is when it hit me, i realised that my daily five to ten minute inconvenient meeting with this man may well have been his only interaction with another person all day.  

Those days i had purposely avoided him, or had not taken my dog for a walk at the regular time, he may well have had no human contact at all that day. 

 I was understandably disgusted in myself. I did however legitimately have way too much to do that day. So i explained my plans for the day (obviously leaving out the fact i am gay, sadly it becomes second nature to censor yourself for your own safety) and apologised that i did have to go.   
  
 He looked a bit sad but wished me a "merry Christmas" I'm not christian but i didn't say anything because (sadly it becomes second nature to censor yourself for your own safety and) i knew he meant well.

 As we parted i looked back and said "see you tomorrow." because i knew that from that day on i would devote that twenty minutes of my day to ensure that this person had someone to talk to. Yes i knew i could have done more, but i vowed i would not do any less than that minor thing.

 He looked back and looked overjoyed which made the whole thing that little bit sadder. But i kept to my vow, my dog got older and we couldn't do the whole block anymore but we walked the path with the footbridge. Where i met the old man and we would talk about nothing and everything; how he missed his family, the recent storms, how he was scared of growing old alone, prominent news story's, how i was dreading my dog growing old, that kind of thing. I would always leave on a positive note.  

  Eventually my dog died of old age, but i still walked that block, for exercise, and to meet the old guy on the footbridge. 

 Sadly he stopped being there, i have no idea what happened, but i never saw him again. 

 That annoying old man, turned out to be a funny guy who had lived a long and interesting life, i hope if i am ever old and lonely that someone takes a few minutes out of their day to have a chat with me.

 Now if someone on the street smiles at me, i smile back i have no idea if their smile is forced through pain, as mine often have been, i have no idea if my return smile might be the only human kindness they experience that day. 

 I learned it really doesn't take much effort to make someone else life just that little bit more bearable.