Moral Panics grow apace.

A Queensland man has been charged for re-publishing on a video-sharing site a viral video of a man swinging a baby around like a rag doll.

wo unrelated, yet eerily similar, cases in Australia show that the Moral Panics of child abuse and child pornography continue to grow and snare the innocent.

A NSW Supreme Court judge has ruled an internet cartoon in which lookalike child characters from The Simpsons engage in sexual acts is child pornography.

It seems this judge, unlike the defendant, cannot separate reality from fantasy. No children were harmed in the making of the cartoon, and no children are likely to be harmed by anyone viewing the cartoon.

“If the persons were real, such depictions could never be permitted,”Justice Adams said in his judgement. “Their creation would constitute crimes at the very highest end of the criminal calendar.”

The judge, seeing not to understand the import of the word if, then goes on to treat cartoon characters as real people.

Read the whole sad tale at http://www.theage.com.au/national/simpsons-cartoon-ripoff-is-child-porn-judge-20081208-6tmk.html

In the other case, a Queensland man has been charged for re-publishing on a video-sharing site a viral video of a man swinging a baby around like a rag doll. the man did not make the video, he simply republished what had been published many times before.

He was charged with using the internet to access and publish child-abuse material and is scheduled to appear in court in Maroochydore on December 18.

The baby is laughing and smiling at the end of the clip, but the video has attracted criticism from child-welfare advocates because of how vigorously the man swings the baby by its arms.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/12/08/1228584709781.html

 Have these people never seen America’s Funniest Home Videos? Perhaps that, too will be banned.

I am sorry, but these cases are over the top, and in fact they also trivilaise what is a very important issue.

Well, it could be worse…

“STEVE” has been barred from seeing his daughter for seven years.

He has never harmed his only child or her mother. He has never threatened them and a court has accepted he is of good character.

But last week, after a tortuous 10-year journey through four courts, more than 20 hearings, 12 psychologists and six lawyers, he was told he could not see his daughter until she came of age.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24761929-661,00.html

Although I can’t see how. Here exposed is the idiocy of putting political expediency above good law making.

Is Barack Obama black?

Well, only if you are still trapped in the time warp of old time American racism where a single drop of negro blood was enough to tar a person as “nigger”.

Barack Obama is not black. He may be coloured. He is bi racial. But he is not black.

Does anyone in Telecom still speak English?

From their latest ad campaign:

Content screening – stops staff accessing unrelated work sites.

Now, I think I can work out what they mean, but why should I have to? How much does the CEO get paid? Maybe some of that should trickle down to a decent proof reader.

http://www.telecombusinessbroadband.co.nz/

More Down testing would ‘halve’ births

EVERY pregnant woman should be offered screening for Down syndrome regardless of age, and screening should be co-ordinated by a national policy, according to experts. 

A Danish study published in the British Medical Journal last week showed a national screening program using a combination of tests for expectant mothers halved the number of babies born with Down syndrome in the Scandinavian country.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/more-down-testing-would-halve-births-20081206-6swr.html

Now, as the article goes on to state, not every woman will terminate a Downs foetus, but for those who do, we will be spared the added expense of raising a sub opitmal person.

Just wait for the usual nutters to come out sctreaming about “How life enhancing” it is to parent a Downs child; no thought given to the child. Or the religious wonks railing “Every life is sacred” yet never wondering why their god is was such an incompetent designer that random suffering is part of the design.

Mike Yardley – twit of the week award

How much longer long will The Press (Christchurch) keep inflicting the twitterings of Mike Yardley on its readers?

In his column 6/12/08 Yardley takes his twit stick to those who see prisons as not just a place of punishment, but as a reflection on society as a whole. He seems to have a particular disdain for the Howard League for Penal Reform and their concerns that over crowded prisons do not provide the best results.

Yardley writes “The Howard League and company are apoplectic that serious, violent offenders now face the dire prospect of having to share their cell with a fellow inmate, who might bash or violate them.”

Perhaps Yardley might like to reflect that:

a) Many, if not most, prisoners are not “serious, violent offenders”.

b) Many prisoners are in jail for crimes other than violence, such as deception, fraud, drink driving, drug use, etc.

c) Many prisoners are in jail, more because they have a mental illness or incapacity than because they are hardened criminals.

d) Prisoners have the same rights and expectations as the rest of society to be safe from violence.

Yardley may like to return to the days of the lash, but if so, let him consider

1. Corporal punishment was administered by an appointed authority and under known conditions; it was not a process of random violence inflicted by inmates upon each other.

2. It would be more intellectually honest of Yardley to put the case for a return to corporal punishment, not hide behind throwaway lines like “double bunking (…) delivering more bang for our buck.”

Quote of the year from QANTAS Shareholder

“Why, when you talk about paying to keep the best talent on the board, does that never filter down to paying to keep the best front-line staff?

“It’s disgusting that you can keep continually raising your salaries, giving yourselves slaps on the back and yet it has never filtered down to the people underneath you.”

Qantas shareholder Lisa Marshall

http://business.theage.com.au/business/qantas-boss-payout-hits-turbulence-20081128-6n1r.html

Criminalising “defamation of religion”.

An unholy alliance of religious fanatics, faceless beauraucrats and censorious governments is attempting to place criminal sanctions on the freedom to criticise and oppose religion.

The attempt is being pushed by the The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), using the language of promoting Human Rights. This resulted in a report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diène, on the manifestations of defamation of religions and in particular on the serious implications of Islamophobia on the enjoyment of all rights.

All Black? OK. All White? Not alright.

In New Zealand it seems it’s OK to be All Black, but very, very bad to be All White. The Otago cricket association decided to promote the forthcoming Black Caps v West Indies test with the tag line “Its all white here”. This has brought a rain of fire on their heads from those who are determined to find offence around every corner.

I thought we had matured from seeing racism in every comment, but it seems not.

How can those objecting to this campaign not also object to the national soccer team, the All Whites? Have they also forgotten the 1930’s all maori rugby team, also known as the All Whites?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4767707a1823.html

Hello world!

Who is Billy Borker?

Billy Borker was the creation of Australian writer Frank Hardy. Billy was usually found sitting in a pub, bending the ear of anyone who’d listen with one of his many yarns. From The only fair dinkum raffle ever run in Australia to The needy and the greedy or The world’s worst worrier, Billy had a topic and a yarn for any occasion.

I’ve always been a fan of Hardy’s writing, his care for the underpriveleged and his acceptance of the fallibility of Man, yet all the while seeing Men in their ordinary lives. Billy was Frank’s humourous alter ego.

My intention is to write about life as seen from the peace of Oxford, New Zealand, not all the far away from the setting of many other Hardy stories – Benson’s Valley.