<sarcasm>
Surely he is. He was a politician, and we all know politicians are dishonest. Just look at Wollongong-gate.
</sarcasm>

Replace the word politician with homosexual and the word dishonest with paedophile and you get the gist of what Jeff Kennett, former Victorian premier, is reputed to have said. (Source)

It’s the same if you have a pedophile there as a masseur, right?

This was said in defence of the sacking of veteran football trainer Ken Campagnolo after it found out he was gay.

I have just found some Victorian crime figures. (Source) This is from the section on the crime rape:

Victoria Police recorded 1,270 rape victims during 2006/2007, an increase of 11.3% on the 1,141 recorded in 2005/2006. There were 1,161 female victims (up 12.3% compared with last year) and 107 male victims (up 5.9%). Nearly a third (403 or 31.7%) of all victims of rape recorded during 2006/2007 was under the age of 18 years.

Lets examine these figures and see if we can guess about victims of paedophilia. I will assume that all the victims of rape under age 18 were victims of paedophilia. If we the assume that equal numbers of males and females made up the under 18 victims as the total then there would be 368 female victims and 35 male victims.

So females under 18 are 10 times more likely to be raped than males. But if homosexuals are paedophiles, then who raped these 368 female victims?

Even if all the male victims were under 18 then females under 18 are still 3 times more likely to be raped.

I wonder if Jeff Kennett can answer why these homosexual paedophiles are raping girls and young women.

Rather, he has just shown himself as a homophobe.

The police have been granted extraordinary powers to arrest and fine people for “causing annoyance” during World Youth Day. (SMH)

This event has been causing annoyance to Sydneysiders for the past six months. Our building is going to be cut off on two sides by the pilgrimage. How dare they introduce such draconian laws.

This is the straw that is going to break this particular camel’s back.

I have read that you are intending to send to committee a bill designed to give us a little bit more equality. My partner and I have been together for over 15 years. We both work and pay taxes. We both participate in our communities. We are both accepted by our families. We are just like any other couple in Australia, except we are same sex. Because of this we have been denied many benefits. Surely as taxpayers we are entitled to the same benefits as every other couple in Australia.

Last year the HROEC identfied 58 laws that discriminated against us. When you were part of the government your party refused to even consider reform. Since Labor has come to power they have identified more discriminatory laws, bringing the total to around 100.

Still you seem to believe that we are second class citizens. Still you plan to deny us benefits that all other couples in Australia have.

This does not need to go to committee. It is a simple question of making sure all legitimate couples get the same rights. I urge you to reconsider your stance and allow this bill to pass the Senate.

Today I have phoned Optus to cancel my account as we have decided to go completely mobile. I had a really bad experience just trying to talk to them. They have this voice response system where you have to speak to a computer.

On the first call after answering all the questions the computer asked I was connected almost immediately, but there was no one on the other end. So I hung up and tried again.

Second call, I answered all the questions again, but when it went to connect I was told I had dialled the wrong number. It was a number their system had dialled.

I was rather frustrated by this time, so I dialled again but tried to tell the computer it was a complaint. The computer kept asking questions which I was not enthusiastic about answering. Eventually I got put through to a person. They were sympathetic, but after asking lots if identifying questions advised were unable to help me. They (hopefully) recorded my complaint about the voice response system and then put me through to someone else. They also gave me a “direct” number.

Second person I spoke to asked me the same questions. She was also unable to help me and put me through to yet another person. She gave me a different “direct” number.

As you can imagine, by this time I was incredibly frustrated. So when, for the 5th or 6th time I was asked “Why do you want to cancel this service?” I exploded. “No I am not going to tell you why. I have just told that 5 times.” Eventually I said, “OK. Say that I am dissatisfied with the service.”

So hopefully there ends my story with Optus.

I must say all the people were professional. It is their systems that let them down.

It is now more than 3 years since I have needed to contact an employment agency. I still regularly get phone calls and emails from them. I have asked repeatedly to be removed from their databases and email lists. I am usually ignored. I am occasionally abused.

It is time to start a shame file. Below are details of employment agencies who persist in contacting me despite being told not to:

• BSI People - I never sent my details to this company, so they must have changed their name or bought another company. I first received something from them in April 2007, then in March 2008. Each time I asked them to unsubscribe me. I received another one today (April 2008). They are a Seek Annual Recruitment Awards winner too. SHAME! And another email in May 2008.

Internet Filtering – It’s like WorkChoices for your computer: You never asked for it, you’ve repeatedly said you don’t want it, but the Government is determined to ram it down your throat, all the while smirking, and telling you what a great favour they’re doing you. (source)

Our federal government is trying desperately to make the Internet “safe” for families. (The previous one was not much better.) They want us to only be able to see wholesome family friendly material. We will have the option to opt-out, but that will mean our names will be on file. We will have to register ourselves as perverts.

They justify their crusade by claiming that they are protecting us from paedophilia and kiddie porn. Then they refuse to say exactly what they want to block, conflating kiddie porn with adult porn.

Now I applaud any measures to prevent kiddie porn and to prosecute those who prey on children sexually. But we must be vigilant to ensure that adult material is not demonised.

The government will never be able to prevent people from viewing “unwholesome” material, neither accidentally nor intentionally. Something will always sneak through. Spammers are always finding new tricks, and so will anybody else who wants to.

We need to accept that the Internet is just a reflection and an extension of the world we live in. We need to apply the same rules of parental responsibility to the Internet as we do to all places where there is danger. Education not regulation.

Federal Opposition MPs are furious that Mr Rudd has frozen their salaries for the next 16 months in an effort to contain inflation. The former minister Tony Abbott says politicians are struggling to make ends meet on a backbencher’s base salary of $127,060.

“We have mortgages to pay, in many cases we have school fees, we have medical expenses, we have all the normal expenses that families have, and the only source of meeting those expenses is our parliamentary salaries,” Mr Abbott said. (Source)

I am afraid I have no sympathy for Mr Abbot. If Mr Abbot was a base backbencher he would earn two and a half times the average salary. If he can’t cope, how do those who less than the average cope with their families and children?

Most Australians only have their wage or salary. Very few have investments that do anything more than make sure they will be comfortable in their retirement. Mr Abbot, you are out so out of touch.

A sea of umbrellas gathered in Martin Place to watch our new Prime Minister say Sorry to the first Australians on behalf of the government, the parliament and the people of Australia. The motion was put:

That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia. Source

The motion was accompanied by a great and moving speech and some very practical propositions. Not only has Rudd said Sorry, but he has also committed to bring the quality of life for Indigenous Australians in to line with the non-indigenous Australians.

We have finally done the right thing by the world and ratified Kyoto!

Today I have had a problem with two large companies. These are serious enough that I am likely to take my business elsewhere. One is a bank, the other an insurance company.

These days it seems that companies don’t work to keep you as a customer, in fact they seem to go out of their way to make thinks difficult. On the other hand they put enormous amounts of money into attracting new customers.

Whatever happened to “the customer is always right”? How about spending less on advertising and more on keeping existing customers happy.