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My invisible sky friend said it is ok to cover up child abuse.

On ABC News Breakfast, Father Kevin Bourke admitted that even if a priest came into the confessional and admitted to child sex crimes he WOULD NOT go to the police.

Using phrases such as “Church Law” (what about common law, what about common decency), he went on to talk about the priest in the hypothetical senario, but with little pause for the victim.

Of course it is the “sacred responsibilities” that mean he has to keep quiet. It is the sanctity of the church and the sacrament of the confessional.  What a giant load of crap.

The church says the confessional means the person has admitted their sin before god.  What an even bigger load of crap.

Where was your “invisible sky friend” when it came to the victim of child abuse.  And don’t start me on the “it is all part of his great plan” crap.

What plan allows children to be abused by those in such a position of trust and then allows that to be covered up.

I don’t care if the question was a hypothetical or not.  The answer goes to the heart of what is wrong with the church. Even after all that has come out in the last few years they still reach for an easy excuse to cover up a heinous crime. I don’t believe in any god, and yet my moral compass ( to their denial I am sure ) is more focused than anything the church can produce.

 

Queensland – Where Monkey Trials are 2012 not ’25

Yesterday during the LNP Conference a little discussed (outside of Policy Wonk and Teacher Circles ) Motion was passed.

The members of course overwhelmingly voted to ensure the removal of “environmental propaganda” about climate change from schools.

Now this should just alarm people a little, but a hell of a lot.  The 1925 “Scopes Trial, or more commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial” was about teaching evolution in schools.

The science around Climate Change is in the same situation.  Where those with a vested interest seek to pervert education and thus children’s minds.

That is unless you seriously believe that tens of thousands of scientists (and the actual Climate as well) around the world are in some massive cover up, with only a small fraction not in agreement.

What is the worst that could happenThe science is in on Climate Change, the evidence is all around.  Yet the right wing of politcs seeks to undermine the very fabric of our education system to push their own agenda.

Whether or not this motion will have an impact on actual curriculum is yet to be seen, however the current state of the Queensland parliament is such that any such motion adopted by the government would pass with no effort.

Campbell Newman is a “screaming leftie hippy” when compared to his Federal counter part Tony Abbott.  Yet under the Conservative, almost Tea Party politics Queensland has lurched into this dangerous territory.

A taste of what would come to the rest of Australia under a very religious man, who in the past has used his own person religious beliefs to deny women access to RU486.  Abbott will be watching closely the change to the education system in Queensland.

This isn’t just a little be scary, this is a very dangerous state of being.  How long before “Intelligent Design” is brought in to the science room, how long before science is just simply replaced with Bible Studies.

 

Thoughts on being a father to the #wolfcatcubs for one year.

#wolfcatcubs - from 10 days old to 1 Year

I have been a father for 12 months now… it feels both a short period of time and the longest year of my life.

So here are a few observations I have had. Whilst most of these are YMMV (Your milage may vary), the variance is predominately in the it could be worse sorry to say.

These are in no particular order…

  • You can survive on 3-4 hours broken sleep for the first 3 months of a baby’s life.  Your ability to function or even have low level reasoning however is completely gone.
  • Leaving the house at a set time will never happen.  In fact, leaving for an appointment 2 hours late rapidly becomes, wow we are nearly on time.
  • Dinner time is the time that babies will wake, cry, notice something, make a smell and generally do anything to stop you sitting down and eating warm food.
  • Takeway food is your best friend, more so if it can be eaten cold.
  • Twins are not twice as hard as a single baby.  They are four times as hard.  Imaging a screaming baby needing something 24×7, double that… then add extra fatigue, grumpyness and the need to go to the toilet in a hurry ( and I am not talking about the babies here!)
  • Twins cost 4x as much.  Well maybe 3 times as much.  That favourite sleeping rug, you will need 4 of them, 2 on the go, then 2 as spares, repeat for nearly everything they own.
  • Mr Creosote has NOTHING on a child that is vomiting.  The smell of ½ digested formula is also the smell of the Gates of Hades.
  • You never get used to nappies, people that say you do are lying.
  • If a single baby is said to ruin your sex life, don’t have twins.  My wife and I have spent more nights apart in the same house since we meet.
  • A comfy couch that you can sleep on is a bloody good investment before you have children.  Put the child in a rocker put rocker next to couch, rock baby till either you or baby falls asleep.
  • Having a work place with other parents is beyond helpful.  Running a bit late, brain addled due to lack of sleep they will understand.
  • People that say, you don’t know what it is like till you have children are CORRECT.  This also applies for parents of twins.
  • If you have twins people will ask you “Are the Twins”.  The correct answer is not “No they are a medical experiment that went wrong”
  • That idea that during the first year you will take lots of photos of your children and keep your blog up to date… just forget it.
  • Family in the same city as you that can come and give you a few hours break… fantastic. ( Note: we do not have this, so it is more of a projection )
  • They say a baby cries for a reason, but bugger me if I know what the reason is most of the time.
  • Having children may well strengthen your relationship, but only if you survive the first 12 months. There is a bloody good reason the divorce rate for Twin parents is so much higher.
  • Never complain you are tired in front of your wife.  Sure you got 3 hours sleep, but the 8 hours at work away from the crying is invaluable.
  • Babies have an amazing ability to sense when you are trying to do something and will wake the second you start ( writing this blog post was interrupted 3 times for example )
  • That crying baby in front of you in the plane, train, bus, cafe that you are complaining about, guess what 99% of parents are trying to stop it crying.  You think it is bad for that short amount of time, do it 24X7.

And finally, I still wouldn’t swap them… well maybe for a good nights sleep.

 

Here are Two People that support the Carbon Tax

The Carbon tax isn’t about you and me…

it is about our children….

Here are mine…. I for one welcome it for them.

No Dad, it is not bedtime, didn't you know that #wolfcatcubs