Satan's Kawaii House of Civics

Politics and Penal Spectatorship

2011-08-23T00:27:00.003+10:00

To understand how we are all penal spectators (whether passively or actively) and how we are complicit in the perpetuation of the liberal democratic ‘law and order’ narrative it is necessary to form an understanding of how the media shape our perceptions. We like to think that we have progressed significantly since times past when criminals were hung on show for the placated masses, but in reality the venue has just shifted from the town square to our newspapers, televisions, and computer screens. The same principles are still very much present even if the method of punishment has changed.

Offenders are portrayed as incarnations of their crime, without personal characteristic. John Smith becomes ‘killer’, ‘paedophile’, or ‘thug’, and little (if any) commentary is given on the circumstances of the criminal’s life that might have led to their current predicament. In stark contrast, we are presented with extensive insight into the impact of crime on victims and their families (and increasingly into the irrelevant details of their everyday activities). The State disregards contributing factors to crime and with it, any notion of effective crime reduction in favour of tough law enforcement, punitive measures, and mandatory sentencing regulations (removing judicial discretion as the final impartiality). In turn, the State garners support from a fearful public fed by media stories of criminal ‘others’ that are a threat to ‘us’ collectively as an embodiment of society. It is through this fear that the State and media have transformed us from critical, thinking individuals into feeling spectators happy to have our fears elated and empathies indulged by the costly, ineffective removal of these ‘others’ from society’s view.

A cursory glance at any newspaper or broadcast is all that is necessary to observe these phenomena. On the 30^th of July 2011 the Illawarra Mercury ran the story “Family upset as killer mum granted parole”. Immediately we can see the convergence of victim empathy, offender depersonalisation, and outrage at a system not tough enough on crime. Despite tough restrictions on the granting of parole, the further surveillance requirements of parolees, and the fact that the offender is one year away from her maximum term of 19-years, the State is actively opposing the decision on the emotive grounds of the “hideousness” of the crime.

The Daily Telegraph on April 23^rd 2010 reports “Mass murderer Reg Little to be released on bail” giving details of his 1975 arson which resulted in the deaths of 15 people giving no mention of his already 36-years in prison. In a strange twist of fate The Daily Telegraph reports on community outrage that the arsonist was allowed out of prison regularly (no doubt supervised, not that this is reported) to serve as a volunteer firefighter, a fitting recompense one might think.

The Herald Sun on August 11^th 2011 reports on the recent rioting in London quoting British Prime Minister David Cameron declaring the riots were “not about politics or protest, it is about theft”, a perfect summation of law and order politics in a liberal democracy with wilful disregard for (very apparent) causes of the unrest and the boiling down of the issue to individual crimes committed.

We enable this state of affairs through our consumption of such media and we have created a self-sustaining cycle of outrage, reporting, and political response, with each step feeding back into the first.

yawn

2011-08-23T00:22:00.002+10:00

*Door creaks open with cliche metal squeal*

*Steps into room taking note of cobwebs and dust*

*Flicks the generator switch and pulls the choke*

*Silence*

*FLICKS THE GENERATOR SWITCH AND PULLS THE CHOKE*

*Silence*

*Kicks the generator*

*Characteristic machine noises*

We are back in business.

My International Shitlist

2010-12-27T17:24:00.003+11:00

In order of total bile produced to date:

1. Israel

2. North Korea

3. Zimbabwe

4. Iran

5. USA

Now a few things should be noted:

-This list was created purely to give you the required amount of perspective needed to understand just how much I detest Israel's actions in the region.

-No.3 could easily have been “most undeveloped African nations” but I feel Zimbabwe is probably the internationally recognised worst.

-The US deserves some credit for not being quite as bad now as it was under the previous administration.

-(Dis)honorable mention to the Vatican who would probably compete for no.2 if I were willing to acknowledge it as a country.

Merry Xmas!

2010-12-25T02:14:00.001+11:00

Merry Xmas to all. Unless you're Christian, in which case Merry Yule, you thief-cats.

Amagami SS

2010-12-18T13:54:00.001+11:00

Ayatsuji-san is far superior to Morishima-sempai. If you think otherwise or think that this is simply a matter of personal choice, you would be wrong.

Christmas Drive

2010-12-03T16:34:00.004+11:00

Its that time of year again, the time when we remember that the true way to let Jesus into your life is to buy seeds. Not just any seeds, that would be silly, Jesus seeds. The seeds which you sow now are a blessing that will enrich your life in the future.

Can you really put a price on Jesus' love?

Jesus seed packages:

$10 - mild enrichment

$1000 - heavy enrichment

$1 000 000 - golden heaven ticket

Purchase via the Donate button to the right. God bless.

Disclaimer: No physical seeds or objects of any kind are involved in this transaction. Enrichment may or may not refer to Uranium.

Controversial Ideas

2010-12-03T15:05:00.004+11:00

So one of the plagues on my sanity is censorship and the religious right's WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN push for more censorship. I have formulated a strategy that I believe will work to deal with the core of the religious right objections to content and thus produce an acceptable outcome for all stakeholders, or at least offend as many people as possible which is just as admirable!

Its very simple: Ban children. If there are no children around then there is no need to ban content to protect them and the rest of the world can enjoy what content they honestly should have been able to access to begin with.

Now I know some of you think you're geniuses right now for coming up with ways to poke holes in my rock solid plan like "Oh but Murray, without children how will we continue the circle of life (is sacred, ban everything because I believe in imaginary things)" (the brackets are what you were thinking, yes I can read your pitiful mortal mind) so let me take you down a notch before you embarrass yourself.

One word. Cloning.

Now I'm not talking about taking someones complete genetic makeup and birthing a new baby with it, that would be stupid and completely defeats the purpose of my rock solid plan. I mean Red Alert 2 Russian Cloning Vats style cloning where an exact copy at current age will be instantly produced without you really knowing what the hell just happened.

The only thing that could possibly make this rock solid plan any more effective would be somehow weaving in the aborting of adult clones of religious people and possibly euthanising all non-gay Catholic and Evangelical priests.

Love,

Murray.

Adsense clicks

2010-12-03T14:59:00.003+11:00

Ok so someone out there has been clicking my ads too much! Noble (towards me :p) as your intentions may be that shit gets me banned from adsense, like now *angry face*

If you see something that piques your interest by all means click, but please don't spam clicks for my benefit because it really ISN'T to my benefit - see above!

A Day of Mixed Feelings

2010-11-11T19:41:00.001+11:00

So apparently I should have stopped reading the news after my initial dose at midday. Today has had a mix of good and bad news, which lets be honest, is better than every other day of bad news and celebrity news.

So let us start with the good:

Today was a great win not only for asylum seekers but for the greater good of not allowing government to subvert the Australian legal system. The High Court unanimously ruled today that two Sri Lankan refugees be granted an appeal in the courts to their rejected applications for asylum.

The Migration Act was previously altered by the Howard Government to exclude Christmas Island from the Australian Migration Zone which in effect meant they could be refused the rights afforded to refugees processed on the mainland. Today’s decision has effectively set a precedent reversing those amendments allowing court access to asylum seekers being detained offshore.

With any luck this will serve as a nail in the coffin of the farcical debate on asylum seekers in this country with regards to offshore processing.

On the note of the High Courts and subversive government policies we come to our next piece of good news:

The High Court was on a roll today apparently overturning South Australian laws which forced magistrates to issue control orders on people found to be members of outlaw bikie gangs. It was (unsurprisingly) found that the law impeded on the independence of magistrates.

Frankly whilst I am not in favour of bikie gangs or indeed any groups that dabble in organised crime, I am even less of a fan of knee-jerk policy making based on the whims of media hysteria. We have a legal system separate from our political system for a good reason and scarcely anything annoys me more than politicians crossing those borders. It seems any time a government pleads for the swift passing of emergency laws its almost always for a really dumb reason (a few events come to mind: Cronulla riots, Catholic World Youth Day, George Bush’s visit, APEC).

Slightly less interesting, but also important and relevant was ANOTHER High Court decision that allows expenses incurred for study purposes to be claimed at that special beaurocratic time of year we all love, tax time. Students earning Youth Allowance (and presumably Austudy) will now be able to claim on items such as books, materials, stationary, etc.

On to the bad news:

Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School has become the next school to make headlines for the wrong reasons with regards to same-sex couples and school formals. I’m going to take a more moderate approach to this because I can see what the principal was thinking at the time and its not as sinister as headlines are making out, just really really stupid.

The school does actually acknowledge gay couples and they are welcome to bring their partners to year 12 formals. This year 11 formal was apparently seen outside the scope of this common sense and the hot lesbian in question was not allowed to bring her partner who is in year 10 at the same school. Enter the stupid: the principal didn’t want students from other years attending the event designed for year 11 and allowing this case would make other year 10 girls want to come.

So you see this clear act of discrimination was actually just thoughtfulness and care of one school’s principal towards her year 10 and 11 students. Clearly it is a far more important to not cause a feeling of envy amongst one lesbian’s year 10 peers than to allow a homosexual to bring their partner to her formal like everyone else. After all what is one girl’s alienation compared to an entire grade’s non-existent expectations.

The next and final piece of bad news for the day is directly relevant to the previous one if you are part of an American right-wing organisation that considers them gays to be no better than them paedophiles.

Consequently if you happen to be part of one of those organisations then let me clarify for you in advance that I do not condone @hamburger777’s paedophilia, nor anyone else’s.

If you found yourself browsing Amazon’s Kindle ebook range for books on love and pleasure then you may have been fairly surprised to find “The Pedophiles Guide to Love and Pleasure” the latest in a line of works published by none other than Satan himself (in collaboration with @hamburger777).

Unsurprisingly this book has caused an uproar with some people demanding that we respect freedom of speech and other people demanding that anyone suggesting as such be branded a child sex offender.

Amazon have said they are sticking by their guns and keeping the book on sale, taking an anti-censorship stance. However attempting to click on the link for the book results in the message “We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on our site” suggesting they have since caved in to pressure.

Naturally news forums are alight with a flurry of moronic comments and condemnations of paedophilia and the book but there have been some lights in the darkness. It was pointed out for example that reading a book is not illegal, and the book it not the problem, paedophilia is the problem, and you know what else is a problem? Censorship, so lets not cause a problem ourselves trying to solve something that is itself harmless. Reading a book wont make anyone become a paedophile anymore than praying will make a gay person straight, or gay marriage make a straight person gay.

You can be revolted all you like by this book, you can yourself not buy this book, you can affirm your mainstream sexual identity by bragging to your friend about how much you hate this book and Amazon, but free speech is about accepting that you will find things offensive, but if they aren’t themselves illegal, then shutting the fuck up about it. For those left thinking “oh but paedophilia is illegal” go kill yourself, you’re too stupid to breed.

To finish up I present you with a picture of the author and collaborators of “The Pedophiles Guide to Love and Passion”:

REQUEST

2010-10-20T13:43:00.000+11:00

Dear Firaxis games,

Alpha Centauri 2 please.

That is all.

Fall 2010 Anime

2010-10-15T15:39:00.003+11:00

In no particular order.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

To be honest I am not a huge fan of this. It is very much about a parody art-style and that is about it. Very barren plot-wise, though it is mildly entertaining in its vulgarity. Someone on Sankaku Complex I thought put it pretty accurately in saying that this anime feels like Gainax trolling everyone.

4/10

MM!

For those who enjoyed Seitokai Yakuindomo last season this series is similarly vulgar. The protagonist is a hard masochist and for some reason seeks help in curing his affliction from a ridiculously violent and abusive senpai. I won’t complain though since it amounts to much violence and moe.

5/10

Bakuman

Awh yeah! A great comedy/slice-of-life/love series about an aspiring mangaka. Based on a popular manga this show is very well made and is one of my favourites for the season. The characters are all very interesting in a similar fashion to Durarara!! from last season (not to say these shows are anything alike). Made by the same bunch that did Hikaru no Go and Death Note.

9/10

Tegami Bachi Reverse

If you haven’t seen the first season of Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee) then don’t watch this, or better yet, go watch season 1 THEN watch this. I only recently saw the first season and I loved it. Based in an anachronistic steam punk world this series is very much about the relationships between the two main characters and the people around them. Overall a very nice and sometimes sad steam-punk/fantasy/adventure show.

8/10

Star Driver

A mecha series that doesn’t give the mecha a huge amount of the airtime (so far). If you liked Fafner then you will probably like this. I feel that I like this series possibly more than it deserves but hey a new mecha anime that doesn’t suck and isn’t aimed at 12 year olds is a wonderful break from the endless tide of plotless moe currently circulating.

6/10

Psychic Detective Yakumo

This is about a guy who can see the spirits of the dead who gets involved in the investigation of various paranormal phenomenon. Honestly this series is better than it sounds and I would recommend giving it a chance.

6/10

Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Awh yeah wincest! (maybe[hopefully]) The protagonist finds a magical girl eroge on the floor in his house which he learns belongs to his closet otaku sister (who on the outside is a preppy model). Turns out his super cute sister has a special love for little-sister eroges which for the viewer can only lead to good outcomes! Truly an otaku anime for otaku.

6/10

Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

Ok honestly I wasn’t going to watch this series at all because it sounded terrible but then I was bored and here we are. I am actually enjoying this series quite a lot. It has an interesting art-style that I am unsure whether to call B-grade or creative. Very much an ecchi anime with lots of fighting (think ikkitousen – but better because I didn’t really like ikkitousen). It is wonderfully anachronistic in its mix of samurai during the Tokugawa Shogunate with some advanced technology and a student council (?random).

6/10

Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge

If you haven’t seen season one of this then I have half a mind to smack you with a trout. A random and hilarious series about a very straight brought up son of a businessman who through his unyielding devotion to his upbringing is thrust into life living under a bridge with a bunch of misfits. By SHAFT with the same protagonist voice-actor from Bakemonogatari (awh yeah), truly you must watch this.

10/10

Yosuga no Sora

Ok clearly this is where the twincest is at. I am a little disappointed that this is a harem type anime because it feels like it has a lot of potential to be quite sad. This seems like a mix between Key Animation style –every girl has her sad backstory- and Sora, h2o footprints in the sand. I would recommend giving it chansu!

8/10

Otome Youkai Zakuro

Another series that I was going to ignore though ended up watching through boredom. I will continue to watch this though I would have a hard time recommending it to anyone. Its redeeming factor is FOXGIRLS! which is admittedly a pretty great redeeming factor to have. Its basically about Japan being westernised and the fear the general public has of Youkai (spirits). The military and the FOXGIRLS! form the ministry of spirit affairs and have to deal with spirit-human relations.

4/10

Shinryaku! Ika Musume

We’re on a roll here. Yet another series I was set to ignore due to sounding beyond terrible. This is actually quite good. Its about a very moe squid-girl who comes from the ocean to invade and conquer humanity but finds herself working at a beachside restaurant that she was trying to use as her headquarters. Quite funny.

6/10

The World that God only Knows

About a guy who is the self-proclaimed god of dating sims. A typically portrayed eroge otaku who is not interested in 3D girls in the slightest. Through his pride he accidentally makes a contract with a demon to release lost souls from the hearts of real women (by getting them to fall for him). He must apply his vast knowledge of capturing women’s hearts in dating sims to fulfil his contract leading to many hilarious situations. The protagonist seems a lot like Lelouch (Code Geass) in his manner and logical style.

8/10

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes

Don’t even.

0/10

Togainu no Chi

This looks so incredibly B-grade, I’m unsure if I will continue it (I probably will, hell I finished Blassreiter). Its about a guy who is an incredibly good fighter who is arrested for a murder he didn’t commit and released from prison on the condition that he go to this wasteland of a city to participate in a no-holes-barred bloodbath fighting game/sport(?). I expect gore and will be disappointed if there isn’t much because seriously this has so little else going for it.

3/10

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

I was always going to watch this because its from SHAFT and they are great. Its about a girl working at a maid cafe that has absolutely no qualities of a maid. As with many SHAFT productions this is really all about the quirkiness of each character. Shut up and watch it.

8/10

Toaru Majutsu no Index II

If you liked season one and/or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun then you will probably already be hooked and continue watching this regardless of what I say. If you haven’t watched these yet then do so. Definitely a moe anime but it has a lot of plot which really makes it stand out amongst the crowd (with the exception of Railgun which has almost no plot and survives solely on it character references from Index). Ability users from Academy City VS magicians from the Church of England. Who doesn’t love a science and religion duke out.

8/10

Fortune Arterial

Another anime to chalk up that I was originally ignoring. Turns out this series has the potential to become my favourite for the season. About a guy who has been moving schools all his life who ends up being sent to a boarding school to avoid having to constantly move around with his parents. He meets various characters that all have their own appeal. Apparently it involves vampires… who knew.

9/10

Anything I didn’t list here I didn’t watch which probably means its crap anyway because not even my boredom could draw me in. This list is only for series starting in October, not ones continuing from August/September of which I highly recommend Legend of Legendary Heroes and Shiki.

Election time!

2010-08-20T20:23:00.007+10:00

Choice is probably the wrong word to choose to describe what tomorrow will entail. Choice would imply options. What we will get tomorrow is a chance to get the same policies for the most part, regardless of who wins, but have some say in the face delivering those policies. There are some exceptions like the Labor National Broadband Network, but hardly anything that has occupied the front page of the newspapers consistently throughout the campaign. To modify a South Park reference this election is really a choice between a turd sandwich and a turd sandwich.

Before launching into a rant about how batshit crazy we would have to be as a nation to elect the Mad Monk as our Prime Minister I feel Julia Gillard can not go unmentioned for her transgressions.

I, like many social progressives, was happy to see a Labor leader from the left of the party since the parties winning 2007 policy seemed to be lets steal Howard’s centre-right voters. Which of course in Australia are situated here anyway:

Left|-------------------|----La-o-Li-------|Right - marked by ‘o’

However it was not to be. Despite constant reassuring that Gillard would “not be beholden to the right-faction”, and the even more specific “we will not be lurching to the right on asylum seekers” this is precisely what occurred. Unless Julia can offer an alternate explanation as to why a leftist, atheist PM would oppose gay marriage when something like 80% of Australians support the idea. I think (apologies if I credit the wrong person) Ben Pobjie in ABC’s the Drum described what Julia has become best: a “soulless vote grubbing harpy queen”.

Honestly I thought Julia would make a great Prime Minister, but the strings attached to her limbs are too clearly visible. I find it funny due to this when stooges (presumably mostly Young Liberals) rubbish the ALP for being too left-wing. Because you know what, I would totally be voting Labor IF THEY WERE. Greedy fuckwads already having the whole of mainstream politics pandering to them having the propensity to complain.

Let us not forget that the right-faction pulling Julia’s strings is the same right-faction that has dominated NSW Labor for a decade and led it into the past 2 or 3 elections are one of the most unpopular governments in the democratic world, and only pulled through because the opposition was AFK. This election was a shoe-in win for Julia Gillard (or even Kevin Rudd) simply because any alternative would be better than Mad Monk Tony, and yet by matching Tony in all the wrong areas they have denied themselves this edge.

The alternative to this walking hypocrisy is even worse however. Tony ‘Mad Monk’ Abbott having come to the Liberal leadership on a platform of climate change denial, having dethroned a man seemingly far more worthwhile voting for, is laughably looking like an actual contender in this election (well maybe not so laughable pending tomorrow’s results). I still remember one of my favourite tweets from the Liberal #spill clearly reflecting the jaw-dropping ridiculousness of even thinking Tony Abbott was an electable figure:

“Yo Liberal Party, ima let you finish, but Sarah Palin was the best joke leader of all time”

Honestly I’m not even sure to start with this man. To highlight this man’s sheer (what should be) unelectability watch the following ad by advocate group GetUp:

Abbott has defended himself against this ad by claiming the quotes are outdated. But honestly that just reminds me of South Park’s Saddam Hussein singing “I can change”. Regardless of when the quotes are if you asked Tony to qualify what his current views on these issues are you would find more politically correct worded versions of exactly the same thing.

This is a man who continues to claim to have been a good health minister under the Howard Government and claim not to have ever let religion influence his politics despite his veto of abortion pill RU486 and his opposition to having the (contraception) pill added to the PBS. A man who rejects same-sex marriage (sadly not unlike Labor) for (if we take him at his word) presumably non-religious reasons. A man who has continually preached the merits of WorkChoices including long after Australia firmly rejected it. Who has only in the final month before an election distanced himself from the legislation. Its all well and good to say WorkChoices is dead (buried and cremated [sic]) but that is clearly just the legislation itself at best, and just the name of the legislation at worst. A man’s ideas, particularly ones so stoutly defended, do not change so easily.

The final point I want to make about Tony’s alternative government is that I don’t want a surplus, I don’t want heavy debt either, but money in the bank at the cost of services is terrible. I would much prefer to KEEP that extra $1b in the PBS and KEEP the university entrance programs for the disadvantaged than have to cut it for the sake of financial dick measuring with Labor and the sake of making a few economic conservatives feel good about themselves. Hell if you want to save money I have an idea for you, cut the useless would-be-illegal in any other western democracy farce that is the School Chaplaincy Program.

Ideally I would hope the election is Labor’s to win but requiring the lone Green MP hopeful for Melbourne in a coalition to maintain majority, with Greens balance of power in the Senate. Now whilst I will be voting below-the-line 1 Greens and certainly Labor before Liberal, I suggest to those who are going to be voting for one of the progressive parties (Sex Party, Pirate Party, Democrats, etc.) is to either vote below-the-line OR check out what preference deals the party of your choice has done, because I know at least in some states that the Democrats are preferencing Liberal over Labor. BelowTheLine is a great tool you can use to sort out how you are going to vote ahead of time and I highly encourage you to use it.

My only solace in this election is that Steve Fielding and Family First will once more drift off into the netherworld of irrelevancy where they will hopefully remain for all eternity.

If I had one message to end on it would be: DO NOT forget when you cast your vote tomorrow that if the Liberal party wins government, we are in for at least 3 years of a conservative religious government under one of the biggest political walking parodies alive.

To my vast and loyal following

2010-08-19T16:03:00.004+10:00

The time has come to give unto thee a blessing.

Go forth and enter RadiantDreamer's competition so that you may forward me the prize!

ENTER HERE

QandA Face-Off

2010-08-19T01:40:00.001+10:00

Let us start with a bit over a week ago and Julia Gillard joining the ABC’s Q&A. The experience immediately made me question why she ever does any scripted appearances at all because she comes off so much more engaging and natural during forums like Q&A, and by comparison is criticised for coming across as a drone when delivering a pre-written speech.

She faced some tough questioning on cost of living pressures (by a Liberal Party staffer no less), the Mining Tax, and the inevitable Kevin Rudd drama, but overall handled these questions quite well. A special kudos to the man who asked Julia to scale how much of a tool Mark Latham was.

Fast forward a week to Tony Abbott’s appearance on Q&A.

Now frankly I was hanging out for this since it was announced a week earlier, and lets be honest, who wouldn’t be excited at the prospect of Tony Abbott politically crucifying himself in an unscripted forum on national television. Alas it was not to be, Tony’s performance on Q&A left even his detractors (myself for instance) confused as to who this obvious body double was that Tony’s minders had secretly switched him with.

Like Julia’s appearance, Tony was faced with some tough questions. Same-sex marriage got a mention from a father of a gay son (who frankly deserves an award) that came to terms with his son’s sexuality where he was previously confronted by the idea. Tony avoided making any obvious blunders here but a question on same-sex marriage is never going to deliver a positive result for him.

The Liberal Party should be ashamed for the plants they had in the audience, the token jovial questioner for example being a Kevin Rudd look-alike asking how he could be more like Tony Abbott (not nearly as funny as Julia’s Mark Latham questioner). The experience here made it feel more like Question Time in the House of Reps rather than Q&A with every second question being allowed to have the Liberal party questioning itself.

Criticisms aside, Tony Abbott made Q&A a very boring night by holding himself quite well and not making any of the landmark stuff-ups that he is best known for.

ICT Debate ALP/Lib/Greens

2010-08-10T21:04:00.002+10:00

National Press Club hosts an IT debate between Minister/Shadow Minister’s Stephen Conroy and Tony Smith respectively, and the very welcome inclusion of the Greens’ Senator Scott Ludlam.

I have to say the Libs came away from this debate looking beyond pathetic in regards to broadband. To sum up their counter proposal to the NBN the Libs’ vision for high speed broadband in Australia involves the enormous leap to peak speeds of 12mbps as a national benchmark with no real change in upstream speeds at all.

One can’t help but wonder at this point whether or not Tony Smith and the Liberal party are still all running 56kbps dial-up because I for one (and I assume most people in major cities and anywhere else in AUS that is ADSL2+ enabled) already enjoy peak speeds of 24mbps. So this proposal already looks pathetic even before you compare it to Labor’s NBN offer of 100mbps DOWNSTREAM AND UPSTREAM. It tickled me to hear that Tony Smith used the term “future proofing” when unveiling this policy.

Now I am by no means a fan of Stephen Conroy, quite frankly I think his conservative religious views are much better suited to the current state of the Liberal party, or one of the fringe religious minor parties. However credit where credit is due he had two quotes from this debate that I couldn’t help but giggle at:

“Structural separation of Telstra is the Holy Grail of telecommunications reform”

and

“I keep hearing in this debate from Tony Smith, Tony Abbott, even Malcolm Turnbull, one of the creators of the internet in Australia, he keeps telling us, that he can’t imagine what you could do with 100 megabits, well Tony that’s a failure of your imagination.”

The latter quote clearly one of Conroy’s infrequent remarks on his support for super fast HD porn downloads, in which he has my full support.

Now that I’ve given Conroy his brief moment of balance I can safely say his victories were disgracefully overshadowed by his response to questions on the filter which consisted as per usual of him repeating the words CHILD PORNOGRAPHY over and over again with no regard to the inefficacy of the filter in this respect, nor to the fact that the filter ISN’T a CP filter, but a filter on all RC content. This was further infuriating when he spoke of other western nations such as the UK, Canada, Norway etc. which he claims already have the filter he is proposing. What he fails to state in this comparison is that these countries do not use mandatory filters, and in those countries that do it is only on child pornography, and not the overly imposing, moralistic piece of garbage that is the RC category.

Senator Ludlam deserves a mention in amongst this as well for his usual well presented approach. The Greens confirmed their position of being against the filter and for alternate means such as greater funding of law enforcement to stop child porn. They said they prefer Labor’s NBN to the Libs national dial-up upgrade but will work with whoever is elected to present faster internet for Australia. The only stated exception they take with the NBN is Labor’s plan to privatise NBN co. 5 years after completion, stating that we shouldn’t be allowed to repeat the mistake of the Telstra sale a second time.

TL;DR Ludlam was sensible, Conroy is still a dick but had his moments of triumph, Tony Smith got absolutely grilled by the tech journalists.

Enough from me anyhow, watch the video, it was far more interesting than the NPC’s leaders debate.

Figure Collection

2010-08-10T18:06:00.001+10:00

Just took some photos of my relatively small figure collection after receiving Horo and Miyako from @adun50 so here you go :)

SMASH 2010

2010-08-08T22:55:00.001+10:00

Ok So for the first time in 2 years I decided to leave the house. I bought tickets to SMASH a few weeks back with the intention of gradually getting myself comfortable with the train trip into the city to maximise my chances of success. This plan failed abysmally as these plans tend to for me, HOWEVER that did not stop me from making it there on the day!

I must note I was frantically searching for my lost Valium the night before, to no avail, but on the day I decided to use my old work bag which low and behold had an old packet of (thought to be) lost Xanax!

It was very disappointing that my partner Rox couldn’t get in as by the time we turned up (10:30ish) they were sold out of door tickets.

On to the event!

This was my first anime convention so I really have no frame for comparison, though I do hear that events like supanova are a lot bigger. Still I was very impressed overall.

I came away only about $150 down from 3 figure purchases, some fox ears, and a Touhou poster, though I was quite disappointed that the 2 figures I was particularly looking forward to had sold out straight away (Ichiban Kuji C.C Wedding version and Rei/Asuka Aphrodite figures).

Pics!

View Full Album

Religion and Welfare

2010-08-08T15:16:00.004+10:00

Catching up on the news today it seems certain religious organisations thought my bile duct was in dire need of a workout.

ABCNews reports that religious welfare organisation Anglicare has threatened to pull all of its adoption services if a private members bill to legalise LGBT adoption passes NSW parliament. They are also in discussion with cabinet to seek exemption from the laws as religious organisations as usual seem to not be governed by anti-discrimination legislation.

NSW Community Services Minister Linda Burney thinks the exemption is sensible on the grounds that Anglicare do a lot of good work in her field and that this might be too much of a cultural shock for them.

Now I'm probably not alone in thinking this but wouldn't the sensible position be to educate these medieval relics rather than pander to their outdated beliefs? Does Linda Burney realise that Gay and Lesbian couples make up part of the community she is servicing? Where is the "sensible" outcome for them?

Unsurprisingly Anglicare's rationale for not wanting to provide adoption services to LGBT couples is that such relationships are harmful for the child who requires both a mother and a father to develop normally. What IS surprising is that this argument is accepted in light of reports from multiple research organisations, most notably the American Psychological Association, that there is absolutely no evidence that children are at any more risk for having LGBT parents than heterosexual ones.

This certainly isn't an isolated incident of religious welfare groups discriminating against the LGBT community. I previously touched on the Red Cross's archaic beliefs about why they won't accept blood donations from gay men for fear of a higher risk of HIV (which frankly I would be FUCKING SCARED if they weren't testing all received blood for HIV anyway, regardless of source).

Then there is the Salvation Army who during the Bush era was doing back door deals with his administration seeking to allow the Salvation Army to bypass State anti-discrimination laws when hiring LGBT people. In return for Bush's support the Salvation Army pledged to lobby Congress in support of Bush's (useless and misguided) faith-based initiatives.

The Salvation Army continues to disappoint with their active lobbying in 2000 against Scotland's repeal of their controversial Section 28 which placed a ban on any promotion of homosexuality. The following is the Salvation Army's submission to parliament on this matter:

SUBMISSION FROM THE SALVATION ARMY
OUR REF: SS/JF/KD/SEC(28)/2000 10th February 2000
Rt. Hon. Donald Dewar MP MSP First Minister
The Scottish Parliament
EDINBURGH EH99 1SP

Dear First Minister,
RE:THEPROPOSED REPEAL OF SECTION 2A(28) LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT1988
The Commissioner Alex Hughes, the United Kingdom leader of The Salvation Army, recently wrote to the Secretary of State for Education conceming the proposed repeal of Section 2A(28) of the above Act.
As the Salvation Army's Scotland Secretary I am writing to you on his behalf to share with you the views of The Salvation Army on this important matter.
We welcome your recognition that marriage is still the ideal context for raising children and your assurances regarding guidelines for teachers in recent discussion on the repeal of "Section 28". However, we believe that by repealing this clause, the Scottish Executive will potentially be harming both children and the family unit.
We are concerned that we cannot predict the result of a repeal, and feel the floodgates could be opened, ultimately causing great hurt to both parents, teachers and our children. We are also very aware of the increasing pressures on young people to experiment with heterosexual sex at a younger age, without the additional pressure of self-questioning regarding homosexual sex.
As an international church and charity which supports and helps any person regardless of sex, race or religion, The Salvation Army believes that, contrary to the Executive's view, the proposed repeal would increase discrimination and result in more bullying in our schools. We can easily envisage a situation where, due to active promotion of homosexuality in schools, children will grow up feeling alienated if they fail to conform.
We also have great reservations concerning certain materials which are currently available in print and on the Internet even with "Section 28" in place. It is of utmost importance that young people receive sex education in the context of commitment, fidelity, love and well thought through decisions. A considerable amount of these materials do not include any of the above. Tighter regulation and consultation with parents and governors would therefore be welcome.
In conclusion, we would like to ask the Scottish Executive to re-think this proposal and not repeal "Section 28". We would also like you and your parliamentary colleagues to be aware that many members of The Salvation Army will be thinking and praying for you all and the decisions that you will need to make in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
John Flett (Colonel) SCOTLAND SECRETARY

This raises serious questions about the ability of religious organisations to continue providing welfare support if they are unable to separate charity from ideology. It is unfortunate that these make up such a large portion of our welfare sector and that governments continue to support these organisations where non-religious-affiliated organisation are available to provide the same services without strings attached.

So next time you are feeling charitable please think twice about giving to these organisations and opt for secular charities such as:

Oxfam

Doctor's Without Borders

Lifeline

UNHCR (or any UN body)

The Smith Family

The Fred Hollows Foundation

To name just a few.

Now excuse me whilst I go throw up.

Back in the groove!

2010-08-06T17:48:00.006+10:00

Ok I am back after that treacherous cold got me and the subsequent lack of momentum! I know you are all thrilled.

Some excellent news today. Progressive lobby group GetUp recently took a challenge to John Howard's 2007 amendments to the Electoral Act to the High Court.

The amendments stopped some number in the hundreds of thousands (not the nice fairy bread necessity either) of young people from voting at that election, a demographic that is far more likely to vote for progressive parties.

The High Court today has rolled back the Howard amendments meaning that once more people will have 7 days after election writs are issued to enroll to vote rather than simply till 8pm the same day. Even better news is that this decision is backdating for this election so that an estimated 100,000 more young people who enrolled after July 19 but before July 26 will now get to vote on the 21st of August.

Finally we have an effective progressive lobby to hopefully counter the poison of groups like ACL. If you aren't already on GetUp's mailing list then I highly recommend doing so and if you are rolling in cash then please donate to them!

---

In other great news I was checking out Antony Green's senate calculator and Family First's vote after preferences is looking absolutely dismal (0.6%) so without a last minute preference deal from one of the major parties (*glare* looking at you Labor, gg idiots) they will drift off into oblivion where they belong.

Also Miranda Devine quits Fairfax for News Ltd where she belongs. I hope she and Andrew Bolt never procreate, god forbid with each other. Can you imagine the little demon spawn they would create.

Lack of activity

2010-07-28T17:39:00.002+10:00

I apologise to my EXTENSIVE readership for my lack of activity over the passed 2 days. I have a cold and as such find it incredibly migraine producing to care one iota about politics. Particularly in this current climate of ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING INTERESTING HAPPENING. Man what a pathetic and boring election.

(SK+US).Penis > (NK-China).Penis

2010-07-26T16:03:00.004+10:00

ABC News: North Korea threatens 'sacred' nuclear war

So over the last few days you've probably heard about the joint dick measuring that South Korea and the US are partaking in in an attempt to demonstrate their masculinity to a hostile North Korea. For those unfamiliar this is a direct result of tension in the region over North Korea's sinking of a South Korean navy vessel a few months back.

North Korea have responded to this by threatening a sacred war where they will not hesitate to use their nuclear deterrent. It is at this point that we realise that North Korea has absolutely no concept of what a deterrent is. A deterrents value is lost once used (if the other side also has this "deterrent") and this is certainly the case with nuclear arms. A hostile nuclear action by North Korea would almost certainly lead to the rest of the world banding together to crush them at best, and at worst would lead to swift nuclear annihilation at the hands of the US.

North Korea's only trump card in all this is a treaty with China that states China will intervene on behalf of North Korea should any conflict arise, which is then neutralised by the fact China have stated they will not intervene in any conflict where North Korea was the aggressor/instigator.

On a more positive note: North Korea makes me feel better about being Australian than I have been feeling lately.

AUS-DEBATE 2010!

2010-07-25T19:34:00.003+10:00

Wow, I was really excited about writing up an epic review of the Leader's Debate but here we are after having an hour of my life utterly wasted on the most bland piece of message drilling I've ever seen.

TL;DR: Nobody won, but Abbott lost.

Politics: Gay Marriage

2010-07-25T15:50:00.004+10:00

Wong backs Labor's anti-gay marriage stance - SMH

Openly gay Labor senator Penny Wong has decided to tow the party line on gay marriage stating that its clear the party considers marriage to be between a man and a woman, and that we need to respect the historical and religious sensitivities surrounding it.

Clearly in biblical times homosexuality had its place and that place certainly wasn't within the holiest of ceremonies that is marriage, this was a time when men would be satisfied having casual gay sex on the side of their marriage to a woman - clearly the way it should be. Is it any wonder groups like the Red Cross still hold the view that being gay means you are more likely to have many casual sex partners?

Joviality aside I don't think Penny Wong deserves the right to get gay married if this is her stance. What happened to politicians representing their electorates (did that ever exist, actually?), which in her case presumably involves a lot of people who would like to see gay marriage legalised or are at least neutral on the subject.

I sincerely hope that this is just her trying not to rock the election boat, since that seems to be anchored deep within religious right territorial waters on both sides of politics, and that after the election she will pull her shit together.

On another depressing note you may have noticed the poll attached to that SMH article on whether you support gay marriage or not. The two things that struck me in the face like a sledge hammer were 1. 2/3 of people support gay marriage and yet it is not even remotely being considered an option by anyone in politics with the power to make it happen, and 2. that a whopping 1/3 of people decidedly don't want gay marriage to be legal.

We are such a pathetic backwards little island nation.

Comicon Cosplay

2010-07-25T01:16:00.004+10:00

Margie Phelps at Comicon cosplaying as a cracked-up pagan harpy goddess.

Photo courtesy of Bob Calhoun.

Summer '10 Anime

2010-07-25T00:13:00.003+10:00

Quick seasonal recommendations:

(In order of my preference)

Katanagatari - Largely dialog based series, very interesting art, swordsmen, pretty funny.

Densetsu no Yuushu no Densetsu - Legend of Legendary Heroes (aka LoLHeroes). Terrible name but an excellent fantasy anime. Avoids all the usual childish pitfalls of other fantasy series.

Shiki - Japanese country horror mystery.

Seitokai Yakuindomo - VERY vulgar high-school anime series. All about humor and comedic timing.

Highschool of the Dead - Zombies and ecchi. All around a pretty shallow but immensely gratifying series.

Occult Academy - Highschool occult series, very nice art style and some fan service.

Asobi no Iku Yo! - Epic amounts of fanservice, spies, military, espionage, CATGIRLS.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamachi - Pretty funny series that uses well known fairy tale plots to bring highschool based entertainment. Romantic comedy, some action. Moe.

Nuraihyon no Mago - Shounen series about a highschool kid who is the next destined king of the Youkai. More badass than it sounds.

Westboro Baptists @ Comic-Con

2010-07-24T22:53:00.005+10:00

Better late than never for a first meaningful post. I've been sitting on this all day (courtesy of @stephene_tweets) but have been busy with the layout.

Frankly I have to thank Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) for doing this since on this blogs first day its relevance in dealing with politics, religion, and anime can neatly be bundled into a kawaii basket of toxic religious bile.

If you haven't already heard about the Westboro Baptist Church (think "GOD HATES FAGS") picketing this year's Comic Con in San Diego then I highly suggest reading Bob Calhoun's Comic Con Holy War for commentary and an interview with Margie Phelps.

I suspect this actually comes as a delight to the thousands of geeks at the con since this affords them the perfect opportunity for trolling a bunch of intolerant nutjobs they would probably otherwise have never met. This played out nicely when shortly after the WBC picketing began a counter-protest was formed and hilarity ensued. Bob took a few particularly hilarious photos (available on his blog - linked above) including a man dressed as Jesus in Fonzy pose with a sign stating "God loves every body[sic]", and another of a starfleet officer holding a "God needs a starship" sign. I am however disappointed he didn't manage to capture more than the back of a guy dressed as Bender standing near the WBC protesters with a sign stating "KILL ALL HUMANS".

If you have never read an interview with Margie Phelps then I highly recommend going through Bob's one. On the other hand if you have read one before then you can safely ignore it as much of the same. Though one thing of particular disgust to note was her apparent belief that what separates grieving families at funerals (which she dubs as media whoring) and WBC's apparent media whoring is that WBC has a commitment to use any public forum available to spread their message. I suspect that since the word media never came up in the Bible she feels the definition of the term media whore is up for grabs.

Satan's Kawaii House of Civics is ALIVE!

2010-07-24T22:32:00.002+10:00

Ok so after spending all day grumbling about how terrible the new "template design" system is, I've finally finished designing the blog with everything I think I should need to keep you all knowing what I want you to know and thinking what I want you to think.

If you have any suggestions on the layout or extra widgets, buttons, pages, blogroll additions, or anything POST AND LET ME KNOW!

I will probably make a banner at some point, but for now the title will suffice.

Background? Avatar? Mascot?

2010-07-24T04:07:00.000+10:00

TwitterID @hambuger777 is up to his usual professional genius in creating a something (see title) for this site. For those unfamiliar with @hamburger777 (commonly referred to as Nick Nack [Think James Bond {The Man with the Golden Gun if you REALLY needed me to triple bracket}]), he is the MAN who won my blog naming competition, he may also have been the only person to submit an entry within the whole 15 minutes I had the competition running (special mention to @Sarag_monster and @Jen_Bennett for runner up after closing time with: The Ambling Turtle Smorgasboard).

His masterpiece and what he shall forever be remembered by in the art community:

Some trivia: @Hamburger777's prize was an ascii penis which I shall not reproduce here as I do not wish to water down his well earned prize!

ANNOUNCEMENT! possibly urgent?

2010-07-24T04:03:00.000+10:00

Real posting will begin tomorrow when I can see properly.

For now I leave you with this:

My cat is entranced by my incessant zipping and unzipping my jumper neck zip thing.

Your savior arrives!

2010-07-24T03:19:00.000+10:00

I like that my title and various elements of the colour scheme resemble the colour of kidney beans.

Disclaimer: This may be less relevant in 5 minutes time.

Satan's Kawaii House of Civics

Politics and Penal Spectatorship

*yawn*

My International Shitlist

Merry Xmas!

Amagami SS

Christmas Drive

Controversial Ideas

Adsense clicks

A Day of Mixed Feelings

REQUEST

Fall 2010 Anime

Election time!

To my vast and loyal following

QandA Face-Off

ICT Debate ALP/Lib/Greens

Figure Collection

SMASH 2010

Religion and Welfare

Back in the groove!

Lack of activity

(SK+US).Penis > (NK-China).Penis

AUS-DEBATE 2010!

Politics: Gay Marriage

Comicon Cosplay

Summer '10 Anime

Westboro Baptists @ Comic-Con

Satan's Kawaii House of Civics is ALIVE!

Background? Avatar? Mascot?

ANNOUNCEMENT! possibly urgent?

Your savior arrives!

yawn