(Miscellaneous debris)

[Gozu]

A NSW Liberal MP has called on Tony Abbott to grant a conscience vote on same-sex marriage, saying the decision not to was allowing homophobia and hatred to build within the party.

Catherine Cusack was one of six Coalition members who supported a motion in the NSW upper house last week calling on the federal government to support same-sex marriage, which passed with support from the Greens and most Labor MLCs.

Following the vote, Ms Cusack received a number of angry emails and was subject to taunts on her Facebook page, with some comments coming from people stating they were members of her own party. She was accused of being a traitor and levelled with insults such as ''Shame on you. You are a stupid fat cow,'' and ''you are a sinner'' and a ''disgrace to our nation''. One commenter also referred to a gay MP as a ''poofter''.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political ... z1x35H4wbU

[Jimmy_041]

Riveting stuff as usual
In the meantime, back at the swamp

[Sojourner]

Check out what just happened to me on Facebook!!!!!!

[mighty_tiger_79]

watching Abbott give a press conference with his ankle biting Pyne just staring at him

[Sojourner]

Well if its too good to throw away....

[Sojourner]

Begining of the end for Fairfax?

[Gozu]

The Salvos continue to disgrace themselves, "BREAKING: LGBT People Should Be Put to Death, Says Aussie Salvation Army Major":

Explosive news out of Australia: in an interview with LGBT journalists Serena Ryan and Pete Dillon, a senior Salvation Army official said that non-celibate LGBT people should be put to death.

The official, Major Andrew Craibe, is the Salvation Army’s Territorial Media Relations Director for the Southern Territory in Victoria. Australian pop star Darren Hayes, the openly gay former lead singer of Savage Garden, recently called for a boycott of the Salvation Army because of the church’s anti-gay beliefs (just as Bilerico founder Bil Browning did here in the States). Hayes’s comments caused quite the firestorm, so Major Craibe appeared on Ryan and Dillon’s podcast, Salt and Pepper, to discuss the Salvation Army’s official position on homosexuality and whether it’s evolved over time.

http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2012/06/26448/

[Psyber]

Fundamentalist religions do take the scriptures literally, and they do attract extremists .
That literal attitude often includes the Old Testament, which a strict interpretation "Christianity" should see as made redundant by Christ's bringing of a New Testament.
(As he is quoted as saying in the Bible.)

Despite the good work they do in other ways the Salvation Army is a fundamentalist group.
It is not entirely surprising someone in a fundamentalist group would take that position.
What do you do - ban religion?

It would make more sense for the Gay lobby to ignore religion and concentrate on gaining support from the non-fundamentalist majority.
Going to war with believers is pointless unless your aim is just to generate controversy and publicity.
(No I am not a Christian, or religious at all.)

[Gozu]

No, you're just a well noted Liberal Party/Salvation Army apologist.

"Gay Lobby" FFS, these cretins need to be dragged into the 21st century.

Your "leave em alone they're just deeply religious" guff is embarrassing.

[Gozu]

"Salvos apologise over on-air comments":

The Salvation Army has distanced itself from radio comments made by an official about a passage in its manual which says homosexuals "deserve to die".

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/848 ... r-comments

[The Sleeping Giant]

No, you're just a well noted Liberal Party/Salvation Army apologist.

"Gay Lobby" FFS, these cretins need to be dragged into the 21st century.

Your "leave em alone they're just deeply religious" guff is embarrassing.

X2

Love it how these religious types pick and choose which parts of the bible they should believe in, and what we all should follow.

[Sojourner]

No, you're just a well noted Liberal Party/Salvation Army apologist.

Sadly Gozu he is a backslidden Salvationist and was last heard of attending meetings with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

Having been involved with the Salvation Army on and off for a number of years, I can tell you that the Salvation Army is currently splitting over this issue, the same thing occurred within the Uniting Church in the 1980's and the Salvation Army are currently going through the same thing. Like many organizations there is a Left and a Right - Google JustSalvos and you will find the main Left wing Salvation Army group in Australia, whose members advocate for gay marriage, open borders for refugees and other popular left wing issues. Then there are the Right Wing Fundamentalists who oppose them.

Essentially Fundamentalism proposes that the Bible is Inerrant and has to be accepted as is, if a passage is found that says Sodomy is sinful and so on then that is believed to be so. The leadership have no room to move on the issue other than to suggest that scripture isn't inerrant and around and around the argument goes. Its constantly done to death on various theological forums. Essentially the leadership in Australia take their orders from General Linda Bond in London who is the current General. If anything gets changed it happens there, the Salvation Army is an international organization and run as such. I think its unlikely that any of it can be changed, so hence the arguing will continue until people leave. Interestingly, my observation has been over the years that most Salvationists that leave become either Pentecostals or Seventh Day Adventists. A more modern trend is to leave for the Uniting Church, again in most cases to support left wing religious theology.

[Sojourner]

Queensland Rail having a public awareness campaign on behavior standards on public transport.

[Sojourner]

[Psyber]

Sojourner made my point more elegantly than I did.
I am not a Christian and I don't believe there is a God - I never really did.
That doesn't mean I can't understand what is happening in the minds of those who are.

And what I was trying to say was that berating and abusing fundamentalist sections of any group is not going to change anything.
It only gives the cruel the satisfaction of picking on somebody who has nowhere to retreat to - a defenceless target.

The change has to happen around them as they are stuck where they are, in an anachronism.

Sure, I have some comprehension of Christianity because my parents met in the Salvos, and mMy mother did believe.
She had been educated in Anglican schools in England.
I'm pretty sure my father was only there because he played Trumpet, Trombone, and Cornet.

[Leaping Lindner]

Well if its too good to throw away....

Mark Knight would have to be the worst political /social commentary cartoonist in the country. This is about as funny as a brick...and that's being very unkind to the brick. It's also up to his usual standard.

[Jimmy_041]

Did he do the QR cartoons?
I thought they were funny
Very Hong Kongy

[Leaping Lindner]

Heard Mr Pyne on the radio this morning. For your information Chris it is pronounced AUST-RAY-LEE-A..not...AUST-RAY-YA. Gees, what the hell did they teach you at that pseudo private school you went to.

[Jimmy_041]

get stuck into the poodle

How does Julia pronounce Australia?
I have always wondered what she scored in her ESL subject

[Psyber]

Breivik, I assume if the Prosecutors want him declared insane it is likely he really is: http://www.psychiatryupdate.com.au/late ... vik-insane

Prosecutors ask judge to rule Breivik insane: 22 June, 2012 AAP:
Prosecutors have asked a Norwegian court to send confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik to a mental institution instead of prison for his massacre of 77 people in a gun and shooting rampage.

In some jurisdictions a guilty verdict and sentence means they are eventually free whereas an insanity finding may mean they can be detained until cured - if ever cured!
(Here until about 1980 or so it was "Held at the Governor's Pleasure.")