Argies, Hands Off!

Can you believe the Argentinians still want to talk about the Falkland Islands?

I think their right to talk about sovereignty was removed around about the time they INVADED the islands against the express wishes of the inhabitants! A lot of people argue that the Falklands War was a throwback to British Imperial power and a bad one at that. 

I, however, see that war as a war based on protecting the isolated inhabitants of some defenseless islands against the aggression of a larger, and at the time undemocratic, neighbour who was using the war to distract it's own oppressed population from financial worries and a nasty "dirty war". Hmm... who was right. We were! The Argentinians obviously haven't learnt the lessons of that conflict. 

Until the population of the Falkland Islands call for union with Argentina it is our duty to defend them against the expansionist ambitions of any other neighbour.

Google Is Not The Enemy

Google releases the UK version of StreetView and suddenly every "privacy expert" appears criticising it for it's "intrusion" into people's private lives. Doesn't anyone see that they are simply using the story for self promotional reasons? If they had truly cared they would have been camped outside Google's UK HQ months ago as we KNEW THIS WAS COMING!

If you are reading this then you are probably fairly net savvy and thus almost certainly had already messed around with the US version of StreetView. Surely anyone who cares about privacy concerns would have been well aware of it too. But no one uttered a peep until the release actually occured. Grr...

Worse still is the utter pointlessness of the argument. "Google's pictures could help robbers". Erm, couldn't said robbers just take digital pics themselves if they really wanted to? "Google's pictures invade people's privacy". Since when has a public place been able to offer privacy? "Google pictures show naked children". Yes, and Google removed these pictures, but the parents didn't complain. Why would they, they let their children run around in public naked!

The Government loses our data, sells it, and keeps constant track of us on CCTV. Do you really think Google is going to be concerned when we let our own Government get away scot free with this flagrant abuse? Worse some people even support the Government's erosion of our rights in the cause of security. Google on the other hand is doing nothing more than your average joe does when they upload their hoiday snaps to Facebook for all to see.

Are those complaining about Google stating they are wrong to take pictures in public places without everyone who is involved giving permission?? Oops can't upload this picture to Facebook as Mr Jone's didn't give permission and the corner of his house can just been seen in it. Are they complaining because they make money of it? Just like Facebook and like everyone who prints tourist information leaflets with pictures of sun drenched high streets and estate agents who use pictures of rows of houses as one of them is for sale. Are we saying they shouldn't do it?

What's worse is the people really complaining and removing pictures are those with things to hide... throwing up in public, or coming out of a sex shop. Well they aren't really things to hide unless you're really behind the times but you know what I mean... some people are a bit iffy like that.

Personally, unlike the selling of my data by the Government or the "protection" afforded me by CCTV, I think StreetView will really be useful; helping me orient myself before I arrive at a new place and for that I thank Google.

Down with the Nanny State, long live the freedom to take pictures of people in public places doing inappropriate things!

Am I The Only Feminist Left?

Is no one else shocked when people continue to be shocked that women are sexual beings? Nearly a hundred years after the Suffragettes struggled for the right to vote, women are still considered "inhuman". I use that word because I sometimes find that a lot of women and men think that the two sexes are different species. Women and men have far more in common than a few biologically inherent differences. Isn't it time everyone just grew up?

And on a similar theme why is there never an outcry about sexism against men? A new cleaning product advert's catchphrase is "So simple even a man could do it" or something similar. I'm not being overly sensitive, I think adverts like this should be allowed. But imagine an advert saying "This car is so easy to use, even a woman could drive it!". Would there not be an outcry? Double standards. Hate them.

The Sexual Cleansing Of Iraq

Most of us LGBTs have heard of what has been going on in Iraq... Maybe it's time we did something?

Watch the video:



Read the Peter Tatchell comment.

Get involved... before it's too late.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

The Rights Of Parents In The Education System

To be honest I feel everything comes down to money, and who is paying it. Even the ever present controversy over teaching about homosexuality in state schools. Personally I find the views of parents opposed to such teaching baffling.

Homosexuality is real. Almost everyone will have dealt with the issue on a personal basis (be it explore it, have a gay friend, meet a gay person or simply see depictions of it on the television) by early adulthood. It is a real thing and something children should thus be taught about. Just as one introduces children to the basics of mathematics, science, language and history from an early age, we should also introduce children to the diversity of relationships and lifestyles they will encounter in the course of their lives.

The idea of with holding information from children is, to be frank, idiotic. There's no point having publicly funded schools if we aren't going to teach them everything possible. Of course I'm not suggesting they learn about the mechanics of sex at the age of 5, but then again I'm not suggesting one teaches them the full horror of the Second World War at that age either. But it's good to lay a groundwork so that when they are taught about sex it is within the framework of a complex world of relationships just as when the Holocaust is taught it is helpful to have an understanding of the basics of the Second World War.

People don't complain about Horrible Histories like The Rotten Romans or the Vicious Vikings (in all their gory, dirty detail) so why complain about "And Tango Makes Three"? Schools are paid for collectively and thus must serve us all collectively. If parents wish to have the right to stop certain subjects, which our elected Government sees fit to allow, then I suggest they stop their anti gay campaigning and start campaigning for an end to publicly funded schools and the National Curriculum. I don't agree the country would benefit from such a move, but it would be the only logical way of then allowing parents to send children to schools which brainwash them in a way more to their liking.

Now in reply to this article...

THE CASE AGAINST GAY LITERATURE IN SCHOOLS
by Andrew Hibbard - The Parent Organisation Ltd
The value of marriage has been eroded in the past decade and the emphasis switched to same-sex relationships and single parenthood.

Erm... you're point being?

Schools now teach children as young as five that both are acceptable, although neither is condoned by any religion.

Oh you're a God botherer, makes sense. You do understand that being condoned by a religion isn't all it's cracked up to be? Public execution, slavery and genocide are all condoned in the Bible. Hardly a ringing endorsement of religious endorsement!

Schools call it 'relationship' education. It is the start of sex education.

Whereas teaching them marriage isn't? I thought marriage was all about sex (joke)! Used to be you could get your marriage annulled if you hadn't done the nasty. And homosexual relationships are not just all about sex. A bit like marriage, it's complicated!

Why teach them?
Infant school children are not naturally racist or homophobic.

No it takes religious/bigoted parents and teachers to make them so.

If they make comments, they rarely understand them. Why teach them?

And there I was thinking schools were all about educating people who don't understand things... that's why we teach them!!

Homosexual subject matter may be suitable for older primary school children but by age 10 most would see a story of two male penguins hatching an egg as nothing but childish fiction.

Yes totally fictional, except in the real world... and are you saying that because a story is completely fictional it has no moral value, nor ability to educate? If so then I think an entire educational tradition of fables and parables just went out the window. Jesus taught in fucking parables!

Last year my 10-year-old announced he had been shown in class how to put on a condom.

Why did he need to know? It is irrelevant and inappropriate.

Well last I checked one day he will be a man and may just need a condom. It's a life skill.

It is not appropriate to teach infants about homosexuality any more than it is appropriate to show 15-year-olds graphic images of genitalia and oral sex – images stronger than they can see legally outside the classroom.
There is huge inconsistency in sex education - some schools go much too far while others barely touch it.

Imagine! Showing 15 year olds pictures of genitalia when they are meant to be learning what to do with... genitalia... next they will be showing cross sections of rivers when talking about sediment in geography or, heaven forbid, reading books in English Literature.

Consistency is important, but why has government not sought the views of parents?
Why do some organisations want five-year-olds taught about sex?
It can come as little surprise that having been shown, in detail, how to do sex, and given access to free contraception, morning after pills and abortions without their parents' knowledge or consent, that teenagers get pregnant.

I hardly think the books mentioned teach 5 year olds about sex. Again Mr Hibbard is allowing his sick ideas of what homosexuality is to rule his brain. Because that is what they are, Mr Hibbard is sexually obsessed with homosexuality as are most homophobes. It's disgusting that he then infers the same obsession onto innocent children.

Plus free contraception and morning after pills are causing teenagers to get pregnant????? This is as bad as the stuff stupid "MMR" jabs cause autism crazies say. It makes no logical sense!

What Do You Tell Your Children??

Some parents are worried about how to explain a television presenters lack of hand (she was born with only one)

But a minority of parents expressed concern that Ms Burnell's appearance was "scaring" children. One father said he feared it would give his daughter nightmares and a mother said her two-year-old girl could not watch because she thought the presenter had been hurt.

If you're daughter gets nightmares because someone is somehow different to her, then you are already bringing her up badly.

If a child asks "Mummy, why does that lady only have one hand?" you say "Because she was born with only one hand. Not everyone is born exactly the same, and that is why this world is so interesting." Simple.

What Has New Labour Ever Done For Us?

Undoubtedly, the 1997 election of New Labour into Government was welcomed throughout the country. The Tories has simply outstayed their welcome and although they'd started to fix their mistakes the problems of the early nineties still loomed large in public perceptions. And New Labour has done much to make this country better (although these achievements escape me right now). But as someone who, despite being a Lib Dem, has supported much of the New Labour Governments I feel totally disappointed with the last 12 years.

1. The reform of the House of Lords. What was the point of getting rid of the hereditary peers without completing the reform? It has created a weak, Government padded chamber unable to perform the function of reviewing legislation nor act as a check on executive power. Half hearted, lukewarm and unfinished initiatives seem to be the hallmark of the New Labour movement.

2. Devolution. A very "British solution". i.e. it's a total hodge podge of a compromise. I understand the urge for devolution. But what has happened is a confusing and unstable restructuring of the very fabric of our Union. Rather than seeking a sensible solution of referendums for the entire country (shocking) and then implementing a quasi-federal structure, New Labour have just bolted on extra bits of complication to our messy unwritten constitution. It's upset a great number of people across the country and really leaves no one happy. The nationalists want more, the unionists want less and the English just want something. Personally I believe the way they have handled the implementation of devolution has created the basis for the collapse of our country. Sad but true.

3. Gay rights. Wow I thought as Labour took a hatchet to the unequal age of consent and Section 28; here's a Government that truly believes in equality for the LGBT community. How wrong I was. Yet another hodge podge occurred with the introduction of Civil Partnerships.

i) Civil Partnerships have created an apartheid on marriage rights. Separate but equal. Again this doesn't please the religious crazies the Government was trying to appease and it leaves the LGBT community with different rights to their straight friends and family.
ii) By creating this situation they have pretty much made the likelihood of the introduction of gay marriage any time in the future (and I'm talking long term) nil. Plus that introduction will be complicated by the pre existence of civil partners whose status will make it very difficult to bring in gay marriage without voiding or damaging their new found rights. It would have been better if they'd just left well alone and allowed a Government with more balls the chance to implement a more equal institution.
iii) A deeply Catholic country can introduce gay marriage (Spain). An African nation can introduce gay marriage mere years after ending racial apartheid (South Africa). And a former Himalayan Hindu kingdom can begin the process of introducing it (Nepal). Yet we here in the supposedly advanced UK can't do it. What a flipping embarrassment.

4) Civil rights. The people of this country have lost more rights in the last 12 years than ever before, outside of the World Wars. Disgusting.

5) Foreign perception and diplomatic clout. Are stupid, unnecessary intervention in Iraq has damaged our reputation just as much as the Suez Crisis (which we didn't recover from until the 80s!) and, worse, took the heat off of the Afghanistan campaign allowing the Taliban to survive. Tony Blair should be unable to operate on an international level, and it is deeply concerning people still take that God bothering, war mongering idiot seriously.

I'm going to say it: Labour has been in power too long. Bring back the Tories. All is forgiven. I feel sick saying it but it has to be said. New Labour has failed.