The Herald Sun - Bastion of Journalistic Integrity or pack of shameless hypocrites?

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

From, of all places, the Herald Sun.

Picture: Ellen Smith

For anyone who saw the Herald Sun's coverage of Occupy Melbourne way back at the start and more to the point remembers the space they gave for Lord Mayor Fugly Oompa-Loompa Robert Doyle to give his psychotic anti-protest tirade, then this should have your genitals twisting themselves in painful contortions of outrage.

Pepper Spray

As OWS continues, the use of pepper spray on unarmed peaceful protestors is slowly gaining more scrutiny. See after the jump for some horror stories on the use of pepper spray.

Clarification: OWS is being used to refer to all of the US Occupy protests. Jennifer Fox, referred to after the jump, was pepper sprayed at Occupy Seattle.

Some snippets of stupidity

Two small pieces for today.

In the Bizarro world of Australian media, our biased, lying and corrupt media are throwing pompus tanties at the media inquiry, demanding why the government should have the audacity to suggest the industry should be regulated at all. Indeed, why should we regulate an industry that uses blatant political bias and routinely blackmails people? Read here for some valid reasons.

In other news, one of the campaigners of the Rape Is No Joke campaign on Facebook is undergoing her own trials and tribulations. A bit more after the jump.

Why the ALP has to change and the Nat Conference is the place to do it

A brief tirade against the ALP and a look at the trio of big-ass fights they are due to have at the National Conference.

In the weird world Senator McDonald I am apparently a... Nazi? WTF?

Senator Ian McDonald's latest obscenity, wherein he describes activist group GetUp! as "the Hitler Youth wing of the Greens political movement." Well, Senator hope you've got an extra pair of undies on today, because I'm about to tear you a new one.

Congratulations Senator on your new award BTW...

The fix is in

Julian Assange, Wikileaks, extradition, torture and the end of the road.

An open letter to all Australian politicians on the topic of same-sex marriage

The following is intended as a boot up the arse for all Australian politicians dithering on this topic.

The dance is over

Another boat sinks. People die. Australia's political parties keep on dancing to a song that stopped a long time ago. Read more here

How to dismiss all protests in one easy lesson.

This is a handy guide to dismissing all forms of social protest. It explores the language and framing debates people use to make any form of dissent or protest seem meaningless. Whenever you see people using these arguments, remember this, and realise they're not on your side.

Okay Tony, so now we've proved you're full of crap, can we move on?

So this morning, this caught my eye. To make a 2 page article shorter, a scientist who was deeply concerned that some scientists were fudging climate science data, determined to perform the biggest, most comprehensive survey of climate science data.

Tony, the man with a plan... maybe...

A dissection of the effects of the Carbon Tax on households, the Coalition's alternative, the 'blood oath' and just what the hell might be going on in the peanut shell that acts as Tony Abbott's skull.

We need to talk...

This piece touches on the practice of Coal Seam Gas drilling, aka 'fracking', but it more broadly addresses our failure as a society to honestly discuss important issues.

(Update: and this is what I'm talking about right here and of course here )

Okay, that tears it.

John Boehner, Republican House Majority leader. Leading the war on women, in his God's name.

This is perhaps the most shocking piece of news I've seen today, or even in recent memory. In the US today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 358 - a bill that allows health industry staff to allow a woman to die rather than perform a life-saving termination. The House Republicans call it the 'Protect Life Bill' without ever pausing to appreciate the black irony of what they're doing.

Elsewhere in the US, this has been referred to as the 'Let Women Die' Bill. You can read about it here.

After the jump, I let out some unholy cathartic rage about this bill. Yes, it is about religion. Yes, the people who supported this bill call themselves Christian. Yes, it was supported by American religious organisations. Don't pretend or infer that this bill wasn't a missile fired from the heart of the God camp right into the rights of women to live and control their reproduction. It is not for any other purpose than the furtherance of ideology.

Update: Alternet ran this piece discussing the sheer hypocrisy of the US Council of Bishops who lobbied heavily for hr 358. And more on the GOP policy of woman-hating here.

So, let's say you get what you want...

I started this a long time ago, and have only recently finished it. Being an atheist, I'm of course wide open to the criticism that I hate religion. Let me make it plain - I don't have religious beliefs. I don't believe in any of the supernatural claims. I don't really care if you do or don't - it's not my business. If you ask me why I'm an atheist, I'll tell you. If you ask me what I think about your beliefs, I'll tell you.

I have no special issue with people practicing their faith. Do it, if that's what you want, good on you. My issues are and always have been with the spill-over into the public sphere. When laws are changed to mollify organised religions, when bigotry is perpetrated so unaffected believers don't have to have their belief questioned. That gives me the steaming irrits.

So this piece is about Dominion Theology, aka Christian Reconstructionism, aka Quiverfull, aka something something God something. The tack I'm taking is - okay, get what you want, complete control over US society. What now?

How to prepare a sensationalist news story in one lesson.

If you take this one lesson, you too could be writing for the Sydney Morning Herald or Today Tonight in minutes. Want to know more, then click that 'Read More' link baby!

Why equivalency in media is absolute crap.

Where I finally have a go at the notion of enforced equivalency in the media, and why I'm not actually completely certain it's a good thing.

All your arguments are made of fail

I have the following, all-purpose guide for why there is no - that's N.O. zip, nada, zero - argument to oppose same-sex marriage. Seriously, every argument fails, and I'll tell you why.

(Note: At one point, responding to an argument about revulsion for same-sex couples, I lapse into some examples of other forms of intimate interactions people might find gross. These are not listed for prurient reasons, but still a warning is necessary that there's a wee bit of detailed sexual description in this piece.)

Social networking - game the system or recall the product?

An article on social networks, the dissonance between the companies that create and manage them, and their users, and a look at the Rape Is No Joke campaign on Facebook.

The 'Why can't you take a joke?' phenomenon

An article on the bigoted, racist, annoying things people say when they're trying to pretend they're not bigoted, racist or annoying.

Time for change

A piece on the Occupy Wall Street movement, with a good linkstorm in the middle.