Ultimate Authority

There's a bit of a debate going on in Anglican circles about who can lead The Lord's Supper. It's no big deal, they're just working some things out, but it's been in the media, because it can be beat up into a fracas if you try hard enough.

One interesting comment that came out of the article (http://www.smh.com.au/national/legal-challenge-brewing-over-holy-communion-row-20091018-h2yo.html)

The rector of St John's Church, Gordon, Father Keith Dalby, said diaconal and
lay presidency contravened the type of church services and ministry role as
prescribed in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which is the ultimate standard of
worship in the Anglican communion.

Penultimate, he should say. There's this book called the Bible...

The Post-Race President

Barak Obama was supposed to be the historical president that moved America beyond race.

It doesn't seem to be so.

In fact, it seems that in the United States it is becoming impossible to criticise Obama (Joe Wilson) or do your job (Sgt. James Crowley) without being accused of racism. Now you can't commit a crime without being racist.

To be sure this is nasty if it is a crime, and with the facts I have at this stage make it seem unlikely to me to be an accident or self harm.

But the last paragraph in this report is totally unwarranted:

Some reporters have also theorised that Sparkman's work for the Census Bureau - which is a federal government agency - linked him in the minds of his killers in conservative, mainly white rural Kentucky with President
Barack Obama, the first black US president.

Is it good reporting to finish an article with the unsubstantiated theory of other journalists that this crime was racially motivated when there is absolutely no evidence at this stage that this is so?

The fact that the deceased had "Fed" written on his chest is a fairly good indicator of anti federalism, or separatists or a southern grudge, but it in no way indicates racism.

What has the racial make up of the state, or their rural nature, or their political leanings got to do with a nasty crime in the woods. If it becomes an established fact that racist right wing guerrillas perpetrated this, then report it, but until then leave out the wild theories dripping with implications and veiled allegations.

It seems to me that it is not the conservatives who cannot move beyond race, but rather the liberals who would see racism rather than report the facts or deal with the issues.

Michael Hutton,
Conservative, mainly white rural Ariah Park

Blast From The Past

Found this when cleaning up the study. A comment (cynical comment) arising out of the cafuffles in the Uniting Church at the time.

Moroney's Lane, Temora

Moroney's Lane, Temora
July 2009

Probably about 5km down Moroney's lane from Temora, just after a rocky outcrop where the road narrows in the scrub as the hillside steepens there are two rubbish tips in what are probably two old mine diggings. Lots of wire and steel, a few bottles from about 50's or 60's and some broken bottles from approx 1920's.

Kevin Webb and I had a dig and excavated one pit and half of the other. The best find was two O.T. bottles, also a Reschs bottle with the Lion from about 1920's.

O.T. Registered
Refilling by Others
Is Illegal

This Bottle is
The Property of O.T. Limited
Australia
& London
1920's with beautiful picture of a chilli. Apparently a chilli fruit punch used as a mixer. The Maharaja's secret recipe, would you believe.

Later I went back and completed the dig and found a few more nondescript bottles from about 1920's and some bottles with trademarks and brand names from a later vintage.

Back Mimosa Road

Back Mimosa Road, Temora
July 2009
An old brick building starting to go to ruin on the Back Mimosa Road. I went back to the farm house and asked for permission to have a look around. She reckoned that it had already been looked over and there wouldn't be any there. Funny thing is, I found two Moglia and Smith bottles, one on either side of the road, on my side of the fence.

MOGLIA & SMITH
Trade Mark
TEMORA

With AGM skirt beneath.

Faithless Hermeneutics

Why is it Relevant?

Why is it even mentioned?

A SMH article (SMH link) describes the successful suit of a Muslim woman against her employer, a bar, for discrimination.

She sued because she was going to be forced to wear a tight uniform that was too revealing and made her feel "like a prostitute".

She won the case because the male staff were not made to change to a similarly humiliating uniform.

A couple of questions?

Why is it mentioned that she is Muslim? It has nothing to do with how she won the case. It was a case of sexual discrimination.

The wording makes it clear that a pivotal point was that the men didn't have to wear a similar uniform. Would it be OK if the men had to sleaze themselves for the job too? I suspect it would. Our community has lost its moral compass and the only way we can measure things are the woefully inadequate "consent" and "equal"

What is a Muslim woman doing serving alcohol in a bar anyway? This is why the mention of her religious background is weird. Good Muslims have nothing to do with alcohol.

Do we get to pick and choose which aspects of our religion we will sue others over and which we disregard when it suits us.

Should religious tolerance be extended to those who don't practice their faith consistently?

Some good questions there.
Probably some good answers somewhere.

But, I suspect, not to be found in the British law courts or with this particular Muslim woman.

Air Tax Controversy

Civil liberties groups are protesting the inclusion of a Oxygen Levy, or Air Tax, in the Australian Government's recent federal budget.

Buried in the fine print the levy has been largely unnoticed until now.

Margot Leifft of the Citizens Rights Coalition says, "It's only a small percentage now but it opens the door to further increases. Free air is an inalienable right."

The federal Treasurer disagrees, "A responsible government will tax the carbon a citizen puts into the atmosphere and a legitimate government can tax the oxygen you take out."

The coalition is researching to take a case to the supreme court, but it seems to be a long shot.
"There is nothing in the constitution, no case, no precedent. We've been right through the UN's declaration of human rights, and at the moment we can't find it clearly stated."

"What is clear is that the current laws were not framed with an oxygen levy in mind," he said in an issues paper released yesterday.

Couldn't happen?

Tell me this is isn't the same logic

http://www.smh.com.au/national/routine-operation-may-be-a-crime-20090602-bueh.html?sssdmh=dm16.379913

Note that only 50 years ago the majority of boys were circumcised, surely the conclusion must be that the law rests on the assumption of the complete and utter legality of circumcision.

You will find the same underhand argument in the case of the ordination of homosexual ministers in the Uniting church in Australia and the redefinition of Marriage to include homosexual etc unions.

What was common territory and universally assumed was not spoken of, hence a bit of fancy footwork can paint it as an area of doubt, or a grey area for interpretation.

Dishonest and Distasteful.

Be honest and just say, "We want to change everything."

Same Old Story

Quandary.

Same old story. All the best bottles are broken. On a ride around the bent triangle of Quandary Road, Old Wagga Road and Canty's lane James and I found a few odd thrown botles. Just North of Canty's Lane the Old Wagga Road had a couple of old tips with very nice shards, but no whole bottles.

The Universal Solution

What is the solution to aggression, rudeness and belligerence on our roads?

The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, said: "The problem is that motorists are treating cyclists really badly, and so you get the cyclists calling themselves road warriors and now you've got them driving motorists mad. Education is key."

Education, it will fix everything.

Except people who don't want to be fixed.

The problem is sin and the solution is Jesus.

Yes, the solution to road rage is Jesus.

(Full details here)