Hopefully the other guest bloggers will be able to maintain the US side of things, as I get my fill of depression from the Australian media alone. If I have to absorb the evil doings of a nation roughly 15 times the size (in population) I think I would end up giving the toaster a waterproof check in the bath. Its an exciting time in Australia for all things female. Only yesterday some politicians and church leaders have informed the public that we are reopening the debate about abortion! We don’t tend to have the same manic nutters blockading abortion clinics here so this came as a bit of a shock. Unfortunately in this kind of “debate” my lines of sorting the good guys from the bad buys becomes slightly blurred. It’s what’s apparently called a matter of conscience, which means there is no party line for the middle aged blokes to follow. So some of the good guys (the left of centre) become bad and some of the bad guys (the right wing lot) don their white cowboy hats and ride of into the sunset with much applause. As a simple atheist it all becomes a bit confusing. Now I have to consider the religous beliefs of a candidate as well as their economic and social polices before voting, in a system in which there is supposed to be a separation of church and state. In any other form of employment, discrimination along religious grounds is illegal, but here I am being forced to play the bigot because some of our politicians fail to recognise that religion is placing belief above reason and has no part in running a country. Bush isn’t the only leader with a slight hankering for the bible.
The future may be bleak as it so happens that the guy in charge of our health system, Tony Abbott, is a raving anti-abortion loon who makes the Pope seem like a harmless old commie fellow in a nice white car. On the cards may be a change to the Medicare system so that the government will not fund abortions. At least the abortion clinics will have a more select clientele with no poor people hanging around. And how did this debate start? One of our Senators (Eric Abetz – also known as Erica Bets) received an impartial survey not from Gallup or Zogby, but our very own Carrie’s mum organisation – The Festival of Light. This was just a few short weeks after our last election which historically handed over both houses of parliament to the Coalition (right wing, John Howard etc). So it was only the result of unchecked politcal power, and the rise of the Christian right as a serious lobby group that made some politicians decide that after 8 years of calm (and a proper house of review), now is the time for debate. I can’t believe I got through that without swearing.