Off for a bit

After 28 months on the public hospital waiting list, I'm off to have a new ear drum fashioned out of something or other tomorrow.

It is some consolation for the delay that any rousing huzzahs! for ten years of Howard and his government will be inaudible through surgical wadding and Schedule 8 drugs.

huh?

I bought Sage some sneakers today from a new shop in a new part of Canberra, lots of aspirational houses and plenty of kids. The woman was lovely, and chatty, and the shop is only six weeks old so she still seems excited by it all.

In the course of our chatting, she said she'd lived near where I do, but had moved to send her daughter to an (Anglican) school out there. It hadn't worked out, so her kid's back at a Christian school in this part of town.

She was a paleontologist before opening the shop, and said she has significant trouble with Bibilical timelines. "Would you believe," she said wide eyed, "they're still teaching Creationism there?"

I find that a lot easier to believe than why a scientist who is un-Christian enough to live in a de facto relationship would send her kid to be educated in creationism by a Christian school.

kinder surprise*

It's a very good thing for a child to become more independent over time. Joyously, Sage is now out of nappies, only wearing pull-ups at night. For the blessedly ignorant, pull-ups are disposable absorbent undies that are way cooler than nappies and heaps easier to get your toddler into. (Of course they cost twice as much as the fanciest disposable nappies.)

I picked Sage up from day care this afternoon and found some mysteriously stained wipes in his bag. Then I took out his lunchbox and some undies and a poo fell out. Bless him, he'd had "an askident" and instead of telling one of the carers he'd gone to his bag, wiped his bum, changed his pants and chucked the disgusting ones and a turd in for Mum to deal with later. It's a good thing he's so cute (and affectionate):



I tell you this only because - judging from past experience at crazybrave - everyone loves a poo story.

* and I had to change the post title after my sister came out with this one. Too good to waste.

Sunday mornin' comin' down

These people have no respect for the traditions that made our society great

It's a bit rough to have spent a week telling your little guy he's GOING TO THE CIRCUS, only to get a call from the Circus the night before telling you that a performer has been injured and the show is NOT going on.

On the other hand, it's a whole extra week of pointedly asking "Do you want to go to the circus...?" every time that evil whingey tone makes an appearance.

The tribe has spoken

RU 486 Bill passes the House of Reps.



Please extinguish your torch Tony, and leave the tribal council area immediately.


A big "thank you, sister!" to Senators Nash, Moore, Allison and Troeth. Email them your love like I just did. Email addy syntax is senator.surname@aph.gov.au


Clarification for the wilfully dense: last night at LP, Currency Lad accused this post at of demonstrating "what this is really about", ie getting up Tony Abbott. My reply on that thread is here.

But in case someone is cruising by and forms that impression, please be reassured that the only reason Abbott's face is up there is because he pushed himself front and centre into the debate, and characterised the result as a reflection on him.

Gillard was right - "It's not all about you, Tony." It's about reproductive medicine not having more regulatory burdens than other types of medicine, and about enabling the choices of women.

Shorter clarification: IT'S THE WOMEN, STUPID.

Howard to dismantle Public Service, Military

Dateline: Canberra

"I don't hold the view that you should work hard, get into Parliament, cop all the opprobrium when something goes wrong but when it comes to decisions you hand it over to a bureaucrat."

On gentle dalliances

The wrinklies were in town over the weekend, which means vast quantities of newspaper flooding the house. I'm more of an online newspaper reader these days, so it's very unusual for me to read the Monday Canberra Times. I'm glad I did, because I discovered bookcrossing. Trust me to find the one little article that was about an online community.

Bookcrossers leave books in public places (releasing them "into the wild") with a ID sticker which has a unique number. They ask for the book to be found, and read, and passed on, or not, as you wish. About a quarter of the released books are "captured" by people who leave journal entries at the site, and there are designated drop zones and of course some Serious Fans. They leave them in parks, and laundromats, on benches and in bookshops.

If you want to go hunting near you, have a look here .

I tried to find one released yesterday near my house, but there was only an empty wine bottle and a single sneaker. Sad, because I had great plans for the copy of "Thank God I'm An Atheist - The Religious Origins Of Expressions, Customs" by Rudolf Brasch which had been left outside the Dickson Baptist Church.

I filled up a carton of books a little while ago for a joint garage sale Duck and I are going to have, but I think we might have to set some of them free. Perhaps for Valentine's Day I will liberate "Guide to Sexual Success" by W F Robie, MD.



Hard to part with a book that prescribes masturbation as the cure for the world's evils, though, unless there's a particularly brilliant suggestion where I should leave it? I'll give you an idea of the tone to get you in the mood:

"We must either see to it that all normal people have sex manifestations in sleep, varying in frequency, perhaps as a rule from once a month to three times a week, or we must provide some other remedy for those who have none, or practially none, of these manifestations. I have no hesitancy whatever in naming autoeroticism as the only possible remedy consistent with morals, health, self-respect, and social betterment, for this latter class"

You see why I like him, huh? Only writer in the world more wedded to the comma than I am.

"From about the time of her marriage she had a feeling of curiosity and repulsion in regard to male genitals. She told her husband of this, and he was careful not to expose himself before her. If her husband or one of her boys or a male guest went to the bathroom to urinate, she had a feeling of disgust and a strong erotic feeling. At the age of seventeen, she awoke one night having violent sensations immediately culminating in an orgasm."

Can that man segue or what? This next is from the good doctor's sexual history survey for his patients:

"5. Did you, as a child, masturbate? If so, was the habit taught you or was it done of your own volition? If taught, under what circumstances? If not, what led to its beginning? Did threadworms, friction of clothing, sliding down bannisters, itching of prepuce, or any other irritation of glans penis or clitordis [fully sic], or any other ascribable cause other than instinct lead to it?"

Freaky! I totally started masturbating as a result of a threadworm infestation - but let's talk about you.

Finally, some serious advice:

"I have talked with but three married women out of several hundred, who did not delight in having their husbands gently hold their breasts and kiss or titillate their nipples. This is often a sufficient preliminary to intercourse if followed for ten or fifteen minutes, but the majority of wives also wish their husband's hands in gentle dalliance with their more private parts before intercourse."

Doctor knows best, right ladies?

What I said

Dear Members

I write to encourage you to vote to regulate the drug RU 486 through the TGA.

I had a miscarriage in 2003*, and was advised I didn't need a D&C. It turned out, several weeks later, that I did. I had to wait nearly a month to access a D&C through the public hospital system. I couldn't afford to do it privately, so I ended up with weeks more heavy bleeding and pain, not to mention distress. Perhaps using RU 486 under my GP's supervision would have saved me that? I hope it could assist someone in a similar situation.

I understand that enabling the TGA to regulate RU 486 means that it prescribes - as it does for other medications - the safe manner in which it is able to be used. I believe that if this system is adequate for all other therapeutic goods and medications, it should be good enough for RU 486. If it isn't, what are we going to do about the TGA? Similarly, if we need to revisit what community standards are about access to terminations of pregnancy, let's do it directly.

I urge you to use your conscience vote to allow Australian women to exercise their own consciences. Please support the Bill.

Sincerely

* A mistake, it was 2004.


TALLY BOARD:

Peter Lindsay, Liberal, Qld - agrees.
Louise Markus, Liberal, NSW - all email answered with snail mail letters - please send address. I did, but said I wasn't seeking a formal reply.
Trish Draper, Liberal, SA - it is still a matter of conjecture whether this method of abortion is even safe [that's why the TGA will be required to evaluate it - Ed]. Will not be supporting the Bill.
Kim Wilkie, Labor, WA - current scheme is unworkable, and is affecting those seeking to use RU 486 to treat cancer.
Julia Irwin, Labor,NSW - agrees.
Tony Windsor, Independent, NSW - non committal thanks for sending message.
Wilson Tuckey, Liberal,WA - same reply Kate got, see comments.
Kelly Hoare, Labor, NSW - supporting the Bill.
Alan Cadman, Liberal, Vic - RU 486 is unique, possibly dangerous and he will not be supporting the Bill. He attaches a soon-to-be-published article which states that the TGA admits it is unqualified to make determinations about the drug, refers to research from our old mates the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, and recent New Zealand research which he says "indicates there are long-term psychological consequences of having an abortion". Don't agree of course, but he has paid me the courtesy of a detailed (if standard) reply which actually sets out his views - as did Kelly Hoare, btw.
Jill Hall, ALP, NSW - supports the Bill.
Lindsay Tanner, ALP, Vic - says "Australia’s longstanding system of having scientific experts, not politicians, make decisions about the availability of drug"

RU 486

From Amanda Vanstone's speech yesterday:

I note, incidentally, that some of the churches who are opposed to any form of abortion can somehow come to the concept of what is referred to as a 'just war'. I am at a loss to marry the two. If you can come to a view that there can be a just war, why can there never be a just abortion? I cannot see it, and I have never had it answered.

I can tell you why, Senator Vanstone. It’s because men decide what a just war is, and a woman decides if she wants to continue a pregnancy.

I’ve emailed all the Senators who voted in favour of the Private Members’ Bill to thank them - except Vanstone and Hill, who as Ministers don’t have public email addresses . The other addresses are here

Over the weekend I’ll be writing to all the Members of the House of Reps. Their addresses are here. Please join me.

And wasn't Abbott crap on the 7:30 Report last night? No time right now to go too far into why, but hopefully I'll get a chance to get the full body fisking suit out later.

Cross posted at Womens' Forum Australia.

Heads up

If you missed RN's "Background Briefing" on Sunday at 9 am, the excellent program on "Labour in Crisis" is repeated tonight just after 7 or downloadable.

Do yourself a favour, kids.

And in the spirit of disclosure employed to great effect at the beginning of the show, I'll tell you all that the presenter is an old mate. But it's still good.

"Before"

Our new cat rocks.


* And I would like to remind anyone with taste issues re: floorcoverings that we are renting, and this house has some other lovely features. Like feature walls. Sometimes four of 'em to a room.