Adventures in Online Shopping

The one where you buy something on eBay and it never arrives.

You contact the seller and they say 'Oops! We never actually had that item.'

They refund your money, but the item is still listed for sale.

You leave them fair and honest feedback and mark it as 'negative' because that is what the whole experience has been.

You notice that there are a LOT of other comments there saying similar things.

Then they start emailing you every three days practically begging you to change the feedback to positive.

Yeah, good luck with that.

An Open Letter To Circus Latino

Dear Circus Latino,

I saw your show in Sunbury last night and really loved the Acro-Catz and Matilda the clown. And the fairy floss.

However, I feel I must say something about your mime artist.

The way he treated the woman he picked out of the crowd and got up on the stage was revolting.

She clearly did not want to take her clothes off, and yet he was insisting she did.

He climbed into her lap and then he tricked her into letting him kiss her on the mouth.

This is sexual assault and it is NOT OK to treat women like this.

It is less than OK to do this in front of a crowd of children who may now think this is an acceptable way to treat other people.

I sincerely hope you will re-think this part of your show, sooner rather than later.

Regards,

Jo

P.S. Please include more Acro-Catz, they really were the highlight!

Won't Somebody Think Of The Children?

I'm going to preface this post by saying that I honestly don't know why we are STILL debating this.  I covered this issue in my blog previously, in this post. 

 

In amongst the daytime TV ads for funeral insurance there are a worrying amount of ads for something called 'Marriage Alliance'. 

 

I checked it out so you don't have to. They don't need more clicks on their website.

Basically, it's where you can go to read propaganda about how marriage equality is going to fuck shit up for straight people. 

Example One: 

Children need a father AND mother.

So I guess if you divorce, or your spouse dies, children of straight couples are automatically ruined too?

Example Two: 

Children will learn about homosexuality in schools

Why is this listed as a negative? Of course they should. Because it's an actual thing that exists. Oh, sorry, you want to just teach them about pretend men in the sky? Carry on then. 

Example Three:

Children of same-sex parents won't know their biological history.

I don't even know where to start with this one. They will probably know more about their biological history than little Neaveh-Caprice Smyth who was conceived out the back of Tunnel nightclub. (Does Tunnel even exist anymore? Whatever, you get my point)

 

Example Four:

GLTB already have the same legal rights as straight couples. Why do they need to be able to actually marry?

Well, why did you, as a straight person, decide to get married? Why aren't you living in a de facto relationship yourself?  There's your answer. 

 

 

 

When I read the press release that said the Gay Lobby was using bullying tactics my head exploded and I was unable to read any further.

The Good Book-Keeper

Imagine this:

You are the boss of a big bank. One of the people who manages one of your branches comes and tells you that one of the people that works in your bank has been stealing money from a customer's account. There is no question this is what has happened, and it isn't even the first time a branch manager has told you about this employee doing this. There have been cases where other employees have SEEN him stealing money from accounts.

Other than these transgressions, this employee is wonderful.  The board of your bank love him, because he has a knack of bringing big accounts your way, with a focus on real estate. 

You don't want the good name of the bank tarnished, so you decide the best thing to do is to transfer this employee to another branch, preferably far away, so no one one will know of his reputation. That way you still keep his clients. The customer who made the complaint is happy, because all they see is that the employee doesn't work in their local branch anymore.

Time and time again, you hear reports of this employee stealing money out of accounts and you move him to different locations. This employee even ends up managing a few branches. They are still bringing in big business to your bank, so you promote them to head of the internal fraud squad.




Oh, shit. Sorry. Got that wrong. Let's start again, shall we?

Imagine this:

You are the head of the Catholic Church in Victoria...

Father Kevin O'Donnell used his position as a Catholic priest to abuse children for approximately 50 years. He served about a year in prison. He died the next year and was buried with full priestly honours in a special crypt in the Melbourne General Cemetery that is owned by the Catholic Church. He was never defrocked by the church.
He was moved from parish to parish by several Archbishops of Melbourne, one of these Archbishops was George Pell.



More of his story is told in the book, Hell on the Way to Heaven, which is available here. (Be warned, it is NOT an easy book to read.


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