You kind of know when someone nicks the remains of your mother-in-law that things might be getting a bit too hairy to continue.

It seems that four British animal rights protesters have admitted plotting to blackmail the owners of a farm that bred guinea pigs for medical research. They have also admitted to using the theft of the remains of 82 year old Gladys Hammond as part of their campaign.

I’m sure at the time their strategy seemed very logical and correct — I know, let’s save the poor little guinea pigs by acting like complete twits for the next six years and if that doesn’t work, we’ll just dig-up one of the owner’s dead relatives.

Oh yes, that’s a plan! I can really see how it all hangs together… Link

The US state of South Dakota has just passed legislation making it illegal for a woman to have an abortion even in the case of rape or incest. Don’t think it couldn’t happen here in Oz girls. Read this and weep and remember, those fundamentalist Christians are a sneaky backdoor bunch.

Letter to Andrew West re his SMH article:

Evangelical Christians: another stereotype crumbles

Dear Andy,

Am I to believe that maybe you and some of Sydney’s fundamentalist God-botherers are feeling the heat? Let me say upfront that I have met too many right-wing evangelical Christians not to believe the stereotype is alive and well and not as you are suggesting, on the wane.

I reckon there’s a small record-player that sits inside the heads of people of religion — it’s just bigger and louder the more fundamentalist you are. This record-player plays a non-stop recording, that says over and over again — “I am right and YOU are dead wrong. Your beliefs are wrong, your god is wrong — in fact everything about you and the way you live is wrong. In fact, YOU ARE GOING TO HELL, you are so wrong!!”.

Andy, maaate, one swallow does not a summer make, but if the day ever comes that I hear evangelical Christians en mass (or any other religious fundamentalist group for that matter) accepting that just-maybe others’ beliefs have some validity — then I might say goodonya mate, the worm has turned and have a nice day.

Progressives have long stereotyped evangelical Christians as enemies and automatic allies of the political right, mainly because they embrace traditional values in relation to the nuclear family, opposition to abortion on demand (but not all abortion), gambling and drugs. But these positions are hardly inconsistent with a belief in economic justice; the rights of workers; opposition to war, racism and sexism (yes, sexism, because evangelicals were in the forefront of the suffragette movement); and a rejection of greed, exploitation and materialism. In fact, these values have historically been a staple of evangelical Christianity.

Andrew West | SMH | Link

This morning I received a link to a letter written to the London bombers. It was sent to me by my eloquent and highly amusing cousin. She is a real writer who lives and works in London.

The letter starts:

What the fuck do you think you’re doing?

This is London. We’ve dealt with your sort before. You don’t try and pull this on us.

Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not going to work.

The article reminded me of how adversity can draw a city like London together. It reminded me of growing-up in the East End. Of having to deal with fascism and the likes of Colin Jordan and Oswald Mosley and their nutty followers who tried to beat me and any other Jew they could find to pulp.

It reminded me of those righteous and bloodthirsty Catholic terrorists — the IRA, who for years were constantly trying to bomb the crap out of any pub or train or department store I happened to be in.

I remembered times when I was just about to take a drink, or buy a pair of socks and someone would call out, “…sorry there’s been a bomb threat, you’ll have to leave.”

And so we’d all file out and drink our beer and continued our conversations on the footpath. We’d wait for the police to arrive to search the place and to give us the all clear hopefully before the pint you had ran out.

London survived these nutters, as it will again…

… Our city works. We rather like it. And we’re going to go about our lives. We’re going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we’re going to work. And we’re going down the pub. | Link