Disqus - Latest Comments for kedgie

Re: When you grow up you'll agree with me

kedgie — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:19:37 -0000

Yobbo, you've admitted yourself that you have a go at Jeremy because he's Jeremy. And the other day you labelled all of Jeremy's readers as not knowing anything about Economics. When there's been plenty of people - myself included - who've disagreed with Jeremy's arguments in relation to economics.

Re: Some things are sacred

kedgie — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:05:19 -0000

"Josh, you can read the Hun "from cover to cover" in the time it takes to have a morning coffee."

I think you mean Latte, Jeremy.

"And Easter - the entire four day period - is choc(olate) full of commercial exploitation."

Which is why I bugger off to the middle of nowhere for the duration and camp with a group of friends.

Re: Hun asks itself a very good question

kedgie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:37:42 -0000

Thanks Miss Lallybrich. I don't know why there was a problem. I'll look into it.

Re: I can't deal with Lara again

kedgie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:56:55 -0000

Yobbo has a point here. Many have been talking about the suprime crisis, at least, for some years. I was talking about it when I left the investment mortgage arena in May 2007, and I'm no genius. Volatility had started creeping into the re-insurance and sub-prime markets at that point, and I wasn't the only one who got out whilst the going was good. Governments are traditionally seven to eight years behind on "needed" legislation (FSRA, PS146, anyone?), and Australia is ahead of the curve.

And blaming right-wingers or "Capitalism" for the GFC is as much a load of horse-shit as blaming left-wingers wholesale.

"But then many people who didn't have a much better understanding of what happened in January than do the readers of this blog, who seem under the impression that it was entirely the fault of "teh libertarianz"."

And you seem under the impression that the entirety of Jeremy's readership blames "teh libertarianz", Yobbo. Completely ignoring the shit fights that have broken out on every post Jeremy's done on economics in recent history.

Re: I can't deal with Lara again

kedgie — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:48:31 -0000

I miss the days when mashing the keypad put you straight through to someone.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:50:38 -0000

But does that apply where intent does not? I don't think you can argue self-defense against a dependent being who isn't considered a person by law.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:51:47 -0000

As far as I'm concerned, seeing someone walking around inhabiting a body and then seeing that body devoid of that animating force is enough for me.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:55:51 -0000

Depends on how you use the term "fictional concept", Mondo.

Religious people aren't the only ones who believe in souls. Members of my family who were hospital porters and handled dead bodies regularly have told me they couldn't not believe in souls seeing the difference between someone before they die and after. And they were staunchly athiest.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:57:11 -0000

"Abortion is not spoken about in the bible as clearly to technology and techniques to do so had not been invented yet."

Not true. Abortificant herbs were certainly around at the time of the writing of the New Testament.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:56:10 -0000

I believe in God, I was brought up Catholic, but I no longer label myself as such because of issues I have with statements coming from the Melbourne Archdiocese of late, and some fundamental differences in what I believe politically and socially and what the church teaches.

I don't know how to fit that into a neat box, but that's the current situation. But I'm certainly "religious" in that I believe in God. I don't see that as incompatible with a Pro-Choice stance, but the Catholic Church certainly does.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:29:20 -0000

For me personally, I believe life does begin at conception, but that soulful life (The point at which a fetus acquires a soul) is some point further down the track. Probably, if I think about it, at the time brainwave patterns are present.

But I don't find that incompatible with a pro-choice stance.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:33:27 -0000

Yobbo, you're comparing an impossible scenario with medical conditions that actually exist.

I don't see the world as that black and white. I believe life begins at conception, but soulful life begins at the time a fetus becomes aware, which, as you linked to, is thought to be about the 27 week mark.

But I don't believe the government has the right to condemn me or any other woman to death because of the "right" of a fetus. And this is where I think some pro-lifers are dishonest with themselves. In trying to keep their hands clean, they preach a non-interventionist policy, so they say they aren't making a choice and aren't responsible for the ensuing death. Problem I have with that is that choosing to do nothing is still a choice. If you can save the mothers life and you choose not to, that's a choice.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:17:26 -0000

No, I really don't think it is. In an ideal world, Right to Life would trump all. But this isn't an ideal world. And what of the mother who has to choose between her own life and her baby? Where does Right to Life come in then? Which "Right" wins out? Or when she's incapacitated, the husband or partner who has to choose?

Right to Life suggests absolutism, a static position. Life isn't like that. Sometimes you have to make a choice.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:53:19 -0000

Yobbo, that page cites 27 weeks by the looks.

It's 24 weeks in Victoria.

In all states at the moment a doctor can perform a termination up until birth if the life of the mother is in danger (I think there must be consencus between 2 or more independent specialists as to it being necessary for the physical or mental health of the patient)

Conditions like pre-eclampsia necessitate these kind of clauses. And must safe-guard against the stipulation of abdominal surgery because of the dangers implicite with that level of blood pressure.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:48:12 -0000

"Whether or not you are opposed to abortion pretty much depends on when you think "life" begins"

I'm not sure it's as simplistic as that, Yobbo. I believe that life begins at conception, but don't believe that this trumps the pro-choice debate in any way. If it was that simple, the choice to have an abortion would also be as simple, and I've never seen a woman in the position to make that choice ever make it easily.

As I said, I believe that life begins at conception, but I also believe that the ultimate decision must be placed in the hands of the individual, and provide as many support mechanisms and as much education as you can to make sure it's a rare event and the last resort. Not that I believe the vast majority of women take this option as anything but a last resort.

And for the record, here's the Vaticans position on abortion is that it's a sin, but "Forgivness is as near as the closest confessional"

A big departure from the fire and brimstone preached in public by many.

Re: Seriously, Lord, couldn't you have talked more about the things WE don't like?

kedgie — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:16:22 -0000

Well said, SB.

For the record, the first mention of abortion as a sin (As opposed to the generic "thou shalt not kill" supporting passages) appears in, I believe, the Didache. The Vatican itself acknowledges that there is no text in the bible explicit as to abortion, but certainly as early as the 800's the Councils were refining their position on abortion.

The Humanae Vitae, seen as definitive by the Vatican, also sets out the guidelines for what the Catholics point to as the get-out clause for what to do if a womans life is clearly at risk and an abortion is necessary: perform a hystorectomy, which will kill the fetus anyway and render the mother sterile. Even the Catholic Church acknowledges (In a terrible way, that means performing a procedure that isn't necessary and renders her infertile) that there are circumstances in which termination is the best option.

Re: Taxpayer dollars wasted

kedgie — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:40:59 -0000

Not if the murder rates in states with capital punishment available are anything to go by, Josh.

Re: OH NO YOU DON'T

kedgie — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:44:37 -0000

Well there goes the entire Unites States.

Re: RACV roadside now crap

kedgie — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:48:17 -0000

Wah, I think you might mean Charlotte Church. And she wasn't an Opera singer per se. Katherine Jenkins is the other one you might mean.

Re: RACV roadside now crap

kedgie — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:55:43 -0000

Catherine Zeta-Jones. There's a lot of us. We're over-represented in the arts.

Re: RACV roadside now crap

kedgie — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:56:15 -0000

"Ever since the Wesleyan Methodists got swallowed up by the Untied Church, you've developed a national sensitivity."

Makes no odds to me, Marek, I'm Roman Catholic.

Also, I think we're touchy because it's so cold, and when you're angry you feel warmer.

Re: Lifetime Jeremy Immunity

kedgie — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:15:35 -0000

"Lefty claimed Blair was commenting using a sock-puppet, which wasn't true

You mean, like that statement isn't true? It wasn't Jeremy that claimed that, now was it, Yobbo?

Jeremy claimed they were using the same computer. Which IS true.

Re: RACV roadside now crap

kedgie — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:14:57 -0000

"If it's not the water pump it could be rusty welsh plugs"

Oh, sure, play the race card, Wah.

Re: Lifetime Jeremy Immunity

kedgie — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:56:05 -0000

"So it's not true that you spent the morning with a solicitor trying to put the house in Polly's name?"

It'd be a masterstroke of thievery if so, considering we don't own it.

Re: It's defamation when you do it

kedgie — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:42:10 -0000

As long as you're paying and I'm included, I fully endorse your plan, Reap.