The morons in charge of approving train-wreck shows at Channel Ten. Which one of these drop-kicks gave the approval for Mark Loves Sharon FFS? Come on, this is a spin-off of a show that was so awful they had to bury it on a graveyard shift after one episode of the second series. It was bad enough they even made a second series of The Wedge, worse than Cal Wilson lowered herself to be on it, but now some genius thinks they need a spin-off show. And no, I wasn't actually watching it. I just left the TV on after Good News Week while I surfed the web a bit. Xena asked me what I was laughing at on one occasion. I think she thought I had found something funny about this diabolical program, but I was actually reading some of the answers to Bob's Quiz on the Australian Skeptics site. There certainly wasn't any humour on Mark loves Sharon. My last dental procedure was less painful than this abortion.
I can't protest in this State unless I submit my slogans, placards, billboards, flyers, et cetera, to the State Police for review in advance. If the Police find that my slogans are inappropriate, then I am not issued a permit to protest. If I defy the State and stand on a public street in an orderly fashion, wearing a t-shirt bearing words that have not been approved by the State, then I can be arrested, detained, and fined under summary law. I will also have a criminal conviction recorded against my name. These laws cannot be challenged in any court - the interests of the State are too important. This "State" - remind me, what was the name of it again? New South Wales...or The People's Democratic Republic of China?
The Law Society has already come out and said that getting a conviction against someone for wearing an "offensive" shirt is going to be almost impossible. What we need is a mass of people wearing "offensive" shirts. Hundreds and hundreds of them. They couldn't arrest them all, and as the definition of an "offensive" slogan is so vague practically all of them will end up getting tossed out of court. The State can give the police all the crazy powers they want, but the laws themselves still protect people for being punished for fripperies. Here's what to do: get 100 people to wear their CoF/Impaled Nazarene/Marduk/Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster/whatever shirts and find a street corner to stand on. When you're asked to move on, move on. Keep moving on everytime you're asked. Make sure someone is filming. Find out where The Chaser are going to be and stand near them.
You know as well as I do its not that easy, its not all black-and-white.. I got this last night, from the organiser of a protest, a uni student affiliated with a students organisation in Sydney. These were the guys planning to hand out condoms. Apparently he picked up a few tips!
Haha yeah. It's fucking nuts man. If it was the Muslims doing this, the cops would be rounding them up, and handing out batons to everyone to help them.
Why did he call your protest a 'Raid' ? You seem to be going quite out of your way and making such a fuss over something you apparently don't like or care about ?
Because he's actually an anti-religious terrorist, and the condoms were going to have anthrax in them. I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying here. Edit: Its not really "my" protest, either.
Everyone should be creating a stink about how freely the police can get so powerful (e.g. APAC) and how freely the government tosses our "rights" around for the good of higher powers (Bush, The Pope and the Catholic POS) AT LEAST, if not for the Religious side of things.
Sorry, I was under the assumption you were attending. Just seems like a lot of effort for something you don't really care about. But each to their own I guess. Australia is the totally wrong kind of place for this WYD stuff though, not exactly a high level of religion among us. Well from what i've experienced anyway.
I was considering it. A high level of effort? I'm annoyed that all this is happening, but surely its evident why?
I don't care if 250,000 sheep want to flock to their shepherd like idiots. What I'm opposed to is the amount of public money being spent on it when the Catholic Church can afford to pay for it themselves about a thousand times over. I'm opposed to the way the city of Sydney will be turned into a police state where people can be arrested for wearing a piece of clothing that might be considered "offensive" by anyone, for any reason and where someone organising a legitimate protest is bullied by authorities into obedience. Why doesn't this sort of thing make the news? It wouldn't be because one of the backers of this mess is the major Sydney tabloid owned by the world's largest and most powerful media organisation, by any chance? And there's nothing in our constitution that prevents this type of government bullying from going ahead. In the US, you could invoke your First Amendment rights, but such rights here are only vaguely implied, not guaranteed.
Also the church is charging a registration fee for everyone who attends ranging from $50 to $500 so they are getting the government to hand out money plus taking money from the "pilgrims". Then also they are having the event sponsored by large companies to help cover costs.
The only cost will be to the people of Sydney, who will have their lives disrupted for the entire period of this ridiculous event.
Eureka Stoackade anyone? Should we rise up against the government that treats us like children? As mentioned previously, one of the biggest arguments for a Republic, is to have a bill of rights (namely becuase this change of govt would provide a vessel for such change). Then none of this bullshit in regards to rights of the people, instant changing of police powers and freedom of implied speech would happen, it'd be cement, not vague.
Very annoying thing today... firstly I'll put my hand up and say "MY BAD" for not paying my phone bill for a while - been totally swamped here - and it got suspended. OK, that I can deal with. Normally when that happens you can't make any calls or SMSs or anything, which is fair enough. But now they're also barring INCOMING SMSs! What the fuck? People have been asking if I got their message and I've been saying "er, no???" and not understanding why... well, it all makes sense now. Hooray for Optus... again.
People who drive along the kerb trying to find a house etc without a blinker on. Stop doing it, it's illegal. 40 zones in high school areas. If you can't cross the ride by the time your 12, natural selection is going to get you some other way.
