I haven’t written about the matter here until now because I’ve had to sort out my feelings on this one: as someone who grew up in the social nudist movement I hate the way that nudity in any context has come to be automatically associated with pornography, and yet I see the necessity of ensuring that minors are not exploited for sexual imagery as well.
culture wars
Broadly, conservatism vs progressives / social liberties vs authoritarianism / social justice vs elitist marginalisation.
More complacent denigration
crossposted at LP Last year Paul Norton wrote with some sadness and much asperity “Is David Burchell brain-dead?” Referring to the particular column which prompted the post, Paul contrasted ex-communist Burchell’s stance with the positions taken by anti-communist Robert Manne… Read More ›
The decline of parenting skills
Image Source: davide mio by marcuzzo Nearly One-third Of US Parents Don’t Know What To Expect Of Infants ScienceDaily (May 4, 2008) — Almost one-third of U.S. parents have a surprisingly low-level knowledge of typical infant development and unrealistic expectations… Read More ›
Can’t resist
Everybody’s been posting versions of this today (USA time), but I just had to join in. As a listserv friend posted, Happy Mission Accomplished Day! image source: SeattlePi.com The latest White House press statement on the banner? “President Bush is… Read More ›
Quick link: no link between NT indigenous community permit system and child abuse
Andrew Bartlett writes: The previous federal government used the spectre of child sexual abuse as justification to scrap the permit system contained in the Land Rights Act, which required people wishing to visit Aboriginal freehold land in the Northern Territory… Read More ›
Rudd govt anti-same-sex-discrimination bill depends on the Senate balance of power
The Age: The Age believes Attorney-General Robert McClelland will announce today that he will introduce amendments to Parliament as early as next month to alter around 100 federal laws. The changes will not allow gay marriages or same-sex couples to… Read More ›
Dodgy science journalism week
That old “really the earth is cooling and we’re about to have an ice age” argument gets another outing, this time in The Australian courtesy of Phil “Australia’s first astronaut” Chapman. Greensblog comprehensively debunks his arguments, which basically rest on… Read More ›
PZ refutes four bad arguments against evolution
Read. Bookmark. Refer to this the next time you need to refute bad arguments against evolution from creationists and IDologists. Favourite bit: The Second Law of Thermodynamics argument is one of the hoariest, silliest claims in the creationist collection. It’s… Read More ›
The FLDS polygamy and statutory rape farm
Haven’t blogged anything about this, so this is just a quick hit. There’s lots of blogging about this around. AP: Texas polygamist sect is accused of indoctrinating girls SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — Girls in the west Texas polygamous sect… Read More ›
Typical MND misrepresentation: shame on you, Glenn Sacks OK, his explanation does make sense after all
Alert blog-readers may have noticed that many blogs, including this one, use a “cut” or “more” tag on longer posts, so that only the first few paragraphs show on the main page, and to read the full story one needs… Read More ›
Hoyden About Town 