“There have been a number of Catholic priests charged with sexual offences over the past few years. I think that it’s up to prominent Catholics to speak up and condemn them. In fact, I think we should change the onus of proof. If any Catholics travel to Ireland, then they should be presumed to be a member of the IRA, unless they can prove they weren’t.”
Yep, this wasn’t about pissing off Catholics. I’m sure that there are many good Catholics out there who neither support child sex abuse nor the IRA…
Gee, I can’t understand why anyone would think that I’m being hostile to Catholics. I’m just trying to get everyone on Team Australia. I mean, make up your mind. To whom do you owe your allegiance, the Pope or Australia?
You’re right. I shouldn’t be lumping all Catholics in one bag. Nor blaming them for what some Catholics have done. I shouldn’t even blame them for Tony Abbott.
But somehow it’s ok to talk about Muslims like this. We should somehow presume that they are all recent arrivals who want to impose Sharia Law.
(Whereas Christian fundamentalists who want to impose similar restraints on things like “homosexual behaviour”, abortion, alcohol, dancing and face-painting are part of our rich tapestry of life and part of a democracy. Heaven help us if Cory Bernardi ever realises how much he has in common with the Taliban! Ok, I know that Cory believes that heaven will help him. Strange that fundamentalists believe that when things happen to their enemies it’s the will of God, but when bad things happen to them, it’s because of bad people following Satan.)
Q: Why don’t Baptists have sex standing up?
A: Because it might lead to dancing!
Yes, I know. I should stop at this point and go to something less offensive…
From the sports desk:
Thanks, Rossleigh. Team Australia is currently having trouble scoring because the newly elected coach doesn’t believe that left wingers have any role to play in the team. Unfortunately, in the recent game this lead to several of his first picks playing so far on the right wing that they were outside the field of play.
George, for example, argued that people who’d been suspended had as much right as anyone to have the ball passed to them. As a tactic, this proved ineffective as they had a tendency not to give it back, even after the referee had declared them out of bounds.
Eric complained that he was merely passing the ball back to the goal-keeper and that his own goal was really a good thing because – after all – he was interrupted before he got a chance to tell the goalkeeper to stop the ball.
Joe – the goalkeeper – claimed that he clearly touched the ball, and later produced a replay to verify his claim. He later apologised saying that he was a little confused about what game he was actually playing, before later saying that he doesn’t play games, not even Rugby at Uni where Abbott is alleged to have hit him in a game that he wasn’t playing in at a University he was alleged to have attended.
Malcolm was brought as sub when it was clear that George didn’t understand the basics of what to say to the media. Malcolm who has mastered the “Yeah, Nah, Well, It’s a Team Game… And I’d just like to thank the boys for keeping me on the team. I had my turn as Captain and clearly I’m right behind whatever it is we’re doing but I’m a bit tired at the moment and I just want to go into the team meeting and say things I’m not prepared to say in public, so unless you can get someone to leak them…Sorry, I’m being called in for the meeting. Catch you at the pub later…”
Christopher has been left sitting on the pine for several weeks, since that unfortunate incident where he ran on to the field only to discover a puddle. Christopher is out his depth in a puddle.
Team Australia Captain, Tony has said that he’s looking forward to returning for the game against Scotland. However, given we’re not actually playing Scotland there was some concern that he hasn’t actually recovered from a recent head clash. Or indeed, any of his head clashes.
Let’s cut back to an interview with the head of the Islamic state. Tom Elliot doesn’t have an update. Ah, that’s the trouble with the Left – they expect the Right to drop something just because it doesn’t have any evidence to back it up.
Not even going to talk about John Elliot’s acquittal for his charges back in the 90s here. Or as was said at the time by someone. “He was proven innocent”
But that’s not the way courts work. We have a presumption of innocence. John Elliot was never proven innocent of the charges he faced. He didn’t need to be. He had the presumption of innocence.
I don’t think that he – or anyone else who’d been charged – would like to have to prove themselves innocent. I think that it would be difficult. And a potential miscarriage of justice.
Every day, I hear that we’re going to change the onus of proof. People travelling will have to prove that they’re not terrorists. “Criminals” will have to prove that their house hasn’t been bought with the proceeds of crime.
But I don’t ever hear that politicians will have to prove that donations didn’t affect their decisions. Nor – apart from Peter Slipper – that their travel allowance wasn’t an honest mistake!
