Notes: Tuesday, February 5-Monday, July 22, 2019 (part 3 of 3)

7. The latest bioethical offences from Australia's political duopoly

7.1 A Labor Federal Government would work to increase access to contraception and abortion, most notably by ensuring that "Commonwealth-State hospital funding agreements will expect that termination services will be provided consistently in public hospitals."

See the Media Release "LABOR’S PLAN TO SUPPORT WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS", Wednesday, March 6, 2019, issued jointly by The Hon. Tanya Plibersek M.P. (at the time, Deputy Leader of H.M.A. Opposition and its Shadow Minister for Education and Training and for Women) and The Hon. Catherine King M.P. (at the time, Federal Shadow Minister for Health and Medicare) and available at their respective websites:

http://www.tanyaplibersek.com/media_release_labor_s_plan_to_support_women_s_reproductive_rights_wednesday_6_march_2019

https://www.catherineking.com.au/2019/03/05/labors-plan-to-support-womens-reproductive-rights/

Labels: A.L., abortion, contraception

7.2 "Women will have greater choice around IVF services with the NSW Liberals & Nationals Government providing up to a $500 rebate for pre-IVF fertility testing and greater access to lower cost treatments", whereby "the NSW Government will provide lower cost IVF treatments for around 6000 women through services at Royal Prince Alfred, The Royal Hospital for Women and Westmead hospitals"; and there will be "a partnership with UNSW for the first statewide fertility preservation service for young cancer patients at The Royal Hospital for Women."

Those quotations come from the press release "MAKING IVF MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR WOMEN", Saturday, March 9, 2019, downloaded from the website of The Liberal Party of Australia's New South Wales Division:

https://nsw.liberal.org.au/candidates/gladys-berejiklian/news/articles/MAKING-IVF-MORE-ACCESSIBLE-FOR-WOMEN

Labels: I.V.F., L.P.A., Nationals

8. St. Thomas Aquinas against the doctrines of original liberty and original equality

See note 92 at the end of the article "The Corporate Idea and the Body Politic in the Middle Ages", by Anton-Hermann Chroust, in The Review of Politics, Vol. 9, Issue No. 4, October 1947, pp. 423-452:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-politics/article/corporate-idea-and-the-body-politic-in-the-middle-ages/0B226F3CF3CB5272E74E7655C48EE5D2

This is the relevant section of that note:

Compare St. Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica I, quaest. 96, art. 3 Google Scholar: “We must of necessity admit that in the primitive state there would have been some inequality.…” See ibid, quaest. 96, art. 4: “… a man is the master of a free subject, by directing him either towards his proper welfare, or the common good. Such a type of mastership would have existed in the state of innocence between man and man, for two reasons: first, because man is by nature a social being, and thus in the state of innocence he would have led a social life. Now a social life cannot exist among a number of people unless under the direction of one to look after the common welfare; for many, as such, seek many things, whereas one attends only to one.…” See also Summa contra Ceniiles[ sic] III, 81
[italics, bold type, and hyperlinks in the original, my square-bracketed interpolation]

Labels: Democratism, liberalism, morals, politics, St. Thomas Aquinas

9. Dr. Gosbell on ancient Christian (and pagan) attitudes to abortion and infanticide

See the A.B.C. Religion and Ethics article ""As long as it's healthy": What can we learn from early Christianity's resistance to infanticide and exposure?", by Dr. Louise Gosbell, Wednesday, March 13, 2019:

Warning: That article is headed by a picture which could scandalise some readers:

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/early-christianitys-resistance-to-infanticide-and-exposure/10898016

Labels: abortion, Fathers, infanticide, morals

10. 24% of mothers in couple families in Australia were unwaged in 2016, down from 32% in 1991.

My immediate source for the information in that headline is Figure 2 of the Australian Institute of Family Studies research summary "Fathers and work: A statistical overview", by Dr. Jennifer Baxter, May 2019:

https://aifs.gov.au/aifs-conference/fathers-and-work

(The ultimate source is the Australian Population Census customised reports, 1991–2016, according to Figure 2's caption.)

Labels: demography, family, social trends, work

11. On the morning of the 26. ult., The Duke of Cambridge "officially opened the Albert Kennedy Trust new Services Centre" in London.

See the Court Circular of that date. According to akt's "our history" webpage, akt is the "world’s first ever service for homeless LGBT youth":

https://www.akt.org.uk/our-history

and according to its "duke of cambridge visits akt" webpage, that official opening involved "the first visit to a lgbtq+ youth charity by a member of the royal family":

https://www.akt.org.uk/news/duke-of-cambridge-visits-akt

Labels: G.L.B.T., William Cambridge

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Penitent, A.D. 2019

Notes: Tuesday, April 18, 2017-Monday, April 23, 2018 (part 3 of 3)

8. In the evening of Saturday, February 17, 2018, The Governor of New South Wales "attended the performance of Trevor Ashley’s Mardi Gala, part of the Sydney Mardi Gras 40th Anniversary celebrations, at the Sydney Opera House."

The quotation in that headline comes from the "Vice Regal Program" notice "Saturday, 17 February 2018", downloaded from the official Governor of New South Wales website:

https://www.governor.nsw.gov.au/governor/vice-regal-program/saturday-17-february-2018/

Labels: G.L.B.T., N.S.W.

9. Federal Labor proposes to give taxpayer funding of "$1 million to Tasmania to build a Reproductive Health Hub" which "will provide surgical terminations as part of the public hospital system, and federal and state Labor will contribute to its ongoing costs under the usual Commonwealth-state arrangements." It would have complemented Tasmanian Labor's pre-State-election "commitment to make terminations available in Tasmania’s public hospitals."

The quotations in that headline come for the media release "LABOR WILL RESTORE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES IN TASMANIA", dated Tuesday, February 20, 2018, issued jointly by The Hon. Bill Shorten M.P. (Leader of H.M.A. Opposition), The Hon. Tanya Plibersek M.P. (Deputy Leader of H.M.A. Opposition and shadow minister for education and training and for women), The Hon. Catherine King M.P. (shadow minister for health and Medicare), and Ms Rebecca White M.P. (Leader of H.M. Tasmanian Opposition and its shadow minister for health and wellbeing and for economic growth and regional development), downloaded from Ms King's website:

http://www.catherineking.com.au/2018/02/20/labor-will-restore-reproductive-health-services-in-tasmania/

See also the "TRANSCRIPT: DOORSTOP HOBART TUESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2018", featuring Ms Plibersek, Ms King, and Ms White, downloaded from Ms Plibersek's website:

http://www.tanyaplibersek.com/transcript_doorstop_hobart_tuesday_20_february_2018

Labels: abortion, A.L.

10. "just a century and a half ago, we had Papal States, and a much more politically-oriented Christianity in places. But we developed away from that, getting back to the roots of the faith, before Constantine, and embracing again Christ's words "My kingdom is not of this world.""

The longer quotation, including the shorter one, in that headline comes from the transcript of a speech given by His Grace The Most Rev. The Lord Archbishop of Erbil (a Chaldean archdiocese in Iraq) on February 15, 2018 at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, downloaded from that centre's website:

https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/events/the-future-of-christianity-and-pluralism-in-iraq

Or go straight hither:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/berkley-center/180215WardaFutureChristianityPluralismIraqSpeechTranscript.pdf

(That speech came to my attention via a Catholic News Service (C.N.S.) report printed in the Sydney Catholic Weekly and available behind a paywall at C.N.S.'s website under the headline "Chaldean archbishop: Time to be 'honest' in dialogue with Muslims", by Mark Pattison, dated February 16, 2018:

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2018/chaldean-archbishop-time-to-be-honest-in-dialogue-with-muslims.cfm)

Labels: Church and State, Constantine the Great, secularism

11. "More than 600 people attended the [St. Patrick's Day 2018 ]Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Terry Brady." Its "congregation … were [sic ]treated to a celebration of Irish dancers and traditional hymns sung by the Sydney Irish Community Choir."

The quotations, excluding my ellipsis symbol (which merely replaces the mention of two high-profile members of that congregation) and bracketed interpolations, in that headline come from the report "A sea of green as Sydney celebrates St Patrick’s day", by Debbie Cramsie, on p. 15 in the "NEWS" pages of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, March 25, 2018, published by The Archdiocese of Sydney, Sydney. (Note that the words "celebrated", "celebration", and "Community" each spanned two lines in the printed article, and so contained the following dashes: "celebrat-ed"; "celebra-tion"; "Com-munity".)

Labels: liturgical dance, N.O.M., Sydney

Reginaldvs Cantvar
St. George's Day, A.D. 2018

Notes: Friday, June 21-Tuesday, June 25, 2013

1. On Garter Day (the Monday in Royal Ascot week) 2013 (in 2013, Garter Day was the seventeenth of June), H.M. The Queen held a Chapter of the Order of the Garter in Windsor Castle's Throne Room, during which Her Majesty invested Lord Stirrup with the Insignia of a Knight Companion of that Order. In the afternoon of that day, in St. George's Chapel, The Queen installed His Lordship in the same Order.

See the Court Circular of that day.

Labels: Graham Stirrup, Order of the Garter

2. In "a recent petition by the Polyamory[ sic] Action Lobby[,] … the group said: "We demand nothing less than the full recognition of polyamorous families"."

That quotation, excluding my ellipsis symbol and square-bracketed interpolations, comes from the article "Bernardi: I was right on gay marriage and polygamy", by Jonathan Swan, dated June 18, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/bernardi-i-was-right-on-gay-marriage-and-polygamy-20130618-2offe.html?skin=text-only

See also the Poly Action Lobby's (sic—the group's name seems to be, as of March 1, 2013, "Poly Action Lobby", not "Polyamory Action Lobby") submission (No. 1224) in relation to the Parliamentary "Inquiry into Same sex marriage law in NSW", which (submission) "was received on 1/3/2013 by the Social Issues Committee":

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/7773A58712584B87CA257B2B0004EE96

Labels: polyamory

3. "there are still almost 80 countries around the world which criminalise same-sex relations"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Does Australia deserve a place at the world's top human rights table?", by Mr. Phil Lynch, dated June 20, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/world-commentary/does-australia-deserve-a-place-at-the-worlds-top-human-rights-table/story-e6frg6ux-1226667020964

Labels: G.L.B.T., law, vice

4. Prof. Williams on anti-death-penalty legislative victories in Australia

See the opinion piece "Chances of return to death penalty remain almost nil", by Prof. George Williams, dated June 18, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/chances-of-return-to-death-penalty-remain-almost-nil-20130617-2oeie.html?skin=text-only

Labels: death penalty, law

5. "About 60 per cent of those in custody in Australia have been imprisoned before."

The quotation, including its hyperlink, in that headline comes from the webpage "Recidivism" at the website of the Australian Government's Australian Institute of Criminology:

http://www.aic.gov.au/crime_community/communitycrime/recidivism.html

(That figure came to my attention via the opinion piece "Why we shouldn't call Adrian Bayley a Monster", by Alecia Simmonds, dated June 19, 2013, downloaded from Fairfax's Daily Life website:

http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/why-we-shouldnt-call-adrian-bayley-a-monster-20130618-2og5v.html?skin=text-only

Labels: crime

6. Ms Maley on Coalition-Labor co-operation to end legislative discrimination against sodomite-catamite couples and to prevent capital punishment in Australia:

[The Hon. Robert ]McClelland[ M.P.], for instance, gave a shout-out to his opposition shadow[ Federal Attorney-General] Senator[ The Hon.] George Brandis[ Q.C.], who came across to the House of Representatives to watch McClelland's valedictory. He thanked Brandis for his ''vital'' co-operation in amending some 80 pieces of legislation to remove discrimination for same-sex couples, and in legislating to prohibit capital punishment from ever being reintroduced in Australia.

These legislative results were achieved ''in substantial part as a result of [Brandis'] support and decency'', McClelland said …
[my ellipsis symbol and square-bracketed interpolations, except for "[Brandis']",
"Now they tell us …[ sic] pollies hide virtues till the end", by Ms Jacqueline Maley, dated June 22, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/now-they-tell-us-8230-pollies-hide-virtues-till-the-end-20130621-2onu5.html?skin=text-only]

(That opinion piece came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, with the same byline, on p. 11 of the "News Review" supplement of The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, June 22-23, 2013, No. 54820, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Labels: A.L., death penalty, discrimination, G.L.B.T., L.P.A., law, Nationals

7. "A new study published in the journal Psychological Science found some crucial, fascinating insights into how extremists can shift their positions to more moderate stances. The researchers, from the University of Colorado Boulder, Harvard Kennedy School, UCLA and Brown University, found that people's positions became less severe once they were asked to actually spell out their policies, and once they realised they did not know as much as they thought they did on the subject."

The quotation in that headline comes from the opinion piece "The silence of the moderates", by Dr. Julia Baird, dated June 22, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/the-silence-of-the-moderates-20130621-2onnp.html?skin=text-only

(That opinion piece came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline, with the same byline, on p. 12 of the "News Review" supplement of The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, June 22-23, 2013, No. 54820, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Presumably Dr. Baird was referring to the article "Political Extremism Is Supported by an Illusion of Understanding", by Assistant Professor Philip M. Fernbach et al., the abstract of which is available here:

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/24/6/939.abstract

Labels: extremism

8. "The ACTU has provided evidence that one in three women leave the workforce permanently while pregnant or after having a child."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Gillard launches gender inquiry", by Mr. Michael Gordon, dated June 22, 2013, downloaded from The Sydney Morning Herald's website:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-launches-gender-inquiry-20130621-2oo81.html?skin=text-only

(That article came to my attention via the version printed on p. 1 of the "NEWS" section of The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, June 22-23, 2013, No. 54820, ISSN 0312-6315.)

See also the article "HRC to look at leave discrimination", no byline (though its source is the A.A.P.), downloaded from the Sydney Daily Telegraph's website, which (article) says that the A.C.T.U.'s president, Ms Ged Kearney,

said Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed almost one third of working women with a child under two left the workforce permanently while pregnant or after having a child.
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/hrc-to-look-at-leave-discrimination/story-fni0xqi3-1226667945055]

(For more on the inquiry in question, see the media release "Inquiry into parental leave discrimination: Fairer workplace practices to benefit families and the economy", issued jointly by The Hon. Mark Dreyfus Q.C. M.P., The Hon. Jenny Macklin M.P., and The Hon. Bill Shorten M.P. (respectively the Federal Attorney-General, the Federal Minister for Families, Community Services, and Indigenous Affairs, and for Disability Reform, and the Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations), dated June 22, 2013, downloaded from the Federal Attorney-General's website:

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.au/Mediareleases/Pages/2013/Second%20quarter/22-June-2013---Inquiry-into-parental-leave-discrimination-Fairer-workplace-practices-to-benefit-familes-and-the-economy.aspx

See also the webpages "Pregnancy and return to work research begins" and "Prevalence of experiences of discrimination relating to pregnancy at work and return to work after parental leave" at the Australian Human Rights Commission's website.)

Labels: discrimination, families, P.P.L., pregnancy

9. "BOYS as young as five will be encouraged to envisage becoming nurses and girls soldiers under a French primary school program designed to break down age-old stereotypes", which (programme)", called the ABCD of Equality, will be introduced into 500 primary schools from September before being made part of the national curriculum a year later."

The quotations, including the bold and capitals, in that headline come from the article "French gender-bender blue", no byline (its source is The Times of London), dated June 22, 2013, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/french-gender-bender-blue/story-fnb64oi6-1226667762224

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline on p. 10 in the "WORLD" section of The Weekend Australian, June 22-23, 2013, First Edition, No. 15147, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: feminism

10. "100,000[ Australians] ceased calling themselves Catholic between 2006–2011"

The quotation in that headline comes from the installment of His Eminence The Most Rev. The Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney A.C.'s "Cardinal's Comment" column titled "Numbers up, percentage down", dated June 16, 2013 (sic—presumably that was the date of its printing in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph), downloaded from the Sydney Catholic Weekly's website:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=3&subclassID=7&articleID=12307&class=Features&subclass=Cardinal's Comment

(That article came to my attention via the version printed on p. 8 under the same headline in the same "CARDINAL'S COMMENT" column in The Catholic Weekly, June 23, 2013, Vo. 72, No. 4678, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company.)

Labels: demography, social trends

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. William, Abbot, A.D. 2013