Notes: Tuesday, January 1-Tuesday, February 12, 2013 (part 2 of 2)

9. Part of the reason why women can't be priests:

From the Holy Father's Angelus address in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, January 20, 2013 (His Holiness was speaking in a different context than the ineligibility of women for ordination, but the following is, as you'll see, nevertheless applicable to it):

… With this “sign”[, i.e., the sign of the miracle of the transformation of water into wine at the wedding at Cana,] Jesus revealed himself as the messianic Bridegroom come to establish with his people the new and eternal covenant, in accordance with the prophets’ words: “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Is 62:5). Moreover, wine is a symbol of this joy of love; but it also alludes to the blood that Jesus was to pour out at the end to seal his nuptial pact with humanity.

The Church is the Bride of Christ who makes her holy and beautiful with his grace. …
[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2013/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20130120_en.html]

Labels: womenpriests

10. "I[, Kristina Keneally,] object in conscience to the Church's teachings on women, homosexuality and contraception."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Talking to children about the Royal Commission", by The Hon. Kristina Keneally, dated November 22, 2012, downloaded from the Eureka Street website ("A publication of Jesuit Communications Australia"):

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=34263

Labels: Kristina Keneally

11. RU486 "is on the World Health Organisation list of essential medicines"

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Push for abortion drugs to cost less than $12", by Linda Silmalis, dated January 31, 2013, downloaded from the Sydney Daily Telegraph's website:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/push-for-abortion-drugs-to-cost-less-than-12/story-e6freuy9-1226565413699

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline and with the same byline on p. 09 of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Thursday, January 31, 2013, Vol. 1, No. 2760, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: abortion, U.N.O.

12. Mr. Creighton on the proportions in which the members of different income quintiles contribute towards public finance and the proportions in which it is distributed among them

See the article "Rich are paying their fair share, and then some", by Adam Creighton, dated February 2, 2013, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/rich-are-paying-their-fair-share-and-then-some/story-fn59niix-1226567054479

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline and with the same byline on p. 15 in the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, February 2-3, 2013, First Edition, No. 15031, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: economics, justice, taxation

13. "In the beginning our work was the conversion of the Jews, but after the Holocaust we realised no, we don’t go out to convert people, we should have Jewish-Christian relations."

The quotation in that headline comes from the article "Catholics honoured for service to nation", by Sharyn McCowen and Damir Govorcin, dated February 3, 2013, downloaded from the Sydney Catholic Weekly's website:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=1&subclassID=2&articleID=11625&class=Latest News&subclass=CW National

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline and with the same byline on pp. 1 and 5 (p. 5's part of the article was headlined "Aust Day honours for Catholics") of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, February 3, 2013, Vol. 72, No. 4658, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd.)

Labels: inter-religious dialogue, Jews, N.D.S.

14. "The Vatican is spearheading the initiative to study the construction and painting techniques of sarcophagi during Egypt's so-called Third Intermediate Period, which was 3,000 years ago."

The quotation in that headline comes from the Catholic News Service (C.N.S.) article "Vatican mummy health check: It's never too late for an endoscopy", by Carol Glatz, dated January 18, 2013, downloaded from the C.N.S.'s website:

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1300235.htm

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the headline "Mummy check-up finds 'she' is a 'he'", by the same author, on p. 22 (the "Vatican Letter, Classifieds" page) of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, February 3, 2013, Vol. 72, No. 4658, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd. "Mummy check-up finds 'she' is a 'he'" is available on-line under the same headline as at the C.N.S. website, by the same author, dated January 21, 2013, at The Catholic Weekly's website here:

http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/article.php?classID=1&subclassID=84&articleID=11578&class=Latest%20News&subclass=Breaking%20News)

Labels: Egypt, Vatican Museums

15. "the Catholic Church opposes legal sanctions against homosexuality and favors legal protections for unmarried people living together"

The quotation in that headline comes from the Catholic News Service (C.N.S.) article "Defend traditional family, rights of others, archbishop says", by Cindy Wooden, dated February 4, 2013, downloaded from the C.N.S. website:

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1300458.htm

That C.N.S. article reports that Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family (who is apparently also a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation),

said the Catholic Church affirms "the equal dignity of every child of God. No one lacks the dignity of being a child of God, so that is untouchable."

While the church opposes recognizing gay unions as "marriage," he said, it affirms the full dignity of homosexual men and women. "If a country outlawed homosexuality, I would work to overturn it," he said, adding that he believed there are still "20 or 25 countries" that define homosexuality as a crime.

Archbishop Paglia also called for greater efforts to ensure legal protection and inheritance rights for people who are living together, but not married. "To promote justice and to protect the weak," he said, legal means must be found to guarantee rights and regulate inheritance.

"But do not call it marriage," he said.

For discussion on Msgr. Paglia's remarks, see this AQ thread, this Fish Eaters Traditional Catholic Forum thread, this CathInfo.com Traditional Catholic Forum thread, and the comments section of this Rorate Cæli post. For follow-up material, see this Rorate Cæli post and this LifeSiteNews.com report.

(Msgr. Paglia's remarks came to my attention via the article "We must defend marriage: Vatican", by Cindy Wooden, on p. 7 (the "World News" page) of the Sydney Catholic Weekly, February 10, 2013, Vol. 72, No. 4659, published by The Catholic Press Newspaper Company Pty. Ltd. An online version of that article is available under the headline "We must defend marriage: Vatican Church[ sic]", with the same byline and date, at The Catholic Weekly's website here.)

Labels: civil unions, crime, G.L.B.T., Roman Curia, vice, Vincenzo Paglia

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, Confessors, A.D. 2013

Notes: Wednesday, April 25-Monday, May 21, 2012

1. The transcript for the Monday, April 9, 2012 episode of Q&A, in which Cardinal Pell appeared, is available here:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3469101.htm

Labels: George Pell

2. How Hansard can change:

Early last month, on a tediously slow Wednes-day afternoon, [Senator The Hon. Bob ]Carr slips into the chamber 15 min-utes ahead of schedule to deliver his first speech to the Senate. …

[… ]Carr's memory microchip spits out an error as he recalls passing Henry Kissinger at the end of the Olym-pics in "September 2001"; too much terror, not enough five-ringed circus (later, for posterity, Hansard will record Carr said "October 2000", even though he didn't). …
[bold type and dashes (from where a word spanned two lines) in the original, my square-bracketed interpolations]

I transcribed that from p. 14 of "Second coming", by Tom Dusevic, The Weekend Australian Magazine, April 21-22, 2012, inserted in The Weekend Australian, April 21-22, 2012, Second Edition, No. 14789, ISSN 1038-8761, available on-line, but behind a paywall, here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/the-second-coming-of-bob-carr/story-e6frg8h6-1226331179611

The text of Senator Carr's maiden speech is available here:

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F34dcc858-84ef-4fe3-9144-f6f97af26110%2F0180%22

(I write this item well aware that Hansard is not just a transcript, but an edited transcript.

Furthermore, I neither write nor publish this item in connection with today's speech in Parliament by Mr. Craig Thomson M.P.)

Labels: Hansard

3. Ms Legge on "genetic sexual attraction"

"Intimate relations", by Kate Legge, pp. 18-22, The Weekend Australian Magazine, April 21-22, 2012, inserted in The Weekend Australian, April 21-22, 2012, Second Edition, No. 14789, ISSN 1038-8761, available on-line, but behind a paywall, here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/intimate-relations/story-e6frg8h6-1226331192545

Labels: G.S.A.

4. "if you are a young woman who needs to have an abortion, you will need to go to a private provider and pay upfront for at least half of the $600 cost"

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/high-cost-of-abortion-hurts-young-women-20120508-1yalr.html?skin=text-only

Ms Price also writes that "occasionally charity groups such as the Salvation Army have been able to offer assistance", apparently in the form of "funds for women who had nowhere else to go". According to The Salvation Army Australian Territories' Positional Statement on abortion, "The Salvation Army … accepts that termination of a pregnancy may be justified on certain limited grounds" (and as you'll see if you read that Statement, the foetus reaching the point of viability is not one of those grounds).

Labels: abortion, Salvation Army

5. Mr. Brent on Mr. Slipper's Parliamentary record:

In 1994 [The Hon. Peter ]Slipper [M.P.] was one of twelve Coalition MPs who abstained from voting on the so-called “gay sex bill"— the Keating government’s Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Bill 1994 that was largely aimed at over-riding Tasmania’s anti-sodomy laws.

(The federal Coalition under Alexander Downer had decided to support the bill; Slipper was with the conservative “rebels”.)
[http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/quick_history_of_slipper_and_fisher/]

Labels: Peter Slipper

6. "Pastors, both bishops and priests, should make every effort to consolidate the lay faithful in their knowledge of the teachings of Vatican Council II"

That headline is a quotation from the text of the communiqué which was released in English and Chinese at the end of the fifth meeting in the Vatican, from April 23-25, 2012, of the Commission for the Catholic Church in China contained in this Vatican Information Service news item:

"MAY THE FACE OF CHURCH SHINE FORTH WITH CLARITY IN THE MIDST OF THE NOBLE CHINESE PEOPLE"
http://www.news.va/en/news/may-the-face-of-church-shine-forth-with-clarity-in

Here is another quotation from the text of that communiqué:

In the first place, ["the Catholic lay faithful in China"] must enter ever more deeply into the life of the Church, nourished by doctrine, conscious of their being part of the Catholic Church, and consistent with the requirements of life in Christ, which necessitates hearing the word of God with faith. From this perspective, a profound knowledge of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be a particularly important aid for them.

Labels: C.E.C., Roman Curia, Vatican II

7. "[The late Mr. David Scott] was made an officer of the Order of Australia ''for outstanding achievement and service'' twice. After receiving the award in 1975, he resigned a year later together with ''Nugget'' Coombs, Patrick White and Jean Blackburn, in protest against the creation of knights and dames in the Australian order."

http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/welfare-advocate-lobbied-for-timor-20120507-1y8rk.html?skin=text-only

According to the Order of Australia page at the It's an Honour website,

From 1976 to 1986 there was provision for the appointment of Knights and Dames in the Order of Australia. Removal of this provision does not affect pre-existing appointments.

Labels: Order of Australia

8. Mrs. Shanahan on the 2012 Federal Budget

"'Heartland' pitch swamped by sleaze", p. 14, "Inquirer" section, The Weekend Australian, May 12-13, 2012, First Edition, No. 14807, ISSN 1038-8761, available on-line, but behind a paywall, here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/heartland-pitch-swamped-by-sleaze/story-e6frgd0x-1226353353947

Labels: economics, families, taxation

9. On Australians' approval or disapproval for "various aspects of IVF treatment"

"The Australian community overwhelmingly approves IVF to treat subfertility, with increasing support over three decades", by Gabor T. Kovacs, Gary Morgan, Michele Levine, and Julian McCrann, in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1479-828X.2012.01444.x; that article's abstract is available here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1479-828X.2012.01444.x/abstract

That article came to my attention via the first item in Adam Taor's "Pulse" column on p. 9 of the "Health" section of the "Weekend Professional" supplement of The Weekend Australian, May 12-13, 2012, First Edition, No. 14807, ISSN 1038-8761, available on-line, but in a different form, and behind a paywall, here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/most-people-approve-of-ivf/story-e6frg8y6-1226352215703

Labels: I.V.F.

10. Msgr. Williamson on, among other things, the "Note on the conclusions of the canonical visit to the Institute of the Good Shepherd" in France

The following is the text of Eleison Comments, Number CCLII (252), May 12, 2012:

FAITH KILLERS
But if Rome offers the Society of St Pius X all that it wants, why should the SSPX still refuse ? Apparently there are Catholics still believing that if a practical agreement fulfilled all the SSPX’s practical demands, it should be accepted. So why not ? Because the SSPX was brought into existence by Archbishop Lefebvre not for its own sake, but for the sake of the true Catholic Faith, endangered by Vatican II as it has never been endangered before. But let us see here why the Newchurch authorities will seek any practical agreement as much as the SSPX must refuse it.

The reason is because the Newchurch is subjectivist, and any merely practical agreement implies that subjectivism is true. According to the new Conciliar religion, dogmas of Faith are not objective truths but symbols that serve subjective needs (Pascendi, 11-13, 21). For instance if my psychological insecurity is calmed by the conviction that God became man, then for me the Incarnation is true, in the only sense of the word “true”. So if Traditionalists have their need of the old religion, then that is what is true for them, and one can even admire how they cling to their truth. But in justice they must agree to let us Romans have our Conciliar truth, and if they cannot make that concession, then they are insufferably arrogant and intolerant, and we cannot allow such divisiveness within our Church of luv.

Thus Neo-modernist Rome would be happy with any practical agreement by which the SSPX would even only implicitly renounce its radical claim to the universality and obligation of “its” truths. On the contrary the SSPX cannot be happy with any agreement that in an action speaking louder than words would deny the objectivity of “its” religion of 20 centuries. It is not “its” religion at all. To come to an agreement with subjectivists, I have to stop insisting on objectivity. To insist on objectivity, I cannot accept any terms at all proposed by subjectivists, unless they renounce their subjectivism.

These Romans are doing no such thing. Yet another proof of their crusading insistence upon their new religion came in the form of their recent “Note on the conclusions of the canonical visit to the Institute of the Good Shepherd” in France. Readers will remember that this Institute was one of several founded after the Council to enable Traditional Catholicism to be practised under Roman authority. Rome can wait for a few years before closing in, to make sure that the poor fish is well on the hook, but then -

The “Note” requires that Vatican II and the 1992 Catechism of the Newchurch must be included in Institute studies. The Institute must insist on the “hermeneutic of renewal in continuity”, and it must stop treating the Tridentine rite of Mass as its “exclusive” rite of Mass. The Institute must enter into official diocesan life with a “spirit of communion”. In other words, the Traditional Institute must stop being so Traditional if it wants to belong to the Newchurch. What else did the Institute expect ? To keep to Tradition, it would have to get back out from under the Newchurch’s authority. What chance is there of that ? They wanted to be swallowed by the Conciliar monster. Now it is digesting them.

So why, in Heaven’s name, would it be any different with the SSPX ? Rome’s temptation may be rejected this time round by the SSPX, but let us be under no illusions: the subjectivists will be back and back and back to get rid of that objective truth and objective Faith which constitute a standing
rebuke to their criminal nonsense.

Kyrie eleison.

© 2012 Richard N. Williamson. All Rights Reserved.

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Permissions inquiries should be directed to editorial@dinoscopus.org.

www.dinoscopus.org

I quote the full text of the article in order to fulfill the conditions for posting it licitly to the Internet, but, as the headline of this item suggests, it is the fourth and fifth paragraphs in which I'm interested here (though the whole article is worth reading).

Labels: I.B.P.

11. Some figures regarding the number of repeat abortions and the cost of abortion in the U.K.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143936/NHS-spends-1m-week-repeat-abortions-Single-women-using-terminations-form-contraceptive.html

(That came to my attention via this blog post by Mr. Muehlenberg.)

Labels: abortion, U.K.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
21.V.2012

Notes: Wednesday, October 19-Monday, October 31, 2011

1. On recent Australian Government treatment of de facto marriages compared to (recent Australian Government treatment of) de ivre ones

Can anyone provide an answer to this recent comment of mine at Mr. Schütz's blog?

Labels: marriage, taxation

2. Some information regarding Catholic schools in England and Wales

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=28664

Labels: Catholic schools

3. According to Cardinal Tauran, "[r]eligious freedom necessarily includes immunity from coercion by any individual, group, community or institution"

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20111020_diwali_en.html

(That message came to my attention via VIS 20111020 (300), "CHRISTIANS AND HINDUS: PROMOTING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM", an item in a recent edition of the Vatican Information Service's daily e-mail bulletin.)

Labels: Jean-Louis Tauran, religious liberty, Roman Curia

4. Pius XII. on the death penalty

http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P12PSYCH.htm
(section 33)

(That came to my attention via this comment in the combox of this recent blog post by Prof. Feser.)

Labels: death penalty, morality, Pius XII. Pacelli

5. Some recent information:

5.1 On Australian demography:

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/8668A9A0D4B0156CCA25792F0016186A?Opendocument

Labels: demography, marriage, social trends

5.2 On world demography:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/shift-of-young-population-to-cities-may-leave-elderly-without-support-they-need-un-report/story-e6frg6so-1226177302868

Labels: demography

6. "That [I.C.E.L.] translation [of John Paul II.'s 1990 revision of Paul VI.'s ordinal for priestly ordination] was so bad that in 1997 the Congregation for Divine Worship issued in response a letter of a harshness that [Fr. Zuhlsdorf] had never seen before from any dicastery of the Holy See"

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/10/quaeritur-the-novus-ordo-ordinal-for-ordaining-bishops-priests-deacons/

Labels: I.C.E.L., Priesthood, Roman Curia, Sacraments

Reginaldvs Cantvar
All Hallows' Eve, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, August 9-Tuesday, August 16, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

1. Dr. Sudlow on an essay which, according to him, "reframes the problem [of whether Dignitatis humanæ is in continuity with pre-Conciliar teaching] completely"

http://thesensiblebond.blogspot.com/2011/08/coercion-and-liberty-reframing-debate.html

The core of this 'reframing' seems to be, in Dr. Sudlow's reading, as follows:

the Church has only dogmatically asserted its power of coercion over the baptised, and any State which acts as the civil arm to help the Church in this matter does so by delegation of the Church and NOT by its own power.

The problem with that, and the reason for which I disagree that it is "game-changing", is that although the State does indeed exercise coercive power over the Baptised in matters of religion by delegation of the Church, nevertheless, the State is competent to act by its own power when it seeks to repress offences against the Catholic religion; trying to make someone do what he does not want to do (coercion) is quite different to preventing him from doing what he wants to do.

Labels: Church and State, Dignitatis Humanæ, morality, religious liberty, theology, Thomas Pink

2. A Herald letter which corrects misconceptions about religious exemptions from taxation

Under the heading "Churches do pay" here:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/show-some-humanity-and-let-them-remain-20110808-1ijd4.html?skin=text-only

Labels: taxation

3. "Report finds boys exhibit behavioural problems earlier than girls"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/report-finds-boys-exhibit-behavioural-problems-earlier-than-girls/story-fn59niix-1226111957815

Labels: gender differences

4. A couple of recent comments from Dr. Brown

4.1 On the Eucharist as memorial

Mainly his third point here:

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/08/on-the-matter-of-ad-orientem-worship/#comment-288650

Labels: liturgy

4.2 A joke

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/08/waiting-for-zagano/#comment-288765

Labels: liturgy, N.O.M., T.L.M.

5. Mr. Brent on voting turnout

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/turnout_schmurnout/

Labels: voting

6. An attempted defence of sodomite-catamite 'parenting' which (defence) backfires

From a letter to the Herald last week:

Maurie Stack and Martin Bell (Letters, August 11) should not assume that two lesbians raising children are depriving those children of a relationship with their biological father.

[...] [The Lesbian letter-writer's children] also know who their donor father is and we have always fostered contact and a relationship with him. We are not alone in this family model.
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/love-not-biology-determines-good-parenting-20110811-1iorr.html?skin=text-only]

The problem with this line of argument is that once they acknowledge that contact and a relationship with the biological father is a good thing, one has to ask them Why do you deprive the children of the best form of contact and relationship, which is that in which the biological father lives with his children? I suppose that defenders of depriving children of this good would try to deflect the argument by pointing out that it is not just Lesbian households in which the biological father does not live with the children. This attempted evasion is answered by pointing out that fathers who legitimately live away from their respective families do so for some greater good, e.g. in the case of overseas military service, whereas Lesbian couples do so for an evil, namely, the indulgence of their disordered preferences. (And as for fathers who illegitmately live away from their respective families, one need only point out that two wrongs don't make a right.)

(And of course, the same goes, mutatis mutandis, for Gay 'co-parents' whose children have only intermittent contact with their respective biological mothers.)

Labels: families, G.L.B.T., morality, parenthood

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Joachim, Confessor, A.D. 2011

Notes: Tuesday, May 24-Monday, May 30, 2011 (part 1 of 2)

1. A recent AQ post and comment on gay indoctrination of children

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37409

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=407490#407490

Labels: education, G.L.B.T.

2. Ethiopia: The world's second Catholic Confessional State

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=26409

So apparently Armenia was the world's first Catholic Confessional State, Ethiopia was the second, and presumably the Roman Empire was the third.

Labels: Confessional State, Ethiopia

3. A few recent items regarding the intersection of the family and the economy

3.1 "WHEN a couple disagrees on whether to have a child or more children, the woman's wishes usually prevail. But a study that tracks thousands of people over six years shows the introduction of the $3000 baby bonus gave more power to the partner who wanted more children - even if that was the man."

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/pregnancy-power-shift-money-does-the-talking-20110522-1ez0r.html?skin=text-only

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/bonus-ups-bargaining-power-20110522-1eyxc.html?skin=text-only

Labels: economics, families, parenthood, taxation

3.2 "[T]he stay-at-home mum is becoming a threatened species, with only a quarter of couples with children living in a single-income household"

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/the-mothers-load-dual-income-families-replacing-stay-at-home-mums/story-e6freuzr-1226059226858

Labels: demography, economics, families, parenthood

3.3 Mrs. Shanahan on, among other things, the abolition of "the dependent spouse rebate for younger, childless couples, which was the only form of income-splitting for these couples"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/budgets/tax-break-or-welfare-either-way-middle-class-families-are-the-losers/story-fn8gf1nz-1226055302947

Labels: economics, families, parenthood, taxation

4. Dr. Médaille on political philosophy and practice

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37448

Labels: political science

5. A fact and a figure regarding sodomite-catamite 'parenting' in New South Wales

Fact: "Sperm donors do not have automatic legal parenting status [in N.S.W.]. In 2008 that right was given to the partners of lesbian mothers who conceived using a sperm donor."
Source: http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/news/national/national/general/questions-over-sperm-donors-legal-rights/2175320.aspx (Initially I'd intended to give the following U.R.L. as my source, but if you click on it then you'll see that, oddly, its page no longer exists: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/questions-over-sperm-donors-legal-rights-20110525-1f4im.html)

(One Emma Brooks Maher had a letter published in the Herald under the title "A child's right", arguing that "Gay parents need to get real: a birth certificate is not a marriage or partnership document. It records a birth ... And every child has a right to know its genetic background - that is, both mother and father.")

Figure: "Of 94,354 birth registrations last year, 117 were for children born to same-sex parents."
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/mother-of-all-battles-as-sperm-donor-fights-for-child-20110524-1f2h7.html?skin=text-only

Labels: demography, families, G.L.B.T., N.S.W., parenthood

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Felix, Pope, Martyr, A.D. 2011

Notes: Thursday, August 12, 2010

"Tony Abbott backs Henry tax reform - but that could mean income tax slug"

From the expanded on-line version of a short article which appeared on p. 5 of yesterday's Sydney Daily Telegraph:

MORE than five million taxpayers who earn between $36,000 and $94,000 would be slugged with a higher tax bill under the tax plan endorsed by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott at his campaign launch.

An analysis of the shows middle income earners would pay up to $500 a year more in tax while millionaires would get a $15,300 a year tax cut.

Mr Abbott said the Henry plan for a simpler income tax system "should be the foundation of Australia's next round of tax reform".

[...] Mr Abbott told The Australian on Monday that he would to cut Australia's overall tax burden when the budget returned to surplus adding that his "instinctive priority" had always been for more personal income tax cuts.

But ACTU analysis shows that under the Henry plan, workers would pay no tax on their first $25,000 and 35c in the dollar until they earned $180,000.

A worker earning $40,000 a year would pay $200 a year more while someone earning $60,000 would face a tax rise of $100.

A worker earning $80,000 would pay $500 a year more.

Low income earners would receive substantial tax cuts under the reforms.

Those on $20,000 a year would pay $751 a year less in tax.

The biggest tax cuts, however, would go to the wealthy.

Those earning $200,000 a year would make a tax saving of $3300 while those on $300,000 would save $4800.
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/money/money-matters/tony-abbott-backs-henry-tax-reform-but-that-could-mean-income-tax-slug/story-fn300aev-1225903705913]

On the other hand, though:

Economist Posted at 9:23 AM August 11, 2010
OH please - ACTU analysis? What government is going to put up taxes on the levels you describe? Answer - none. A story where the author is not even proud enough to put his/her name to....

Comment 6 of 9

Robert of Pennant Hills Posted at 9:48 AM August 11, 2010
Rather than trust the ACTU calculation people might like to go the the Australian Taxation site and check the above figures. Income $40000 -Abbott tax- $5250. ATO calculation for present tax on $40000-$5668. Saving $418. Looks like a typical Labor con to fool the public.

Comment 7 of 9
[http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/money/money-matters/tony-abbott-backs-henry-tax-reform-but-that-could-mean-income-tax-slug/comments-fn300aev-1225903705913]

On the inadequacies of modern men

NEARLY every man on the planet is an inferior version of men that have come before, a visiting author says.

Peter McAllister believes modern man fails to live up to his legacy because his predecessors had to be faster, stronger, smarter and fitter to survive.

[...] McAllister argues that most men fall short of their genetic potential.

Others are pre-destined to have poor eyesight, simple minds, and weak muscles and bones.

He is in town for science week, promoting his book Manthropology, the Science of the Inadequate Modern Male. Tonight's free public event at the RiAus Science Exchange is fully booked.

"Men in the past were challenged very much more than men are today and they developed to a much higher level in all sorts of ways," he said.

"Even though we have a view of ourselves as being very highly developed, we're not anywhere near as developed as what we think. We don't challenge ourselves as much as men throughout even our recent history did."

Our male ancestors were bigger and stronger. Their lives depended on their ability to hunt and defend their territory. Modern males drive to the local shop, eat more than they need and avoid hard labour.

But as palaeo-anthropologist McAllister knows, the human body is designed to respond to stress. "That happens with your bones. The more mechanical load is placed on them, the more robust they become," he said.

The fossil record is filled with bigger bones, which suggest bigger muscles. Few people alive today have the strength of people from ancient times.

"If you look at the arm bones of elite tennis players, they have bone shafts nearly as thick as (the human ancestor) Homo erectus," he said.

"They have placed a lot of stress on their bones and they have developed quite strongly. That goes to show you that in ancient times everybody was equivalent to elite athletes."

Roman soldiers were fitter than elite solders of today and aboriginal people have better eyesight, four times better than those with a farming culture.
[http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/measure-of-a-real-man/story-e6frea83-1225904112125]

"Non-Catholics influenced Vatican II liberalization of Catholic church, new Penn study says"

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33121

I found the following paragraphs particularly interesting:

The researchers found that the relationship between the church and state as well as changes in the institution's situation in relation to other institutions, particularly a loss of dominance and the presence of and relationship with other religious institutions, were crucial factors in predicting whether religious leaders would be open to change and also what kinds of change they would prioritize.

They concluded that in places where the Roman Catholic Church enjoyed a stable monopoly as the state church, religious leaders were almost impervious to outside influence and opposed to most kinds of change. In areas in which Catholicism was not the established faith but where the religious field was stable, however, leaders of other religious institutions were a crucial source of influence on Catholic bishops who attended and voted at Vatican II.

Here we see some benefits of Catholicism being a country's State religion and the Catholic Church its established Church, which (benefits) vindicate the perennial Magisterium's teachings on the social rights of Christ the King.

On political developments in The Kingdom of Tonga

In today's Herald:

TONGA MOVES FORWARD

Tonga is nothing if not counter-cyclical. Its prime minister, Feleti Sevele, was in Sydney yesterday and looking forward to stepping down at the country's elections on November 25, which will also mark the surrender of a large portion of royal power by King George Tupou V. Into the bargain, Tonga is preparing to send 55 marines from its small armed forces to Afghanistan, at a time when many nations are looking to pull out. ''It's quite something after 175 years,'' Dr Sevele said, referring to Tonga's stretch of unbroken absolute monarchy. ''But His Majesty has been the driving force.'' The 50,000 voters among Tonga's 104,000 residents, augmented by the 160,000-strong diaspora who return to vote, will elect 17 of the 26 members of the new parliament, leaving only nine representatives who are elected by Tonga's 33 hereditary nobles. The next PM will also be appointed by the parliament, not the king. Meanwhile there's an election issue to be mined among the 30,000 ethnic Tongans here. An import limit imposed by Tony Abbott when he was health minister on kava - the mildly euphoric root product - remains in force. ''It's still there,'' Dr Sevele said of the import limit. ''The reply has always been that medical issues have yet to be cleared up.''
[Bold type in the original,
http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/tv1-court-out-by-miniseries-20100811-11zqx.html?skin=text-only]

Yesterday in history: The colony of New South Wales upgraded

From the "on this day" section of yesterday's Sydney Daily Telegraph's history page (p. 69):

1824
London upgrades NSW from penal colony to crown colony-a milestone on the road to democracy and nationhood.

It's interesting to learn about the different classes of colonies in the British Empire.

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of St. Clare, Virgin, A.D. 2010

Notes: Thursday, June 24, 2010

H.S.H. The Sovereign Prince of Monaco to marry

Body of the article from today's edition of The Australian:

PRINCE Albert II of Monaco has announced his engagement to 32-year-old South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock.

Albert, 52, has ruled the tiny Mediterranean principality since succeeding his father Rainier III in July 2005. Wittstock was a school teacher and is a former Commonwealth Games 100 meter backstroke champion.

The prince, a longtime bachelor who many thought would never marry, is the son of famous American actress and style icon Grace Kelly.
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/prince-albert-to-marry-olympic-swimmer/story-fn3dxity-1225883404831]

A letter to The Australian comparing the taxation of single- and double-income families

Body of the letter:

PETER Apps (Letters, 22/6) seems to have forgotten that families where both mum and dad have a paid job have two $6000 tax-free thresholds.

Families where dad has a wage and mum cares for the kids pay much higher rates of tax on the same total income.

The Howard government introduced the family tax benefit part B to lower the tax rates of single-income families, but it's not full compensation. Income-sharing for tax purposes would be a fairer solution.

Apps should redo his sums, taking total family tax into account. He would find that on average, families where mum receives paid parental leave will be better off by thousands of dollars than families with a stay-at-home mum and the baby bonus.
A. Carman, Greenacres, SA
[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/parental-pay/story-fn558imw-1225883050290]

A Herald letter on accessing The National Library of Australia's on-line resources

It's all there online

I was amazed to read Bruce Ryan's complaint about the lack of online library access in Australia (Letters, June 22). His experience is not mine. I don't claim to be an academic, but I am retired and a researcher who specialises in colonial South Asia.

Through the National Library of Australia I can access a wealth of digitised resources from home, which are the envy of friends and colleagues in Britain and elsewhere. These include historic and current newspapers, magazines, academic journals and innumerable books. All Australian residents need is internet access and a National Library reader's ticket, which they can apply for online without charge.

Sylvia Murphy Telopea
[http://www.smh.com.au/national/letters/emerging-nation-cries-out-for-breathing-space-20100623-yyvg.html?skin=text-only]

On N.A.T.O.-Russia military co-operation

From a post at AQ:

Despite tensions over the deployment of Patriot missiles, Russia and NATO are cooperating with increasing closeness, especially in military training.

At least 10 Russian combat units are heading to various NATO countries, including the U.S. and Germany, to participate in international military educational programs.

This comes as part of collaboration on military training exercises within the framework of Russian-NATO relations, which includes cooperation on broader issues like fighting terrorism and drug trafficking.

Launched in 2004, the joint exercises will resume for the first time since the conflict in South Ossetia two years ago that severely strained relationships between Russia and NATO.

The positive trend was also reinforced by the presence of NATO troops from the US, Britain and France taking part in the Victory Day Parade on May 9 in Russia this year.

The Russian armed forces also announced they will be ordering a new fleet of military transport aircraft from Ukraine.
[http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32195]

Reginaldvs Cantvar

Nativity of St. John the Baptist, A.D. 2010

Mrs. Shanahan on discouraging stay-at-home married mothers while encouraging stay-at-home unwed mothers

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/a-tax-on-workers-to-bolster-welfare-mums-wont-help-growing-class-of-disadvantaged/story-e6frg6zo-1225842745315

Mrs. Angela Shanahan had an interesting column in last Saturday's edition of The Weekend Australian. Here are some excerpts:

Almost 30 per cent of Australian children are born out of wedlock, mostly to 20-something single mums. Many never marry and will probably be reliant on income support for large chunks of their lives.

[...] The flip side of the growing number of ex[tra-?]nuptial births is the so-called marriage gap, the modern phenomenon in which girls who have tertiary education and are generally ambitious are the ones who are getting married. This is unlike the past when the home-centred, less educated 20-somethings would have married and had children. In fact most tertiary-educated women are married by the time they are 30 and try to have the first child quickly because their window of fertility is fast narrowing. Importantly, the marriage gap has resulted in two classes of mothers: those who are married and live in stable relationships and those who aren't and probably don't.

There has been optimism that the divorce rate has levelled off, a good thing because it means fewer of those women now marrying will end up single mothers. However, the marriage rate is plummeting, so there will be a disproportionate number of children on the bottom end of the economic scale.

This is, and will continue to be, a huge drain on the welfare system. According to The Australian's social affairs writer Stephen Lunn, women receive two-thirds of income-support payments -- mostly parenting payments -- and in the future a disproportionate number will not have partners. Government and the opposition should start thinking about the consequences of this.

In his book Battlelines Tony Abbott states the disproportionate numbers of children in the bottom income deciles are the reason behind his maternity leave push: get the people at the top of the tree to have more kids.Unfortunately, we will need a lot more than maternity leave for the ones at the top to fix this problem because the disproportionate exnuptial birthrate at the bottom end of the economic spectrum will make the figures on children in poverty only worse.

There is another part of this seesaw. Larger stable families in the middle who in the past could have had long periods living on a single income can no longer afford to do so. They are taxed as individuals. The so-called family tax benefit part B has been means-tested and there is no real taxation relief for these families, let alone the kinds of freebies that come with a social security card.

[...] However, no one has thought of any way to substantially alleviate the problems of tax disadvantage with which families have to cope. It seems that luring more middle-income mothers into the workforce is all they can think of. But a second income is often a much resented necessity and not always the career choice it is portrayed as.

[...] Meanwhile, the welfare problem is huge and it's going to get bigger. So it is not a case of the married stay-at-home mums v the salaried mums that are the two great blocks of women in two different family types, as is often portrayed in the one-track ideology of the media mentality.

It is the single, welfare-dependent mothers who will never marry and the rest; one group supporting another.

Abbott emphasises that married middle-class women should be able to work and have more children. But the taxes of those married mums forced to work are paying for a growing number of children of single mums.
[my square-bracketed interpolations]

Reginaldvs Cantvar
24.III.2010

On the Draft Inquiry Report into Paid Parental Leave

http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/inquiry/parentalsupport/draft

The Productivity Commission (P.C.) has published its Draft Report into a paid maternity leave scheme. The report recommends eighteen weeks of taxpayer-funded leave, transferable between the mother and father (or the ‘two mums’ or ‘two dads’), with a further two weeks paid leave for the other spouse.

Let me begin by confessing my own prejudices in the matter. Now I am not an economic rationalist, so I have no problem with the government expropriating resources for the purposes of providing public goods or owning natural monopolies, for example. But I do have an a priori presumption against the government levying taxes simply for transferring resources from one citizen to another. This is because, for one thing, for each dollar transferred, the full dollar does not flow through to the intended recipient, because of the expenses involved in making the transfer. Given that even charities that use a lot of volunteer labour find it hard to crack the ninety-five cents per dollar barrier, one can expect that the final benefit to the recipient of government transfer payments will be considerably less than this. Or in other words, in order to give an extra dollar, the government must initially take more than one dollar.

Secondly, there is the question of the proper relationship between justice and charity. In an ideal situation in which Church and State are united, the Church would provide welfare payments through its charity arm. I explain more fully my thoughts on the implications for justice of the P.C.’s scheme in my previous post.

To sum up: taxation for nation building can easily lead to a contribution to the common good, whereas this is not necessarily the case with simple transfer payments, since they represent merely a different dividing-up of resources i.e. the former deals with the size of the ‘pie’, while the latter is just a different way of slicing it up.

I encourage you to read the report for yourself (or at least the Overview, Recommendations and Chapters 1 and 6) rather than relying on the largely uncritical, even unquestioning, reporting of the media. What annoys me the most about mainstream coverage of this issue is that opinion columnists, by the very nature of their work, are the ones who have the least difficulty combining family and paid-work duties.

As one reads the report, it is clear that the primary end of this scheme is to keep mothers ‘attached to the work-force’. This is clear also from the statements of the likes of Ms Broderick. Now the Report does not come right out and admit that ‘work-force attachment’ is the primary end. It lists several advantages of such a scheme. But maintaining work-force attachment is the only one of these advantages that cannot be achieved by other means. The advantage of a longer period of nursing, for instance, does not depend on who pays for the time off from work that is necessary to allow for it. Another of its supposed advantages is that it will

promote some important, publicly supported social goals, and in particular, the normalcy of combining a caring role for children and working.
(Overview, p. XIV)

But this really amounts to the same thing as maintaining attachment to the work-force. Now at least it cannot be said that the P.C. failed to recognise that support for such an aim has its limitations:

This rationale for paid leave is more contentious than others, because while survey evidence suggests most Australians would like to see the introduction of statutory paid parental leave, many also oppose it, especially when it is made clear that the scheme must be paid for. Nevertheless, it is an important rationale for the Commission’s approach.
(Overview, p. XVIII, my emphasis)

Note the presumably unintended humour of the highlighted portion! The Report elaborates a little on this end when it states its desire to

provide a strong signal that having a child and taking time out of the paid workforce for family reasons is viewed by the government and the community as part of the normal course of life, and work, for parents, rather than a nuisance. A scheme that intends to signal such normalcy should be structured like other normal leave arrangements, such as those for recreation, illness and long service leave, rather than being structured as a social welfare measure.
(Overview, p. XXIII)

But such a signal is quite artificial. A long period of maternity leave is a heavy burden for employers, particularly small businesses. Making the scheme taxpayer-funded is merely a transfer of (part of) the incidence of the burden from businesses to taxpayers. No doubt part of the necessity of trying to make it look like another entitlement of the same kind of ‘normal leave arrangement’ as holidays or sick leave is because of the contempt and resentment that many working mothers have for the present ‘baby bonus’ (I speak from personal experience). We can perhaps detect some of this resentment when we read that

Barb McGarity referred to the ‘false assumption’ that paid maternity leave is a ‘cash handout’, arguing that it is employment leave:
… just as paid sick leave or compassionate leave or paid long service leave are employment leave. It is not welfare. Nor is it a baby bonus, and the two should not be confused, as they are separate issues. (sub. 83, p. 2)
(Ch. 6, p. 13)

But a cash handout is exactly what this is, however you try to dress it up. It is a classic example of what one economist recently called ‘churning’, or ‘money in, money out’—you pay some tax, the public service skims some off, and then you get it back later (minus the public service’s take).

Furthermore, the P.C. did not fail to note that there are those who oppose this scheme not only for materialistic reasons (wanting to avoid extra tax) but also for the social implications:

While many participants in this inquiry say they would value these kinds of social impacts, not all agreed. Some prefer to organise their lives around a more traditional gender division of responsibilities or see having children as a private choice with parenting to be organised as individual parents feel is appropriate.
(Overview, pp. XXIII-XXIV)

Mr. Adam Johnston put it well in his submission to the Inquiry:

… my concern with the whole concept is that it makes yet another part of private family life a public commodity and public controversy. Additionally, it generates yet another transfer payment (if provided by the Government) or will involve the quarantining of still more of our income (if financed by superannuation-style contributions). (sub. 63, p. 1)
(Ch. 6, p. 14)

But we can hardly begrudge the P.C. for ignoring such concerns; it is just carrying out the will of Swan, Gillard and Macklin (the latter of whom describes it as a “personal crusade”). Nonetheless, I eagerly look forward to someone explaining to me how it is just that the taxpayer at large, rather than the father, should pay for mothers to discharge their maternal duties. My comment at Ms Dunlevy’s blog has been published but has received no response.

As for the notion of ‘giving mothers more choice’, some choice it is, when stay-at-home mothers get $7 000 less than their working counterparts. This is the ‘choice’: keep yourself ‘attached (chained?) to the work-force’ or be a second-class citizen, as implied by the $7 000 differential. What a joke. (Actually, stay-at-home mums would be third-class citizens, since the ‘first class’ is of mothers whose employers already have paid maternity leave, since they will get the eighteen weeks of taxpayer-funded leave on top of any present benefits!) The P.C. acknowledges that one of the submissions did indeed raise the point that

much of the talk around ‘choice’ with child care ignores the choice many parents want to make: that of being the primary carers for the babies and very young children. (sub. 197, p. 4)
(Ch. 6, p. 11)

But, again, we can hardly begrudge the P.C. for sweeping aside such objections. It was quite honest about its aims and intentions.

So the stars are really aligning for the neo-feminist intelligentsia. They will soon have their working mothers bonus (sorry, working mothers entitlement), and one from their ranks now occupies Government House. What next, one wonders?

Reginaldvs Cantvar