The following is a list of all the things that I think that Kevin Rudd should do if he reaches office. Some of the things he has mentioned before, others are purely my own ideas. I just hope that Rudd the balls and the vision to actually make Australia a better place.

1. Say sorry
2. Get rid of the ridiculous Pacific solution
3. Sign Kyoto
4. Don’t let our foreign policy be dictated by outside influences
5. Better support for renewable energy
6. Tax gas guzzling cars, the money raised can be put into subsidies for more fuel-efficient vehicles
7. End the destruction of our native forests
8. Put an end to government funding of “elite” private schools
9. Use all means necessary to stop whaling by Japan in our waters – would any other country let a foreign power invade their waters and kill their whales?
10. Do everything possible to increase aboriginal life expectancy

I was watching Richard Dawkins, the Root of all Evil, last night. It was quite disturbing some of the things the religious freaks he found were spouting. I used to think it was ok for people to believe whatever they want – but now I am not so sure.

Some religions seem harmless enough, but American evangelists are starting to make life hard for atheists. Some biology teachers are receiving hate mail, other’s are being forced to teach creationism as science. These evangelists are quite willing to use all the fantastic things that science has given us; fat bastards use insulin derived from genetically engineered bacteria then tell us the theory most essential to biology, evolution, is a lie.

Then it comes to the Middle-East…well you know what goes on there.

Atheists around the world and particularly in America are starting to rebel against the evangelicals, check out the number of atheist video’s on youtube – it still does not compare to the number of religious videos, but it is a step in the right direction.

I feel the world might be turning a corner, with reason replacing faith – we can pray anyway.

Atheist YouTube videos:
How to Convert an Atheist Part 1
How to Convert an Atheist Part 2
Richard Dawkins Message, It’s Good to be an Atheist

And some creationist videos (to prove I have a open mind):
Peanut Butter, The Atheist’s Nightmare!
The atheist’s nightmare: the banana

Jerry Falwell, so called man of God, has been rejected by heaven and sent to hell. Jerry was sent to hell for two crimes: bringing God’s name into ill repute and slandering against the Lord.

Over the years Jerry has expressed support for segregationists the Apartheid regime of South Africa and spoke against equal opportunity for gays and lesbians. Recently He told the world that, “AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals.”

More recently he said the September 11 attacks were a response by God to America’s depravity, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen’.”

Attributing AIDS and September 11 to God’s wrath is the worst possible slander against an all-loving God. Unfortunately, belief in God is not enough to get you to heaven. For these sins Jerry Falwell is condemned to eternal damnation.

A visitor to my site recently left a very interesting comment. I asked her if I could post her comment and my answer as a blog post to help other people in her situation. She said yes so here it is. (By the way, PGD stands for preimplantation genetic diagnosis. It is used in conjunction with IVF to test embryos for genetic diseases before being implanted into the womb. DMD ):

I discovered your site when I was doing a search on DMD. I am a carrier of DMD and my older brother had DMD. I am at the point now where I want kids and we are looking at the IVF PGD option. I was very interested to read your opinion on carriers using IVF to ensure their kids do not have DMD. I have questioned myself on this issue and thought should I have kids at all? I really want kids, but I don’t want to risk having a child with DMD. Parts of me do feel guilty that I want to go down the PGD path. How do you explain it to children? ‘ Mummy and Daddy wanted a ‘perfect child’ so we threw away the ‘not perfect ones and kept you’…That sounds terrible! Because having a disabled brother has made me a better person and the world was a better place for having him in it.

The world needs to be filled will all types of people and to only have ‘perfect’ people would be wrong. But here goes the contradiction that I am fighting with myself …I don’t want to bring a child into the world with DMD. So in the end my moral beliefs are overrun my own desire to make life easier. – Caroline

Here is my answer.

Thank you very much for your comment on my blog. I have actually thought quite a bit on this issue. A parent’s role is to make the best decision for their children and give them the best start in life possible. If your choice is between having a child with DMD and having a non-effected child, you best choice for that child to not have DMD.

If I got married and was going to have a child I would go the IVF route. I feel your children will understand why you chose that option. Your difficult decision now could prevent many future generations of DMD. As they say prevention is far better than a cure.

I think we all know the answer to that one.

In fact I have not heard a good thing about Vista that new operating system from Microsoft.

The other day my friend brought over his new beast of a machine we plugged into in our LAN and we were going to have a day of Wolrd of Warcraft – the damn game doesn’t install on Vista.

But, instead of bending over and taking the big one from Bill Gates I came up with a dastardly plan. What if I copied the entire World of Warcraft directory from my computer to my friend’s new computer?

My friend said, “nah its never gunna work”, we tried it anyway and what do you know – it works just fine!

Me may have avoided a fisting this time, but all Microsoft products have a tendency to make the users life hell, as Nicholas Gruen found out.

So, good luck with Vista and keep your butt cheeks firmly pressed together.

After centuries of contempt by literary types a science fiction novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, has won the top literary prize for fiction, the Pulitzer. The Road is about a father and son traveling through a post apocalyptic future world.

Prizes such as the Pulitzer are usually strictly limited to what is known as literary fiction. Literary fiction is a term used by stuck up academics to put down the average reader. A literary novel is one that is driven by the characters rather than the plot, of high quality that does not fit into a traditional genre mold – of course there are many exceptions to this rule. Books that are both genre fiction and literary fiction may include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and now The Road.

Many people would argue, desperately and pathetically, that this book is not science fiction. Science fiction is any story that is told in a plausible future. The world in the road is one that would be very similar to Earth after a large asteroid or comet strike – sounds like science fiction to me. (I can’t really say anything much about this book, as I haven’t read it … yet.)

Many awards and magazines that publish fiction have strict rules – no genre fiction. Over the years I have become very tired of defending science fiction from those who hold it in low regard – of course these people have never read a science fiction book. These highbrow snobs are trying to tell me that every single book that I have on my shelf has zero artistic merit because it is science fiction.

Finally, the end has come to this ridiculous distinction between literary and genre fiction – we can hope anyway.