Friday 6 April 2012

Quote of the Week


“Australia has been tagged the “dumb blonde” of the world. It’s attractive, but shallow – a kind of Pacific Paris Hilton, “living every day as if it’s your birthday” from inherited, unearned resource riches.”
{Makemycitywork.com on 1st March 2012}

Thursday 5 April 2012

A trip down memory lane for that grand denier Tony Abbott

Gif_w10

Melbourne and Monash university academics help Journal of Medical Ethics create the perfect storm


Ethics debates often go where angels fear to tread in order to define the range of moral dilemmas and this appears to be one sensitive example.

Abstract
Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus' health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.
Full article After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? at the Journal of Medical Ethics (JME)  on February 23, 2012.
Responses to this JME article published online:

My opinion on controversial paper published about infanticide
Manuel Menes
J Med Ethics published online March 28, 2012
Response to After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?
Philip Dawson
J Med Ethics published online March 27, 2012
Singering from the same hymn sheet... [CORRECTED VERSION]
Matthew J Wilson
J Med Ethics published online March 27, 2012
Six propositions on end-of-life decisions in neonatology
Sofia Moratti
J Med Ethics published online March 26, 2012
After- birth abortion and infanticide: the controversy lingers on
Robert Kar Ngai Yuen
J Med Ethics published online March 26, 2012
Re:After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? An Answer
Elvira Parravicini,
Federica Fromm, Giuseppe Paterlini, Patrizia Vergani
J Med Ethics published online March 19, 2012
A human being's right to live is a moral axiom
Agata Mizerska
J Med Ethics published online March 16, 2012
Re:Awkward Truths Should Make People Re-evaluate Routine Practice
Coral D Carmichael
J Med Ethics published online March 16, 2012
After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? An Answer
Dina Nerozzi
J Med Ethics published online March 16, 2012
Re:A response to 'After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?
Maria Gabriella Gatti
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Consistency Required
Cadi S Palmer
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Slippery Slope Slipped Upon
Mel Beckman
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Accepting Infanticide
Ellen Simoni
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Defining a person is morally crucial
Andrew R Cress
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
After birth abortion
Fiona E Beavan
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Where there is no love...
Josephine M Treloar
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Newborns, really?
Christina C
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
The fetus and the newborn, what is the difference.
Sheena L Queen
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
What about the dad?
Nancy M Heitschmidt
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Re:Awkward Truths Should Make People Re-evaluate Routine Practice
Grzegorz Nowakowski
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Definition of terms
Randall L. Norstrem
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Can Moral Value Be Quantified?
J. O. Lay
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Adoption as a solution
Melanie M. Rudquist
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Competing interests and infanticide
Dirk C. Baltzly
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Re:Awkward Truths Should Make People Re-evaluate Routine Practice
maureen mckane
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Infanticide and termination - an inexorable progression of logic
charles soper
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
A Modest Proposal
Bruce M Anderson
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Can after-birth abortion do harm?
Joshua P. Cohen
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Re:A response to 'After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?
Ronald E. Ledek
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Re:A response to 'After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?
Tom Koch
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
A Modest Proposal
Alan W.H. Bates
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
Re:A response to 'After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?
Tracey M Upchurch
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
The fallacious argument of 'After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?'
Martin Rhonheimer
J Med Ethics published online March 14, 2012
A response to 'After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?
David J Pohlmann
J Med Ethics published online March 5, 2012
Awkward Truths Should Make People Re-evaluate Routine Practice
Tim M Reynolds
J Med Ethics published online March 2, 2012

NSW Upper House Whip gets caught out telling political whoppers on Twitter


Apparently NSW LC Government Whip Dr. Peter Phelps likes to tweet from the floor of the Legislative Council and keeps his Blackberry fairly smoking.
Here he is on 2nd April 2012:
Just slammed Greens in NSW for crying crocodile tears for TWU, when their policy calls for major attacks on road transport industry #nswpol
Another Labor MP quotes verbatim Wikipedia for their contribution to LC debate, this time on 99 year leases #ffs #nswpol #thatsnotresearch
Intrigued, I opened Hansard up and took a good look at the CENTENNIAL PARK AND MOORE PARK TRUST AMENDMENT BILL 2012 second reading debate which began about 9.02pm. After sorting his interjection chaff from the record and discovering the rather meagre Phelps contribution to the business of the day, I began to think there was something rather odd about his "Wikipedia" tweet.
Yep, you guessed it – no "verbatim" quoting of Teh Wiki by a Labor MP.
So, not only is Phelps an arrogant self-proclaimed troll on Twitter – he tells whoppers as well.

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Correction: Gulaptis DID speak in the debate, but ...

This corrrespondent has a confession to make. Just after 5.20pm yesterday the phone rang at my place and my attention was diverted away from the parliamentary webcast of proceedings in the NSW Legislative Chamber where the Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Offender Nomination) Bill was up for debate.

Consequently, the contributions made to the debate by two north coast National Party MPs, Geoff Provest (Tweed) and Chris Gulaptis (Clarence), were broadcast to an empty room at my place.

Hansard shows Provest spoke at 5.24pm followed by Gulaptis at 5.34pm and then Tony Issa (Liberal MP for Granville) at 5.42pm.

What was interesting about the contributions Provest and Gulaptis made to the debate wasn't their support for the bill (that was a given) but a couple of other things.

Provest:
I mentioned that Sextons Hill is a number one black spot. Yesterday the new southbound lanes were opened. There has been argument about this issue but I will set the record straight. That project is about to be finished, at a total cost of $359 million. The Federal Government contributed $349 million and the New South Wales Government contributed $10 million. That verifies previous arrangements.

Gulaptis:
If companies do the right thing and nominate the offending driver, they will avoid facing additional penalties. These legislative measures are directed at companies that do not do the right thing, and we know who they are.

While Provest came clean in relation to funding for the Sextons Hill project, Gulaptis left a void that could easily have been filled. Why didn't the Member for Clarence name and shame the companies he knows that are not doing the right thing?

Will Clarence MP speak up?

Yesterday in the NSW Legislative Assembly the Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Offender Nomination) Bill had another airing. The Bill is designed primarily to get companies to reveal the identity of persons driving their vehicles when they are guilty of road camera offences.

Proceedings in the chamber made for interesting viewing via the parliamentary webcast.

However, this viewer was disappointed one local MP, Chris Gulaptis, Member for Clarence didn't push himself forward and remind the house that his very presence in that place was due to a parallel act of skulduggery committed by his predecessor, the disgraced former Member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell.

Government members queued to speak and support the bill, but Mark Coure, the Liberal Member for Oatley, said it all by remarking that companies had to stop implementing the deliberate ploy of shielding their offending drivers by not nominating them and having them take responsibility for the offences.

Perhaps, if he had the chance to do it all over again, Cansdell could have obtained an ABN and used a company car whenever he risked going within lens reach of those !@#! road cameras.