I was reading the news today and thought about Kim Davis and how she thinks she's today's Rosa Parks. She genuinely believes that history will look back on her as a historic civil rights activist.

Then it occurred to me that if she were remembered at all - she'd be likely to go down in history in much the way Typhoid Mary did.

For those who don't know, Typhoid Mary was an asymptomatic carrier of Typhoid Fever working as a cook. Typhoid Fever is transmissible via contaminated food - so her status as an asymptomatic carrier and a cook basically made her a mobile weapon of lethal disease.

Investigators found a trail of employment where she would work somewhere for a few weeks, an outbreak would happen, and she would immediately leave with no forwarding address. Several people she'd worked for died or their family members died as a result of the disease.

Doctors finally narrowed it down to her and discovered that the disease was harboured by her gall bladder and that removing it could cure her and make her safe. She refused to allow them to remove it, denying that she even had the disease. She was quarantined for three years, released only on the condition that she give up her profession as a cook and that she exercise basic hygiene to avoid transmission. She agreed, signing an affidavit to the effect.

Mary Mallon (aka Typhoid Mary) was also the holder of the
World's Most Effective Resting Bitch Face Award forty years running!

However, the job she procured as a laundress didn't pay as much as cooking, and she changed her name and returned to her former profession. Immediately more people became ill.

In essence, Typhoid Mary was informed that she was making people sick and killing them and adopted a, "You can't tell me what to do." attitude and continued on her merry way as a harbinger of disease.

If you inspire a PSA which could be retitlted How To Not
Be A Fucking Idiot, you have probably done something stupid.

It's cited as one of the cases which helped to decide what responsibility a public body has to protect its people. Certainly they couldn't force her to have her gall bladder removed - it was her body. Instead, the New York government did what it had to do, condemning Mary to isolation for the rest of her life on an island or until she'd consent to having the diseased organ removed. They knew they couldn't trust her. They knew that she would make people sick again.

This is how history will see Kim Davis - not as someone who brought about great change due to her heroic acts but as someone who brought about greater awareness through viciously wilful ignorance and denial.

(Check out the DF poll this week! It's been brought to my attention that my name is offensive (which I honestly hadn't really considered) and I'm proposing a slight name change. Don't start your shit about political correctness - I believe in treating all people with respect. Except assholes. Fuck those people.)

So for those of you not hip and in the know about Australia's political system (actually, I'm full of shit anyway), Australia has this one political party called Family First.

I've been told that they're a little like the American Constitution Party - I can't be bothered to actually find out because I'm pregnant and I have three braincells left. I'm busy rubbing them together to try and produce smoke or..I don't know, encourage them to make baby braincells or something. Or I'm lazy - pick one. Anyway...

The Australian Senate has 76 seats. Of those 76 seats, Family First has....one. They're generally considered to be batshit crazy right-wing conservatives - but they're still really loud and obnoxious and make everyone's heads spin around. Here's a quick rundown on some of their policies (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm just horrendously wrong here - this is all pretty much as far as I know/can tell):

Abortion: It makes them cry. In fact, when senate was trying to make it so that women whose babies were stillborn still received the baby bonus - they threw a tantrum, all worried that doctors were going to abort way late term babies just to get their patients money. I listened on the radio to them being told over and over that this would not happen and they continued to bitch...and bitch...and bitch. I get the worry - there are some fucked up people out there...but it's not a good enough reason to take away benefits from grieving mothers. Also, I'm pro-choice pretty hardcore, so they irritate me.

Surrogacy and Same-Sex Parenting: Family First believe that it is every child's fundamental right to have both a mother and a father. Ask them about single parents...go ahead...ask them. Think they'll go all mushy in the brain and try to change the subject? Nope. They're against single parenting too. They're pretty much against any parenting that doesn't involve both a mother and a father.

“It’s a disgraceful attack on the family and will cause immeasurable harm to those we must protect – children who are yet to be born,” she said. “You can only imagine the psychological implications for the child who is forced to live their life without a mother or father because two men or two women—or a single person—selfishly want to have a baby. In these cases the mother or father would cease to exist in law.” - Wendy Francis (Queensland Family First Candidate)

Those cunts. How selfish of them to want to have a baby when they can't have the decency to be straight or to find someone to marry first.



In the news today I found this article. Apparently Wendy Francis uses Twitter (shock) and tweeted this little gem:

"Children in homosexual relationships are subject to emotional abuse. Legitimizing gay marriage is like legalizing child abuse," the message read.

"Australia would never recover from legalizing gay marriage. Those who advocate this are not thinking of the dramatic consequences."

Apparently a media release on her website (which has since been deleted), also said this:

"Homosexuals who are pushing for this don't care about children; they care only about their selfish desires."

FANTASTIC. Excellent. Now I feel nauseous for non-pregnant reasons. Thx Wendy.

Euthanasia: They're against it, stating that "the duty of health carers is to promote health, relieve suffering and safeguard life". ('relieve suffering'... um...that's kind of the point...)

Sexuality: While the Family First Party don't seem to hate the LGBT community outright - they have apparently deemed them unfit to be parents or legally recognized couples in any way. They are against same-sex adoption, lesbians using IVF, surrogacy, same-sex marriage and civil unions - using the tired old argument that marriage is between a man and a woman.

While they have other policies - these are pretty much the ones that inspire my rage right now. It should be pretty evident already that I have very little tolerance for those opposed to equal marriage and relationship rights for everyone. I know Bob Dylan was right - that the Times They Are A Changin'. But the road to that change is long, hard and paved with a bunch of douchebags trying to eat your feet.

Okay, so I normally hate everyone...but let me tell you...when I read this article I was dancing with joy. Proposition 8 is a monstrosity. Not so much the banning but the granting and THEN banning of rights in a witch hunt-like fashion. On the day that Proposition 8 passed, I was deeply ashamed to call myself American. I love you Judge Vaughn R. Walker. I hope you are pounced with kisses and hugs of joy and happiness. <3 <3 <3 Even if this doesn't overturn Proposition 8, this is a step...a STEP in the right direction. I'll take that.

Now as for these people ....

I love how whenever people speak against Judge Walker - they question whether or not an openly gay judge should have had the right to weigh in on this matter because it would make him biased...as if an openly straight judge might...not be biased?

I get why people are upset. One judge bent a whole bunch of voters over his knee and spanked them like little bitches. ...and that's how these things work. This is nothing new. Case law is an excellent example of this. ...and maybe Proposition 8 will grab a foothold. Maybe. For now, I'm just happy that someone stood up and said that this shit is bogus - because it is. Fucking bogus.