Posts by Tess Rooney

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  • Up Front: Are We There Yet?,

    Idiot:

    Yes, I had read the amendment. Religious organisations should be able to follow their faith. I thought the amendment was acceptable. All of it was relating to solemnising a marriage except for this part "the promotion of marriage through religious counseling, programs, courses, retreats, or housing designated for married individuals".

    I wonder if they meant religious counceling, religious programs, religious courses, religious retreats or religious housing though. There are groups who live together as married couples, as well as with monks and nuns. The Beatitides for example.

    Specifically religious housing would be very different to just housing in general offered to everyone.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Up Front: Are We There Yet?,

    AKA: given them an excuse to be bigots.

    That's right. People should have the liberty to hold beliefs, even beliefs that some people find abhorrent.

    Just as clergy shouldn't be forced to marry two men, and that's not just Catholic clergy, the other traditional faiths aren't hot on same sex marriage either unless you're talking about a reform portion of them, eg. reform Judaism, likewise traditional religious beliefs should not impede a same sex couple having legal protections.

    You don't have to like what I believe, but you have to allow me the freedom to follow my faith, providing I'm not affecting yours.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Up Front: Are We There Yet?,

    Giovanni:

    I know... It's disgusting. Likewise the Irish Magdalene laundries.

    My grandfather was a bit of a wild youth. His teacher, a nun, was horribly brutal and would beat the children with a leather strap. On his last day of school he and the other boys leaving tied her up and made her watch them cut her strap into tiny pieces and washed them down a drain. Then they locked her in the school cupboards.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Up Front: Are We There Yet?,

    I see the New Hampshire House just voted against the latest bill that would have made same sex marriage legal because of the Governor's amendment that would have protected religious groups from participating in same sex marriage ceremonies.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Up Front: Are We There Yet?,

    I'm experiencing momentary frustration that there isn't any Card in the house, because I do have fire.

    I think we should separate the art from the artist, otherwise I couldn't read "Growth of the Soil" by Knut Hamsun who supported Nazi Germany and Hitler during the war.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Up Front: Are We There Yet?,

    Re: fist...

    I went with my mother to a Robert Mapplethorp exibition once. Certainly made for an interesting mother and daughter time.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Up Front: Are We There Yet?,

    sn't she also saying the state should not formally recognise any marriage, just as TracyMac did?

    I'm not sure what Tracy Mac said, but I can reiterate my position.

    There are different definitions of marriage around. In New Zealand's past the State and many people assumed marriage about being a man and woman making a lifelong commitment to be together and produce children. That situation has now changed.

    All couples need legal protections and access to things like being the next of kin if your partner goes into hospital.

    I think that "marriage" is how the couple defines it within their own cultural context. Marriage isn't something the State should define for everyone. However it is the State's job to confer legal protection onto couples (or more) who choose to share their lives together.

    Therefore the State should register people's civil unions and de facto partnerships and make "marriage" something that people define for themselves.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Hard News: Stop the Enabling,

    We are all guardians of all our children, 24x7x365 - something that a lot of New Zealanders seem uncomfortable with.

    Um, I sure am.

    Darn, there goes this weekend's babysitting.

    No, because I've long suspected that literacy is going the way of visiting cards and dressing for dinner.

    Sad, but true. We live in a vulgar age.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Hard News: Stop the Enabling,

    I think the fact the the two year old couldn't take the corner and hit his head shows that it wasn't the safest spot, and then there is the traffic across from the police station. It's very busy there.

    I would have thought that the park was a safer spot to learn how to ride, or an empty concrete court.

    Had the father been more aware of his children's abilities and their safety, he wouldn't have been in the situation of losing his temper and swearing and punching his son.

    I think we need more education for parents that will give parents skills to avoid this kind of situation. Courses like the Positive Parenting Program.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

  • Hard News: Stop the Enabling,

    Does it seem a bit strange that a reasonable parent should take his four-year old and two-year old biking in the middle of the city?

    I completely agree with this observation. There would be no way to control both children by one parent and given the amount of traffic it's just madness to do something like that.

    Four and two years olds do not always listen, let alone preschoolers on bikes zooming off at warp speed. It shows a true lack of judgement to take them into the city.

    Since May 2009 • 267 posts Report

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