Smacktard of the day...

[susanjacobs]

If the guy had a true psychotic break, he wouldn't know right from wrong. He would have his own sense of morality. He would not be connected to this reality or this world.

I don't know if he had a true break or not, but some of the documented cases that I studied at Uni, people did all sorts of "wrong" things but truly had no idea that society saw them as wrong.

I am kinda glad that his conviction was overturned. If we convict people with mental illnesses (temporary or not), then we are only a short step from convicted people who are intelligentically handicapped (is that the PC term? We used to call them mentally retarded, which I know is not PC now). If I wanted to live in a society that did that, I would move back to Texas.

[brunswickfi]

I would have thought that a large percentage of people in our gaols would suffer a mental illness, have extremely low IQs or suffer from a substance addiction. Wouldn't want to care for these people - much easier to ship them off to the privately owned gaol down the road.

[Mythor]

I doubt he had a real psychotic break. He hid what he had done. That's not the action of someone who thinks what they did is not wrong and/or won't get them into trouble.

[Renee_Turner]

^^ Sorry, that was what I was thinking...yet not what I said. Apologies.

[hails]

dear irritatingly loud neighbour from #3 and friends,

the space outside my apartment is not conversation space. i realise that it's not officially mine, but it is essentially my front yard. i sleep two metres away from it. or, y'know, i was until you woke me up this morning. i understand that 8.30 is an hour at which normal people should be awake, but you should understand that i don't lead anything that even remotely resembles a normal life. when i lift my shade to glare most crankily at you, this is your cue to continue said conversation elsewhere, not to announce loudly that "it's daylight hours, i can say whatever i like! if i have to put up with doors slamming at all hours, then this is nothing!"

you giant fucking queen, i last slammed my door at 6pm in the evening because you hogged the communal laundry all day, you cunt of an individual.

when i have to be up tomorrow morning at 6am and you hear me most cheerily slam my door, be sure to remind yourself that it's daylight hours, won't you?

yours in sleep-deprived revenge,
hails.


(yes, i am petty but sleep rules over all for me. that, and being able to do laundry on my one day off, it would seem *headdesk*)

[Renee_Turner]

Dear ignorant fucktard,

The fact that I support gay marriage and equal rights for people of all sexual orientations does NOT make me a lesbian. Thank you.

[unfrufru]

i got a weird de ja vu feeling about this.

remember kids, David Koresh never died in that fire, he's our friend, our buddy, our Messiah

http://www.wacotrib.com/hp/content/n...hdavidian.html

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
By Tim Woods
Tribune-Herald staff writer
After announcing in February that they hope to renovate the New Mount Carmel property, once home to David Koresh’s Branch Davidian sect, the current occupants say they are hoping Waco and Central Texas residents will pony up the funds for the renovation.
“Our plans are big,” said Charles Pace, leader of The Branch, The Lord of Righteousness sect of the Branch Davidians, who maintain and worship on the property at 1781 Double EE Ranch Road in Elk. “But we have to get support. We’d like to get support from local people because it’s not going to be something we can do on our own. We’d like to get the worship going like it was here before.”
The “before” that Pace refers to is not the time of Koresh and his followers, however.
“We do not want to restore what we had before Vernon Howell (Koresh’s given name) came and perverted everything,” Pace said. “We want to set the record straight and we want to make this place a healing place like it was before, when the Indians were here.”
Local developer Ray Feight Sr. is working with Pace on the renovation plans. The two say they would like to construct an Old Testament-style tabernacle, an amphitheater, a spiritual healing center, a museum showing the entire history of the land and a memorial wall containing a stone for each of the 86 people killed in 51-day standoff that ended in fire April 19, 1993.
The plans have caught the attention of the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has denounced what it calls plans to build a “biblical petting zoo.” PETA decries petting zoos as cruel and a health hazard.
Pace said a petting zoo is not part of the plan, though animals will likely be used to make the planned tabernacle seem more true to Old Testament times. Visitors would not have access to the animals, Pace said.
To make the plan a reality, though, Pace and Feight say they will need about $10 million. While the men are hopeful that local residents will donate money for the project, they admit that it might be a difficult road, as the events of 1993 are still fresh in the minds of many.
“What can we do about it? We can bring them out here and teach them the truth,” Pace said. “The truth will set you free . . . The church (under Koresh) went through an apostasy and was judged. It was prophesied that there would be a slaughter of men, women and children and that there would be a fire. Why? Because (followers) were not sighing and crying for the abominations that were being done here. They were breaking God’s law . . . We believe we got judged and we got judged royally.”
Pace said that there are no plans for a new compound with communal living and that if people became familiar with his teachings they would see that they have nothing to fear from a renovated site.
In fact, Pace said it would be a waste for area residents not to take advantage of what he sees as a possible draw for tourists. Between 25 and 200 people visit the site on a weekly basis, he said.
“We’re wanting our neighbors to realize what they have here,” Pace said. “They’re afraid of what is here because they don’t understand it. If they understood it, they would want to support it and make it a historic site. When you say Waco, people don’t think of Baylor (University). When you say Waco, people think about what happened here. Waco should capitalize on that.”
Liz Taylor, executive director of the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she had not heard about plans for a renovated Branch Davidian site but the tourist information center provides maps to the location.
“If they are a valid tourist attraction, then it becomes something we evaluate,” Taylor said. “But until we see that, it’s hard to make a determination (about the value of the site as an attraction). I’ve not heard anything about this but, wow, I’d sure be interested in seeing what they have in mind.”
Waco Chamber of Commerce president Jim Vaughan said he knows visitors often ask about the location of the Branch Davidian site, just like they ask about President Bush’s Crawford ranch. However, he said that any help raising funds would only come after much discussion and deliberation in the community.
“It would take a pretty broad-based series of meetings talking about ‘What is the legacy of that?’ and ‘how would the community feel about the place and how it would be interpreted and remembered?’ ” Vaughan said. “How would the community want to remember that event? It just seems to me like you’ve got to get a lot of input from people who were here (in 1993).”
Catherine Matteson, a follower of Koresh’s Branch Davidian teachings who left the compound during the standoff, said she and other surviving Koresh followers have distanced themselves from Pace and his approximately 12-person congregation. She also said that raising the needed funds is a very real possibility for Pace.
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if somebody would donate the money,” Matteson said. “As far as I’m concerned, though, it doesn’t bother me one bit what he does there. I don’t care what he does with it because he’s got to answer to God — he doesn’t have to answer to me.”
Pace looked to his faith when talking about the prospect of raising $10 million from local residents.
“If the people in Waco don’t chip in, I believe God is going to give the opportunity for other people around the world to chip in,” he said.
Again, Pace tried to allay any fears of a return to the tragic events of 1993.
“There will be no compound,” he said. “There’s the compound,” he said, pointing to a picture of the proposed tabernacle.

[Mythor]

Smacktards of the day: The ARIA. CD sales increase by 8 percent in the last year, yet their chief executive still claims that "CD seems to be dying" and the association continues to support things like MIPI who claim that piracy threatens the jobs of people in the industry... like CD plant workers. Hmmm.

Of course, sales of an artistic medium should always be constant year to year, right? I mean, the quality of albums put out every year is exactly the same, isn't it?

[Renee_Turner]

John Howard, who wants to ban HIV-positive immigrants based on inaccurate facts.

You can't deny people right of entry because of something they often have no control over. Not all people infected with HIV go around deliberately infecting others. Not even most of them do. People having this illness is not a severe enough public health risk to warrant this black ban.

Or does the Government intend to make allowances for children born with HIV, or anyone who contracts the virus through rape? Tell you what Johnny, let's just ban all the people from "dirty" countries, that will solve the HIV/AIDS problem in Australia

[lily]

worth noting is that it's already nigh-on impossible to gain permenant-resident status if you have HIV. This is something that's been going on for some time, but quietly. In a way I'm glad Howard's called more attention to it.

[hails]

there's even a poll on the ninemsn website asking people about it...the results made me want to throw up

[Mythor]

The poll hails is talking about is lengthwise across the page, not vertical like you might be used to... If you couldn't find it like me.
Currently:
"Should HIV-positive migrants be allowed into Australia?"
Yes: 12020
No: 58894

Was expecting it to be a tiny bit closer than that at least!
One does wonder how they can be migrants if they're not allowed in, though...

Smacktards for the day for me: Every single person who has voted for Rosie O'Donnell.
Want to make sure she can't win? Vote for Wil "Wesley Crusher" Wheaton. People on FARK.com got him from down around 100 votes to his current position, but he still needs more votes!

[susanjacobs]

Originally Posted by lily

worth noting is that it's already nigh-on impossible to gain permenant-resident status if you have HIV. This is something that's been going on for some time, but quietly. In a way I'm glad Howard's called more attention to it.

When I applied for perm res in 1998, it was made known to me that if I tested positive for Hep, HIV or TB, I would not be granted residency. It was never explicitly stated, but it wasn't hard to work out either.

[lily]

Oh, could you tell me how it was worded, if you recall?

[susanjacobs]

It was all in the name of Medicare. Basically, I was tested to see if I had any medical conditions that would put a strain on Medicare. The Hep B, HIV and TB tests were routine and required. They also asked about any "conditions" you had and they could require that you see a specialist.

I have a weird condition where I bleed into my skin... lots of doctors basically telling me sweet FA as to what it is. It isn't fatal, though. Anyway, I was sent to a specialist to see if this was a ongoing and expensive problem, it wasn't. If it had been, it would have called into question whether or not I could stay.

If my husband and I were independently wealthy with private cover, it wouldn't have been the big of deal (in my opinion). Since we were poor, it was a bigger deal.

I got my perm. res. without any issues.