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81 Comments
Unbelievably good. Can you run the joint for a bit please.
Beautiful.
A worthy successor to Leunig.
“let them all come and ruin our way of life
let them overrun our greed and our sorrow”
Well said. Thank you FirstDog.
Many and sharp the num’rous ills
Inwoven with our frame
More pointed still we make ourselves
Regret, remorse, and shame
And man, whose heav’n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn,
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn
- Robert Burns
There’s some wonderful stuff in this “Lament of the Boat People”, well done FD.
Keyboard awash today FD.
But it’s not from tears of laughter.
One of your finest on a truly sad day.
Vale.
Poignantly brilliant………
Verses that hurt…
This is why we luv ya, Firsty.
If I ever wondered if my subscription to Crikey was worth it, I don’t after reading this.
Nice one.
Let them board in our home and give the boarders security.
And a nice hot breakfast in the morning.
touchy, touchy, bahamagirl - is that where you’re from? and you arrived here … when?
Dear, sweet First Dog always knows what to say.
PS hey Drovers Cat, re-read what she said — used to wonder if subscription worth it, now knows it is worth it. Not difficult to understand, really.
Sorry B-girl, Kez, 1.2m apols - need more time and better glasses. No bikkies for me tonight …
Yeah, Mr Beecher, I just re-subscribed too. Thank Dog.
DROVERS CAT: Do you think BAHAMAGIRL meant it as sort of I used to wonder if it was worth it but that after reading Mr On the Moon’s moving tribute, I know it was worth it. I’ve ceased worrying.
Like you I was stunned by her remark, then I looked at it the other way. Just a suggestion.
Ditto to all the above. You’re more eloquent than I.
EMC: Do I detect a touch of a ductile magnetic metallic element in your comment? It’s all right I won’t say a thing.
Cheers
Venise
KEZ: Looks like we had the same idea. If I’d read the comments first before writing I would have acknowledged it. Sorry
We need to figure out a better system, one that doesn’t involve people drowning by the dozen, or at all. I don’t have a terribly good idea what that would look like though, but perhaps more Libya/Arab Spring revolutions and fewer Iraq/Afganistan never-ending war situations would lead to fewer long-term refugee problems.
At least one dog in the press doesn’t call them illegals. Good onya FD
I hope FD gets a cut rom all the subscriptions he apparently fosters.
let them ruin our life, as we ruined the lives of those here before us.
Umm… I love you, First Dog. What a wonderful piece to share with the world.
Thank you, Kez. This is why I seldom make comments since it seems to be far too easy to misunderstand what people mean. Anyway, I’m sorry that this has distracted people from FD’s
amazing work.
BAHAMAGIRL: I said he/she had misread your comment too.
My ancestors came here by boat. They were considered by the owners to be illegals too. Some still do. The people that brought my ancestors here considered them undesirable enough to pi*s them off 12,000 miles away - for free! FMD who are we to not let them all come; they are family.
All we need is a bloody big wall right round the joint with barbed wire, machine gun towers and a shoot to kill policy. Or failing that a mob of raving polemicists in the mass media who can do the same thing to our hearts.
Beautiful. Make it a poster and I’ll buy it. I’m going to print it out and stick it up on my wall anyway tomorrow.
A cartoon of great beauty and spirit, things absent from the souls of most of our parlementarians and most of our media.
Love Gimp
Watching the evening news, as they spray hate and intolerance across the airwaves.
I’m reminded of another set of words.
Words from a kinder, gentler polity.
Words that are far closer to those of our dearly beloved dog.
Damn, I knew this would hurt today. Thank you FD.
An apt follow on to this morning’s article.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/vaunted-values-too-slow-to-save-neglected-son-from-fatal-despair-20111101-1mttl.html
Amen Paddy Amen.
Best FD ever.
Yes poster versions are available - email me.
Paddy, I’m afraid the true essence of the Labour movement has been history for some time. I keep hoping that from somewhere out of the darkness we will get sensible and humane policy that is brave enough to deliver sensible reform, be robust enough to evolve and improve through bipartisan debate, and …..oh crap, time for another large glass of red
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. The sort of person who becomes a refugee and has the courage to travel thousands of miles to a foreign land is the sort of person who will make a great contribution to Australian society or ensure their children do.
Big, Dog.
Bigger, Dog.
Biggest Dog.
Brilliant piece. But let’s go further. Don’t just let them come, Help them come. Why can’t we provide a reliable (and regular) free ferry service from Indonesia to say, Darwin. That would avoid further tragedy from sinking boats, disrupt the activities of those so-called nasty ‘people smugglers’ and enshrine forever our international reputation as compassionate. No need for any border policy at all.
Loving the stranger among you.
“So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 10:19
“But the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 19:34
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40
Pastor Don Taylor
The Goshen Community Outreach Yeshiva
Frankston Victoria 3199
Wonderful
ALFONSE: Interesting post. However, you ignore the fact that it’s politicians you’re talking to. Not human beings.
I’m told that a woman just rang the NSW Greens office to complain that the Greens were making her feel guilty about the deaths of asylum seekers and she didn’t like that.
More strength to your sketching arm, Dog.
Interesting news from CATHS. The Greens usually make people feel guilty about having voted for them. Glad to see they are attracting a broader class of complaint.
Dear First Puppy, you are brilliant. This is wonderful.
PASTOR DON TAYLOR: Do you have to drag your religion into this wonderful First Doganarium? All you do is throw a wet blanket onto a lively site. Or are you just trying to prove that despite being religious you can take a joke with the rest of them?
oh, dog. best ever. xx
FD - that’s goin’ straight to the pool room - on the fridge, in fact* - both at work and at home. Thanks!!
*which I seem to recall Mr Leunig saying was the cartoonist’s equivalent of having one’s work hung in the Louvre…?
Venise said: [something that was moderated because it was rude]
Religious???..oh dear! you poor child.
It’s not you they hate Don Taylor, it’s me.
DIOS: who?
Hello Venise
Yes, I understand that comments and references of this kind can be offensive to some people, but in an open and tolerant society there should be nothing to fear.
The last thing we do here at the Goshen Community Outreach Yeshiva, is push religion. We would never be so assuming in that regard and we respect all peoples opinions and aspirations in life and judge no person on creed, denomination or politics.
Most of our work is at the coal face of homelessness, drugs, achohol and gambling addiction and the precursor of most of these issues, mental illness.
We are not a charity and have never sort funding from govt or private institutions. Most of our funding is from our own back pockets and a local businessman who has been extremely generous to us. With this, we have been able to provide emergency funding for people on low incomes to be able to relocate or move into their first home. Things such as bond money and rent in advance can be hard to come by for those who through no fault of their own have fallen through the cracks and become marginalized.
One of our pet programmes has been the “Street To Home” project in conjunction with St Pats. The aim of this is to get the “rough sleepers” into proper housing. As an interum, we have purchased state of the art sleeping bags which tolerate all weather conditions and provide tempory relief.
We also provide free bread, milk and an assortment of groceries between 8.00am and 5.00pm on Saturdays. A key note of the volunteer service is to maintain peoples dignity while providing the service, but unfortunately the lines on Saturday are getting longer all the time.
If we can ever help you with anything Venise, just drop us a line or you could always come down to Frankston and see it for yourself. Our door is always open.
All the best.
Pastor Don Taylor
The Goshen Community Outreach Yeshiva
Frankston Victoria 3199
We borrow everything else from the States, how about this? It has done them no harm:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Alternatively, I can envision a giant dog in Darwin Harbour, at its humble feet inscribed the first stanza above.
@Andrew Longmire
“let them ruin our life, as we ruined the lives of those here before us.”
Pardon, you’re hallucinating. I’m the son of immigrants who were invited here for their skills, I haven’t ruined anyone’s life.
Thanks for your words, Pastor. I’m not a Christian, but I find Matthew 25:40 to be one of the most powerful moral statements ever made. Regardless of faith or lack thereof we’d be a better people if we all took it to heart.
PASTOR DON TAYLOR: Thank you for taking the time to respond to me. However, if you as as sincere as you sound could you not respect other peoples’ religion/beliefs by letting your comments stand on their own merit without recourse to the bible? I’m sorry to depress/cheer up/appall/deny you but I’ve been an atheist all my life-parents too were atheists-and have been closer to death than a lot of people, yet have had no urge to recant, ever. As atheism accounts for a large slice of the Oz population I think you should take us into consideration.
Once again thank you for taking the time and trouble to respond to my comment.
Sincerely Venise
DIOS: Fink.
“consideration as well…”
@Andrew Longmire
“I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.”
Winston Churchill 1937
Venise: Your an athiest? Congratulations, so are most of my friends and colleagues, but none of them are as rude and crass as you. They are extremely tolerant and understanding on a whole range of issues, and for that matter, including matters of the spirit.
And your false humility at attempting to placate Don Taylor is very low quality. Your FEAR might be terminal, Venise, careful!
Venise, I’m with you in atheism, but also recognise the power for social justice contained in a group of committed believers. When you take to heart that what you do to the least among us, you do to God Herself, that is a force that won’t bend lightly against adversity. Or, if you’re a black American or South African who believes you are a child of God and are as worthy as your oppressor in Her eyes , you can endure that cold jail cell, and have faith that the arc of history bends towards justice. That is something to be respected and understood, not dismissed.
DIOS: For God’s sake! My comment was in no way meant to placate Don Taylor. I was completely sincere and am renown for being honest in my opinions. I’m sure PASTOR DON TAYLOR understood it as such.
Perhaps you are the one with some communication problems?
SYZYGIUM: I’m not knocking faith. But I am knocking religions. Otherwise, No comment.
religion.
“if you as as sincere as you sound could you not respect other peoples’ religion/beliefs by letting your comments stand on their own merit without recourse to the bible, but I’m not knocking faith.” Venise.
Yes you are, thinly veiled, but yes you are.
DIOS: 1) You’re not your. 2) Have it your own way; I don’t give a flying eff what you think.
I have an admission to make….I spend my days burning bits of the ‘true cross’, lobbing Molotov cocktails into churches, leaping into convents and ripping up the nuns’ underwear, writing Religion Sucks in front of my local town hall, leaping out of my car to harass the local vicar and mailing letter bombs to Cardinal Pell. Satisfied?
Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason.
SYDNEY J. HARRIS
ARCHER: As I said to DIOS I do not give a flying eff what you think. You can’t even respond to humour and irony. You maintain a humourless and po-faced attitude throughout your deadening posts. Methodism would suit you beautifully.
There is a wonderful world out there. Sun shining, birds scratching for worms. A computer whiz friend of mine is coming over next week to work out how I can block your comments from appearing in my emails. So, look out son I’ll no longer be in a position to be bored to shreds by you. ¡Halleljah! ¡Olé! Maybe there is a god.
Mr Dog,
Just lovely.
Good news today - excellent news in fact - that the appalling Andrew Metcalfe, current head of DIAC and former Ruddock Chief of Staff is going on extended leave.
This should have been in 2007!
And, in what is hopefully a culture-smashing move, he is to be replaced by some fella from the Climate Change Department. Changing the Climate in DIAC will be no mean feat and I and many others wish him well.
Have a nice long holiday Mr Metcalfe. Pakistan or Afghanistan is particularly nice this time of year. Take the wife and kids. Go by boat.
I agree with Syzygium, Don Taylor and even Venise, there is an incalculable distance between faith and religion. I could write a book on the evils of institutionalized religion, but that does n’t discount another reality or a spiritual dimension to existing within time and space, otherwise we risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Personally I am leaning towards athieism, but it’s never been lost on me either, that a true purpose may have been masked and covered by a religious institutionalized facade, as one third of a triumvirate whole known as B — — — n. Have a great day
MIDDLE PILLAR: Thank you. At last someone in the commentariat understands.
Like fashion, religion is transitory. Faith is eternal. I’m not long back from being in Egypt. How can anyone deny the glory that was Pharaonic history? Their buildings, their art, their architecture. Their code of living was like ours, and their morality, also like ours. Yet for five thousand years their faith was polytheistic. They had many gods, but as their civilisation lasted for five thousand years it might be fair to imagine that the Christian god hadn’t been born yet (Or should I have said invented yet?) The system worked. From the haughtiest Pharaoh who was worshipped as a God, his beautiful wives, and down to the most humble farmer labouring over his small parcel of land; or in the quiet season rotating to the business of working on the pyramids.
There are some people-mainly thanks to Hollywood- who believe the Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) c 1352-1336 BC became a monotheist who worshipped the sun. Increasing evidence suggests the Pharaoh was a dictator who, if anything worshipped himself.
The five thousand years of the Egyptian civilisation was matched by many others. The Mesopotamian civilisation emerged three thousand years ago, and so on. Yet man, in his arrogance dares to think there is but one God, in the face of previous civilisations who were polytheistic? Which, superficially, he is entitled to do. But as the priests and imans, the greedy who hunger for power over other people gaily misinform the week and the mentally challenged all insisting Faith to be ‘religion’. Now everyone should conform to Christianity or Islam-yes there other religions but too many to articulate.
Now, in the year two thousand and eleven-not even halfway along the time scale of the Egyptian civilisation-and with all our amazing technological knowledge, the wonder of evolution and the intricacies of our vast universe-a person cannot sit down and talk about her atheism without a few purblind fools insulting her. All in all it shows the mentality of the common man to be somewhere around the year one thousand two hundred (1200 AD). Meanwhile our scientists appear to be living in the year 3000 AD.
Where are the schools which can teach people to think; to reject the asinine beliefs which the child has been indoctrinated with by parents, aunts and, one hopes, well meaning clerics? Where are the teachers who have the guts to reject the ignorance and fear with which the children have been indoctrinated and to teach them to have enthusiasm for the future? Where are the children who haven’t been indoctrinated by the football and booze culture; to be one of the blokes guzzling the beer-cask white wine for the women? Religion encourages people to believe their God will sort things out, that fate is written by God, and she/he will understand failure. And vast hordes of the ignorant believe this cr@p.
Ideally faith should reassure me that man is inherently kind, clear headed, and able to surmount all her/his problems. When I look at the Australian thongs and t-shirts culture I despair. Thank God we’ve had so many Asians coming into this country. These people have benefited Australia possibly more than any other race. It is to be hoped that our indigenous Australians would agree with me on this point. The shame of the European conquerors, is our failure to understand their amazing philosophies. Instead we indoctrinated them with our shonky religious beliefs. Our future will be in the hands of enlightened thinkers. Whereas at present we are shackled in the past thanks to the Irish Catholic tradition of dolce fa niente, a ton of ignorance, that the Christian God is omnipotent, and that everyone should be coerced into following Catholism. Of which our own would-be Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is a gross example. Do me a favour!
Venise: While I agree with some of “you re” premise, I feel you have fallen prey to the popular Archeological Press on Egyptian history.
For thousands of years, the Egyptians were n’t exactly Egyptians. Through successive invasions and conquests by the Hittites, Ammonites, and Numidians etc, the location of Egypt was populated by a host of different people and cultures, but always still known as Egyptians.
The Sun God, Ra, has been fully documented has the chief deity among their various gods down through the eons.
As for the other thing you mentioned about faith in humanism/ multi gods/ we are god/ as opposed to faith in a singular God and creator of all things, you really need to do a crash course in Hebrew Physics. The word “Father” in Hebrew just simply means the “Origin.”
I admire “you re” feisty resistance to the status quo on most occassions, but sometimes you do lose the plot, and “you re” handling of Don Taylor was abysmal. He was strengthening the cartoon with context of references and only sort to support the issue, for which you crucified him.
Dios
“sought to support” sorry, my spelling is the pits these days.
DIOS: I know the Egyptians conquered different races and different races conquered Egypt. However, this strengthens the fact that the ‘Egyptians’ were polytheistic, it does not nullify it. (Much as Oz would be if main stream ‘religion’ had been left out of the equation.)
Yes, Ra was the supreme god of Egypt, but he took many different forms, Aten, Khepri-God of the Rising Sun….But Ra had to give ground to the almost thirty other major gods, not including the special gods worshipped in each village. But my sub-text here is that the Christian God hadn’t yet been invented by man. Yet the world of Egypt, China, Crete, etc, etc. had all built marvellous civilisations without the Christian god having anything to do with it.
One of my major dislikes is that religious groups get funded (quite heavily) by the taxpayer. Not content with that the Catholic religion has the right to teach religion in schools. Ditto the political right to interfere with law making and ensuring that they impose their morality on the non-Catholic community. (wait until Tony Abbott gets into power. He and his catholic mates in the Liberal Party will overturn existing abortion laws and outlaw euthanasia. )
Back to the main event. I’ve no intention of getting acquainted with the Hebrew religion 1) It’s just as stupid as all the other religions. 2) I came across a quote from the Torah. A Rabbi said to one of his accolytes, “You should go down on your knees every day and thank God for not having been born a woman” I’m not sure if the quote is absolutely correct, but you get the general idea.
All religions were created by men. (all religions feature a virgin mother who was visited by a god who impregnated her) All religions treat women like sh¶t which women have never had the courage to unite and fight against.
Don Taylor deserved what he got. A superb piece of elitism that. The assumption being that we, all of us, are instantly aware of the quotes in the bible. Had I written half of my comments in Spanish, assuming that everyone else understood the same language, I would have been ignored, or crucified for being a terrible snob. The same rules apply to us all, as I hope you would realise. Because a man wears a dog collar it doesn’t mean he can’t be criticised. Also my original comment stands…namely, there is nothing like series of biblical quotes to throw cold water on a lively discourse.
Thank you for taking an interest in my comment, and it’s a pleasure talking with you.
Opinion is the adhesive that binds the intellectual qualities of life but occasionally goes off and fails under test conditions. But that’s just my opinion and I don’t care if someone else thinks differently. Now what the eff was the original conversation about ? Oh yeah……. are we going to let religions arrive by boat ? Or do we simply send God back to where he came from ? Let them all come I say.
” I came across a quote from the Torah. A Rabbi said to one of his accolytes, “You should go down on your knees every day and thank God for not having been born a woman””
Venise, that is not a quote from the Torah for God’s sake! I think it’s from the Talmud, but I can’t be sure.
Their is no religion in heaven, only truth. Accordingly, in one sense, you can’t judge faith by the practitioners of that faith, because everyone is different in their understanding and their level of knowledge and what they do with it. Judge a book by it’s cover? the quality of a car by the way the driver drives the car?…I dunno, but I learnt a long time ago to hesitate to judge anyone on their belief system even though I know they are part of a whorish system who’s cup is full with iniquities.
Change of subject. Did you see that docco regarding Custers Last Stand. Could be history is being rewritten, could I say Revised?..hehehe. It turns out that there was actually atleast up to 10 people survived, although most were caught by the indians later and after the battle, but one guy, Frank Finkle, thats not a joke, thats his name.
Frank Finkle gives a much different account of the battle than that of the official record, i found it interesting.
DIOS, (GOD): I did say it was an approximate quote; is there much difference between the two books? I have to plead ignorance here. I thought the Torah was the Hebrew bible and the Talmud a sort of teaching book? Whichever book it was it still reveals the hatred for women with which religion-invented by men-has.
You show a remarkable affinity for heaven (?). Certainly I don’t like or dislike a person because of their faith-or lack of it.
A change of subject yes please. Although something you said “”the quality of a car by the way the driver drives the car?”” has caused me to wonder if a Melbourne (We have the most brutish drivers in the world) driver was given a new red Lamborghini Espada would he remain brutish, or would he love it and drive it accordingly?
No, I haven’t seen the doco. Custer was a walking disaster. I think I knew at least one person survived Custer’s Last Stand (I’ve got a good joke about that but can’t tell it here) but ten? Wow! I’d hate to think of the fate some of them faced when caught by the Indians. I’d love to see the doco.
I love the Finkle, and wonder how any people leave off the last two letters? Hehehehe
“Wow! I’d hate to think of the fate some of them faced when caught by the Indians. I’d love to see the doco.”
According to “Rain In The Face “..a Sioux warrior, a lot committed suicide and many begged for their lives, but “Rain In The Face “said, “we spared none of them.”
Interesting though, those particular Indians had repeater rifles and Custer’s men had single shot rifles. Set up to fail? Pearl harbour?..justification for their annihilation? sorry, just can’t help meself.
Mr Dog.
I love you in a totally platonic and heterosexually appropriate but nonetheless deep and spiritual way.
DIOS: Spot on about Pearl Harbour. Apart from professional spooks there was a Catholic religious Sect called the Maryknoll missionaries. Ostensibly they loathed President Roosevelt, but gee they spent a lot of time shuttling backwards and forwards to Honolulu and the White House.
People should ask themselves who really benefited from Pearl Harbour? Roosevelt was prevented by law from going to war. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbour the USA rushed through Congress the amended law. The door to the eagle’s cage was opened.
What I’d dearly love to know, who was responsible for Japan’s bombing the wrong target? All those oil storages left untouched. Had they knocked them out the Americans would have taken many months to recover.
Ah the irony of life.