Round up

Two items from yesterday's The Australian caught my eye,

• Janet Albrechtson takes the opportunity to cover the increasingly easy access to DNA testing for paternity and the implications of such results. Feminists get a special mention. Darlene has more.
• Emma Tom reports on a weird new craze. The 'ol brown becomes the new black, and bleached. Call me old fashioned.

Plus a couple of additions to the Blogroll, which for some reason take a while to list,

• Ian of Res Publica was born in England, the same year as myself. He has lived in Aus for the last 24 years, now residing in Bundaberg Queensland. Besides raising a small army of girls, Ian is married to the delightfully named, The Handbrake. Not only is Ian a frustrated scribe but also a mixed bag politically. Yet a committed Republican.
• For many of my readers American Hugh Hewitt probably needs no introduction, being one of the top-gun bloggers in the world. Author of 4 books including Blog, and a New York Times best seller, Professor of Law, weekly columnist, radio broadcaster, Emmy awards for TV news show, you get the picture...
• Plus Bourbon bird has a new home and she's pissed off ! Sex offenders beware.

Comments

[Greg]

Albrechtsen’s case isn’t made particularly well, and I’d dispute her central point, that Liam Magill should have been awarded damages from his ex-wife, from the position: why didn’t he sue the real father, who should have been paying the child support all along in the first place? As for Janet’s objection to “feminists”, she’s all over the place on this one. First they’re bad, except when they’re good; then they’re good, except when they’re bad. She wants to be unequivocal, but flops around like a grounded mullet. “Feminists seem to draw upon the interests of children only when it suits them”, she claims, but does the same to feminists. Cheryl King gets dragged in, but the assertion of damage to her isn’t given any basis to support it. It’s bad argumentation, as usual.

Women should indeed be held accountable for acts of deception in paternity, this does need to be balanced with the needs of the children. Finding the true father seems worthwhile; why doesn’t Albrechtsen bother to suggest this? It seems she’s too busy trying to punish someone, feminists, maybe.

[adrian]

Greg, I guess from now on, anything Janet writes involving the ABC must be viewed as friendly-fire, due to her recent ABC board membership. She 'cares'...

Liam is justifiably pissed off yet what can he do. Making claim on the real father, who'd simply plead ignorance of the matter, would be fruitless I feel. And to rub salt into the wounds the feminists are saying to Liam, 'Get over it mate'. Cute but cruel.

Though in launching an action, it does not automatically hold he begrudes the benefit the kids received from his years of input. That's just dopey feminist logic. His win is in the mere fact an outrageous deception perpetrated upon him has been established.

What Liam may not realise now is that when the kids mature, they will understand all this and most probably brush their mother in her dotage. Or at least see her for what she is. And she'll be working overtime to avoid this with some fast talking and frantic rewriting of history.

For to cheat in marriage one needs to be a good liar and have a good memory. In her case it won't work, now it's in the public domain. Revenge for him will be a dish best eaten real cold.

Yeah, Albrechston could have stated Cheryl King, being a woman, is an unintended victim of the feminists support. However if they'd considered this it would have been at the expense of supporting Liam's ex. Or, the friend of the enemy is our enemy. Now I'm confused ! 'Flops around like a grounded mullet'. Poetic.

I'd imagine this ruling will soon be tested, given the magnitude of the looming DNA/paternity thing. A possible 20-30% of fathers affected is just staggering.

[Darlene]

Well, some people have raised the issue of the biological father.

Maybe the duped daddy should have sued both biological parents, but there's certainly no reason the mother should have got off scot free.

Who wouldn't be peeved by such a situation. It must be devastating, and remember it didn't just happen once.

[Splat Guy]

"Not only is Ian a frustrated scribe but also a mixed bag politically. Yet a committed Republican."

He's lucky it's so close to Easter, or I wouldn't be nearly so forgiving.

Incidentally, I first heard of sphincter bleaching on "Big Brother". At the time I assumed it was made up, but apparently the BB chickadees were ahead of the game. I wonder how long it'll be before bleaching groupies start turning up in the personals?

[IanH]

Don't hold back on my account, Splat Guy. Something appropriately sour would nicely offset the sweetness of this weekend's annual choc-fest.