Flatfoot Flip-Flops

Once upon a time, if moral and social standards defined by common sense could not curb an individual's bad behaviour, the police were there as a back-up, to caution and to cause to move on, or, if the offence warranted, be the arresting frontline of legal sanction.

Now, however, they just make sure you don't hurt yourself when you're so drunk in public you can barely stand:

DRUNK women are to be issued with free thongs by British police to stop them falling over in high-heeled shoes. Officers will distribute the footwear outside nightclubs as part of a $70,000 publicly funded scheme to prevent "alcohol-related harm".

The move has been prompted by fears that women wearing stilettos or similar footwear could twist or sprain an ankle on the way home after a night out. Officials claim female revellers risk cutting the soles of their feet by walking home barefoot.

The thongs... will be given to anyone whose own footwear is "uncomfortable, inappropriate or soiled" and will be paid for using a Government grant.

A dim, slightly whiny voice of complaint just gets in:

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "People don't pay their taxes for drunk women to get free flip-flops."

Taxes.

In another once-upon-a-time, there would have been howls of outrage at public drunkenness being so common and the gutter level to which so large a section of society has fallen, particularly women, who have learned that 'girls can do anything' means drinking until you 'soil' your shoes by vomiting over your own feet.

Here's an alternative suggestion to the police handing out 'flip-flops' - immediate detention and conveyance to a drunk tank, with 3 arrests for public drunkenness resulting in commitment to a psychiatric facility for 72 hours drying out and observation, plus compulsory participation in an ongoing alcoholics treatment program for one year, to be paid for not with taxes but by the offender.

-- Nick

Rites and Wrongs

Schoolies is seen, rightly or wrongly, as a rite of passage for teenagers.

In other cultures, a rite of passage marks a ceremony or event that bridges the gap between childhood and adulthood. It reveals something about the character of the soon-to-be adult and provides them with valuable lessons that enable that young adult to be a productive and engaged member of that society.

If Schoolies is a rite of passage what does it teach children like Ms Fynes-Clinton's son?

My son and his mates have also had some serious talkings-to. I stepped up to the mark early, warning my son, trying to scare him a bit; I deeply and secretly hoped he would change his mind and decide not to go after all. But that was not to be.

That adulthood is a series of violent, binge-drinking encounters where mummy and daddy will pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong?

Or perhaps, as the Gold Coast Bulletin is promoting with its 'pash mat', that adulthood is a time for unrestrained passions and careless sexual encounters?

PUCKER up for the pash mat - the ultimate Schoolies ice breaker.

Set to appear in The Weekend Bulletin on Saturday, it's a handy tool for those hoping to strike up friendships with members of the opposite sex during the hedonistic end-of-school festival.

As the name suggests, the pash mat is all about kissing, with one side featuring his and her footprints to help schoolies score a smooch.

There's also a handy personal space zone to make sure it's the ladies who call the shots.

The other side features everything you need to know about playing tonsil hockey.

It would appear so, as the media celebrates Schoolies with the same drunken abandon as the kids.

No wonder we now see 'kidults' in their 20s who are effectively disfunctional.

-- Nora


UPDATE: No, seriously a Pash Mat?

What on earth was the management of the Gold Coast Bulletin thinking?

So how many sexual assaults will the police and counsellors have to deal with because a drunken, over-sexed teen boy sees it as a licence to grab any girl or, by the same token, how many drunken doxies-in-training will believe they're 'safe' because they're doing it on the mat?

How long will it be before the parent of an assaulted Schoolie takes a class action suit against the Gold Coast Bulletin for their salacious profiteering?.

-- Nora

The Common Sense

The best thing about this story comes in the comments:

We're not allowed to smack them or give them consequences; they're not allowed to hear the word 'fail' at school. They've been told since birth that they are the most important, special person in the world, and they've worked out that it doesn't matter what they do, the worst they'll get is a severe talking to. They can do what they want and take what they want without any real reprisal.

And when what they want is the girl/boy at the party, they don't stop to think twice, because they've never had to do that either.

The bleeding hearts in this society have forced it to raise a generation of selfish, egotistical kids who are incapable of seeing cause and effect or acknowledge that their actions might have serious ramifications (or to care about it).

These kids care only about what they want, not about the effect it has on others, so people get raped and assaulted. Where's your 'peace, love and mung-beans' now, care-bears??

Posted by: Platinum of Brisbane 8:15am November 14, 2008
Comment 5 of 12

Well said, indeed.

-- Nick

Crime and Punishment

Question: Will those calling for a moratorium on the death penalty also sponsor a moratorium on abortion?

-- Nora

Or at least consider asking the people who elect them what they think about the death penalty before coming out with elitist, 'we'll do your thinking for you' garbage like this:

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith... said there was a bipartisan opposition to capital punishment in Australia, at the state and federal levels.

-- Nick

True To Type

No one gets bitter on the right side of politics quite like Ann Coulter, whose philosophy may well be 'why hit the bulls-eye when you can destroy the entire target?'

But she's surgical with an observation about centrist conservatives of the type of John McCain and how conservative voters see them:

...unelectable, ultraconservative Reagan won two landslide victories... Bush (Snr)... rode Reagan's ultraconservative coattails to victory, then snipped those coattails by raising taxes and was soundly defeated four years later... How many times do we have to run this experiment before Republican primary voters learn that "moderate," "independent," "maverick" Republicans never win, and right-wing Republicans never lose?

There are lessons here for Australian conservatives who are straying too far to the centre to offer a meaningful voice to their constituents for much longer.

-- Nick

Such A Nice Group Of People

An Obama-boosting lesbian journalist working for a left-wing blog? Why, it's tolerance in action:

An election writer for popular US blog The Huffington Post stabbed and killed her former partner in their shared home before shooting herself, Florida police confirmed yesterday. Police said 57-year-old Carol Burger attacked Jessica Kalish, 57, in the garage of their house... inflicting 222 stab wounds with a screwdriver.

Two hundred and twenty-two? That's a hell of a lot of tolerance.

The Floridians married in Massachusetts in 2005 but - surprise - separated and Kalish had met another woman. They continued sharing their house 'for financial reasons'.

Burger stuffed kalish's body in the boot of her car, dumped it and reported her missing. She killed herself only after police found the corpse days later.

Meanwhile, not all Spaniards are surrender monkeys:

"If these people want to live together, dress as grooms and get married, they might have the right to do so or not, depending on the laws of their countries. But they shouldn't call it marriage, because it isn't," Queen Sofia (of Spain) was quoted as saying... "I can understand, accept and respect there are people of another sexual orientation, but that they feel proud to be gay? That they should get on a float?"

Well, not until they're cornered by the wolves:

The Royal Palace said the Greek-born queen had been misquoted. "The supposed comments which, anyway, were made in a private sphere, do not exactly match the opinions expressed by Her Majesty The Queen," it said in a statement.

-- Nick