Watercooler: Mag says odds of rape, getting away with it 'fairly good'

Rape is easy to get away with: lad mag

Men can’t tell the difference between lad’s magazines and rapists. You might remember the startling story we ran on Mamamia that revealed the study of quotes taken from the mags and convicted rapists (and how some men got confused between the two). Well now UK online magazine UniLad ran an article that had this quote: “If the girl you’ve taken for a drink […] won’t ‘spread for your head’, think about this mathematical statistic: 85% of rape cases go unreported. That seems to be fairly good odds.” But there was a disclaimer: “Uni Lad does not condone rape without saying ‘surprise’.” The site eventually pulled the article after sustained criticism, then took to Twitter to ask one critic if she ‘was a dyke’ before apologising once and for all, taking down the site waiting for a relaunch. “We would like to make a public apology as it has come to our attention that one of the articles published on our site suggests we support non-consensual sex. […] Any flippant comments that may have been made during discussions, I also apologise for, it will not happen again. We are certainly going to be cleaning up our act on unilad.com. We do appreciate where you are coming from with your points, hence forth, an immediate change in material. Thank you, and sorry once again.”

Police raid, close down dog ‘meat farm’

A Victorian joint-taskforce of 26 police officers, RSPCA officers, department heads and local council raided and closed down an animal farm which butchered and sold animals for human consumption. They found dozens of animals, including goats, chickens, dogs, reptiles, horses, pigs and an emu. It was alleged a man who lives on the property sold dog meat to about 100 customers for between $100 and $350. The witness said the dogs were found through public notices that advertised the animals as free to a good home.

Government cuts payments to foster families

The O’Farrell New South Wales Government has cut crucial foster care payments to families who are the guardians of 16 and 17-year-olds. The move means most will be up to $214 a fortnight worse off. 1100 carers are affected by the change, effective from January. Helen and Brian MacDonald are two foster carers who say they will refuse to care for their children, who have been with them for more than six years. ”We’re doing this on principle,” Mrs MacDonald said. ”We’re not doing this out of greed. There’s a small group of us caring for 16- and 17-year-olds so they think there’s only a few people to whinge about it. It looks like our foster children’s lives will be traumatised again due to the government’s changes to the allowance.” The Department making the cuts introduced them because when kids turned 16 they received Youth Allowance (the same dollar value as the foster payment cut) from the Federal Government and told carers to ‘negotiate’ with their kids to contribute to household expenses. But families also lose more than $200 from the family tax benefits. The total spending cut will save the NSW Government $7 million a year. Worth it?

Mum likes to climb … with baby on her back

Mother Menna Pritchard has sparked something of a controversy around the world after images of her rock climbing with her toddler daughter strapped to her back were published online. Her daughter, who is two, can be seen without a helmet as she ‘top ropes’ up a cliff. “I can appreciate if you didn’t realise how safe the environment I was in, it could be worrying, but I was top-roping which means if you fall you don’t fall any further than where you came off,” Ms Pritchard said. “It is the safest form of climbing you can do. I was also in a beach environment surrounded by experienced climbers.” She said health and safety legislation and the sue-and-blame culture has made people afraid to take risks – something she embraces. “Life is all about risks, whether that’s something as simple as getting in your car every day or climbing up a rock face.” Angela Mollard wrote in her column about this same issue: should we give up risks when we have kids?

Is the Prime Minister in trouble?

It’s become almost a regular spot of prophecy, but reports are circulating again that Julia Gillard is having trouble keeping herself in the top job. Sydney Morning Herald chief political correspondent Phillip Coorey wrote: “One factional boss, who is loyal to Ms Gillard, said yesterday: ”There’s been quite a shift over summer” and ”she’s in trouble”. “On Tuesday, Mr Rudd’s cabinet colleague, Simon Crean, labelled him a prima donna and told him to drop his ambition to return to the leadership. Mr Rudd said he was ”proud to be a member of this ministerial team, which is very strong, very dedicated, very hard-working and in which Simon himself plays a very positive role. I play my own part and will continue to do so.” Asked if he supported Ms Gillard, Mr Rudd replied ”of course”.

Amy Winehouse report into death might have to be done again

The Australian coroner who ruled last October that Amy Winehouse died as a result of ‘misadventure’ due to the ‘unintended consequences’ of drinking alcohol was not qualified for the job and has resigned. But the 30 inquests Suzanne Greenaway presided over, including Winehouse’s, have now been thrown into uncertainty. Officials insist the verdicts on all will remain unless the results are challenged in the high court. According to the rules, Greenaway should have been a solicitor in the Law Society for at least five years, but she had only been part of the organisation for two-and-a-half. She should also have served five years as a “qualified medical practitioner”, but the Australian only qualified as a nurse in her native country. She was appointed by her husband.

The outrageous Superbowl ad (about abortions).

A so-called Presidential candidate in the US is using election laws to hijack the Superbowl airwaves in order to show a graphic anti-abortion television ad which features a bloody fetus. The law states that a candidate must be given unrestricted access to advertising to tout their message. This means his ad will be shown around key states in America. Though NBC, Chicago, is trying to stall. They don’t think he’s a legitimate candidate. In order to be taken seriously, Randall Terry has to show he’s done enough old-school campaigning. In other, related news, Democratic Senator Janet Howell tried to inset a cheeky amendment into an abortion bill in Virginia that would force women to have an ultrasound with the results described in detail to them before going ahead with an abortion. She thought she’d get even by inserting an amendment that would require men to get a rectal exam before seeking treatment for erectile dysfunction. “We need some gender equity here,” she said. “The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we’re going to do that to women, why not do that to men?”

The ads are too graphic to show here but if you really want to see them, be warned, and go here.