From: keithd@stallion.oz.au (Keith Duddy)
Subject: Religious right & Dingo's Kidneys (Was: Fundamentalists and the clitoris)
Organization: Stallion Technologies
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 00:38:21 GMT

In <1992Nov13.173845.10165@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> psp@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (P.S. Powledge) writes:

>In article <1992Nov12.160026.83@panix.com> mara@panix.com (Mara Chibnik) writes:
>>
>>Of a harsh but not (IMO) out-of-line description of attitudes
>>among members of the religious right in the United States toward
>>female sexuality. sunderl@obvius.stl.dec.com (Mike Sunderland) writes:
>>
>> >What a load of dingo's kidneys!!!!
>> >If you weren't so bloody defensive you might be able to have enough

[lots deleted]

>I'm glad they're not that loony in Australia. But in the U.S., they're
>both loony and, unfortunately, powerful.

They've been pretty bloody powerful in at least parts of
Australia for decades. Anyone hear of Joh Bejelke-Peterson?
Queensland's premier for 15+ years was a way fundie christian and
had strong alliances with "family" groups and the rest of the
religious right. Abortion is still illegal in Queensland - even
though we now have a Labor government, and we had to wait for
them to brought in after a massive corruption enquiry into the
working of the previous state government before the sodomy law
was repealed.... (At least 5 government ministers and the police
commissioner were brought to trial on corruption charges, and all
but 1 who died in the middle of proceedings were locked up! The
premier - Joh, was aquitted by virtue of the fact that a "Young
National" Party member happened to get on the jury, and
obstructed the passage of a majority guilty verdict leaving the
trial at a stalemate, and the public prosecutor has decided
against a re-trial.) I could also go into detail about draconian
drug laws and the claim that there "is no prostitution in
Queensland".....

>PS: Do Australians *really* say things like "dingo's kidneys"? My entire
>picture of Australia was formed by a television show I used to watch as
>a youngster about a crime-fighting kangaroo (I kid you not). But they seem
>to have left out some of the more colorful phrases from the show. :^)

(Skippy - the bush kangaroo. Try Neighbours, Home & Away & the
Flying Doctors for an updated, equally misleading portrait of
Australian life.)

In fact the phrase "A load of fetid dingo's kidneys" was inventd
by Douglas Adams (an Englishman) in one of the hitch-hiker's
books. I was recently cosidering the affects that those books
have had on our idiom (that of the English speaking world, esp
Britain & Australia), as I keep noticing things from
Hitch_hikers use unselfconsciously in conversation.. The most
common in my circle of friends being: "For no adequately
explored reason". I'd be interested to know if anyone else has
noticed examples of this.

Keith
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