Ahh, our Prime Minister. Giving millions of aussies justification for their cultural cringe..

Prime Minister John Howard has aligned himself with the Vatican and US President George W Bush in ruling out gay marriages, saying they do nothing to support "survival of the species".

jimi, the one I use is

250g s/raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

30-60g butter

approx 150ml milk

beaten egg or milk

preheat oven to very hot. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter with the fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. For sweet scones, add 2 tablespoons of castor sugar at this stage. Add enough milk to make a soft, but not sticky, dough, mixing with a knife. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out lightly to 1/2inch (1cm) thickness. Cut into squares with a floured knife or into rounds with a floured biscuit cutter. Arrange on a floured oven tray and brush with egg or milk. Bake in the hottest part of the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until well risen and golden.

TIPS.

1.The sifting and rubbing can be done with a few pulses of a food processor but don't over process and take it out of the processor before you add the milk.

2.Place cut-out scones around the outside of your tray (where it is the hottest) and fairly close together as they'll support each other as they rise/bake.

(cereal)

Hi Plasmo, have you heard about the prime miniature's son going to the White House as an intern?

Huh, so gay marriages don't do much to add to the survival of the species? Neither do celibate Catholic priests, for that matter.

Hi Moonlit! Well gosh darn no, I hadn't. It's a pity I can't spell nepotism because that's my new favourite word.

Guess what? I made it to Ballarat for one day (okay, maybe half a day) for work. Hope to have a longer visit in future. In the meantime, look out for my whacky colleagues, Dominic, Jarrod and Paula.. very good value! I'll look you up one day..

Plasmo. don't forget I'm in Bendigo not Ballarat!

And I messaged Angus the other night that I'm coming down to Melb on Friday & Saturday, the 15th & 16th of August for mum's 70th on Sat night. I wondered if you guys would like to catch a drink or a coffee or something on the Friday night.

Neither do celibate Catholic priests, for that matter.

And neither do couples that cannot/choose not to have children but get married anyway because marriage is about far more than having children and women are more than just baby-making machines.

Seriously. That is beyond appalling. Gay marriage is wrong because the law says it should be male/female? Like the law somehow represents the 'natural' state of things? Correct me if I'm wrong but not so long ago it was legal for men to rape their wives. Doesn't make it right.

I'm aware I'm preaching to the converted, it just makes me so mad.

Aahh, sorry. Must confess my sense of direction is terrible and I often get those confused. Very embarrasing considering I look after certain radio stations in both regions.

I would love to catch up on the Friday. I'm heading to Langkawai and return on the 15th early morning.. so if I've slept enough during the day I'll be up for it. Angus has my details. :)

Cool Plasmo, I'll email Angus.

I'm aware I'm preaching to the converted, it just makes me so mad.

And how! Here in Canada we've had a bishop say to the media that Chrétien (the Prime Minister) is going to go to hell if he proceeds with legalizing same-sex marriage. To be fair, the council of bishops (or whatever it's called) responded by saying deciding who was going to hell was God's business, and that they wouldn't have said it. Still we have religious leaders putting pressure on the politicians, especially the Catholic ones.

It astounds me - can they not see that this is going to be yet another of those issues for which they'll be sheepishly apologising for at some point in the (not-so-distant) future? Grrrr.