Monthly Archives: October 2018

Literature, My books

Jane Austen was a devout Christian

I have always found it curious that some feminists count Jane Austen in the pantheon of feminist heroines. I ‘ve heard it ever since feminism made it to the public arena way back in the 1970s. Her rubbishing of men in the form of Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice and the beautiful exchange between Anne Elliot and Captain Harville in Persuasion are evidence of her anti-patriarchal credentials. These incidents, one was likely to think, prove Jane was just short of calling all males rapists. Perhaps that’s a little overstated. But you get the point.

I thought it strange because Jane was a devout Christian. For feminists of the Marxist sort, Christianity, the standard bearer of the patriarchy, is the deadly enemy of women. The strength of her religious feelings may not hit you in the face in her novels although she shows a distinct partiality towards the clergy despite her hilarious (and devastating) satire of clergyman Mr Collins. But her letters and other documentary evidence show the depths of her religious feelings and the sort of Christianity she subscribed to. More about that in another post.

So it was pleasing to see Vic Sanborn on her website (Jane Austen’s World) acknowledging Jane’s Christian faith in the announcement that ‘a “Praying with Jane” blog tour will begin October 31st’ on her website’. The blog tour ‘will showcase Rachel Dodge’s deeply felt first book, which centres around three prayers Jane Austen wrote’. Rachel Dodge’s book is Praying with Jane: 31 Days through the Prayers of Jane Austen. See Dodge’s website for more information about this spectacular demonstration of Jane Austen’s Christian belief.

Politics, The Left

The extreme left have prevailed in Wentworth

The voters of the federal seat of Wentworth have elected lesbian and climate-change activist Kerryn Phelps to take the place of Malcolm Turnbull in the federal parliament. When you consider Turnbull’s contemptible betrayal of the Liberal Party, confirming what we conservatives always thought of him, Phelps is the appropriate substitute.

As expected, the cry has gone up from pretend Liberals like John Hewson to drag the party back from the extreme right. The electorate has sent the Liberal Party a message, they say. The leftist media (the Fairfax and Guardian newspapers, and the green-left ABC) have begun recycling the call. There has been a clear message from the Wentworth results, though, and it’s not Hewson’s.

That message is, first, the former Liberal blue-ribbon seat of Wentworth has gone green-left feral and, second, the Liberal Party must work all the harder to protect its conservative character to deal with the befouling and degradation of Australian culture and society it suffers from the green-left coalition of the Greens and the Labor Party. It has to scrape off the debilitating leftist barnacles that have clung to it over the years. They have to tell people like John Hewson and Amanda Vanstone to shut up and get lost. Mealy-mouth approaches to the subversives are chicken-hearted and achieve nothing.

My books

Reorganisation of Castle and Vale complete

I thought it better that I complete the adjustments to The Castle of Heavenly Bliss and In this Vale of Tears immediately. It was a matter of moving chapters either from one to the other, or to the first book which I will begin as soon as I have finished with Tony Abbott and the Times of Revolution. The reorganised editions of The Castle of Heavenly Bliss and In This Vale Tears are now available on Smashwords and Amazon.com. 

Politics, The Left

Tony Abbott and women

One of the constant slanders of Tony Abbott is that he is misogynist, doesn’t understand women, and works against their interests. This is despite the evidence speaking against this slander. As my book on Tony Abbott in which I refute this slander, is ready for publication, it is useful to include here the testimony of someone who knows Tony better than anyone else, his wife Margie. The following is an intervention Margie thought necessary during the 2013 federal election when the abuse reached its peak.

DURING my husband Tony’s 18 years as a Member of Parliament, I have never sought to enter the political fray or to publicly comment on issues.

As the girls were growing up, Tony and I worked hard to keep politics out of our home.

It was only at the last election, with the girls old enough to make their own decisions, we decided as a family to get involved and get out and campaign with Tony.

Continue reading Tony Abbott and women →