Scott Morrison and the Australian Lack Of Empathy Party

In response to this letter:

There's just 29 days until the government may deport my family for having a son with mild autism. With complete silence from Scott Morrison's office, we're lost and unsure what to do, scared we're about to lose the life we've built here. 

Thank you so much for signing the change.org petition our friend Chris set up asking Scott Morrison to intervene. Watching the numbers climb to over 38,000 signatures has given us the courage to keep fighting -- but with just weeks until our visa runs out, we need your help again.

Right now our application for Scott Morrison to intervene and not deport us because our son has autism is sitting on his desk. It's waiting for him to decide one way or another. Can you help us get his attention and ask him to allow us to stay in the country? 

Here's the details for his office if you can write him a quick email or leave a message with his office asking him to intervene and not deport us for having an autistic son: 

Email: scott.morrison.mp@aph.gov.au 

Phone: (02) 6277 7860 

My wife and I have been in Australia for five years. We've been working as academics at the University of Queensland, paying taxes, abiding by the law -- and building a family with our beautiful son. 

Sending us back to Bangladesh now would destroy that life, but what we're terrified of more than anything is what it'd do to our son. There's little sympathy and support for people with autism in Bangladesh, and he'd almost certainly lose the extra support in school he needs.  

Please if you can help, it'd mean the world to us. 

Thanks so much for your support. 

Enamul and Siuly Kabir 

P.S. SBS News reported on our situation and the petition recently, you can watch the story here: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/12/13/family-be-deported-because-autistic-son

I wrote this response to Scott Morrison:

I know that the current Liberal Party machine has issues with complying with our Human Rights obligations and that what would be called normal societal morals likely don’t come up much in your own personal nor your Party’s internal discussions, however that doesn’t mean that we as Australian citizens and voters don’t find your actions morally bankrupt.  It is a bitter disappointment to have you representing Australian’s moral and human rights values to anyone, particularly to immigrants, let alone refugee and asylum seekers. 

 In the case of Enamul and Siuly Kabir, I find it particularly distasteful that you are looking at deporting them because their son has a mild case of Autism. 

 I ask that you suck up your dislike for “aliens”, “illegals”, “unchristian people” or whatever label you are trying to assign to these people and do the right thing here.  Then when you start to get a taste of what’s actually morally acceptable to the rest of Australia, take a long, hard look at how you are implementing and enforcing your Party’s immigration policies – in particular those regarding asylum seekers – and start treating them like human beings.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Making Google the Default Search Provider in IE10 and IE11

I hate that you can't do this directly in Internet Explorer as Microsoft wants us to use the appalling Bing search (sic) engine.  So, instead, just click on http://www.iegallery.com/en-US/Addons/Details/813 and add this as a Search Engine, then go to Manage Add-Ons and ensure the "Search in the address bar" checkbox is checked (should be), change the listing order to make Bing feel even more unloved and your searches in IE will finally be functional! :)

UPDATE: Microsoft has made it even harder to make Google the default search engine.  You nowe have to go to the URL above, which Microsoft will redirect, then you need to go to the URL again for the Google Search option to appear.  Go Microsoft - you bastards!

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie