The Odd Angry Squawk

Astroblog: When an Eminent Historian Writes on the History of Science it Would be Nice ....

2011-11-10T07:41:00.000+11:00

Astroblog: When an Eminent Historian Writes on the History of Science it Would be Nice ....

Religious intolerance

2011-11-03T21:46:00.003+11:00

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The news today reported that a French newspaper, Charlie Hedbo, was firebombed, supposedly because it published a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed. Mind you, they also had him as 'guest editor' of the current issue but, after all, it is a satire magazine. You will note, from the picture above, that they seem to be multi-denominational in the people that they 'offend'.

Now, from what I have seen of the magazine on-line, I don't think it is really my sort of thing but I cannot let a religion, any religion, try to intimidate people who do not follow that religion.

I really have difficulty in understanding the injunction that Mohammed, the #2 in Islam, not be portrayed in any form when the world is full of paintings and caricatures of God (#1 in Islam), Jesus (#3 in Islam) and Mary, the #1 woman. Do these not offend? If not, why not?

I also have great difficulty in understanding why people take their religious 'teams' so seriously. If they want to have rules that govern how their followers behave, that is fine but don't try to impose them on people who are not followers. It's like cricket clubs having rules on how to bowl cricket balls trying to tell people who play tennis how to serve tennis balls. Keep your rules in house.

Killing people, bombing buildings, issuing fatwas and any other forms of intimidation are not signs of a mature or peaceful religion.

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."
- Elie Weisel.

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Posted by J Cosmo Newbery.
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Also addicted.

2011-11-02T10:34:00.002+11:00

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The various sports clubs around Australia are yelling in pain that someone (Andrew Wilkie, Independent MP from Tasmania) is trying to do something to save problem gamblers from themselves. And their families from their losses, too. He wants to bring in limits to a day's losses and limits on individual bets.

The clubs are not happy.

They wail about lost revenue.

They wail about reduced workforce.

They wail about reduced donations to the surrounding community.

But they skate around the problem, the one that they encourage and milk, problem gamblers.

Ultimately, they are drug dealers and are making a lot of money peddling misery.
The sooner it is stopped, the better.

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Posted by J Cosmo Newbery.
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What are they thinking?

2011-10-30T15:36:00.005+11:00

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Qantas grounded all its planes yesterday in a remarkable escalation of a lingering three-union dispute over wages and conditions.

Is this truly the 'spirit of Australia'? Bloody-minded brinkmanship?

The Newbery family will not be choosing Qantas for any future flights.
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Next contestant, please...

2011-10-30T15:30:00.005+11:00

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I'm stepping back from this blog for a while and handing it over to J Cosmo Newbery.

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Unseemly rejoicing

2011-09-11T11:11:00.003+10:00

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The currently media celebration of 9/11 is down-right obscene.

You have to say that the terrorist have won if, ten years on, their actions still get them the first 20 pages of the daily paper.

What a major corporation wouldn't give for that sort of free and on-going advertising.

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Pollution of the air(waves).

2011-07-17T21:09:00.003+10:00

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There is much rubbish being spread around in Australia (and probably elsewhere) about a carbon tax or a price on pollution. Much weeping, gnashing and beating of hairy chests.

But companies already pay to discharge to the waterways and the price they pay is linked to the level of pollutants in their discharge. There are maximum limits and, if they exceed these, they are fined.

Why should it be different for companies who pollute the air?

Make the polluters pay, wherever they dump their crap.
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Get over it!

2011-07-02T17:36:00.005+10:00

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Rupert's right wing media is getting its knickers in a knot, saying that we are now run by the Greens.

Certainly either major party would need the Greens on board to pass a vote but it seems to me, in just a cursory look at the figures, that nothing the Greens may want would pass if Liberals and Labor voted against it.

That's not 'running' in a sense that I understand.
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Relax, it's not real.

2011-05-24T06:21:00.004+10:00

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The town of Once-Joplin, USA.

Good thing that climate change is just a myth, isn't it!

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A metaphor for....?

2011-04-23T19:46:00.002+10:00

"Where did it all go?"

Julia Gillard stand amid the wreckage of the Australian Labor Party's primary vote.
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No goose but you get to gander.

2011-03-25T20:06:00.002+11:00

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The Australian Broadcasting Corporation blurred the soldier's face to protect his privacy and help keep him safe in Afghanistan.

I would have thought that the Afghanis, un-pixillated, were at a higher risk.

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No hope

2011-03-15T20:14:00.004+11:00

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When Obama got elected, we the citizens of the world, rejoiced.

America, it seemed, had turned the corner.

But nothing has changed.

The Afghan and Iraq follies continue.
Bradley Manning is kept under constant surveillance in case his mistreatment drives him to suicide. But the constant surveillance is in itself mistreatment.
Guantanamo lingers.
The environment is ignored.

The only consolation is that the Republicans would have been worse.

I am not hoping for his re-election.

I am not even hoping he re-runs.
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Egypt

2011-02-12T22:17:00.002+11:00

Be careful what you wish for.
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Frogs! Of course!

2011-02-06T20:30:00.004+11:00

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This is the Alpine Tree Frog.

The people who oppose cattle grazing in the high country say that it is put at risk by the introduction of cattle. Maybe. Maybe not. I am not committed either way.

But it always amazes (= amuses) me when people who oppose something will find a feather-footed butterfly or a pink-eared Corella or something that will be obliterated by the project that they oppose.

There is a lot of angst and effort spent to try to stop species becoming extinct, even though it has happened pretty frequently over time. Even without man's assistance.

I am curious what these conservationists think about new species. Should a new species be welcomed and nurtured? Or should it be swatted as a blot on the exisiting landscape?

What if it eats the feather footed butterfly?
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Yeah, that works.

2011-01-29T15:48:00.000+11:00

Abuse of language

2011-01-16T09:38:00.004+11:00

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been branded anti-Semitic for criticising the way Israel (mis)treats the Palestinians.

Why does criticising the state of Israel make you anti-Semitic?

Aren't the Palestinians also of the 'Semitic races'?

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On a broader sense it is symptomatic of the lack of debating skills around now that people try to 'shut down' their opponents with derogatory labels.

Anti-Semitic,
Racist, sexist, atheist
Un Australian
Politically incorrect
Latte-sippers, Chardonnay drinkers
...the list is a long one.
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Haven't I said this before?

2011-01-09T19:41:00.002+11:00

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When will the gung-ho, gun-toting wackos in the US learn that a constitutional right (?) to bear arms does not translate into a constitutional right to use them?

My normal suspects, who so strongly advocate the sheer delight of projecting a piece of hot metal through the body of another creature, are strangely quiet every time there is massacre in the US.

Today a Congresswoman is fighting for her life after being shot; presumably by someone who didn't share her views.

Couldn't they just vote her out instead?
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Stop the presses!

2010-12-13T21:28:00.004+11:00

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Interesting news on the Wikileaks front: a letter of support has been sent to the Australian Prime Minister from the Australian news media.

It had the following signatories:

Clinton Maynard, news director, 2UE
David Penberthy, editor-in-chief, news.com.au
Eric Beecher, chairman, Crikey, Smart Company, Business Spectator, The Eureka Report
Gay Alcorn, editor, The Sunday Age
Garry Bailey, editor, The Mercury (Hobart)
Garry Linnell, editor, The Daily Telegraph
Ian Ferguson, director of news and programs, Sky News Australia/New Zealand
Jim Carroll, network director of news and public affairs, Ten Network
Julian Ricci, editor, Northern Territory News
Kate Torney, director of news, ABC
Mark Calvert, director of news and current affairs, Nine Network
Melvin Mansell, editor, The Advertiser (Adelaide)
Megan Lloyd, editor, Sunday Mail (Adelaide)
Michael Crutcher, editor, The Courier Mail,
Mike van Niekerk, editor in chief, Fairfax online
Paul Cutler, news director, SBS
Paul Ramadge, editor-in-chief, The Age
Peter Fray, editor-in-chief, The Sydney Morning Herald
Peter Meakin, director of news and public affairs, Seven Network
Rick Feneley, editor, The Sun-Herald
Rob Curtain, news director, 3AW
Rod Quinn, editor, The Canberra Times
Sam Weir, editor, The Sunday Times
Scott Thompson, The Sunday Mail (Queensland)
Simon Pristel, editor, Herald Sun
Tory Maguire, editor, The Punch

Plus the members of the Walkley Advisory Board
Gay Alcorn
Mike Carlton
Helen Dalley
John Donegan
Peter Meakin
Laurie Oakes
Jeni O'Dowd
Alan Kennedy
Malcolm Schmidtke
Fenella Souter

One hopes that the Prime Minister gets the message.
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Small targets.

2010-12-12T12:55:00.004+11:00

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Laurie Oakes, veteran journalist, said of this year's general election:

"[But] there was nothing else, there were no issues, there was no policy inspiration, there were no ideas.

"We had two parties led by two political pygmies."

That pretty much sums up the political talent in Australia today.

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Neanderthal Civilization

2010-09-12T09:32:00.003+10:00

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IN AN isolated prison cell, a woman sits, waiting to be executed.

The method is one laid down by tradition. Reports say it can be excruciatingly painful and terrifying. There are doubts as to whether she received a fair trial, and most people regard the system under which she was convicted as hopelessly compromised. She is unlikely to receive mercy because the person who could grant it believes deeply that such punishments are ordained by God.

Barred from sustained contact with the outside world, she waits, and waits.

Many readers might assume that I'm describing the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian facing death by stoning for alleged crimes associated with adultery. In fact, the woman in question is Teresa Lewis, now in a Virginia prison in the United States and scheduled to die by lethal injection on September 23.

We need to remember that Iran does not have a monopoly on barbarism.

- Guy Rundle, The Age, 10 September, 2010.

So, what's the difference?

2010-08-16T18:52:00.002+10:00

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Talking about US influence in Afghanistan, General Petraeus pointed out “President Karzai is the elected leader of a sovereign country”.

So was Saddam Hussein.
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War Criminals - Bush, Blair, Howard...

2010-08-15T21:05:00.006+10:00

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In September 2009, Fallujah General Hospital, Iraq, had 170 new born babies, 24% of whom were dead within the first seven days, a staggering 75% of the dead babies were classified as deformed.

This can be compared with data from the month of August in 2002 where there were 530 new born babies of whom six were dead within the first seven days and only one birth defect was reported.

Doctors in Fallujah have specifically pointed out that not only are they witnessing unprecedented numbers of birth defects but what is more alarming is: "a significant number of babies that do survive begin to develop severe disabilities at a later stage."

And the likely cause?

The "depleted" uranium present in the munitions used during the invasion of Iraq.

Not only did the "Coalition of the Willing" destroy the infrastructure of Iraq, not only did they destroy the society of Iraq, they have now visited untold misery upon the unborn.

Surely, surely, this is a case for the International Court of Justice.

If you want to see and know more, Google "Deformed children Iraq".

But make sure that you have a strong stomach, it is not pretty.

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Sure, it's normal.

2010-08-14T18:01:00.004+10:00

CHINA At least 702 people died in north-western Gansu province last weekend when torrents of mud and rocks engulfed the town of Zhouqu. More than 1000 were missing. A year of heavy flooding has already killed nearly 1500.
PAKISTAN More than 1600 have been killed by the floods, while almost 14 million have been affected. (More recent estimates put it at 20 million.)
KASHMIR Hundreds still missing in Indian Himalayas after flash floods hit remote Ladakh, killing at least 177.
RUSSIA Heatwave estimated to have cost almost 5000 lives. Harvests wiped out by fires.
CENTRAL EUROPE At least 11 killed, and hundreds of homes damaged this week. Flooding in May and June killed 18 in Poland. Others died in the Czech Republic.
So far this year, 17 countries have recorded their highest ever temperatures.

The deniers (no, don't call them sceptics, they aren't sceptical or they would consider both sides.), the deniers say that it is natural, that it is the normal rhythm of the planet.

Drill baby drill!

But the rate of change is far greater than the planet has ever experienced except possibly after cataclysmic volcanic activity. All extremes are increasing - hotter and colder - and at an alarming rate.

This is man-made. But our politicians are too stupid to see it or change it.

Perhaps I should invest in flint futures.
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Half right Tony, half right.

2010-08-14T17:28:00.004+10:00

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Tony Abbott says that he is an 'underdog' in next weekend's election.

You are half right Tony. You are a dog.
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Wicked Witch of the West

2010-08-09T19:56:00.005+10:00

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Julie Bishop, Liberal Party attack dog, lamented that other politicians get babies to kiss, she just gets given cane toads.

Well, Julie, maybe it was a baby before you kissed it?
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Hot under the collar (again).

2010-08-01T19:59:00.003+10:00

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Above is the lead page on the Al Jazeera news website - extreme floods and fires.

(Click to enlarge)

Here is a graphic put out by the NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (an arm of the US Department of Commerce), that shows that the seven indicators that they would expect to increase if there was global warming are, in fact, increasing. And the three indicators that they would expect to fall are, in fact, falling.

But I suppose the climate change deniers (don't call them sceptics, they aren't.) will now say, OK, yes there is climate change but it is natural cycles and not man made.

I wonder what evidence they would want to see to be convinced?
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Climate (Non )Change

2010-07-25T10:08:00.002+10:00

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Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has decided to have a 150 member panel of 'ordinary Australians' to guide her government on how to move forward (ALERT: campaign slogan) with climate change policy.

These select panels will be chosen, at random, from the electoral rolls.

She has got to be kidding.

Opinion polls, conducted professionally with thousands of participants, have constantly said that the Australian people support action. What is she hoping to find out that she doesn't already know? St Kevin's popularity plummeted when he shelved the Emission Trading Scheme and this lead to her rise to power. It will be interesting to see the next opinion poll on voting intentions. I suspect (hope) that the Greens will be up.

But, really, what point a panel of 150 random people? Statistically there is an 8% error in the probability of them representing the population as a whole. Is this risky?

When the Idiot Bush and his "Coalition of the Willing (to destroy a sovereign country)" invaded Iraq, there were marches on the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people said 'No' as emphatically as you can in a society that frowns on car bombs. They were ignored.

When the Government wants to put up taxes, do they convene a panel of citizens to see if there is a popular consensus on paying more money to the Government? No, I think not.

What is the point in electing a Government if they wont govern?
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Pirates of the Mediterranean

2010-05-31T19:49:00.004+10:00

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Have they learnt nothing from history?

Surely the attack on the Gaza convoy in international waters was nothing short of piracy.

To be shocked that the people on board defended themselves, albeit poorly and only with hand weapons, is just disingenuous.

Day by day, Israel becomes a weirder and weirder parody of the Third Reich and its worst abuses.
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A man of principle

2010-05-27T06:51:00.003+10:00

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Malcolm Fraser, former Liberal Prime Minister of Australia, has quit the Liberal Party because he feels that it has moved too far to the right.

There is a message, and a warning, there.
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Thou shalt not...fuck the planet.

2010-05-12T20:46:00.003+10:00

THE Anglican Church wants Australians to have fewer children and has urged the federal government to scrap the baby bonus and cut immigration.

Wading into the population debate, the General Synod of the Anglican Church has warned that current rates of population growth are unsustainable and potentially out of step with church doctrine - including the eighth commandment, ''Thou shall not steal''.

''In the context of unsustainable global population growth it is inconsistent and arguably irresponsible to provide financial incentives for population increase,'' the paper says.

Well, how about that! A church taking a stand I agree with. By 'steal' I take them to be meaning consuming the Earth's resources to the detriment of other peoples and other species.

Don't think the Catholics will be jumping into bed with them, though.

So to speak.

Temporary Protection Visa

2010-05-10T20:16:00.005+10:00

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There are a number of Sci-Fi movies that play on the theme that, once we have finally gutted our planet's resources, we will just send a spacecraft off into space, filled with intrepid heroes, one bad guy and at least one dumb blonde who screams far too readily, to find somewhere safe to live peaceful agricultural lives in a galaxy far far away.

Well, if the inhabitants of this far flung galaxy happened to have the same genetic disposition of the Australian Liberal Party, the occupants of this space lifeboat would be intercepted, towed to the second and lifeless moon of the planet, Throg III, given temporary protection visas and left to rot on the said second moon of the planet Throg III until Earth regenerated and it was deemed safe for them to return.

Visa cancelled.

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Is that a gun in your pocket?

2010-02-18T21:52:00.002+11:00

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The social liberty types are getting themselves in a lather over airport scanners again.

But really, who cares? I would much prefer to arrive safely at my destination that to think I had protected some wacko bomber's modesty.
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A bridge too far?

2010-02-16T21:54:00.002+11:00

Human history becomes more and more a race
between education and catastrophe.

- H. G. Wells
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Odd man out

2010-02-15T20:56:00.004+11:00

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Now, I'm not one to support racists and bigots but I don't support stupidity either.

The local media was gleefully trumpeting the UK ruling that most racist and obnoxious group, the British Nationalist Party, has been forced to open its membership to all races.

Now, that is stupid. I cannot imaging non-whites wanting to join. I have difficulty imaging whites wanting to join. What value is there is making them artificially open their doors?

We have similar but less distasteful nonsense here in Melbourne where the social do-gooders want the Melbourne Club, an exclusive men's club, to permit women members. (No, I am not a member; nor do I want to be.). It's a men's club. For men. Is that so bad?

But why can't a group be specific for people a particular interest?

Must women's gyms permit male members?

Must golf clubs permit people who want to play tennis?

Is having segregated male and female toilets discriminatory?

Where will this nonsense end?
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Honour amongst thieves? Not likely!

2010-01-18T21:32:00.003+11:00

Rival Somali pirate gangs fired shots at each other on Sunday in a dispute over how to split any ransom for a hijacked Greek-flagged oil tanker with two million barrels of crude oil aboard.

Pirates from the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland, who seized the Maran Centaurus in November, say they do not want to a share the spoils with pirate gangs in the pirate haven of Haradheere, where the vessel is moored.

"We have risked our lives in hijacking the ship. These Haradheere men cannot deprive us of our rights," a pirate called Aden said.
- ABC.

A use of the word 'rights' that I am not familiar with.
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Virgin on the stupid.

2010-01-10T09:34:00.001+11:00

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And who says that the virgins are young and nubile?

Could all be 85 year old maiden aunts.

Allah: "Sorry son, I promised virginity, not teeth."
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Ad Hominem

2010-01-03T12:06:00.004+11:00

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There seems to be an ongoing push to ban certain topics or, if not ban them, stifle them with derogatory put downs and legal hobbles.

Being labelled a racist is a classic ploy.

Sexist, is another.

Dare criticise Israel and you are anti-Semitic.

In Victoria, we have anti-vilification laws that, in theory, make any criticism of almost anyone risky.

On January 1st Ireland brought in anti-blasphemy laws. A nonsense of the highest order if you don't believe there is anything to blaspheme.

"Un-Australian" is flung around all too often to slur opponents in debate here. I'm guessing the same occurs elsewhere. Un-elsewhere.

Some of the right-wing folk in the US tried to label me a 'socialist' during debate over the US election in '08. Obviously this is a major put down in the US but is a badge of pride in more enlightened communities.

And all this is before you get to the normal slander, libel and defamation laws.
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Experimental species

2009-12-31T23:09:00.000+11:00

Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed,
but nature does not depend on us.
We are not the only experiment.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

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Why am I not surprised?

2009-12-28T10:40:00.005+11:00

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic flight on Christmas Day, appears to have lived a life of privilege. As the son of one of Nigeria's most prominent businessmen he had access to international travel and a world-class education. He has been described by one former British teacher as a dream student.
- BBC

With his wealth, privilege and education at one of Britain's leading universities, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab had the world at his feet – able to choose from a range of futures in which to make his mark on the world. Instead, the son of one of Nigeria's most important figures opted to make his impact in a very different way – by detonating 80g of explosives sewn into his underpants, and trying to destroy a passenger jet as it came in to land at Detroit Airport on Christmas Day.
- The Independent

The media are a constant source of bemusement. Why does being a member of a wealthy family preclude you from being a terrorist?

Bin Laden is not scratching for a dinah.

In fact I argue that being wealthy makes you more likely to be a terrorist; you have the ability to put your frustrations into action.

Frustrations?

Well, take the following mix:

A follower of a fundamental religion* and taught to believe the exact letter of the law rather than think for himself;
Frustration at an illegal war in Iraq, perceived as Christians invading a Muslim country;
Frustration at a dubious war in Afghanistan, likewise;
Ongoing frustration at the politics and injustices, real and perceived, of Palestine.
A general sense, encouraged by the Mullahs, that the world is against them and that America is the Great Satan.
A sense that the UN and other world bodies do exactly what the US and Israel want them to and that there is no chance of 'justice' prevailing in the foreseeable future.

Now, stir that around and add money.

That's why I am not surprised.

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*Admittedly education is the natural enemy of fundamentalist religions of all persuasions but it is by no means total protection from their stupidity and bigotry.
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Bullshit in a China Shop

2009-12-24T18:23:00.003+11:00

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It seems America was comprehensively rolled at Copenhagen.

"Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful "deal" so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.

China's strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world's poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. The failure was "the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility", said Christian Aid. "Rich countries have bullied developing nations," fumed Friends of the Earth International.

All very predictable, but the complete opposite of the truth. Even George Monbiot, writing in yesterday's Guardian, made the mistake of singly blaming Obama. But I saw Obama fighting desperately to salvage a deal, and the Chinese delegate saying "no", over and over again."

- Mark Lynas, The Guardian.

Read the full article here.

How do you get people to stop playing politics and deal with the issues seriously?

Do they understand but not care?

Or do they just not understand?
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Skepticism, damped.

2009-12-23T22:09:00.002+11:00

Climate Change? So what?

2009-12-13T09:24:00.004+11:00

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All eyes are on Copenhagen (or so we are told) at the moment.
Climate change (or not) is the debate of the day.

But really, at a more basic level, it is irrelevant whether the climate is changing.

Regardless of the climate, we will run out of oil. And when we run out of oil we run out of not just petrol (gasoline) but all the other things made from oil.

Regardless of the climate, we will run out of gas.

Regardless of the climate, we will run out of coal.

Regardless of the climate, we will run out of arable land.

Regardless of the climate, we will run out of phosphate fertilizers.

Regardless of the climate, we will run out of inhabitable land.

The history of the world's population is in this graph (my apologies to those of you who think it started with 2 people in 4068BC):

This sort of growth is not sustainable.

But our economies are built on growth. Waste and growth.

Climate change may or may not be real (as a scientist, I believe the data) but ultimately we have bigger problems looming if we do nothing about the relentless movement of our carbon reserves into the atmosphere than just warming.
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Beware the Bandits!

2009-12-01T21:10:00.003+11:00

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Anonymous commented on my last post about the need to protect himself and his family from bandits south of the border.

Fair enough, but is it a real threat?

Letting Americans have guns results in over 30 Americans being shot daily. No, sorry, 30 Americans get killed every day. The winged and wounded tally is considerably higher than that.

That's 11,000 Americans die every year because of the demand to have the right to protect themselves from banditos who kill...how many?

For heaven's sake, when some dingbats hijacked someplanes and killed some three thousand Americans, the US invaded two countries, trashed their lifestyle, shot and bombed their civilians and tortured the survivors and continues to try to impose an unwanted lifestyle on them.

So how come dealing with the terrorists at home, who kill over three times as many Americans annually is not a greater crime and does not warrant a similar stern response?

As Pogo Possum said "We have met the enemy, and he is us".
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Land of the free (-ly shot.)

2009-11-21T17:29:00.003+11:00

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Number of gun deaths in the following countries in one year (2002, I think):

Germany - 381

France - 255

Canada - 165

United Kingdom - 68

Australia - 65

Japan - 39

United States - 11,127

Seems a high price to pay for a 'freedom'.

Why do Americans, especially American males, put so much self-worth around owning a gun?

I have never understood how the desire to propel a piece of metal through another creature's body or how makes you a better person.

Am I missing something?

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First things first.

2009-11-07T17:28:00.002+11:00

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Disappointingly, Barack Obama seems to have folded to the Jewish lobby and is backing away from his hard line on Israel.

I am not anti-Jewish. However I do have serious doubts about Israeli policy in the Middle East.

Jerusalem is pivotal to three religions. If I was God I would abolish them all. But Jerusalem and the handing of it remains a sore point in the Islamic world and, to a lesser extent, the Christian world.

There is a perceived injustice happening in Jerusalem and in Gaza and in the West Bank. This perceived injustice is the flame underneath a lot of terrorism, world-wide. Frustrations at the mistreatment of the Palestinians (and, yes, it is from both sides), the settlements and the issue of Jerusalem combine with a sense of impotence and impatience.

No-one is doing anything.

And so we get terrorists.

I thought Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had grasped this.

Obviously they haven't.
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Will we still respect her in the morning?

2009-11-01T21:26:00.002+11:00

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Meet Zahra Stardust, a candidate in an up coming Federal by-election.

Miss Stardust is a pole dancer, trapeze artist, Burlesque performer.

Could be just what we need.
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Noise about noise. (Or, not a noise thing to do, Dick).

2009-10-24T16:31:00.002+11:00

A group of bands including REM and Pearl Jam have said they are to file a lawsuit aimed at accessing US documents on the use of music during interrogations of terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

The announcement on Thursday came as the bands expressed support for the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, launched by former US military generals and politicians.

The musicians launched "a formal protest of the use of music used in conjunction with torture that took place at the prison and other facilities".
"Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured - from waterboarding to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts - playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums," Morello said.

"Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me."
- Al Jazeera.

Can't say I blame them.
...

The refuge of scoundrels.

2009-10-15T19:42:00.003+11:00

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.

- Bertrand Russell
...

Huh? A Nobel Prize for potential?

2009-10-10T16:41:00.003+11:00

.

Now, don't get me wrong, there is a lot about Barack Obama that I like.

And the odd thing I would wish he would stop; smoking for example.

He has brought a lot of hope to a world jaded by the Bush-Cheney cynicism.

But has he earned a Nobel Peace Prize? I don't think so.

It seems to be given for potential rather than fact.

So if he does pull of world peace, solve the Middle East quagmire, re-introduce clever comedy into US TV and single-handedly avert a global climate catastrophe, what will they give him then?

Oh, yeah, I forgot...

Sainthood.
...

Best of three? Five? Seven?

2009-10-04T20:26:00.004+11:00

.

Last year the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum.

So the powers that be held another referendum.

And got a yes vote.

So now, do they do a third referendum to get a "best of three" result?

If the first referendum had returned a "yes" vote, would they have gone to the people a year later just to make sure?

Of course not.

It all seems a bit suss to me.
...

Parrot Paté?

2009-09-06T13:47:00.002+10:00

.
There are folk out there who believe that wind farms will turn birds, in this case Orange Bellied Parrots, into a type of paté.

I have news for them: the parrots are smarter than that. Smart than them, too.

We are not talking giant Bamixes on hillside, here. These are wind turbines. Slowly revolving wind turbines.

If the turbines are an issue, what of all the Cesnas about the place?

And what of tree branches that flail around in the wind and may, inadvertently, whip the hapless parrots into a feathery fool*?

Look, fact 1: there are no Orange Bellied Parrots in Holland and Spain. Fact 2: they have had windmills there for years. It can't be coincidence, can it? They must have been frappeéd away.

(sigh)

I really don't understand these people.

◊◊◊

* A fool in this context is a light whipped dessert, usually made with stewed fruit and whipped cream.
...

Not convincing, Joe.

2009-09-05T15:38:00.004+10:00

.

The Hon. Joe Hockey is the opposition's shadow Minister for Finance.

He is one of those unfortuate people in politics who cannot lie well. Oh, he lies OK, just he does it badly. And he also cannot give a convincing display of indignation. It is like a gruff uncle trying to discipline his golden locked nieces and not quite carrying it off.

Of late he has had the dreary task of criticising the Government over its stimulus package, demanding that they stop it now. That to continue with it will just get Australian further into debt.

Trouble is, it is quite clear that the Opposition doesn't want the stimulus package to continue because the Government is getting kudos for keeping us out of recession with it.

If the Government stops assisting the economy then it might (will?) spiral into the economic poo and there is a much better chance for the Opposition to be re-elected.

Bit rough when a senior politician will trash the livelihood of the common voter in a pretty transparent attempt to get into Government.

No happy, Joe.
...

The 10 Conditions of Love

2009-08-24T20:16:00.003+10:00

.

The appearance at the Melbourne International Film Festival of the documentary about the life of Rebiya Kadeer, "The 10 Conditions of Love" would have passed largely unnoticed but for heavy handed interference by the Chinese government.

Kadeer is a Uighur woman fighting for justice for her people in Western China and the documentary is an account of her life and her battle against the Chinese government.

To try and stop the film, the Chinese Government tried all means: they lobbied, they bullied, they organised 'spontaneous' demonatrations and they spammed the MIFF website to try to foil ticket sales.

The festival could not have asked for better advertising.

Certainly it spurred my wife and me to go and see it. Wouldn't have gone otherwise.

Dumb bastards.

Oh, and I recommend it to you, too.
...

Proud to be (part) Scottish.

2009-08-23T10:54:00.009+10:00

.

There has been a bit of a buzz in the news services about the release of the only convicted bomber of the Pan Am plane that crashed onto the Scottish village of Lockerbie in 1988.

Scotland has released the man on compassionate grounds as he is reported to have prostate cancer and less than three months to live. America, a country that is overtly and aggressively religious, protested. Below is a CNN interview of the Scottish Minister by some wacko called Wolf Blitzer, batting way out of his league. It is a textbook example of abysmally biased journalism and how a skilled politician can handle stupid leading questions.

Words in red = Blitzer's attempted emotional bludgeoning of the witness.

Words in blue = My background chatter.

Blitzer: And joining us now from Scotland, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. Mr. MacAskill, did Al Megrahi kill 270 people?

MacAskill: Yes. He was convicted by a Scottish court. And that's...

(Cross talk) (He has never confessed to the crime. MacAskill knows this and answers accordingly.)

Blitzer: Did he do so in cold...

(Cross talk)

Blitzer: Did he do so in cold blood?

MacAskill: Absolutely.

Blitzer: Is it normal procedure that someone, a convicted mass murderer who gets cancer, is free to go home to his wife and family?

MacAskill: Well, thankfully, in Scotland, we don't have many convicted mass murderers. And this tragedy devastated our country as it did the lives of people in the United States and elsewhere...

(Cross talk)

Blitzer: Is there any precedent -- is there any precedent, Minister...

(Cross talk) (Why does there need to be a precedent?)

MacAskill: ... we have justice as well as compassion. (Well said!)

Blitzer: Is there any -- and is there any precedent...

MacAskill: Sorry?

Blitzer: Is there any precedent in Scotland where a mass murderer, someone who killed 270 people in cold blood, has been freed to go home to his wife and family because he is suffering from cancer?

MacAskill: This crime is unprecedented in our small country. It's actually the worst atrocity -- terrorist atrocity ever perpetrated anywhere within the United Kingdom. So it's a circumstance that has never happened before. And I hope that it's a circumstance that will never reoccur.

Blitzer: Are there precedents where murderers, just regular murderers, someone who killed someone in cold blood and served only a very small portion of his or her sentence, has been free to go home and spend the rest of his life with his wife and kids because he or she is suffering from cancer?

MacAskill: Well, each and every compassionate release that has been granted, and there have been 30 granted since the year 2000, is done under individual circumstances. And as we were seeing, in Scotland, justice is equally tempered with mercy. (Well said!) Those who commit an offense must be punished and have to pay a price.

Equally, we have values that we seek to live by, even if those who perpetrate crimes against us have not respected us or shown any compassion. (Well said!) Here is a dying man. He didn't show compassion to the victims, American or Scottish. That does not mean that we should lower ourselves, debase ourselves, or abandon our values. (Well said again! This guy says a lot of things well. Probably a bit tricky for Wolf to grasp.)

He was justly convicted, but we're allowing him some mercy to return home to die.

Blitzer: Do you have one example, one precedent of a convicted murderer in Scotland who served only a small portion of his sentence who was allowed to go home because he was suffering from cancer? (Why this urgent need for precedent? Does precedent make it right or wrong?)

MacAskill: These matters are dealt with on each and every application of the individual. As I've said, since the year 2000 there have [been] 30 such applications. I've had some -- two applications, I've not had to deal with the question of a mass murderer because, as I've said, these matters are few in Scotland.

And certainly this atrocity was a barbarity that we have never experienced before in our small country. And it's a barbarity we hope will never be replicated here, nor would we wish it anywhere else.

But equally, the Scottish justice system is predicated upon justice being enforced, but mercy and compassion being capable of being shown. (Well said, again! Wolf is slow on the uptake.)

Blitzer: So just to be precise, because I want to move on, Mr. MacAskill, you don't know of one murderer in Scotland who has ever been released for compassionate reasons after serving only a small portion of his sentence?

MacAskill: Well, I don't know the nature of the applications for compassionate release ever dealt with by my predecessors responsible for justice in Scotland. I can confirm two that clearly those who I have granted compassionate release so far were not murderers, but that's because in Scotland, we do not have terrorist atrocities as a norm.

This incident back in 1998 (sic) remains the worst ever terrorist atrocity anywhere within the United Kingdom. We have faced potential barbarities of the sort, Glasgow Airport just a few years ago, when I was just a few months into the job.

But as I say, these matters are unique, that's how we hope it stays, not only in our land, but in any other land.

Blitzer: All right. Here's what Susan Cohen, whose daughter was aboard the Pan Am flight, what she told us today. Listen to this.

(Begin video clip)

Susan Cohen, mother of Lockerbie bombing victim: It is absolutely sickening when you say compassion. I feel ill. I feel physically ill. That is the most misplaced compassion I can imagine. I mean, we could weep, couldn't we, for poor old Adolf Hitler there, gee, and maybe Mussolini, and we should feel sorry for these people, I guess.

(End video clip)

(An attempt at an emotional ambush by Wolf; without a doubt the lady will have been found and wound up by Wolf with such statements as 'You MUST be really disgusted that...".)

Blitzer: All right. Mr. MacAskill, what do you say to someone like Mrs. Cohen, who lost her daughter and thinks about her every single day?

MacAskill: Well, I've said all along, and I said in my statement, I'm very, very sorry for the grief. It started in the 24th of December, 1998 (sic) when a heinous atrocity was perpetrated above one small town in Scotland, taking the lives, not just of Americans, but 11 people from our small land.

Nothing can assuage their grief. There is nothing that I could say to Mrs. Cohen or to anyone else that will ease the pain that they have on a day and daily basis.

But in Scotland, our justice system is not predicated on vengeance, (Well said!) but on bringing people to account. And equally, our value system is predicated on seeking to treat people in a matter that is merciful and compassionate, even if they do not show to us as we would wish to show to them. (Well said!)

Blitzer: Do you...

MacAskill: So I'm so heartfelt sorry for Mrs. Cohen and every other victim for the Scottish, UK, American or wherever else. But equally, we are adhering to the values that we have and are following the due process of law that we possess. (Nicely handled.)

Blitzer: Do you realize that you've made their grief so much more powerful right now because they see the picture of this guy walking on a plane and flying back home to Libya where he is about to be received with a hero's welcome? (No, MacAskill hasn't; it is Wolf who is whipping this thing up.)

MacAskill: I've released a sick man. The medical evidence given to me in a report dated 10th August by the Scottish Prison Service says that he's terminally ill. That is a sentence that I cannot impose in Scotland, no court could. We do not have the death penalty. It's final, terminal and irrevocable.

That sentence that he now faces cannot be revoked by any court or overruled by any jurisdiction. I have decided to allow him to go home to die. I am showing his family some compassion. I accept there was a compassion not shown to families in the United States, or in Scotland.

But we have values, we will not debase them, and we will seek to live up to those values of humanity that we pride ourselves on. (Well said!) He was brought to justice after tremendous -- what, not simply by Scottish police and prosecution authorities, but by the United States.

Equally, as I say, in Scotland, justice is tempered with compassion. And that, as I say, is why he has been allowed to go home to die. (Keep hammering away, perhaps Wolf will finally grasp the notion.)

Blitzer: I read the medical report that you received, you put it online. And it says now that in the last few weeks, he's been complaining of backaches, his sleep pattern is disturbed, he appears tired and drawn.

The specialists appear to have conflicting assessments on whether he has three months to live or many months to live. It just seems to a lot of people, especially in the United States right now, that you're letting a guy go back who could potentially live for a long time.

MacAskill: The report I have, dated 10th August, I think the one you referred to is quite clear. It says now that the prognosis is three months or less...

Blitzer: It says that from what...

MacAskill: ...die sooner...

(Cross talk)

Blitzer: Let me interrupt for a moment, minister. It says that from one specialist, but the others say that, and I'll read it to you, "reviewing the total picture, the concluding specialist's view is that in the absence of a good response to treatment, survival could be in the order of months and no longer than many months. Whether or not prognosis is more or less than three months no specialist would be willing to say."

MacAskill: Well, the evidence I have from the director of Health and Social Care for Scottish Prison Services, and it's his advice along with that of the prison governor, and indeed of other relevant bodies of Scotland, it's the prognosis that he's since deteriorated. It says now that he has less than three months to live. I'm obliged to accept that. I'm not medically qualified, I do not challenge it. And what I accept is that he is a dying man. I can't change that. That verdict has been brought upon to him by a higher power. But I am prepared to stand up for the values we hold as a people of Scotland not to lower them, not to debase them, not to live in a manner which others seek to do. (Well said!) We've brought him to judgment, but we allow him to go home to die. (Well said!)

Blitzer: How much pressure, Mr. MacAskill, were you under by higher-ups to let him go?

MacAskill: None. This is my decision based upon my responsibilities as the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in Scotland. As you're aware, I have refused the prisoner transfer application. I recognize and accept that the American families and indeed the American government were led to believe or were given clear understandings at the time of pretrial negotiations that he would serve his sentence in Scotland. I accordingly rejected an application by the Libyan government for him to be transferred back to an institution in Libya. However, he also made an application for compassionate release. I'm not -- I was prepared to decide. I looked at the evidence and as I said I was persuaded that he is a dying man. And it was my decision and my decision alone based upon following the rules and regulations and laws that we have in Scotland. And I believe standing by the values of humanity that we possess as a people that I believe he's been brought to account for the heinous atrocity, and yet, we are prepared to show some leniency and mercy to his family, even though he did not show that to ours or indeed, to any family American, Spanish, or...

Blitzer: Was there -- so -- I'll just ask this question because a lot of people are asking (Are they? Really?) . If your son or daughter or brother or sister were on that plane, would you feel the same way?

MacAskill: In Scotland, we deal with these matters through the court system. We do not possess a system of vengeance or vigilantism. (Well said!) If my son or daughter were taken in a manner like that, I would expect to be replicated what happened. The Scottish police to investigate, the Scottish prosecution system to bring him to account and the Scottish court system to act. That is what was done. As I say, judgment was done. He has been punished. But he now faces a sentence we don't possess in Scotland. We do not have the death sentence. Had he not been...

Blitzer: All right. (Wolfie's not happy, not getting the response he wants, it seems.)

MacAskill: ... terminally ill, he would have remained in a Scottish prison. He now faces a sentence that I can't vary, but we're prepared to show clemency in the final days to his family, despite the fact that he didn't show that to ours.

Blitzer: Mr. MacAskill, you realize that for the rest of your life, this was your decision. You're going to have to live with this decision for the rest of your life. This was a major decision, probably one of the most important, if not the most important political decision you have ever made. Are you comfortable knowing that from now on, the name Kenny MacAskill, Scottish justice secretary, will be linked to the release of this mass murderer? (What a stupid thing to say.)

MacAskill: I'm proud to serve as the cabinet secretary for justice in the government of Scotland. This is a decision I did not seek to make. It's a decision I would not have wanted to make. But it was a decision that had to be made. An application was made by him, and an application for prisoner transfer was put in by the Libyan government. The buck, as you would say in America, stops with me. I have made that decision following due process, following the laws and guidance that we have in Scotland. And I believe that living up to the values and the humanity that we possess in Scotland. Many will disagree. Many do agree. I know that it divides opinion in the world as it divides opinion in the family. But my responsibility was to make that decision, and I did so on the basis that in Scotland, we want justice done, but we want compassion possessed and capable of being shown. Two wrongs never make a right. (Well said! This guy is good.)

Blitzer: Kenny MacAskill is the Scottish justice secretary. Thanks very much for joining us.

MacAskill: Thank you.

Full marks to Mr MacAskill for how he handled Wolf Blitzer, cub reporter.

Why do we bother?

2009-08-19T22:17:00.002+10:00

.

We send our young men and women off to fight and die for democracy in Afghanistan.

This news story makes me really wonder why we bother:

AFGHANISTAN has quietly passed a law permitting Shiite men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands' sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation that President Hamid Karzai had promised to review.

The new final draft of the legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and requires women to gain permission from their husbands to work.

''It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying 'blood money' to a girl who was injured when he raped her,'' the US charity Human Rights Watch said.

I fear the gap is just too big to close in my lifetime.
...

Good question.

2009-08-02T20:09:00.001+10:00

.

Now, I'm not gay but I reckon it is a fair question.

What are the opponents of same sex marriage afraid of?

It's not as if couples aren't living together already.
...

Bears thinking about

2009-07-18T18:17:00.002+10:00

The right to bear arms is only slightly less idiotic
than the right to arm bears.

- Chris Addison
...

Vietnam. But with sand.

2009-07-02T20:37:00.001+10:00

.
..

Real or Surreal?

2009-06-21T18:50:00.002+10:00

Disenchanted

2009-06-21T18:48:00.003+10:00

Click to enlarge

Vaccinations

2009-06-14T14:08:00.004+10:00

.

An Open Letter from the Australian Skeptics to...
The Parents of Australia, about Immunisation

Immunisation is acclaimed as one of the greatest achievements of medical science. Since the humble observations about cowpox made by Edward Jenner in the 1700s, vaccination programmes have saved millions of lives worldwide and dramatically decreased child mortality and suffering.

Diseases such as smallpox are now consigned to history, whilst polio and tuberculosis have virtually disappeared. Gone are the days of iron lungs and callipers.

Thanks to advances in medical science, every person born in a first world country from the year 2000 onwards is practically certain to survive throughout childhood.

But sadly there are some people who are vehemently opposed to vaccinations. Whilst they will tell you they are “pro-choice” not “anti-vaccination”, their actions indicate otherwise - almost as if they want to remove your choice to have your children live in a disease-free society.

In America, the anti-vaccination movement is represented by model Jenny McCarthy and film star Jim Carrey. In Australia we have the deceptively titled Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) which spreads misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. They incorrectly claim that vaccines contain toxic quantities of heavy metals such as mercury as well as aluminium, anti-freeze and formaldehyde. Further, they will tell you that vaccines cause diseases such as autism, despite the fact that as a result of concerted scientific research, a link between vaccines and autism has been unequivocally dismissed.

“Love them. Protect them. Never inject them”
– The Australian Vaccination Network

In addition to discouraging parents from vaccinating their children, the AVN provides incorrect information about the risks and complications from contacting childhood illnesses. They have stated that whooping cough is “just a bad cough” but in reality, children can suffer from collapsed lungs, cracked ribs, brain damage from lack of oxygen, convulsions, and about 1 in 200 will develop pneumonia and die. Even those who survive may have persistent symptoms.

Ultimately, the decision to vaccinate or not lies with you, the parent. Before you make your choice we urge you to seek out unbiased, accurate advice from reputable medical sources. The Australian Vaccination Network is no such source.

Talk to your GP or visit these reliable sources for vaccination information on the web:

Immunise Australia Programme
http://www.immunise.health.gov.au

National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance
http://www.ncirs.usyd.edu.au

Australian Childhood Immunisation Register
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/services/acir/index.jsp

The Australian Immunisation Handbook
http://immunise.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/Content/Handbook-home

Immunisation myths and realities - responding to arguments against immunisation
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/content/uci-myths-guideprov

Australian Skeptics Inc.
www.skeptics.com.au

A fair summary.

2009-06-07T21:12:00.002+10:00

.

No, not a correct view, but how the advertisers manipulate viewers.

...

Adios, amigo.

2009-05-26T20:07:00.002+10:00

.

Sol Trujillo, former head of the Australian communications giant, Telstra, has said taht Australia is racist and backward.

Didn't stop him pocketing a swag of Aussie pesos before hightailing it out of town.

His main concern was that cartoonists always drew him as a Mexican. Sorry, Sol, that's what cartoonists do. They exaggerate a person's features or history. Alexander Downer never complained that cartoonists always drew him in fishnet stockings; a legacy of a University review of amny, many years ago. You are a Mexican, they will draw you in a sombrero. Live with it.

There is a word for your behaviour, Sol: Unprofessional.

Adios.
...

The swines!

2009-05-09T18:13:00.005+10:00

.

The media, male genitalia at the best of times, have excelled themselves in the broad ranging fear campaign they have pushed in the latest flu 'outbreak'.

The flu DNA apparently has human, bird and pig elements, but the headline writers have gone with "Swine Flu". Missing the point of the whole thing. In fact the only cross species infection recorded to date is human to pig, not the reverse.

But it is a nice emotive term. Would kitten flu generate as much panic?

Probably not.

Egypt deserves a 'gong' at this point, having ordered the slaughter of 300,000 pigs despite there being no link to pigs. The presence of pig DNA in the virus does not indicate a risk from pigs. Egypt didn't even have the flu. And, using the same logic, why not kill all the birds and all the humans? Presumably it was an opportunity for an Islamic thumbing of the nose at the infidels who eat pork. Can't see any other reason. Nasty piece of work.

So far there are about 30 confirmed deaths from this flu.

But, every year, thousands die from common or garden flu and are unlamented by the media.

Every year people die on the roads; from cigarette smoking; from food poisoning.

Every year 30,000 Americans die from gun related injuries. Is that a pandemic?

Perspective, ladies and gentlemen, is nowhere to be seen.
...

Yes Sir!!

2009-05-01T06:56:00.001+10:00

Honour among thieves? I don't think so.

2009-04-13T16:59:00.002+10:00

.

Full marks to the Americans for rescuing the captain of the Maersk Alabama from the pirates, off Somalia. It is about time someone drew a line in the sand, uh, surf.

But what do you make of this:

In Somalia itself, other pirates reacted angrily to the news that Captain Phillips had been rescued, and some said they would avenge the deaths of their colleagues by killing Americans in sea hijackings to come.

“Every country will be treated the way it treats us,” Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding a Greek ship anchored in the pirate den of Gaan, a central Somali town, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying in a telephone interview.

Every country will be treated the way it treats us?

Hey fellahs, we are talking piracy, kidnapping and theft, here.

A bit late to be claiming the high moral ground.
...

Surely this is just rape?

2009-04-06T18:16:00.000+10:00

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has attempted to allay international fears that the rights of the country's women are being dragged back to where they were under the Taliban.
He last week signed a law which says a woman has to have sex with her husband once every four days and cannot leave home without him.

Women's groups say it sets a frightening precedent, and the new law has been condemned by US President Barack Obama, the United Nations and NATO.

Mr Karzai is reviewing the law but says its wording may have been misinterpreted outside Afghanistan.
- ABC News

We are sending our troops to fight to defend this?

How unfeeling!

2009-04-02T21:25:00.002+11:00

Confession time

2009-04-02T11:30:00.000+11:00

.

Yes, all my posts yesterday were inspired by April Fools day.

A Curate's Egg - Eel skin wallets and their effect on credit cards.

The Curate After Dark - Clomipramine, the drug that makes you have an orgasm when you yawn.

Hen Buddhism - The Second Coming Project, aiming to clone Jesus from DNA in old Holy Relics.

The Odd Angry Squawk - The call sign, N166ER, on Air Force One.

The Chemist's Kitchen - Tha Celery has negative calories.

As it happens, all sounded suitably April Foolery, but two are true and three are false.
...

Can it be coincidence?

2009-04-01T18:49:00.000+11:00

(Click to enlarge)

The call sign is N166ER on the tail of Air Force One.

Grand Prix

2009-03-29T15:28:00.001+11:00

.

The Melbourne Grand Prix is on this afternoon.
...

A short history of Australia.

2009-03-26T22:08:00.000+11:00

It's not funny and it hurts.

2009-03-25T10:28:00.001+11:00

Not above the law.

2009-03-22T21:09:00.005+11:00

.

This is Justice Marcus Einfeld. A former justice of the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Courts of New South Wales, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.

He has served as Austcare's "Ambassador for Refugees" and as an "Ambassador for Children" for UNICEF. In 2002, he was presented a United Nations Association of Australia Founder's Award for his contribution to justice and human rights. He was voted a national "living treasure" in 1997.

He has just gone to jail for three years with a minimum of two.

For speeding.

For driving 10km/h over the speed limit.

It carried a fine of $77.

In August 2006, he contested the speeding ticket by claiming he had lent his car to an old friend, Professor Teresa Brennan, at the time it was caught by a speed camera. He gave evidence under oath in the Local Court and he also signed a statutory declaration to that effect. However, it was later revealed that Professor Brennan had been killed in a road accident in the United States in January 2003. This was the basis for Einfeld's conviction for knowingly making a false statement under oath .

When challenged by a journalist concerning the death of Professor Brennan, Einfeld claimed that he had lent his car on that day to a different Teresa Brennan, who he claimed also lived in the USA and who had also died. In August 2006, Einfeld produced a detailed 20-page statement describing the fictitious second Teresa Brennan and his supposed dealings with her. This was the basis for his conviction for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

What do you say?

People. Funny critters.
...

Bah!

2009-03-19T20:37:00.003+11:00

.

I make no secret of the fact that I am against the death penalty. It makes no sense to me.

Today, we have the news from the UK:

One of Britain's longest cases of wrongful imprisonment has come to an end as the appeal court cleared a man who has spent 27 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit.

The Lord Chief Justice and two other judges ruled that Sean Hodgson's conviction for the murder of a 22-year-old barmaid was unsafe in the light of DNA evidence unavailable at the time of his 1982 trial.

Granted, he didn't help his case by confessing to the crime initially. Sadly, oddly, there are people who do that. The guy appears to not be the full quid but that does not mean that he should be convicted of something he didn't do.

Thankfully, the UK does not have the death penalty and, some 27 years later, he is both free and alive, thanks to modern forensic techniques that proved he could not have been the killer/rapist, as convicted.
...

Well, if this, then...?

2009-03-17T21:24:00.003+11:00

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, ruled that victims of sexual abuse by priests can sue the Vatican even though it is considered a sovereign nation. The court said abuse could be an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. A case has been working its way through the courts since a judge in Portland, Ore., ruled in 2006 that the Holy See could be held responsible for priests’ actions.

I have no problems with this.

But I would think more of the system if the US permitted George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney be tried by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
...

A natural redhead?

2009-03-16T14:56:00.004+11:00

.

Mr Murdoch's misnamed News Limited continues to amaze with its attempts to reach new lows in journalism.

They have published nude photos reportedly of Australian political wannabe, Pauline Hanson, when she was 19.

Coincidentally, Ms Hanson is standing for election in next Saturday's Queensland election.

First Question: Is it her?
Ms Hanson has always made a thing of being a redhead. The girl in the picture is a brunette and has brunette eyebrows. Could be dyed. Do people do eyebrows as well? I don't know. No shots of pubic hair to help decide. Mind you, Ms Hanson would have been 19 in 1973 - a bit early for the Brazilian craze. She has offered to bare here belly-button to the assembled media to prove it is not her.

Second Question: Does it matter?
What does it matter what someone did when they were a teenager and how does it impact on their ability as a politician 35 years later?

Great media attention, though.
...

Post and ripost.

2009-03-13T12:19:00.001+11:00

Don't you believe it!

2009-03-12T14:53:00.001+11:00

.

Banks, insurance companies, dinosaurs...
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Hey God, whose side are you on?

2009-03-06T12:08:00.002+11:00

World Wide Web?

2009-03-04T20:38:00.004+11:00

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Is it just me or is EVERYTHING being blamed on Al Qaeda lately?

I'm sure I heard the floor manager at the Supermarket say the absence of desiccated coconut fromt he shelves was due to Al Qaeda.

It seems to be the universal enemy. I'm not for one minute saying terrorists are dangerous and a menace. But are they all part of some world wide conspiracy?

Who is Al Qaeda?

We all hear about Osama bin Laden, presumably holed up in Afghanistan or Pakistan. But how is he supposed to be running a world wide web of wickedness?

Could it be that Al Qaeda is not a thing but an idea? A meme of the radical set.

Perhaps it would be called "anti Imperialism" in another age.
...

Any questions?

2009-02-28T11:20:00.002+11:00

.

Now, you know I am not one for videos generally, but this small clip from the British TV show Yes, Minister runs for less than two minutes and is a great lesson on the perils of public opinion polls.
...

Some countries do have 'em.

2009-02-25T14:51:00.006+11:00

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This is Australian Senator, Steve Fielding. The only senator of the Family First Party.

Unfortunately for Australia, Sen. Fielding is one of a handful of independent senators who hold the balance of power in the Australian upper house. If any one of these independents vote against a bill, it is lost. This is largely due to Her Majesties Loyal Opposition ALWAYS opposing a bill, thereby bequeathing effective government to the independents.

Some of you who read my religious ravings will recall Pastor Danny Nalliah, the Catch the Fires Ministry pastor who said that the bushfires were God's reply to the Victorian abortion laws.

Danny boy was the second candidate on Senator Fielding's ticket. So that gives you some perspective on the pair.

Today the good Senator has come up with a solution to the environment problem. Divorce. Because people are divorcing, the worlds resources are being consumed at an accelerated rate.

When couples separated, they needed more rooms, more electricity and more water. This increased their carbon footprint, Australian Associated Press (AAP) quoted Fielding as telling the hearing on environmental issues.
"We understand that there is a social problem (with divorce), but now we're seeing there is also environmental impact as well on the footprint," AAP quoted him as saying.

Such a "resource-inefficient lifestyle" meant it would be better for the planet if couples stayed married, he said.
- Reuters

OK Steve, the next logical step is going back to the days when mum, dad, the kids, the in-laws, the grandparents, the whole disgusting extended family, all lived in two rooms over a tannery.

And, of course, as people already have houses we should abolish all churches as they too take up unnecessary resources.

...

Same production, different cast.

2009-02-18T20:29:00.003+11:00

George Santayana:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

We learn today that the US is planning to send a further 17,000 troops to Afghanistan.

This will take total troup numbers to about 70,000.

I wish the allied troops well, but history and logic are not on their side.  Afghanistan is a cobbled
together block of fiefdoms with not real history of either being a country or showing the slightest
idea of what democracy is.

Throw in the world's biggest opium crop and a dingbat religion and the prospects are not good.

Remember:

The Russians, at their peak, had 302,000 troop in Afghanistan and left humiliated.

...

The Valentine's Day Massacre Mk.II

2009-02-13T14:56:00.003+11:00

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Are the socialist left getting to you?

Had enough of this namby-pamby idea of caring about others?

Then, above, is the gun for you.

And, and, with a little luck and a lot of Darwinism, we may rid the gene pool of the strange desire to accelerate a piece of hot metal through the flesh of another living creature.

You never know...
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Chicken-feed, more or less.

2009-01-22T21:16:00.004+11:00

.

A Zimbabwe 100 billion dollar note.

Purchasing power: 3 eggs.

Probably less now.

Robert Mugabe makes hillbillies look respectable.
...

By George!

2009-01-20T06:50:00.001+11:00

.

From an email being circulated, containing George W Bush's resume.

Up front I will confess that I have neither the time nor resources to confirm all of these items.

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S.Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.

In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history.

My "poorest millionaire," Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.

I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history, Enron.

My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.

I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any President in U.S. history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States Government.

I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US election).

I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. Citizens and the world community.

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.

I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
...

Meant to post this yesterday.

2009-01-19T19:53:00.001+11:00

Destroying its soul and its image.

2009-01-18T16:16:00.002+11:00

"The world will judge the Jewish state by the way it will treat the Arabs."
Chaim Weizmann, First president of Israel.

"For many Israelis the cost of the war became clear when a Hebrew-speaking physician, Izz el-Deen Aboul Aish, who had been frequently interviewed on prime-time TV by a top reporter, Shlomi Eldar, phoned the journalist live on air to announce that his three daughters had been killed. "My God, my girls, Shlomi," viewers heard him say. "Can't anybody get to us, please?"

As Mr Eldar got the authorities to allow rescue services to the stricken family, it was not lost on commentators that the same disaster was striking hundreds of other families without direct access to Israeli TV."

- The Independent.

George's hope.

2009-01-16T14:59:00.000+11:00

(Click to enlarge)

The Man of Steel gets his reward.

2009-01-14T22:11:00.004+11:00

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Former prime minister John Howard says he was touched to receive the US Medal of Freedom from President George W Bush at the White House this morning. (Obviously a new use of the word Freedom. The inmates at Guantanamo Bay and the sundry detention centres Johnny created would be surprised by this.)

Mr Bush personally awarded the medal to Mr Howard for his support for peace (as exhibited in Iraq), freedom (remember Guantanamo? ) and human rights. (Nauru? Villawood?)

"He is a man of honesty, and moral clarity ... he can make a decision and he can defend it and he stands his ground, (no matter how wrong or pig headed it was)" Mr Bush said. "That's why I called him a man of steel. (and that's just his cold, hard heart)"

Mr Howard says he is very pleased to have received the honour.

"I certainly appreciated it, and I felt honoured and I felt touched," he said. (You are touch, John).

"There were some very kind things said about me. But I do, nonetheless, put it in the broader context of it being a compliment to my country. (Arrrgh!) "

- ABC.

I'm sure I heard George say "Arise, Sir John!"

Doesn't he know the "c" in cur is a hard one?
...

Should I be offended?

2009-01-13T22:59:00.004+11:00

The British press, gutter dwellers at the best of times are taking high offence that prince Harry referred to a Pakistani soldier in his regiment as a "Paki".

So are the British press going to stop calling Australians "Aussies"?

...

Do you want fries with that?

2009-01-12T14:27:00.002+11:00

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I have only just caught up with the news that PETA, the animal rights group, want fish called "sea kittens" to make them sound cuter and make them less likely to be eaten due to this cute mantle.

It may backfire.

What if it elevates kittens to the accompaniment of choice with the Friday night chips/fries?
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A few words FOR George, believe it or not.

2009-01-08T15:53:00.005+11:00

.
In a comment to the last post Susan (Windblownbutterfly) criticised the quality of the Photoshopping of the finger on GWB's hand.

And certainly one has to be careful before accepting photos that fit with your view of the world; hoaxes happen. Take the well circulated photo of GWB with an upside down book (above). It did the email circuit a year or two back.

But here is the photo that should be on the back cover:

If you look at the kid holding the flag, you can see he is wrong way round.

And here is the true photo:

And here is the back cover photo, matching in presentation the one on the book.

All very tricky.

But a couple of comments on the photo in the last post:

1. I haven't been able to find the implied original (fingerless) photo.
2. There are other photos of GWB giving the finger, so he has priors.
3. Sites like Snopes have not published an 'explanation' of the finger photo. (The above pics came from Snopes).
4. I looked at the photo under high magnification and cannot find any 'flaw-lines' that usually giveaway the Photoshop grafting of two different photos together.
5. If you are going to fake a finger photo, why not do one worth the effort? One where he faces the viewer?

All of this misses the point that the photo was just decoration to a post and not the message of the post. The message is that George W Bush lacks the moral structure needed to qualify as a gormless prat and that the sooner he goes the bloody better.

For me, America and the World.
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The Man of Steel in the polls

2009-01-07T21:21:00.002+11:00

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An on-line poll (yes, I know all about their shortcomings) regarding Howard's receipt of the Medal of Freedom. See previous post also.

Interesting for the number of people who bothered to vote.
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Lower than a snake's arsehole!

2009-01-07T06:54:00.000+11:00

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I didn't think my opinion of George W Bush could sink any lower but I learnt today that he has one final, parting insult to the Australian people:

"US President George W Bush will grant former prime minister John Howard the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, in one of his final acts in his time at the White House."

John Howard, referred to as the "Man of Steel" by the outgoing President for his unstinting and unthinking prostitution of both himself and this country to George's warped view of world order, says that he is honoured to receive the award.

Is there no way to bring the new administration forward by a couple of weeks?
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Psychology and the Middle East?

2009-01-06T07:00:00.001+11:00

Today, each of my four blogs has a relevant photo from
Will Lion's set that displays quotes and research in cognitive psychology.
View the complete set here.

(sigh) I don't understand.

2009-01-03T18:51:00.006+11:00

(Click to enable the reading of the bottom line)

I wish Israel no harm.

But I do not understand their behaviour.

Have they learnt nothing from history?

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Storming the battlements.

2009-01-02T16:05:00.002+11:00

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The Melbourne Athenaeum Club is a men-only club.

Disclaimer: No, I am not a member.

There is, under-way at the moment, a regular hoo-ha by women 'wanting' to storm the walls of this male bastion.

Why should we be excluded? they protest.

It's a men's club, that's why.

Should they also demand to join a chess club when they want to play scrabble?
...

Leunig's view

2008-12-31T09:33:00.000+11:00

The Age, New Year's Eve.