On Fecklessness

Four men have been fined $300 each in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court for removing testicles from a bull statue in the beef capital.
Police charged the men, all aged in their 20s, with wilful damage after they found the testicles in their car.

"We seized between seven and nine million dollars in cash from 400 accounts of private individuals, families and institutions," the official told a press conference in Tel Aviv, declining to be named.
He said the funds were being used to buy arms and explosives, or to pay off anti-Israeli militants or their families if they were killed.
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, meanwhile, pledged in a statement that the confiscated sums would go towards "humanitarian actions" for the Palestinian people.
Israeli troops forced their way into three banks and the headquarters of an aid group in Ramallah in what the army said was an operation to seize the illegal funds of militant groups.

When asked whether the Redfern and Walgett violence were race riots, Mr Howard said they were incidents which arose "from a combination of factors".

"I think they arise from a total breakdown in the family authority within Aboriginal communities," he said.

"I think they sometimes arise from a policy of perhaps treating different groups in the community differently. I think the solution very much lies in treating everybody equally and as part of the mainstream as far as law enforcement is concerned."

Although the risk is small and it is more likely to result from heavy drinking and smoking, scientists have uncovered evidence that oral sex can cause mouth cancer.
Researchers had suspected that a sexually transmitted infection that is linked to cervical cancer could also be associated with tumours in the mouth.

In fact, it's odd that no high-profile example of a "stolen" child has ever been proved genuine.
Cathy Freeman's grandmother was not stolen. Our first Aboriginal author, academic Mudrooroo Narogin, was not stolen either -- and is also not really Aboriginal. Nor were the four "stolen generations" Aborigines who gave evidence for Peter Gunner truly stolen, as they admitted to the Federal Court. One said his family paid to send him away to school, and he'd called himself "stolen" because "we're going to get compensation".
These aren't claims. They are facts that cannot be dodged if we're honest.

Vote Labor. Be prepared to be internationally isolated. The Libya of the Pacific. Socialist policies enacted by brain dead union functionaries. We would become a 'workers paradise', just like Cuba is. Yay!
Vote Coalition. Cheap guns and ammo. Cheap big trucks to crush environmentally aware asshats in eco-friendly cars. More hot Yank chicks here on holidays. Cheaper bourbon. Did I mention cheap guns?

Author Naomi Wolf's sexual harassment claim against her former tutor, scholar Harold Bloom, has shaken Yale University, writes Oliver Poole in Los Angeles.

This week the International Olympic Committee will decide whether to amend its rules to allow transsexuals who have had a sex change to compete under their new gender.
That proposal is controversial enough, since most sex changes are man-to-woman and critics say those transsexuals will retain unfair advantages of height and strength over female opponents. But the IOC is preparing to go further and allow transsexuals who have not had sex-change surgery to compete under their new gender so long as they have "lived as a woman" for two years.

Mark Latham has opened a sharp new divide on defence policy, accusing the Government of undermining Australia's defences by building an expeditionary force.
In an interview with the Herald, Mr Latham revealed deep reservations about the shift away from the priority of defending the Australian mainland towards developing an "expeditionary" defence force that can deploy quickly overseas in large numbers and fit seamlessly with the US military.

Mr Schultz said Mr Latham had focused on populist issues such as politicians' superannuation since becoming Opposition leader so he could fulfil his ambition to become Prime Minister.
He accused Mr Latham of hypocrisy over his bid to slash politicians' super, saying that he had doubled his own entitlements when he was mayor of Sydney's Liverpool Council in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Mr Latham had also presided over a $15.5 million budget deficit at the council, he said.
"He is the biggest hypocrite in Australia," Mr Schultz told journalists.
"He is talking about standards for us now that he abused when he was in public life as mayor.
"And people are talking about putting him in charge of the country's silverware. It's like putting "wacko Jacko" (Michael Jackson) in charge of a child-minding centre."

"It's not what you want to hear as the parent of small children, I've got to say," he told the National Press Club.
"But I understand it's the Member for Hume and people can make their own judgment about him.
"I regard that as a bit of a sad reflection."

Henceforth, thee shall be known as Gardyloo Mark, by way of warning the public of the hypocritical shit about to come.

The Premier, Bob Carr, and the Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, have blamed alcohol, grief over a boy's death and the unrelenting heat for the Redfern Aboriginal riot and announced three inquiries into the rampage.

The zoo director says much attention is paid to occupations of the gorillas. "We want them to pick their noses less and think more instead." At that, Vladimir Spitsyn tells that today the gorillas work with special primitive devices for their own development. As similar experience of international zoos shows, watching TV programs improves the psychological condition of animals. A TV set will be put into the cage this summer when the animals spend more time outdoors.

German cockroaches do not like motion and usually avoid light, so if you are seeing them in the daytime while you are moving about the room, you probably have a larger population than you realize.

"We want women who are working for integration, promoting equality or who are opposing the use of force," western European co-ordinator Maren Haartje said.

Mark Latham has a history of thoughtful policy suggestions of empowering the individual in the context of increased globalisation and deregulation. I call on him to stop the anti-free trade agreement politicking and continue his recent habit of constructive engagement with the electorate.
For once, I agree with Mr Howard. The FTA is not perfect, but it's a step forward which will benefit both countries. Not a leap, just a step, and certainly not worth opposing outright.

Opposition health spokeswoman Julia Gillard said Clonaid's claims were disturbing.
"The parliament unanimously passed legislation to outlaw cloning in Australia," she told the Nine Network.
She said the legislation had the support of every parliamentarian.
"I don't think Australians support cloning, the use of this technology on human beings," Ms Gillard said.
"We need to get to the bottom of what's happened here."

A freelance photographer who suffered brain damage after falling off a garbage truck he climbed atop to take pictures of Ground Zero is suing the carting company for $50 million.
Lawyers for the victim, Robert Levin, accuse Waste Management LLP and its truck driver of "failure to respect the plaintiff's rights as a pedestrian," according to court papers filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

"Obviously, he never thought in a million years the truck would move, so I don't think his actions were negligent," said Levin's lawyer Howard Klar of Manhattan.

We get whipsawed about every time we move. They put us down and tell us to "dig here." Then some busy beaver decides we should move again and start digging all over again 20 meters away. Stupid.
The usual rationale for this was that one of our officers liked the look of the ground better "over there." But it was all the same flat, muddy bog.

"The Howard Government's made it clear in media reports today that it intends to approach this parliamentary session by being negative, by attacking people personally, by harping and carping," Ms Gillard said.
"The Australian public doesn't want to see a negative, whinging government that's playing the man and not the ball.

"Hand in your badge, Adolf."
aimed at Philip Ruddock,

"Howard is an arse-licker. He went over there, kissed some bums, and got patted on the head."
aimed at John Howard,

"That deformed character Tony Staley."
aimed at disabled former Liberal Party president,

"If he didn't steal my property he wouldn't have any injuries, so I've done the bare minimum to chase him, to tackle him, to pick up my bag and retrieve the stolen property."
aimed at a Sydney taxi driver,

"There they are, a conga line of suckholes on the conservative side of politics."
aimed at Coalition supporters for the war in Iraq,

"Bush himself is the most incompetent and dangerous president in living memory."
aimed at George W Bush,

"(John Howard) has forgotten how to be a good Australian, not some yes-man to a flaky and dangerous American president."
aimed at John Howard/George W Bush,

"Fucking idiot."
aimed at a writer for "The Chaser".

"The briefcase has been recovered. They were really only interested in valuables that they could readily sell," Mr Haermeyer told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
"It had all the markings of a drug-related burglary."

As an act of sheer political bastardry, this one takes the biscuit.
What are you planning for an encore, Premier Carr? Torch the Reichstag, perhaps?
Is it really three more years to the next election?

"What occurred was unintentional, completely regrettable and I apologise if you guys were offended," he said.

"This deal doesn't appear to be in Australia's national interest," he said.
"Quite frankly, our farmers have been dudded."
Mr Latham said the Government had claimed all along that agriculture would be central to the deal.
"We believe farmers have been let down, the farm sector in this country has been let down," he said.

AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron said the US planned to boost imports into Australia by $US2 billion ($2.61 billion).
"Given the United States are talking $US2 billion in imports, this is tens of thousands of jobs," he said.
"Our biggest concern is significant job losses in manufacturing."

A Metropolitan Fire Brigade spokesman said a white power was discovered in a package delivered to the Bell Street store in Preston today.
An ambulance service spokesman said three people were in a stable condition after they were treated for nausea, sore throats and dizziness about 10.10am (AEDT).

A Department of Human Services spokesman said the powder was completely harmless and those involved had most probably panicked. "The vegetable powder, which is harmless, is used when bank notes are packed to stop them sticking together," he said.

"It was one of those nights. I have a few holes in my glass out front," Carolyn Lisle said Friday.
"That's OK, I don't think he'll be back," said Lisle, who emptied one .357 revolver at the intruder before she retrieved a second one and he crashed through another window to flee.
"I was trying to miss my furniture. Priorities, right?" Lisle said.
When she emptied one gun, she still hadn't hit him. And he wasn't gone.
"He was still in the garage, flitting around," she said.
She went to get another gun -- "I like to be prepared," she said -- and waited to see his next move. After tearing up the garage, he finally broke out through a garage window, but he veered toward Lisle's front door. She fired again, hitting him at least once.
The bleeding intruder ran across the street and tried to hot-wire a motorcycle, but its owners, already armed to come to Lisle's aid, chased off the would-be thief, she said.
She said one of the men yelled after the retreating burglar: "And that's just our womenfolk."

"The answer is, no one can say for sure at the end of the day that the presence of a firearm doesn't increase your risk of getting injured, nor does it reduce your risk," he said.

You're free to sing in Parliament House, but not about freedom, a women's choir was told.
As part of a multicultural festival, vocal group A Chorus of Women planned to perform a number of tunes, including two about the impact of the war in Iraq on women and children.
But after seeking permission from the Joint House Department, which manages Parliament House, they were told the two songs were not suitable.

So the choir of 20 women, ranging in age from 21 to 76 years, gagged their mouths with purple cloth and hummed any potentially offending words during the performance in the building's main foyer on Friday.
"We're not a protest group and we decided that we would abide by the requirement in respect for this place and its dignity."

The chorus says it is not a political protest group, just women singing "as women have done through time immemorial for society to live in peace and harmony," she said.

Sweet Teddy

.........

I have been very busy here in Canberra. As the war in Iraq loomed closer, with Australian Government support, I had a persistent vision of filling Parliament House with the sound of women's lament. Eventually I told a friend about this and she said 'Oh that is such a powerful idea! - you must do something about it.' So that night I wrote some lyrics, and the next day had a sheet of manuscript paper awaiting my composer friend Judy Clingan. Within an hour of her visit 'Lament' was written.

Then we both phoned singing women we knew in Canberra. 20 came the next night for a rehearsal. 40 came two nights after that. We sent the music out by email to others, as I'm doing for you, and taught it it other women on the telephone. And then we gathered in the huge marble foyer inside the Parliament Building at 1pm on Tuesday, 18 March, the day the Prime Minister announced Australia's involvement in the war... only four days after the song was complete. We asked all the women to scatter themselves around so it would be difficult for the security people to ask us to leave. None of us knew everyone who had come and looked among the hundreds of people for friends, but couldn't really tell. Judy stood on one of the great marble staircases and I stood on the other and she sang the first part of the first line: 'Open the doors of the chambers'. 'Of your hearts', I sang from the other. Then there was this amazing, heart-swelling moment of hearing the response of 150 women singing with us! I couldn't sing for a while for tears! The sound was really glorious.

That night we had national news and current affairs coverage on television and radio and some newspaper reports the next day too. Much has happened since and the group seems to have an ongoing life that is very robust and powerful as it makes something that is new and very different to political protest in the usual oppositional sense. We have taken our name, A Chorus of Women, from the description of the national broadcaster's political editor of us in the Parliament. This is a reference to the Chorus in Greek dramas, which comments on event for the citizens and foretells what will happen. New songs are emerging, we're talking about a philosophy meeting in Parliamwent House at which the subjects will be love and wisdom, and great friendships are being established among the women.

...........

Glenda xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In sacking the South Sydney Council, the NSW Government has shown its disregard for community involvement, democratic process and the truth. Surely it's time the NSW Right was kicked out of the ALP. Bob Carr, can I please have my donation for the last election back. I think you misled me, comrade.

Carlin, and her lawyer Wane A. Ritchie, did not give a figure, but in saying the the damages should not exceed "the gross annual revenues of each defendant for the last three years" could be aiming for hundreds of millions of dollars, experts said.

Georgia's school superintendent Thursday dropped plans to remove the word "evolution" from the state's high school science curriculum.
Cox, a Republican elected in 2002, repeatedly referred to evolution as a negative buzzword and said the ban was proposed, in part, to alleviate pressure on teachers in socially conservative areas where parents object to its teaching.

This war was no "mistake". There was no "lie". And those who recklessly claim the opposite are not just blind or deaf or rank opportunists. They are fools – most dangerous fools.

What are weapon of mass destruction "programs"? Are they as tangible as the coalition's WMD? I imagine a "program" is about the size of a TV guide.
These are desperate times, so perhaps the PM could wave a sheet of A4 in Parliament. Anything in Arabic would do.

The University of Sydney's Website contains little information apart from, when I clicked on, a picture of a slack-mouthed woman who looked as if she'd just has an orgasm.

Our Prime Minister suggests that heroin injecting rooms indicate a soft approach to drug-trafficking ("Labor soft on drugs, says PM as leaders hit the phoney stump", Herald, February 3). This might be the most naive statement I have heard on this issue.
Do you actually know what goes on in these facilities, Prime Minister? Have you visited one? Have you spoken to the health workers who deal with injecting drug users? Your statements hold no logic to those of us who work directly with people struggling with a drug addiction.

Would you pick a fight in the street or have road rage if you knew that the other person could be packing heat? And if they felt their lives were threatened, they could use deadly force in self-defence?

These four shots (photographs-Matt) are the result of an ignorant, slitty-eyed, slimy little Landcruiser-driving vietnamese prick which tried to squeeze past me on the freeway entry ramp this morning. It doesn't look too bad, in fact I dare say 80% will just polish off, but that's beside the point. It's MY car and I don't go around driving into other peoples cars then shrugging it off and driving away./ Not to worry, though. I have the slippery little shit's registration number and will be following him up via the police. Might be a nice chance to get the car re-sprayed at someone elses expense. I'll teach the ignorant, non-english-speaking immigrant to go around rubbing up against other peoples cars and fucking off without barely a word.

It appears I've been taken to task for labelling the individual who recently damaged my car and pissed off before I could get out & nail him an ignorant, slitty-eyed, slimy little Landcruiser-driving vietnamese prick.

Suicide bombings, rocket and mortar attacks, assassinations, wrongful arrests, curfews, hunger, poverty and desperation. Those Iraqis must really be enjoying the gift of freedom that George Bush and friends have so lovingly bestowed upon them.

John Howard was not prepared to wait for more evidence of WMDs before invading Iraq because, as he asserted on ABC Radio: "If you wait until you are beyond a reasonable doubt then you have a Pearl Harbour situation."
Why then is he willing to wait until the islands of the Pacific are underwater before he will believe in climate change and sign the Kyoto Protocol?