A peculiar feature of the recent furore over phone hacking at the News of the World is that not every media outlet agreed it was a furore. Least furious of all were those controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns the News of the World.

RubenRuizIbarruri
19 September 2010 8:51AM

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: More than 80 per cent of Australians are in favour of organ donation and the nation has a world-class reputation for successful transplant outcomes.

So you'd think that Australia would be at the top of the list of countries saving lives through organ transplantation.

Instead, an extremely low organ donation rate means a long waiting list, a wait some patients don't survive.

Part of the problem is that fewer than one in five Australians have discussed their wishes with loved ones and it is the next of kin who have the final say on whether organ donation can proceed.

18 months ago the Federal Government announced a $150 million program to boost transplant numbers, but critics say the program is flawed and change isn't happening quickly enough. ...

Fierce waves and high winds from Hurricane Igor are pounding the Bermuda islands, causing flooding and cutting power to thousands of homes.

... Speakers at the rally included the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson and atheist scientist and author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins.

"The station has become increasingly conservative in recent years.

The Bligh Government didn't take this swindle to the people of Queensland at the last election;

Queenslanders don't need any more destructive road projects;

The Bligh Government keep closing down public schools;

and;

If the Bligh Government stopped using taxpayer dollars to subsidise private hospitals, more resources would be available for our public hospitals for the benefit of ALL Queenslanders.

Queen Julia

... The stark contrast between Bobby Moore and Brand Hewitt is telling. Today, it seems that no idea, no event, no talent, no personality, no resource of nature has value unless it is owned and branded. When the public water supply of Bolivia's second city, Cochabamba, was sold off to a foreign consortium, rainwater was included. The clouds became the property of multinationals - until the people fought back, and won.

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ralph Norris has seen his total pay packet surge about 80 per cent over the past year.

Mr Norris's total remuneration, including bonuses, rose to $16.2 million last financial year.

... Most Indigenous leaders support some form of change to the Australian constitution. Most of the current political party leaders have committed themselves to some measure of legal respect in the preamble.

Mr SCHWARTEN: [Rockhampton ALP] I take that endorsement from both sides of the parliament. I particularly want to thank the shadow minister who went on that program recently and did not agree with those sentiments at all or the sentiments of Mr Turner [Kevin Turner, Host 4BC's Real Estate Show] in calling the BSA corrupt. In Queensland anyone doing building work worth $3,300 or more is breaking the law if they are not appropriately licensed by the BSA. I have written to 4BC requesting that it repudiate Mr Turner’s very reckless and unprofessional comments of 4 August. I note that builders in Queensland advertise on 4BC and I would suggest to builders that they review their advertising package in light of what 4BC seems to have as its official policy, which is that unlicensed builders are the best people to deal with in Queensland. If I was a licensed builder I certainly would not be advertising on 4BC. I have also demanded that Mr Turner set the record straight and apologise to homeowners, tradespeople and the BSA. The BSA takes the job of protecting homeowners very seriously. I am, and I know the shadow minister is, cooperating with the inquiry being undertaken by KPMG. Every piece of legislation in this parliament dealing with building regulation has enjoyed bipartisan support. Of course, we can always do better. That is why we are having a review. To suggest that people not deal with a licensed contractor is brainless and highly dangerous to the economy of Queensland and to the building industry as well. I call on Mr Turner and his mate Nick Newton, who apparently is a licensed builder, to apologise to people they have put on the wrong track.

karl | 13 September, 2010 at 9:35 am |
im sure no one in Labor wants it either, its political suicide. orders might be coming from higher up

Jeremy | 13 September, 2010 at 9:40 am |
Where? God?

karl | 13 September, 2010 at 9:46 am |
dunno, its hard to see behind the associated entities whose actually running the ALP

Concerns have been raised about a partnership between the Federal Government and a drug awareness group run by members of the controversial Church of Scientology.

Mrs SMITH (Burleigh--ALP) (10.07 pm): Recently I attended a Princess Party and, by the end of the night, even I felt like a princess. The Lifehouse Project is a community project that was incorporated to assist young people at risk and the Princess Party is an event to encourage potentially at-risk young women, aged 14-18 years, to value and respect themselves, have confidence and reach their dreams. The girls at the Princess Party were from a variety of backgrounds, but had been nominated by their schools, school based youth health nurses, counsellors, family members and even self-referral. The day was an opportunity for them to be inspired by others, to help build their self-esteem and be assured that they were loved and respected.

Last week members may have seen a TV program called The Secret Millionaire. Carly Crutchfield appeared on the show. Carly was a motivational speaker for the Princess Party and she spoke with the girls from the heart. As I looked around the room I saw that they could relate to her. She may now be a millionaire, but they could see that her early teen years were not unlike their own.

Five hundred under-age girls at a function at Jupiters Hotel on the Gold Coast sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it was just the opposite. I congratulate Mr Stuart Wing, the CEO of Jupiters Hotel and Casino, for taking a leap of faith and sanctioning the Princess Party at his hotel. I think even his staff thought he had rocks in his head, but his faith in the girls and the organisers was justified. While security staff were strategically placed, they were highly visible and the safety of the girls was paramount. No-one got in without a pass and no-one got out without a parent or carer.

I acknowledge the enormous contribution of Ruth Knight to this event. Ruth has faced her own challenges but now puts all her energy into instilling in young women their self-worth. There are so many people involved in this event it is impossible to mention them all. However, I would like to acknowledge a number of those people who made the whole event possible.

Evolve Make-Up, a Gold Coast based company, provided 75 hairdressers and make-up artists during the afternoon to help girls with their hair and make-up in preparation for the formal dinner in the evening. There was a donation of 500 individually wrapped flowers--one for each girl as she entered the dining room--and a number of young men were on hand to escort each girl to her table. A beautiful two-course dinner and entertainment was provided that included a former member of the Ten Tenors, Scott Fields. Scott brought a tear to the eye of those present when he singled out a young woman with cerebral palsy and sang to her. She was delighted!

No-one knows what the future holds for these young women. But, with the support of so many mentors and sponsors, I hope they can be inspired and see that there are many people in the community who care about them. I particularly like the following verse from the book of Proverbs, ‘She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.’ What more could we want for our young women of the future?

One of the fastest growing regions on the Sunshine Coast is about to get its very own newspaper.

The Kawana Weekly will be launched on Wednesday as part of a revamp of community titles across the Sunshine Coast.

... Belinda Warren, the Daily’s former chief of staff, has been appointed editor in chief of community newspapers and will oversee major improvements to the papers being launched next week. Caloundra Weekly will now incorporate Caloundra City News, while Buderim Chronicle will incorporate the Buderim Weekly....

Wait List: No End In Sight

More than 2,000 Queenslanders are still waiting for cataract surgery in the pbulic system and will probably still be waiting in five years.

According to the Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan March 2010, over 2,500 people are waiting for the procedure.

This figure is more than any other procedure, including knee replacements and tonsillectomies. ...

Dr Brad Horsburg [President of the Australian Society of Ophthalmologists] said that generally patients waiting that long would give up, go to another public hospital or pay to have the surgery done at a private hospital. ...

Australian Pensioners and Superannuants League spokesperson Ray Ferguson said there had been many complaints about the cataract surgery waiting list.

"A lot of seniors and pensioners waiting for elective surgery are being forced into the private system to have it done," he said.

"This is turning the private health system into a gold mine.

"But 50 per cent of Australians don't have private health care because they can't afford it and just have to wait.

"Their only other choice is to let their sight deteriorate to an extent that they are socially excluded."

Brisbane seniors are being asked to take part in a University of Queensland study which looks at how sharing household noises, without conversation, can improve the quality of life for people living alone.

The project will explore the concept of sound gifts, or recordings of domestic sounds people are willing to share with family or friends.

Participants should be 50 years or older and live in the Greater Brisbane area.

They will be asked to take a researcher on a tour of their house and discuss the noises produced there during a normal day, and which sounds they like and dislike.

They will then be provided with a diary in which they recall their feelings about living independently, and a sound recorder to record household sounds.

A friend or relative who lives less than one hour's drive away will do the same, and later in the study the recordings will be exchanged and discussed.

The research will be used in developing technology which shares household noise between homes to reduce isolation for people living independently.

Phone Hanif Baharin on 0401-876-500.

The Copenhagen City Court ruled on September 2 that climate activists Natasha Verco, a 32-year-old activist from Australia, and Noah Weiss, a US student, were innocent of the charges against them.

How far is too far at a Xavier dinner?

... Neil Breen edits Australia's highest-selling newspaper, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sunday Telegraph. He's a Brisbane boy made good by his faithful commitment to News Limited's no-holds-barred approach to tabloid journalism. "So long as its entertaining," he told guests, swigging occasionally from the beer he'd taken up to the podium with his written speech.

The editor of a regional New South Wales newspaper has been sacked for comments he made about the death of Constable Bill Crews. ...

SHANE MCLEOD: Labor's loss of support to the Greens in the federal election appears to be true also at the state level in Queensland.

An opinion poll today shows Labor could lose power to the Opposition in Queensland in a landslide.

But it also shows the Greens support at 14 per cent, having picked up twice as much support as the Opposition since the last state election....

ANNIE GUEST: Libby Connors is a spokeswoman for the Queensland Greens. She says the Party could win seats at the 2012 Queensland election, because support in Brisbane is much higher than the statewide result.

ANNIE GUEST: It's not necessarily pie in the sky. I mean we just saw Andrew Wilkie win the seat of Denison on 21 per cent. We have achieved above that level in both the seat of Brisbane and the seat of Mt Cootha and on occasion in the seat of South Brisbane as well. So it's not inconceivable that the Green vote would be well above 20 per cent, because that's what we got at the last state election when the statewide vote was 8 per cent. So with a statewide vote of 14 per cent, it would mean in inner-city Brisbane we would expect to be higher and nudging 30. ...

The German music industry generated sales of over €5.5 billion ($7.01 billion) in 2009 in all categories including recorded music, publishing and live entertainment. The sector has 11,000 companies employing a total of 36,300 people.

... These research grants on top of the $43 m over five years earmarked for koalas clearly indicates that the Bligh Government has listened and acknowledged that critical action is needed now if there is any chance of koala survival in SEQ. The funding will focus on acquiring new habitat and rehabilitating existing habitat. Local governments will be assisted in developing new planning laws to assist Koala survival.

Unfortunately Wildlife Queensland, while acknowledging the Government’s recent actions, has major concerns that all these efforts won’t arrest the decline in the SEQ koala population.
However Wildlife Queensland lives in hope. ...

... MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The Year 9 and 10 Science class was learning about blood pH levels. The teacher got the students to prick their fingers using the one lance, wiping it with methylated spirits between goes.

ROSCOE TAYLOR: This is an incident that should never have happened.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Dr Roscoe Taylor is Tasmania's director of Public Health. ...

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Ms Thorp says she's expecting a full report when school resumes in a couple of weeks, but she insists such experiments will never happen again.

... NICK XENOPHON: The pleasant surprise here is that the findings of this inquiry went further than what I proposed. I proposed a public benefit test to be incorporated into the Income Tax Act.

The committee, the bipartisan committee found that not only should there be a public benefit test, but it ought to be administered by a charities commission which would have a role to supervise, to scrutinise not for profit organisations given that there are literally billions of dollars in tax concessions, tax free concessions that go to these organisations and it's in the public interest to have a level of scrutiny that is lacking in the current system.

This can't wait any longer. It's important that this reform be an urgent priority for the new government.

SABRA LANE: Liberal Senator Alan Eggleston was part of the committee.

ALAN EGGLESTON: It's time we went the way of the rest of the world and provided that kind of organisational structure to oversee not for profits and charities in this country. ...

Ben For School Captain!

... How do you hope to relate to students by running and possibly being elected?

I hope to shake them up a bit, I guess. By coming along and saying, “The school should get a condom machine and here is why!” I hope some students will start to think, “Christ, what’s this kid going on about?”.

They were angry and in no mood for platitudes.

The 400 people who crammed Lake Kawana Community Centre last night called for the State Government to disband water retailer Unitywater and return control to the Sunshine Coast Council.

They made it clear they did not believe their meters were being read, and had little faith in the accuracy of their accounts.

The meeting unanimously voted that meters should be read twice a year and a bill sent twice a year reflecting those readings. ...

If You've Had Enough, Complain.

twobob
Posted September 7, 2010 at 11:54 am
Piece after piece after piece by milne on the drum. And when I submit well worded and logic based criticisms of these pieces they are not posted.
I have taken to capturing screen shots of the process so that I can submit them to both an ABC ombudsman and to my local member of parliament so that ABC bias can be dealt with. Boy it makes me angry!

... But perhaps Hartcher should brood a second or two about donning wax wings and getting too near the sun king when it comes to writing decent, thoughtful, and insightful columns about politics, ones where the seams are hidden, and the incoherence and contradictions don't show up like flecks of dandruff on a black suit worn to a political funeral ...

... My only substantial media coverage, was one interview lasting five minutes on 4ZZZ.

The independents have come out swinging against Murdoch's crude bullying attempts to tell them what to do.

In essence, what swayed Oakeshott and Windsor to back Labor rather than the Coalition was the relentless hammering by Murdoch's hacks of the talking point that Australians really wanted an Abbott government.

Stephanie Rice has learnt just how costly an inappropriate tweet can be.

The Olympic gold medallist will be shopping for a car having been dumped by luxury car sponsor Jaguar, following the much publicised homophobic slur posted on Twitter earlier this week.

Rice, 22, posted the controversial tweet on the social networking site following the Wallabies' win over South Africa on Saturday night. ...

The communications watchdog has found a Sam Newman segment on Channel Nine's The AFL Footy Show breached the commercial television code and provoked severe ridicule.

In the show, aired 12 months ago, Newman held up a photo of a 107-year-old Malaysian woman and made repeated references to her new husband being "a monkey".

Panellist Brendan Fevola said: "You can't call him a monkey", but Newman then said the man was "not long out of the forest" and also appeared to compare the man to Serena Williams.

Today, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said that the Malaysian man had been held up to ridicule "on the basis of colour and race".

Channel Nine has offered to pay $200,000 to a charity if Mr Newman breaks the code again. ...

MISANO ADRIATICO, Italy — Shoya Tomizawa died after crashing and being hit by two other riders during Sunday’s Moto2 race at the San Marino Grand Prix, the second fatality to rock the sport in eight days.

The 19-year-old Tomizawa lost control of his bike and hit his head on the track as his bike flipped over. While on the track, he was then hit at full speed by riders Alex De Angelis and Scott Redding.

A statement on the MotoGP Web site said Tomizawa died of cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma.

Tomizawa was initially put on an artificial respirator at the Misano World Circuit medical center before he was taken to a hospital in Riccione, where he died.

“I’m truly devastated about what happened to Shoya,” De Angelis said. “I’m close to his family and all of them loved him a lot. ... In moments like this nothing seems to matter.

“I saw Shoya fall in front of me. It is the worst ever incident in my career. I tried everything I could to avoid him and hit his motorbike instead.”

De Angelis was treated at the track and allowed to leave. Redding was taken to a hospital to check on his condition.

The races continued and the riders were only informed of Tomizawa’s death at the end of their event....

A Question For Q & A

MALCOLM FRASER: It was only one part of the policy that was worse than Mr Whitlam, by no means the totality of whatever the government had done. I'm not sure how much stability there is in either of the parties. There's certainly a great yearning amongst both parties for a different approach, a broader approach, one that has some vision for the future of Australia, and one which really tackles difficult issues and is prepared to explain those issues and not respond to focus groups or today's polls or to pressure from New Corporation and - you think that's funny? Just look at the paper. Read that paper and read all their papers and see where their pressures come and where their purposes and objectives lie, not just in Australia but in the United States. There are attacks on Obama and in Britain also.

Runnerup Quote Of The Week

... I'm starting to think there are more cops on TV than in real life. In fact, there'd be no staffing problems at any station anywhere if all these "pretend" police were the real deal.

Iran 'stoning woman' to get 99 lashes

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, has also been sentenced to 99 lashes for a photo published of her without a headscarf, according to her son.

In an interview published on the website of the French magazine La Regle du Jeu and the blog Dentelles et Tchador, Mohammadi-Ashtiani's son Sajjad said they learned of the new punishment from released inmates.

He said that a prison judge confirmed that she was to be lashed for spreading "corruption and indecency" by the publication of a photograph of her without a headscarf that appeared in a British newspaper.

The Times of London published on August 28 a photo of a woman without a headscarf that it said was Mohammadi-Ashtiani, however on September 3 it said the attribution of the photo, which it received from one of her lawyers that has fled Iran, was incorrect. ...

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA PRESS RELEASE [5/12/07]

Lethal injection is another 'failed experiment' that 'has a corrosive effect on the medical profession,' says Amnesty International

Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, released the following statement regarding the 25th anniversary (on December 7) of lethal injection administered in the United States:

"In the past 25 years, the United States has carried out 929 executions by lethal injection. These include numerous botched executions that contradict the notion of a gentle death. Various autopsies have revealed severe, foot-long chemical burns, collapsed veins and multiple puncture marks on the skin. In some cases executions have lasted up to an hour, with prisoners visibly gasping for air or convulsing in visible pain. ...

Five executives of the company that operates Brisbane's Clem7 tunnel have received bonuses totalling more than $1 million despite the company posting a $1.67 billion loss last financial year.

... Senator LUDLAM-Thank you. My last question relates to a documentary called Hope in a Slingshot which was accepted by the ABC for broadcast some time ago now. Then a couple of months later, a decision was taken not to put it to air. What is the process for reviewing ABC content against your editorial policies? What happened in the instance of this particular documentary?

Father lied over disabled son and helped sink Labor MP

... Mr Sullivan made national headlines two days before the election when he questioned, during an ABC Radio public forum, why local constituent Robert Murphy would wait two years for his disabled son to see a specialist. ...

Mr Sullivan's response drew immediate scorn from the audience and made front page headlines the following day.

"What parent would wait two years to get a child who they believe has a disability," he said.

But Mr Murphy today admitted his family had not waited two years for help, as he had claimed.

Mr Murphy went on ABC Radio this morning to explain why he lied.

"I thought it was [two years]," Mr Murphy said.

"I mistakenly said it happened over two years.

"I didn't plan [the question], I didn't think it through properly. I shouldn't have said what I said." ...

"I just needed a bit of a hand, not only just for my son but for hundreds of other people that are in the sort of similar situation where they don't know who to go to or who to turn to to get help, to make sure that they can get help for their children." ...

... Mr Wilkie says he decided to back Labor after Ms Gillard agreed to several requests, including $340 million for the Royal Hobart Hospital and restrictions on poker machines. ...

As well as the $340 million for Hobart hospital, Ms Gillard has promised to open up a funding round of $1.8 billion for other hospitals.

Mr Wilkie says regional and rural hospitals should be considered as priorities in the applications for funding. ...

The leaders of Japan and Spain have agreed that Japan and the European Union should begin negotiations to conclude an economic partnership agreement, or EPA.

... Shame your ABC again sees fit to report this discredited rubbish as news.

Dear Brisbane Square Library,

A Catholic primary school principal in Perth has apologised to parents after a student dressed as Adolf Hitler won first place in class on a school dress-up day.

He"s been the hard-living, hard man of rock for over thirty years, but now Jimmy Barnes has given up the fast-paced city lifestyle for a beautiful Southern Highlands "tree-change." Both the larrikin and the legend, Jimmy takes Joh on a tour of his charming country retreat where he"s working on his much-anticipated upcoming album.

Mick and MND

About 1,000 leading photographers are protesting against rules that restrict them from taking photos of Australia's natural icons.

Australian panoramic photographer Ken Duncan says the Northern Territory's restrictions on access are the worst in Australia.

In the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, all commercial film crews, still photographers, artists and sound recordists need to apply for a permit to carry out commercial work in the park.

In Kakadu, the rules state that people or organisations wishing to capture images or record sound for commercial purposes should allow at least 14 days for their application to be reviewed.

Mr Duncan says there should be no copyright on nature.

"Uluru has become known as 'Ulu-rules' and Kakadu has become 'Kaka-don't'," he said. ...

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman may lower speed limits on streets on the fringe of Brisbane's CBD once the Northern Link project is finished.

... The trio of rural MPs plan to reconvene early today and meet for a few more hours before holding a press conference around mid-morning. They'll then address the National Press Club at lunchtime before possibly meeting with the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader. ...

Twenty-one Sunshine Coast Grammar teachers who may be left jobless at the end of the year received no warning that their employment was at risk, a union spokeswoman said yesterday.

Maria Campanini, Grammar"s careers counsellor and Independent Education Union of Australia representative, said "teacher morale is very low and people are very disappointed and disillusioned".

The school"s "restructure" was announced last week after a year-long strategic review of service delivery. ...

... CHARLOTTE GLENNIE: But many doctors are far from reassured. Dr Strahan [President of the Bundaberg and District Local Medical Association] says Bundaberg Hospital administrators have an overall goal to squeeze out visiting medical officers and replace them with more compliant overseas-trained doctors.

... "I wouldn"t give that paper the time of day," he said, referring to the Daily Telegraph.

... Queensland Transport Minister Rachel Nolan says the Government will stick with asset sales, because it is the right thing to do.

A minke whale has been spotted playing with its humpback cousins in the waters off Hervey Bay.

Queensland Health (QH) says it is reviewing the case of a man friom Ipswich west of Brisbane who suffered a stroke but left the emergency ward of Ipswich hospital because he was not seen by a doctor.

Queensland's dramatic rejection of the Gillard government in Saturday's election was less a backlash against Labor and more about the state returning to its natural conservative mode, according to some political commentators. ...

Queensland has long been seen by other states as more conservative - due in part to the politics of our longest-serving premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and One Nation founder, Ipswich's Pauline Hanson.

Brisbane might currently be trading off its image as an upbeat 'New World City', but experts say the reality is that a majority of Queensland voters remain conservative....

Australia's hung parliament may have been avoided if disgruntled Queensland voters in marginal seats had not taken the 'none of the above' option.

Analysis by brisbanetimes.com.au shows the gap between political rivals for nine closely fought federal electorates is smaller than the number of invalid ballot papers. ...

... First, there was early June, when you played at the wedding of legendary right-wing turd Rush Limbaugh. For you to insist that gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans folks deserve the right to marry, then play at the (fourth!) wedding of a man who has made a lucrative career scapegoating the very same people is beyond hypocrisy!

It's interesting that Darren Goodsir never bothered to ask Centrebet just how much is being wagered in this particular market.

It probably never crossed his tiny mind that Clive Palmer or some other right wing heavyweight might just be blowing a few grand placing strategic bets on a few alternative ALP leaders knowing full well some vacuous lightweight journalist will run the story about leadership instability. It would certainly be a lot cheaper than having to pay a mining tax.

The only thing lower than the standard of political debate in this country right now is the pitiful standard of journalism.

... After Labor"s 2007 election win, contrary to expectations, the government drip feed continued for the Australian, despite its many post-election attacks on the Rudd government. Bear in mind that the paper"s editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, had been a friend of Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan since his Brisbane days with the Courier Mail. [Rudd is godfather to Mitchell and Christine Jackman's child] In August last year Inside Canberrra newsletter revealed Rudd"s meeting with Mitchell in Mitchell"s office, accompanied by Wayne Swan, Julia Gillard and Lindsay Tanner. At this meeting Rudd confided in Mitchell his concern about the rise of China"s military power. In 2008 Mitchell was widely believed to be the source of a story in his paper of a conversation between Rudd (at Kirribilli House) and George Bush. The story claimed that when Rudd had spoken of the need to call a meeting of the G-20, Bush enquired "What"s the G-20?" Mitchell was a guest of Rudd at Kirribilli House at the time the phone call with Bush took place. [Rudd versus News Ltd., 'Inside Story' 9/7/09]

In this edition of Australian Story we meet someone whose role in the 2010 Federal Election will be hotly debated in the years to come.

From homeless teenager to the youngest ever leader of Australia's oldest union, Paul Howes is living a life accelerated.

Separated from his parents at fourteen and a father by twenty, Paul Howes took over as leader of the Australian Workers' Union at just twenty-six years of age. Two years later, after a meteoric rise, he intervened as one of the 'faceless men' who dispatched former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Our cameras followed Paul Howes on the gamble of his professional life as he waits alongside the rest of the country for the election outcome.

Come See Our Endangered Marsupials

State Visit
Friend of the Devil

... It was the first visit to New York for Mrs. Bartlett who is an official spokesperson for Brand Tasmania, a marketing program to promote products native to Australia's smallest state. The First Lady, who is tall, with blond highlights and an unpretentious manner, was eager to position hers as an island of the future. "Tasmania's being going through a bit of a renaissance," she explained as she sat in a suite at the Sofitel in midtown. (Through the window, she could see what she had to be reminded was called the Chrysler Building.) She enumerated Tasmania's industries: hydropower, mining, telecommunications, boatbuilding. "We have agriculture, aquaculture, and produce production," she said. Tasmanian sheep, she explained, provide some of the finest merino wool in the world - although, sheepish herself for a moment, she admitted that the red knit shrug she was wearing over a plum-colored dress was not of Tasmanian origin. ...

...The "quiet carriage" is on the way in Queensland's south-east.

The state government is trialling the concept for three months from today, following complaints from commuters that mobile music and other devices are shattering their serenity.

Those in the last carriage of all trains will be asked not to talk loudly or use mobile phones and other noisy devices via, ironically, on-board announcements. ...

Sorry no we wont be uploading a script for the measles story because it didn't make the 6pm version of PM which is what we work from.

Private hospital group Healthscope has boosted profits by 37 per cent ahead of a takeover by private equity firms.

Joan van Lieshout once famously declared the ‘hand of God’ had helped her win the mayoralty of Tweed Shire two years ago. Then two weeks ago, luck, fate or divine intervention again helped the Tweed councillor win the lucky number-one spot on the official Richmond ballot for Saturday’s federal election. The Liberal Party candidate is no doubt hoping her maker can again intervene to help her win the seat from Labor’s Justine Elliot, whose leader is a self-confessed (horror!) atheist. St Joan, as she was dubbed by Hastings Point residents for backing their fight against developers, has some strong religious connections: her CV names her as a ‘board member’ of Ibrahim Ministries International in Australia, a fundamentalist Christian group dedicated to evangelising muslims. It has links with the unspeakable Danny Nalliah of Catch the Fire Ministries who famously attributed the Victorian bush fire deaths to God punishing abortionists. Like Nalliah, the founder of Ibrahim Ministries, Daniel Scot, has been prosecuted under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act. Cr van Lieshout says the Scot she met over 10 years ago was providing outreach services for Muslims and setting up friendship centres.

A major study of profiles listed on lonely hearts' websites, including thousands of singles in Australia, has dispelled the "cougar" phenomenon as a myth.

Grog still flows in Alice Springs

Reporter: Katrina Bolton

The national emergency in the Northern Territory is still a reality in Alice Springs, where 'rivers of grog' still flow.

The Riverstage at Gardens Point could be moved and fitted with a semi-transparent roof under Brisbane City Council's plan to redevelop the precinct. ...

Under a draft design by architect Ed Haysom, the Riverstage will be moved several hundred metre back towards the Brisbane River, and fitted with a semi-transparent roof, large enough to shelter 2,000 concert-goers. ...

Four new spaces have been created under the redesign, including a plaza off the Goodwill Bridge with cafe, village green and a new road leading to the centre of the neighbouring Queensland University of Technology. ...

Best 2010 Election Campaign Protest Outfit Of The Week So Far

PETA spokeswoman, Lucy the Sheep, hopes to share her concerns about live export with Tony Abbott. AAP

One of the protesters who waited outside the National Press Club for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's final campaign address looked a bit sheepish.

Joining a flock of trade unionists campaigning against the coalition's workplace policy was Lucy the Sheep - a costumed spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

You could say Lucy is a well-seasoned campaigner, having pushed to give live animal exports the chop at the past two elections.

But on Tuesday she stepped out in a new outfit - a pair of red budgie smugglers to match those Mr Abbott has made infamous....

She wasn't the only one dressed up, with some public sector union members arriving in hazardous material suits.

With placards reading: "Abbott and Gazard are a hazard" - referring to the Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro, David Gazard - the group was protesting against coalition plans to cut the public service.

Meanwhile, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Tuesday showed a 27 per cent drop in live sheep exports in the June quarter and an 11 per cent drop in exports of live cattle.

What's Missing In This Election Campaign?

ELEANOR HALL: Well joining us now with their perspectives on which party offers the better vision on health policy are two health experts with somewhat different approaches and areas of expertise.

Jeff Kennett is the former Liberal premier of Victoria who revolutionised hospital policy in that state in the 1990s by introducing the casemix funding model that's now being touted nationally by both the Government and the Coalition. He's now the Chairman of the mental health body, Beyond Blue. He is in Melbourne.

And in Sydney we're joined by Dr John Dwyer, an emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales and the founder and former Chair of the Australian Healthcare Reform Alliance....

There Are A Herd Of Elephants In The Room, And The Media's Looking At The Gorillas

... The Government has announced some carbon farming initiatives whereas the opposition stand firm in their refusal to put a price on carbon.

The Greens are calling for a carbon tax in line with recommendations from the Garnaut report.

In this report: Andrew Macintosh, Associate Director ANU Centre for Climate Law and Policy. ...

Do The Media Ever Get Warned About The Entrapment And Illegal Surveillance Of Ordinary Citizens? Or Are Plebs And Lesser Royals Such As Fergie Fair Game?

The media have been warned to respect the privacy of Danish Crown Princess Mary during her stay in Tasmania. This is Mary's first trip home in two years.

Local and international media have set up camp outside the suburban West Hobart house of her sister, Jane Stephens.

They are waiting to catch a glimpse of the Tasmanian-born royal, who is visiting family in Hobart to celebrate recent news that she is expecting twins.

A plain clothes Tasmanian police officer and a Danish royal bodyguard today briefed the media, warning them not to breach privacy laws that were brought into effect three years ago. Sergeant Bob Batge told members of the media they could be jailed for up to a year if they publish or air images of the Princess taken through a window of the house. ...

Jam Your Employer Bonuses, Relocation Allowances And Threats To Cut Benefits Up Your Jacksie

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is set to unveil a jobs policy which will pay unemployed young people up to $6,500 for finding and keeping jobs.

Mr Abbott will announce his plans to introduce the Job Commitment Bonus in a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra today.

The bonus would pay $2,500 to people under the age of 30 - who have been unemployed for more than a year - if they get a job and keep it for more than 12 months.

If they keep the job for two years, then they will receive another payment of $4,000. ...

... Mr Aujard [President of SaveOurSBS] said that although SBS was already budgeted until mid 2012, voters wanted to be told now that government would increase base funding for SBS after that date.

“SBS needs a massive injection of funds so it can expand its television and Internet services in particular and be free of advertising. It’s ironic that although Labor has committed $43 billion for broadband rollout, it can’t commit a single cent to help SBS develop its Internet service. A tiny fraction of the $43 billion would more than cover all the things SBS so desperately needs to expand and be free of advertising.

“To date, it is only the Greens that have issued a promise that would increase funding for SBS so it could expand and be free of advertising backed up with legislation as per a Bill they already have in the Senate”. ...

Apparently Julia Gillard has agreed to debate Tony Abbott in Brisbane this Wednesday...

on a special episode of the ABC's Q&A!

Oh dear, David and Madonna and Rupert will not be pleased. ...

Don't Be A Donkey!

Mark Latham has revealed that he will be lodging a 'donkey vote' at this Saturday's election and has urged others to do the same.

The former Labor leader said that he intended to place a "totally blank" ballot in the box, in a 'journalistic' television appearance on the Channel Nine program, 60 Minutes, last night. ...

"Mostly, I've been portrayed as the villain," Latham told the audience last night.

"There's one important thing missing from this election campaign, and that's substance," he went on to say.

"The problem is, politics is no longer about policy, no longer about making Australia a better place.

"It's about power, gaining it and then keeping it at all costs."He deplored the campaign's 'empty slogans' and accused the major parties of "dumbing down politics"

Latham also conducted an interview with former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who accused Tony Abbott of oganising a slush fund, "which saw my imprisonment" and said of Ms Gillard, "I don't like her and I don't trust her."

Latham also interviewed Greens leader Bob Brown who calmly told him that both political parties had lost their way.

In the last twenty years, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has proven to be one of the most corrosive elements in Australian society. What would an elected Abbott Government do to reign in this unhealthy concentration of media power?

A proposal to turn the old Milton Tennis Centre into a park may have just saved the suburb's existing unit market from imploding, figures suggest.

Plans to turn the iconic but derelict 3.2 hectare site into an "Emporium" style precinct complete with residential, retail and commercial facilities were recently dashed after Brisbane City Council mayor Campbell Newman made the shock announcement that council wanted to buy the site and turn it into parklands.

Whilst some locals rejoiced in the news of a new green space, the plan was widely criticised by industry experts and the public, angry that the prime inner city land would not be used for housing. ...

Students at a Brisbane state high school last month were given evangelical religious pamphlets printed in the United States that arrived at the school in the mail system.

The students' names were hand-written on the envelopes but there was no indication of who had sent them.

The students' teacher passed on the mail, as he was obliged by law to do, but he said he had ''no idea'' where they had come from.

The pamphlet, entitled Changed from the Inside Out, was printed in Illinois and included excerpts from Next Door Savior, a book written by evangelical preacher, Max Lucado.

It includes ''born again'' and biblical references from Galatians, Corinthians and Philippians and phrases such as ''When you believe in Christ, Christ works a miracle in you. You are permanently purified and empowered by God himself.'' ...

Education Queensland's executive director of school operations, Marg Pethyagoda said school principals used their discretion to determine if and how any material or publication is distributed to students.

She said state schools had no control over groups that sent unsolicited mail. ...

… The latest politician to stand on their virtual soapbox is Wendy Francis, the lead Family First senate candidate for Queensland. Hot on the heels of her televised morning-show debate, Francis has used her Twitter to let Australian voters know a few things.

She wants voters to know that "Australia would never recover from legalising gay marriage". She wants voters to know that gay people have "no right to dictate to mainstream Australia". (That one's a little odd, because one would have thought that gay people were part of mainstream Australia, but you live and learn.)

Most fascinatingly, though, she wants voters to know that "legitimising gay marriage is like legalising child abuse". At least, she did want to tell us that - the post has been deleted now, scrubbed from the virtual blackboard. …

Marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman. Family First is committed to promoting policies that support marriage and hold families together.

... LEIGH SALES: Shouldn't a Labor government unashamedly preference public schools over private schools?

CHRIS BOWEN: A Labor government should unashamedly preference education, and that's exactly what we've done. And there are some people who say we've spent too much money on education over the last few years. Well I'll cop that criticism. We've spent money on public schools, private schools, Catholic schools, primary schools, high schools and make no apologies for that. We have been the most pro-education government in history - public and private and Catholic, and that's a good thing.

LEIGH SALES: Well on the policy that was announced yesterday of payments for schools that are demonstrating improvement, up to $100,000 in some cases, wouldn't you be better off giving that money to schools that aren't improving?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, this is about how schools add value. We were - there were a lot of schools, and I've seen them, with people from low socio-economic backgrounds who might not, you know, make the headlines each year in the HSC, but they add value, they bring people up, they improve their results. That's the sort of achievement we need. That's the sort of encouragement we need to give schools. Now, yes, of course, if a school is struggling, we'll get in and help them as well, and Julia Gillard when she was education minister outlined plans to do that. But we also need to, of course, reward excellent results for schools and school communities which add value in what are sometimes very difficult circumstances. ...

No History (Recent Or Otherwise), No Context, No Background - So Why?

Australian Rules Football players in Nauru say they're hopeful a player from the Pacific nation will one day take to the field in the AFL.

Many Pacific players have made their way to the Australian Football league, but none yet for Nauru, where the game is the unofficial national sport.

Sports Minister Mathew Batsiua says for many of the players, that is the dream. ...

As it grapples with screening nearly 500 illegal migrants intercepted off the B.C. coast, the Canadian government is operating on the assumption that two more shiploads of potential asylum seekers are preparing to sail here from Southeast Asia.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Friday he considers the MV Sun Sea a “test boat” to probe Canada’s receptiveness to ship-borne refugee claims – part of a wider human smuggling operation with designs on sending more illegals here.

“This particular situation is being observed by others who may have similar intentions and I think it's very important that Canada deals with the situation in a clear and decisive way,” Mr. Toews told reporters in Victoria, where the migrant ship is docked.

“I don’t view this as an isolated, independent act.”

He declined to say how many more vessels are expected but a federal government source said Ottawa puts stock in reports that two foreign ships are in South Asian waters collecting passengers with an eye to coming here.

Mr. Toews said the case of the Thai-registered Sun Sea, which Canada was unable to stop despite knowing about its voyage for two-and-a-half months, shows this country must press foreign nations to do more to discourage such vessels.

“What this case demonstrates is a need to work, on an international basis, with our allies rather than viewing this as a problem that Canadians can solve on their own,” he said. ...

COMMUNITY BROADCASTING LAUNCHES 2010 ELECTION CAMPAIGN

The community broadcasting sector launches its election campaign today, rallying more than 500 community broadcasting services around the country to seek candidates support for Australia's largest media sector.

The campaign website is www.communitymediavotes.org.au

Community Media Votes is the election campaign that sees community broadcasting demand the major political parties acknowledge its valuable contribution to media diversity.

Community Media Votes is based on Vision 2015, a five-year plan to develop the sector with increased funding for content, infrastructure, training and co-ordination for community involvement.

The national representative bodies of community broadcasting are asking the major political parties to:

· Adopt a community broadcasting policy that reflects Vision 2015
· Release the policy prior to the Federal Election on 21 August
· Provide fully funded commitments to support the policy.

"In 2007, neither the Coalition nor the Labor Party announced a media policy, ultimately leaving all of us in the dark about the future of Australian media," said Deborah Welch, President of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.

"We have over 9 million radio listeners and 3.5 million community TV viewers around Australia. They want to know how each party sees the future of community broadcasting before they vote in the upcoming election."

From Kangaroo Island to Thursday Island, Christmas Island to Palm Island, hundreds of stations and thousands of volunteers will be campaigning as part of Community Media Votes.

In the studio, in the street and online, community broadcasting's 23,000 volunteers will be telling their local MPs and voters just how important their station is to their community.

"Community broadcasting connects diverse communities across urban, regional and rural Australia," said Ms Welch.

"I encourage candidates in the 2010 election to acknowledge the important role of our sector and ensure their party makes a commitment that backs that up"

August 12, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- I can barely believe the words I am writing are not a nightmare from which I will soon wake up.

A third of Pakistan is now under water, and fresh rainfall threatens two more waves of flooding in the southern Sindh province....

Get A Jolt For Ya Volt

The 'Tweed Shire Echo' report [12/8/10]:

The unsuccessful 2001 Labor candidate for Richmond, Jenny McAllister, now an ALP senior vice president and chair of the NSW government's Electric Vehicles Taskforce, finds herself in the spotlight again after her meetings with Better Place Australia, the company in which Premier Kristina Keneally's husband, Ben Keneally, is a senior executive and holds 3.2 million management shares. SMH has revealed that Better Place was exclusively approached to participate in a bid to run an electric vehicle recharging trial by the state-owned Energy Australia. It turns out that McAllister is also the co-founder, with Ms Keneally, of the Labor Environment Action Network, which aims to 'influence the policies of the ALP and Labor parliamentary caucuses' on climate and sustainability issues.

Ark Tribe’s Struggle Is Our Struggle

Last month, thousands of people around the country marched in solidarity with Ark Tribe, the construction worker from Adelaide who faces six months’ jail for refusing to attend an interview with the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

Adorned with emblems of union pride, rank and file union members, representatives from unions, political parties and the broader community, took to the streets to send a clear message to the government and the big construction bosses that “If Ark goes in, we'll go out''.

But why has this one individual case caused so much outrage? And what does this case mean for young workers and their rights?

The Ark Tribe case evolved out of a dispute between building workers and Hindmarsh Construction over safety issues on a Flinders University site.

The bosses refused to act, even after workers drew up a petition for safety improvements, and the union was denied entry to the workplace. An intervention by Safe Work SA validated the workers concerns; Hindmarsh Construction was compelled to resolve the issue, and work resumed as normal.

This dispute should have ended there. But a few months later, investigators from the ABCC used coercive powers to gather information about who was involved in organising the dispute.

Tribe, who was concerned that any information he gave the ABCC would be used to penalise his fellow workers, refused to cooperate with their investigation, and is now facing charges. ...

"Go after the teacher unions": Rupert Murdoch, DAVOS January 2009

The Queensland Teachers' Union has attacked the government for issuing a media release about the suspension of two state school teachers.

The education department yesterday said it had suspended two unnamed teachers, from an unidentified school, over "serious allegations of inappropriate behaviour".

An investigation by the department's ethical standards unit is under way.

Union president Steve Ryan on Tuesday said the media release was "bizarre" and unprecedented. He raised concerns that it could herald a new era of teachers on trial by media.

He said normal protocol was to suspend teachers during the course of such investigations and, where appropriate, to inform school communities but a media release was over the top.

"There's no need for the announcement to be made. Certainly in terms of natural justice it seems a rather bizarre turn of events," Mr Ryan said.

"And it got worse this afternoon, with the premier making an announcement which seems highly bizarre as well."

He said many complaints that led to teachers being suspended were ultimately found to be vexatious.

Earlier today, Premier Anna Bligh said she could not provide further details about the case due to confidentiality issues.

"Education Queensland has received a serious complaint involving two teachers," she told reporters in Brisbane.

"They have been suspended, they have been removed from the school, and they (Education Queensland) will take all of those matters seriously and children will be protected."

Ms Bligh could not confirm when the teachers were suspended.

The department's media statement did not mention the teachers' names or school.

AAP

Dawson

ELEANOR HALL: To the marginal Queensland seat of Dawson now where a furore has erupted over the Liberal National Party candidate.

The LNP had been hopeful of claiming the seat back from Labor, but its candidate George Christensen is now spending the day apologising for making sexist and anti-semitic comments that were published in a student newsletter in 1998.

In Brisbane, Charlotte Glennie reports.

Typical of many regional centres around Australia, Mackay in Queensland is a place that appears to have it all - tourism, lucrative mines and lush farmlands. But like so many other places, it struggles to properly take care of members of the community who are mentally ill. Now reporter Quentin McDermott asks, why have Australia's Governments deserted those who need their help most?

On 27th December 2005 a young woman, Joanna Scriha, was bashed to death in bushland near the Queensland town of Mackay. The killer was her boyfriend. Both had been diagnosed with a mental illness. Both, at different times, had been discharged from the Mackay Base Hospital psychiatric unit because of pressure to free up the beds. ...

Pakistan Floods, Russia Heat Fit Climate Trend

OSLO (Reuters 9/8/10) - Devastating floods in Pakistan and Russia's heatwave match predictions of extremes caused by global warming even though it is impossible to blame mankind for single severe weather events, scientists say.

This year is on track to be the warmest since reliable temperature records began in the mid-19th century, beating 1998, mainly due to a build-up of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, according to the U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

"We will always have climate extremes. But it looks like climate change is exacerbating the intensity of the extremes," said Omar Baddour, chief of climate data management applications at WMO headquarters in Geneva.

"It is too early to point to a human fingerprint" behind individual weather events, he said.

Recent extremes include mudslides in China and heat records from Finland to Kuwait -- adding to evidence of a changing climate even as U.N. negotiations on a new global treaty for costly cuts in greenhouse gas emissions have stalled.

Reinsurer Munich Re said a natural catastrophe database it runs "shows that the number of extreme weather events like windstorm and floods has tripled since 1980, and the trend is expected to persist."

The worst floods in Pakistan in 80 years have killed more than 1,600 people and left 2 million homeless.

"Global warming is one reason" for the rare spate of weather extremes, said Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe, a professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

DOWNPOURS

He pointed to the heatwave and related forest fires in Russia, floods in Pakistan, rains in China and downpours in countries including Germany and Poland. "We have four such extremes in the last few weeks. This is very seldom," he said. ...

Rupert Murdoch Summons Gillard And Abbott To Rooty Hill

If you live in Western Sydney and think this debate is about you. You're wrong. ...

ABC Coast FM Frontrunner To Win "SEQ's Most Vapid Election Coverage" Award

Where Are Our Leaders?

The parents of Bali Nine drug smuggler Scott Rush will fly from Brisbane to Indonesia this morning ahead of a last ditch appeal to save their son from the death sentence.

Rush was convicted of attempting to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from Bali into Australia in 2005.

His legal team has argued he was a courier and not the mastermind of the operation

His father Lee Rush says the brief appeal hearing will be heard in Indonesia next Wednesday and it is a worrying time for the family. ...

Bali is not a paradise for some ...

What if your son or daughter
made a mistake?
Would you abandon them? Let them rot?

Use them as a political pawn?

I don't think so.

I think you would you do everything in your power
to bring them home.

You would say:

"While there is life in his body, I will be there"

Are we civilised, or a nation of barbarians?
You are our leader.
Please use your influence to commute this death sentence.

Most Australian kids aren't as privileged as yours.
Sometimes they stuff up.
Does that mean they should be put to death by firing squad?

How would you feel if your son or daughter said:

"Mum. Dad. Hope should be taken out of the dictionary"

Greens leader Bob Brown reiterated the party's profound opposition to the death penalty after Andrew Chan was sentenced to death by firing squad by a Bali court today.

"The Greens oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and find the practice abhorrent.

"We support strong penalties for drug traffickers but we believe execution is an inhumane practice, effectively it is judicial murder.

"We call on the Howard government to immediately intensify its lobbying of the Indonesian Government for clemency for Andrew Chan and any other Bali 9 defendant sentenced to death," Senator Brown said.

You can be confident that Senator Brown, and his colleagues, have, and will, continue to speak out on this issue and to do what they can to secure the protection of all Australian citizens from application of the death penalty imposed by overseas jurisdictions.

... R.I.M. officials flatly denied last week that the company had cut deals with certain countries to grant authorities special access to the BlackBerry system. They also said R.I.M. would not compromise the security of its system.

At the same time, R.I.M. says it complies with regulatory requirements around the world.

But the company, which is generally known for its secrecy, has declined to provide details on its discussions with governments or to explain how it complies with laws around the world that require communications companies to grant government agencies access to their systems for lawful intercepts. This has kept alive suspicions in some foreign capitals and among computer security experts in the United States that R.I.M. has made concessions to some countries.

“There are all kinds of rumors that various deals have been struck around the world, including in the United States, but we don’t know what those deals are,” said Leslie Harris, chief executive of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which is based in Washington, and a board member of the Global Network Initiative, a coalition of companies and nonprofit groups that seeks to protect privacy and free expression on the Internet.

Speaking privately, several United States law enforcement and security officials would not say whether the government has a way to decrypt BlackBerry messages, explaining that they were reluctant to divulge whether any particular service posed difficulties. But there has been little public sign of law enforcement frustration with BlackBerry encryption. ...

The "Did You Know?" Award Of The Week

... After the campaign launches, parties themselves are responsible for all their own expenses. ...

A Question For The Prime Minister

In the last twenty years, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has proven to be one of the most corrosive elements in Australian society. What would an elected Gillard Government do to reign in this unhealthy concentration of media power?

Dishonourable Intentions

CBS News report [26/7/10]:

On August 28, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and others will appear at what they are calling the "Restoring Honor Rally" at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

The event, according to Beck's website, is designed to honor "our heroes, our heritage and our future." It "pays tribute to America's service personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our nation's founding principles of integrity, truth and honor."

"Our freedom is possible only if we remain virtuous," the site says. "Help us restore the values that founded this great nation." ...

In a release today, the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence noted that the National Rifle Association placed an advertisement for the event outside its magazine First Freedom.

The Brady Center complained that the NRA, Beck and others involved with the rally are "using the anniversary and site of Dr. Martin Luther King's 1963 March on Washington."

Wrote Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke: "Are Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, the NRA's Wayne LaPierre...at this place and time, the new keepers of King's dream and of Lincoln's legacy? Or do they, with this event at this place and time, in one of the boldest and most public ways imaginable, mock, and indeed, slander, everything for which these men so nobly stood, and for which they died?"

Fidel Castro Back In Parliament, Speaks Against War

HAVANA (Reuters) 7/8/10 - Former Cuban President Fidel Castro addressed the island's parliament for the first time in four years on Saturday and appealed to world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, to avoid a nuclear war. ...

In 2008, he formally handed over the presidency of communist-ruled Cuba to his younger brother Raul Castro.

Helped to walk in by aides, the bearded leader was greeted in the parliament by a standing ovation and shouts of "Viva Fidel."

Castro opened the special assembly session, which had been requested by him, by delivering a 12-minute prepared speech in a firm, clear, but sometimes halting voice.

He urged world leaders to persuade Obama not to unleash a nuclear strike against Iran, which he said could occur if Tehran resisted U.S. and Israeli efforts to enforce international sanctions against it for its nuclear activities.

"Obama wouldn't give the order if we persuade him ... we're making a contribution to this positive effort," he said.

He said he was sure that China and "the Soviets" -- an apparent reference to Russia, the former Soviet Union -- did not want a world nuclear war and would work to avoid it.

Castro also referred to the case of one of five convicted Cuban spies jailed in the United States, Gerardo Hernandez, saying he hoped his wife would be allowed to visit him or that he could even be released.

... Fidel Castro, who has also predicted a U.S. clash with North Korea, urged Obama on Wednesday to avoid a nuclear confrontation, which he described as "now virtually inevitable."

The former president has met Cuban diplomats, economists and intellectuals over the last month, as well as visiting the national aquarium and launching his new book.

But Fidel Castro has remained mute, at least in public, on the cautious domestic reform policies of his younger brother, which included a recent announcement that more self-employed workers would be allowed in the state-dominated economy.

He has, however, kept up regular commentaries since 2007 on international affairs, published by state media. These focus especially on his favorite subjects, such as his views on the threat to humanity posed by U.S.-led capitalism and by global warming and climate change.

Giant Ice Island Breaks Away From Greenland

An ice island measuring 260 square kilometres broke off from one of Greenland's two main glaciers, scientists say, the biggest such event in the Arctic in nearly 50 years.

The new ice island, which broke off on Thursday, will enter a remote place called the Nares Strait, about 1,000 kilometres south of the North Pole between Greenland and Canada.

Professor of ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware, Andreas Muenchow, said he had expected an ice chunk to break off from the Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest remaining ones in Greenland, because it had been growing in size for seven or eight years. But he did not expect it to be so large. ...

Will There Be A Display Revealing Who Killed 'Art2Lunch'? (And Why?)

2010: A ZED ODYSSEY EXHIBITION @ THE BLEEDING HEART GALLERY 13 AUGUST 2010 TO 20 AUGUST 2010

As part of this year’s Radiothon and 35th Birthday celebrations, 4ZZZ will once again partner with the Bleeding Heart Gallery to present an exhibition of epic proportions!

Volunteers at the station have been working hard to restore and collect a bucket load of memorabilia and fantastic historical recordings to share with the general public.

Launching with an opening night on Friday August 13, the exhibition will run for a week and feature aural, visual and textural delights.

On display will be posters, photos and publications as well as some audio recordings covering fascinating political and musical moments from Brisbane's past.

This promises to be an amazing event as Brisbane's longest running community radio station displays mementos from a rich, diverse and sometimes controversial past.

Trash Video To Close (Again)

In some sad news for Brisbane film fans and cult cinephiles, Andrew Leavold has decided to leave Trash Video, the unique store he set up 15 years ago. Moving on to concentrate on a PhD and some filmmaking of his own, Leavold is leaving the door open to (serious) offers from anyone interested in taking over the business, but will begin selling stock Aug 7 with the West End store's doors scheduled to close Aug 31 if no one steps up. Trash Video has long been Australia's best receptacle of cult, genre and art-house cinema on film and DVD, and its closure is certain to be widely felt.

The Liberals Took Australia Back To The 1950s, Labor Wants To Take Us Back To the Nineteenth Century

... Independent MP Clover Moore introduced a bill in June that seeks to legalise adoption for gay couples.

But Anglicare has written to MPs urging them to vote against the bill and is threatening to withdraw its adoption services if the laws are introduced.

Community Services Minister Linda Burney says Cabinet will this week discuss amending the bill so Anglicare and Catholic Agency, Centacare, can refuse gay couples adoption rights.

"Their argument - and I respect their argument - is that it is an anomaly to them; it's not part of what their faith can, or believes in, or can cope with," she said. ...

... Of course it’s a disgrace for Anglicare to play politics with the provision of a fundamentally-needed service (what an ugly look for a supposedly humanitarian organisation) – but it’s more of a disgrace that governments have let themselves (and we’ve let them let themselves) become so dependent on these organisations that this kind of threat is in some way persuasive. They’re kind of like loan sharks – they offer to help the government out of a jam, and then threaten to break its kneecaps if it ever stands up to them.

Reminds me of the dearth of drug rehabilitation services provided here in Victoria, which means that young addicts are regularly given a choice of reoffending, staying in jail, or being bailed to the care of a religious group that will use the rehabilitation opportunity to indoctrinate the patient in their religious beliefs. Join their cult or you get no help, says the government.

Governments being addicted to outsourcing their responsibilities in this way is a serious problem. And the only way to beat it is to take the first step to weaning themselves off it: call Anglicare’s bluff, and increase the funding for the government service to pick up the slack. Where will they find the money? Look at cutting the religions’ special tax-free status, which is only there because of exactly this sort of bluff. Seriously, CALL IT. ...

Mainstream Media Deliberately Failing Australians

... In effect the Press Gallery wants to have it both ways. It is insistent this is a fascinating campaign, and that we should be giving our time and money to take in their coverage of it. But if we do, we’re treated to a parade of cynicism and triviality that has to be seen to be believed.

There was another splendid MSM moment yesterday, during the press conference by the Prime Minister following the release of the Orgill Report. After my colleague Possum pointed out on Twitter that a question directed to Gillard on the report was particularly asinine, he was rebuked by The Australian journalist Matt Franklin. “Let the professionals do their job Possum,” Franklin tweeted back.

Professional what, one wonders. ...

Greens Push For Indigenous Hearing Treatment

The Greens say sweeping reforms are needed to combat hearing difficulties among children, especially those living in Aboriginal communities.

The call comes as Labor and the Coalition are accused of ignoring Indigenous health issues during the federal election campaign.

Greens health and Indigenous issues spokeswoman Rachel Siewert says the party will be working to push a range of policies through Parliament after the election.

They include universal hearing tests for school-aged children, special training for teachers working in Aboriginal communities and sound field systems in all classrooms where there is a significant proportion of Indigenous students.

Senator Siewert says the measures would be costly but tackling hearing health in children will save money in the future. ...

Senator Siewert says while hearing tests are universal for babies, that is not enough.

"Newborn screening doesn't pick up all hearing loss," she said.

"The year that you start school is the year that you're more likely to develop hearing loss." ...

Are You Happy With The Government Giving Your Money To These Bigots?

Major New South Wales adoption agency Anglicare is threatening to withdraw its services if the State Parliament passes a bill allowing same-sex couples to adopt.

Anglicare is one of the three accredited non-government adoption agencies in the state.

Chief executive Peter Kell has written to MPs outlining 11 reasons why the bill should be rejected, including that children need the opportunity to have both a mother and a father.

He says adoption is not a gay rights issue but needs to be carried out in the interests of the child.

Mr Kell says MPs should take a conservative approach when it comes to a conscience vote on the issue.

"Our understanding of how families are best constructed is that children need the opportunity to have both a mother and a father," he said.

"Men and women compliment each other and the optimal care for children really consists of being in a family for both a mother and a father."

Mr Kell says if passed, faith-based adoption agencies should be exempt from the legislation.

...

Tony Burke has let slip the government has long held advice showing the practice of turning back asylum seekers does not work, undermining his own party's determination to do so with the Oceanic Viking refugees.

Mr Burke, the Minister for Sustainable Population, referred to the advice when trying to discredit the opposition's plan to turn back boats at a debate hosted by the National Press Club. According to Mr Burke, intelligence received by Labor upon taking office in 2007 said: ''If you try to turn a boat back, no country will take them.''

The advice was supplied by the Australian Defence Force's Northern Command and would have been known to the Howard government, he said.

Pressed on why the former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, would then have ignored such advice to send 78 asylum seekers back to Indonesia last year, Mr Burke said he was not privy to the rationale. ''I was not in the room. I was not part of that decision-making process,'' he said.

Such advice is significant because had the Rudd government followed it, an embarrassing diplomatic stalemate could have been avoided. ...

Yesterday's debate in Canberra was ostensibly about population policy. Mr Burke argued the population debate centred around the sustainable distribution of people across the country, not immigration.

Two-thirds of population growth is driven by overseas migration. The other third is by natural increase.

By contrast, Mr Morrison tried to square the debate solely on immigration, in particular, asylum seekers, who account for 13,750 places in the migration program.

The sensitivity of the debate was drawn into sharp focus by the quick eviction of protesters who interrupted Mr Morrison's speech.

Hey ABC, How About Some Disclosure?

TICKY FULLERTON, PRESENTER: Shares in News Corporation surged ahead today after the company roared back into the black.

Helped by the hit movie Avatar and a record performance from its cable television divison, full year earnings were just under $3 billion.

... ANDREW ROBERTSON: The Avatar effect saw the movie division lift its earnings by 60 per cent. The biggest division, cable TV, was up 37 per cent. Newspaper profits rose 14 per cent, while the best performing division was the much smaller Harper Collins book publishers, helped by 19 number one best sellers throughout the year. ...

What Is The Difference Between An "Aussie Battler" And "People Living In Low Income Households"?

Aussie battlers are almost 15% more highly stressed than the rest of the country. That’s according to research conducted for Lifeline’s Stress Down Day.

People living in low income households are the least stressed, with people in high income households coming second, leaving people in middle income households as the most stressed.

Low income households are judged as households living on less than $40,000, middle income are households on $41,000 to $79,000 and high income households are households on more than $80,000. ...

People who are feeling high levels of stress can go to the Lifeline website and download a self help tool kit that can give them some handy hints on stress management. People can also ring Lifeline anytime on 13 11 14 and talk to one of their trained support people. ...

Protesters had coal trains backed up for kilometres at the small mining town of Collinsville, inland from Bowen, north Queensland, on July 26. They were protesting against the dust and noise of the trains, and the plan to upgrade the rail line to bring up to 70 coal trains a day through their town.

About 15 coal trains a day rumble through the middle of Collinsville. The residents picketed the line for three days, bringing coal train traffic to a complete halt.

Up to 40 people at a time blockaded the line, and set up camp with tents and barbecues. They were supporting the community’s demand for Queensland Rail (QR) to build a rail diversion around the town. ...

Why Can't The Vatican Pay For This?

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the Government will put $1.5 million towards the cost of celebrating the canonisation of Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop.

The canonisation ceremony will take place in Rome in October. The Government will provide funding to send a delegation of youth and Indigenous representatives to the ceremony. ...

Two people died and another was injured in a fire on Wednesday at the Huelva refinery in Spain run by oil firm Cepsa, a company official said.

The official was unable to say whether production had been affected at the refinery in southeast Spain, which normally processes about 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

“The fire broke out on the production line into a tank. Plant and local firemen are working to put out the fire,” he said by telephone, adding the fire had since been extinguished.

Television pictures earlier showed plumes of smoke rising from the refinery and a worker being taken on board a helicopter on a stretcher.

“Cepsa expresses its deepest sympathy to the victims´ families and is at their and the authorities´ service in order to explain the events,” the company said in a statement.

Cepsa owns three of Spain´s 10 oil refineries.

... FELICITY OGILVIE: Almost a million Australians have been prescribed the anti-smoking drug Champix since it went on sale in 2008. The company that makes the drug, Pfizer Australia, says Champix stops cravings by affecting nicotine receptors in smokers' brains. But it's what's going on in smokers' heads when they take Champix that has many people worried.

ABC radio presenter, Richard Stubbs, called the morning show in Melbourne today with a personal tale of his partner's experience with Champix.

RICHARD STUBBS: She became erratic, irritable. She became what I would describe as unusually morbid. And I noted, yeah I noted very quickly really big behavioural changes.

JON FAINE: And when she got off the Champix, did that all go away?

RICHARD STUBBS: Yeah, absolutely.

FELICITY OGILVIE: The TGA has put out a warning to doctors that 15 Australians who've taken Champix have committed suicide and almost 200 others felt suicidal. But the drug won't be taken off the market because suicidal feelings are also one of the symptoms of withdrawing from nicotine, and the TGA can't say if withdrawals or the drug is too blame. ...

Thanks Neoliberals!

MARK COLVIN: Is your super ripping you off?

An ABC investigation has revealed that the returns on the more than $1 trillion of savings held in the super system are scandalously low.

The ABC has gone beyond the industry research, which looks at the bigger balance funds, to analyse returns on the entire pool of money in the system. And in real terms, the money is going nowhere, barely beating the inflation rate over the past 14 years, and below inflation - going backwards, over the past 10.

The investigation also shows that combined, the generous tax breaks on super and the billions eaten away in fees, cost far more than the age pension.

Economics Correspondent Stephen Long has the story....

STEPHEN LONG: Australian Super found that one manager it hired would sell a stock and another one would buy it, with no net gain for the fund portfolio.

MARK DELANEY: [Chief Investment Officer, Australia's biggest super fund] So what we are doing is we're paying out fees for something which isn't achieving any outcome.

STEPHEN LONG: Now half the money this fund allocates to Australian share investment is passively managed; it merely tracks the broad share market index and the returns are just as good, with fewer fees.

Fees are one super-sized issue; another, the massive tax breaks to encourage people to put money into super, which overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy.

... ALEX DUNNIN: [research director at Rainmaker, a specialist information company that analyses superannuation] Well the cost of superannuation tax concessions in total in Australia is about $26 billion; that's almost as much as the cost of the aged pension itself. ...

Aussie Solar Research Slashed

I received an email a couple of days ago from one of Australia’s most respected young solar energy scientists, Nicole Keuper, with some devastating news: the world renowned Australian Research Council Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence, based at the University of New South Wales, has had its funding slashed by the Australian Research Council. It will lose $25 million over the next 7 years. ...

H.R. 847, James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act Rejected by House Vote

A bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust fell short in the House on Thursday, raising the possibility that the bulk of compensation for the ill will come from a legal settlement hammered out in the federal courts.

The bill would have provided free health care and compensation payments to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who fell ill after working in the trade center ruins.

It failed to win the needed two-thirds majority, 255-159. The vote was largely along party lines, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats supporting the measure.

For weeks, a judge and teams of lawyers have been urging 10,000 former ground zero workers to sign on to a court-supervised settlement that would split $713 million among people who developed respiratory problems and other illnesses after inhaling trade center ash.

The court deal shares some similarities with the aid program that the federal legislation would have created, but it involves far less money. Only the most seriously ill of the thousands of police officers, firefighters and construction workers suing New York City over their exposure to the dust would be eligible for a hefty payout. ...

Has Russia's Heat Wave Changed Stance on Climate Change?

... At a meeting of international sporting officials in Moscow on July 30, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that in 14 regions of the country, "practically everything is burning. The weather is anomalously hot." Then, as TV cameras zoomed in on the perspiration shining on his forehead, Medvedev announced, "What's happening with the planet's climate right now needs to be a wake-up call to all of us, meaning all heads of state, all heads of social organizations, in order to take a more energetic approach to countering the global changes to the climate." ...

What would you ask if you were a journalist attending Nationals Leader Warren Truss' address at the National Press Club today?

You might ask about the Mining Tax, the CPRS, the Murray Darling, mining vs agriculture, parental leave or other policies.

Perhaps. But if you were writing for News Ltd., your priority would be to dogwhistle:

"Do you find burkas confronting?"

Truss responded by asserting that people should be able to wear what they choose.

What A Cop Out!

No changes will be made to the way private schools are funded until at least 2014, the Federal Government has confirmed.

The decision has been slammed by the Australian Education Union, which has accused Labor of caving in to the demands of private schools.

When she was education minister Julia Gillard announced in April a comprehensive review of schools' funding with the current arrangement due to expire in 2012.

But she has today announced that if Labor is re-elected it would keep funding in real terms for private schools in place until the end of 2013.

She says this is because school communities need funding certainty. ...

August 03, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- It is not unusual for members of the diminishing upper middle class to drop $20,000 or $30,000 on a big wedding. But for celebrities this large sum wouldn’t cover the wedding dress or the flowers.

When country music star Keith Urban married actress Nicole Kidman in 2006, their wedding cost $250,000. This large sum hardly counts as a celebrity wedding. When mega-millionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump married model Melania Knauss, the wedding bill was $1,000,000.

The marriages of Madonna and film director Guy Ritchie, Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren, and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones pushed up the cost of celebrity marriages to $1.5 million.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes upped the ante to $2,000,000.

Now comes the politicians’s daughter as celebrity. According to news reports, Chelsea Clinton’s wedding to investment banker Mark Mezvinsky on July 31 is costing papa Bill $3,000,000. According to the London Daily Mail, the total price tag will be about $5,000,000. The additional $2,000,000 apparently is being laid off on US Taxpayers as Secret Service costs for protecting former president Clinton and foreign heads of state, such as the presidents of France and Italy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who are among the 500 invited guests along with Barbara Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Ted Turner, and Clinton friend and donor Denise Rich, wife of the Clinton-pardoned felon.

Before we attend to the poor political judgment of such an extravagant affair during times of economic distress, let us wonder aloud where a poor boy who became governor of Arkansas and president of the United States got such a fortune that he can blow $3,000,000 on a wedding. ...

Climate Change??? FIRB???

TICKY FULLERTON, PRESENTER: Linc Energy has sealed a deal to sell its Queensland Galilee tenement to India in a deal worth $3 billion.

Under it, Linc will get $500 million in cash up front, with the rest coming from royalties.

Well I'm joined now from Brisbane by Peter Bond, who is Linc Energy's CEO. ...

TICKY FULLERTON: Ya. Queensland Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson though told you, told Carbon Energy and the Queensland Resources Council that while the circumstances of each project would actually be evaluated individually, that Cougar Energy had raised concerns for the whole sector. Did that alarm you?

PETER BOND: Absolutely. We thought that the whole way that DERM and in some ways the department in Queensland handled it was inappropriate and coulda been handled much better and with much more deliberate and softer gloves. But at the end of the day, they are the regulator. We work with them; we've worked well with them for 11 years. We don't expect that to change in the future. I was just with the minister an hour or so ago, and I believe the relationship's fine and on track. It's just that you have to do the right thing and Linc's always acknowledged that and that won't change. ...

... Hundreds of farmers and environmentalists are expected to gather outside parliament house in Brisbane to protest against the loss of farming land to mining.

They want governments to safeguard Queensland's food bowl region, particularly in the wake of pollution scares.

The Queensland government plans to double coal exports and allow 40,000 gas wells on the Darling Downs. ...

A Sydney woman has escaped punishment for a drink driving charge after telling a magistrate she lived in an area with no public transport. ...

She told police she had two glasses of wine over a two-hour dinner in the Eastern Suburbs before attempting to drive home.

Arguing that no buses or trains came near her home and a taxi would cost her around $175, Ms Henley said she needed to keep her licence in order to travel.

Magistrate Brian Maloney said there were not enough public transport options available to people living in Sydney's north-west.

"If she lived in any other suburb around Sydney ... like Paddington ... there's no way on earth I would consider dismissing the charge," he said.

"It's not like she could jump on a 333 bus to Bondi."

Ms Henley said she was "really lucky" to escape conviction for the charge.

Doctors are threatening to abandon Queensland's public hospitals, fed up with the "bullying" tactics of Queensland Health.

More than 60 of the state's most senior doctors - Visiting Medical Officers - will quit the public health system unless Queensland Health urgently addresses their concerns, said the chairman of the Australian Medical Association Queensland's VMO committee, Dr Ross Cartmill.

"The resignations will throw whole departments at our major hospitals into chaos, especially orthopaedics, ear, nose and throat, urology and plastic and reconstructive surgery," he said.

"I actually believe some of these will have to close."

The majority of surgery in our public hospitals is performed by VMOs, the fact they have been treated with such disdain by Queensland Health is a scandal," Dr Cartmill said.

"Many VMOs have indicated they are ready to resign and believe many more will follow them out the door.

Dr Cartmill said VMOs are ready to resign as the VMO agreement with Queensland Health expired more than 18 months ago.

"Essentially we have had VMOs working without the certainty of an agreement with Queensland Health for 18 months, but enough is enough," he said.

"VMOs in South East Queensland will resign in support of their colleagues who treat patients and teach junior doctors in regional and rural locations such as Mt Isa on behalf of Queensland Health."

AAP

... Asked whether he would accept Ms Gillard's challenge for a debate on the economy, Mr Abbott criticised the invitation before saying:

"Are you suggesting to me that when it comes from Julia, 'no' doesn't mean 'no'.

"When she said 'no', I thought she meant 'no'. I believed her. You can't change the rules just because you are in trouble."

"She's surely not trying to say to us that 'no doesn't mean no', because that's what she said, 'no', repeatedly. And when she said 'no' I believed her." ...

Women are being shamefully overlooked in this election by politicians and the media. The turn of female voters away from Tony Abbott is being dismissed as a turn towards Julia Gillard's gender, while Tony Abbott's archaic and indefensible views on issues affecting women go unexamined and unchallenged.

That all ends today. Watch our new video from GetUp women, putting Tony's words on the record for all Australians to see:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/WomenSpeakOut

Politicians from all sides are mistakenly assuming that women will simply vote along gender lines. It's beyond condescending, but it also misses the point: political leadership is about so much more. It's about where you stand, who you respect, and what you'll do from a position of power.

It's time to get to the truth. Women and men alike will be shocked by the quotes in this video, each and every line expressed by Tony Abbott himself. See for yourself now, and help put the message on air:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/WomenSpeakOut

This video features GetUp members--women who have dared to speak Mr Abbott's own words back to him for all Australians to see. They're words that many Australians will find deeply disturbing. Even if you think you've seen and heard it all from Mr Abbott: his absolute opposition to abortion, his daring to weigh in on something as personal as a woman's virginity, his opposition to the cervical cancer vaccine, you have to watch this ad - now. Then chip in to ensure every other Australian gets to see it too:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/WomenSpeakOut

Throughout his political career, Tony Abbott has advocated views more appropriate to 1910 than 2010. Now, as he asks voters to make him the next Prime Minister of our country, we need him to bring his views into the 21st century. As Mr Abbott reaches a leading position in the polls, we need to know where he stands. Is climate change still "absolute crap"? Is abortion still just a question of a woman's "convenience"? Is it still "folly" to expect women to ever approach equal representation in all areas of public life? Click here to watch the ad, and get the real questions heard and answered this election. Thank you for changing this election,

The GetUp Team PS - We want to thank the GetUp members who appeared in this ad. It's not easy to put yourself out there. We admire their courage, respect their views and want to do all we can to make sure their message gets heard. Please join us in supporting them.

1 Nicola Berkovic, 'Abbott trips at paid parental leave launch with 'no' gaffe', The Australian, 3 August 2010.

The White House Correspondents Association is moving Fox News up to the front row in the briefing room, according to sources familiar with the process. The WHCA board's decision was unanimous. [It's now confirmed; see update below.]

Since the retirement of veteran journalist Helen Thomas, three news organizations — Fox News, Bloomberg News and NPR — each argued that it should move to the front row. Fox News will join the broadcast networks and CNN up front. ...

MANILA, Philippines—More flights of Philippine Airlines (PAL) have been canceled as its dispute with a group of pilots who resigned for higher-paying jobs abroad has yet to be resolved.

A meeting called by President Benigno Aquino III to end the dispute ended in a deadlock Monday night. Another meeting is scheduled for Tuesday in Malacañang.

PAL on Monday said two to three domestic flights would be canceled every day for the rest of the week due to the lack of pilots for the carrier’s fleet of Airbus A320 and A319 jets.

Since Friday, around 35 domestic and international flights have been disrupted after 25 pilots left PAL. ...

... Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the National Consumer for Commuters Protection (NCCP) hit the Aquino administration for the move [proposed fare hike of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT)].

In an interview with Sun.Star, Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said they would not hesitate of going out to the streets if the government pushes the maximum fare hike in the MRT.

“Bayan strongly objects to any fare hike in the MRT and the LRT. The problems arising from the fiscal crisis left by the Arroyo administration should not be passed on to commuters,” he said.

“This is exactly a good example of public-private partnership wherein the public is at the losing end,” he emphasized.

The NCCP, for its part, said it is the government’s duty to provide mass transport, which has benefited especially the minimum wage earners who want fast but affordable mode of transportation.

Militant youth groups also expressed objection on the planned fare hike.

“Instead of burdening students and working people further by increasing its rates, the LRTA should petition the government to increase subsidies to the LRTs and the MRT,” said Terry Ridon, secretary-general of League of Filipino Students (LFS).

He said that commuting expenses are included in the mounting cost of education in the country, aside from yearly tuition and other fee increases, expensive textbooks and board and lodging.

Youth group Anakbayan said the planned defeats the basic purpose of the LRT and the MRT, which is mass transport.

“This is not a daang matuwid, but rather a literal daang mahal. Increasing the MRT, LRT fares will defeat the very purpose of mass transportation systems” said Anakbayan national vice-chairperson Anton Dulce.

The youth leader cited a recent study by the US-based Brookings Institution, which said public vehicles used half of the fuel required by cars, Sports Utility Vehicles, and light trucks.

The same study said that for every mile traveled, private vehicles produce 95 percent more carbon monoxide and 50 percent more carbon dioxide than private vehicles.

“Take the MRT’s half-a-million daily commuters for example. Without the MRT, these commuters would translate into hundreds of more buses and taxis clogging our major roads,” said Dulce. ...

August 01, 2010 "Toronto Star" -- The buckets-full of leaked documents on the war in Afghanistan have elicited three responses, all misguided. ...

Obama’s military surge was designed not so much to defeat the Taliban — they can’t be without a massive NATO commitment that is not forthcoming — but rather to weaken them enough to force them to the negotiating table. But the strategy has been rendered useless with the military offensive stalled.

Peace talks with the Taliban are sputtering along without direction. Hamid Karzai is holding his own negotiations, as is the UN special representative, both with a wink and a nod from the Americans, who can’t bring themselves to talk directly to the Taliban.

The Americans also do not like the Karzai- and UN-led campaign to remove 137 Taliban 1eaders from a UN blacklist dating back to 1999.Nor does Washington support his idea of releasing those among the 15,000 Afghan prisoners who have not been charged with any crime. ...

More Like Multinational Corporation Free For All

Labor will develop a national food plan if re-elected to government, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke has announced.

Last month and ABC Online investigation revealed there are concerns over whether there needs to be more regulation of foreign ownership of farms, as other countries are increasingly looking to Australia to buy up productive agricultural land.

Mr Burke says the national food plan would investigate food security, quality and affordability.

... The Liberal candidate's media release, word for word, made up the whole of the rest of the story... ...

"The [economic regulatory] regime favours the status quo and makes it difficult to bring about substantial reform. As components of the distribution network age and approach the end of their engineering life, there will probably be an increase in the number of fires resulting from asset failures unless urgent preventive steps are taken."

"Overall, the Commission is strongly of the view that Energy Safe Victoria's regulatory powers and resources need to be strengthened, including the organisation's ability to apply sanctions for non-performance."

Smugglers' Paradise

Reporter: Sarah Ferguson

Broadcast: 29/07/2010

It's one of the biggest issues in the election campaign. While Australia spends millions of dollars to stop the flow of asylum seeker boats, its efforts are constantly undermined by criminals and corrupt military and government officials. These operators have worked in secret... until now. Four Corners has caught them on camera.

A new study has suggested one child develops lead poisoning every nine days in the north-west Queensland mining city of Mount Isa.

Mining giant Xstrata is involved in legal action over high levels of lead in the blood of children in the city.

Dr Mark Taylor from Macquarie University co-authored the report, published today in the Medical Journal of Australia.

He says existing data confirms there is a risk to children's health in Mount Isa and not enough is being done to address the issue.

"There are about 400 children born every year in Mount Isa and about 11 per cent of those children, according to the last blood lead study, have a blood lead level in excess of the current acceptable guideline value," he said.

"When you do all the numbers, it works out it's about every nine days a child will be unnecessarily exposed to lead - a situation that could be prevented." ...

How Is This Advertisement "Borderline Sexist"?

The Labor Party says new federal election advertisements targeting Queensland Premier Anna Bligh could be seen as sexist.

Federal Coalition TV ads focus on Ms Bligh's new role as national president of the party, describing her as Prime Minister Julia Gillard's boss.

ALP state secretary Anthony Chisholm says that is not true.

"It's actually borderline sexism if you ask me in terms of what they're trying to do," he said.

"Queenslanders separate the issues between state and federal and unlike the LNP [Liberal National Party] and the conservatives in Queensland.

"The party presidents inside the Labor Party are honorary positions." ...

Of an attitude which stereotypes a person according to gender, or sexual preference, rather than judging on individual merits.

Abortion Decriminalisation

The long campaign to reform Queensland's outdated criminal abortion laws continues although media interest in the issue has been quiet. After the amendments to section 282 of the Criminal Code in September last year to afford medical abortion the same legal status as surgical termination, it was claimed that no further reforms were needed to ensure Queensland women's access to adequate termination services. It was our view at the time of the reforms that they would be insufficient to secure women's access to abortion. This original opinion has been supported and strengthened by anecdotal evidence and the experiences of the women who contact Children by Choice on a weekly basis.

The Murdoch media have about 70% of the market in Australian newspapers. They also have a huge presence in every ABC TV and radio outlet. What is the Greens policy on reducing the concentration of media ownership by Murdoch in our country?

... Mr Abbott today announced a Coalition government would spend $335 million to get 3,000 beds for high-care patients operational during its first term.

But ANF spokeswoman Yvonne Chaperon says freeing up the beds without providing additional funding for nursing staff will only escalate issues already facing the sector

."Nurses are already leaving aged care. They are underpaid by up to $300 per week when compared to nurses in the public sector, and often have to work long and difficult shifts," she said in a statement.

"More beds without qualified nurses, proper consideration of skills mix and staffing levels will simply escalate these problems." ...

Former Liberal foreign minister Alexander Downer says comments he made about Kevin Rudd have been misinterpreted.

News Limited is today reporting that Mr Downer gave Mr Rudd information that he knew that Mr Rudd would then leak. The report says Mr Downer claims Mr Rudd then used it by feeding it to the media to embarrass Labor's then foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton.

Mr Rudd eventually replaced Mr Brereton as shadow foreign affairs minister.

But Mr Downer has released a statement this morning saying the interpretation placed on the comments he made are "wrong".

"The interpretation placed on my comments to the Sunday Telegraph is wrong," he said. ...

A once popular entertainment venue, the Stardust Room at Seagulls, is facing its final curtain call. Under new plans unveiled for the West Tweed club the auditorium will be incorporated into a proposed $3 million sport, health and fitness centre at the premises. The development will include a gymnasium, group fitness class areas, indoor sporting courts, as well as consulting rooms for health/professionals. In its heyday the auditorium hosted the likes of Aussie rockers John Farnham and Hoodoo Gurus, as well as top international acts including the late BB King and Jeff Buckley. The venue had suffered in recent years amid spiralling costs and tough competition in the local entertainment market.

... You are reading this because you have a brain.

It is YOUR fault that this is happening to our country and to democracy all over the Murdoch-controlled world. You are to blame if you are not criticising the garbage his shills spout. You are responsible if you let people tell you something is a fact "because I read it in the paper". ...

... LEIGH SALES: Mark Latham hasn't been involved for a long time.

PAUL HOWES: Mark Latham would not have spoken to any member of the Labor Party caucus, I reckon, in years. I will bet on that right now.

MICHAEL KROGER: I've read his book though. I read his book though.

PAUL HOWES: I walked past Mark last night at the Sky studios and he didn't wanna talk to me then. I didn't try and talk to him either. But, Mark does not know what's going on because he's living out there in Camden in his little hole, doing what he's doing. And, you know - you know what that's like; you've got former prime ministers, former leaders of your party that like to give you a spray every now and then - Malcolm Fraser ...

MICHAEL KROGER: They're not on Sky News ... ...

Any Free Range/Organic/Alternatives To Factory Farming Exhibits At This Year's EKKA?

... Mr Kemp will also have a truck rolling into Brisbane next week with a hundred expectant mothers on board.

The ewes are from southwestern Queensland and their pregnancies have been timed to end during the ten days of the Ekka.

He says they're the calmest and healthiest of a pool of 1,000 ewes prepared for the event, and they'll be given time to settle in at the showgrounds before the crowds arrive.

It's the second year a birthing centre will be open to the public at the Ekka, but this year Mr Kemp says there'll be a few changes.

"We learnt a few things last year.

"Some people probably thought that perhaps they could have sheep giving birth on the hour... but that's not how Mother Nature works.

"At one stage we were having a slow morning of birthing, so we came up with the idea of perhaps we need to trick these sheep a little bit and we turned the lights off to make them calm down and think that it was evening time.

"It happened to work!

"Suddenly we had a couple of ewes go into labour and away we went and the public got to watch it."

Mr Kemp says all of last year's ewes and their lambs made it back to their home property in the south-west, healthy and bonded to each other.

He's looking forward to another round of lamb birthing this year.

"The people-watching for me was the most hysterical part of it.

"The thing that really made me laugh was you'd see the looks on the human mother's faces and they'd been saying oooohh aaaaah i know just what she's going through!"

New study lays out 11 indicators of a warming world, media focuses on contrarian views

From time to time, journalists like Andy Revkin and Keith Kloor protest that the mainstream media doesn’t do an awful job covering the issue of climate change. They believe that the well-documented, systematic bias of undermining scientific conclusions by “balancing” them with contrarianism is behind us. Unfortunately, this is demonstrably false....

ABC Coast FM Homeless Connect appeal

Did you know that the Gold Coast has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the state? On any given night more than 2,200 people, families, young and old, are sleeping rough or in insecure accommodation. ...

... The federal government has budgeted $467 million over two years for the first phase of its e-health system, including a series of pilot projects that are expected first to focus on people with the poorest health, such as indigenous Australians and those with chronic illnesses.

The full cost of national implementation has been estimated at $1.6 billion.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she supports a clemency plea by convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby.

Ms Gillard said was concerned about Corby's personal circumstances inside an Indonesian prison.

"I support, the Australian government supports her plea for clemency," she told reporters in Melbourne.

"We obviously do want that plea for clemency to be heard and to get sympathetic consideration."

Corby, 33, is serving a 20-year jail term after she was arrested at Bali's airport in October 2004 with 4.1kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag.

Earlier this year she applied for presidential clemency, saying she was suffering from depression that could endanger her life.

Football Federation Australia has objected to the federal government releasing documents about its hiring of consultants who stand to get up to $14 million in taxpayer funds for work on the 2022 World Cup bid.

The government, which has given FFA $45.6 million for the bid, told The Age there were only five written documents regarding correspondence between it and FFA about the engagement of Peter Hargitay, Fedor Radmann and Andreas Abold as consultants.

The Department of Health and Ageing, which provided the bid funds, last week said it was willing to release excerpts of the documents that did not harm Australia's bid or reveal commercial secrets.

But according to the department, a ''third party'' has appealed against the release of any information from the documents. The Age has confirmed that the third party is FFA. ...

FFA has launched defamation action against The Age. Fairfax will defend the action and has previously stated that its reporting was factual and based on internal FFA documents.

On July 15, 25 Justice Ride participants returned from their trip across Queensland to Alice Springs for the Defending Indigenous Rights convergence over July 6-9. ...

Joss, a University of Queensland student on the Justice Ride, said: “It was clear just how strong the layer of Aboriginal leadership is, how many great thinkers are addressing ways to stop the intervention. This leadership is never acknowledged or mentioned in the mainstream media.” ...

We saw clearly how the intervention has sent a signal to the people of the NT and across Australia that racism is acceptable. It has emboldened some people to publicly air — and even act on — their extreme racist views.

Every participant on the bus witnessed or experienced direct racism towards Aboriginal people. There were small examples, such as Murri Justice Riders being rudely addressed without title when their (much younger) white co-travellers were addresses as sir and madam.

Aboriginal people were constantly moved on from outside shopping centres, when they were simply sitting down on public chairs. At an NT roadhouse, one of our Murri fellow travellers was told he couldn’t use the “normal” toilets and had to use a broken toilet with no door. ...

The Australian Mines and Metals Association says the 1,500 construction workers who walked off the job at Woodside's Pluto project in Western Australia, must take responsibility for their actions.

Workers are facing fines of $28,000 each after striking illegally in January this year.

The workers were protesting over changes to their accommodation. ...

Police are tracking commuters' movements on Brisbane public transport using their Go Card records.

Officers are using the technology to not only pinpoint the movements of criminal suspects but also potential witnesses.

One woman has told brisbanetimes.com.au she was contacted last month as part of a murder probe after police tracked her down via her Go Card, which is registered with her details by TransLink.

Police confirmed Go Card records had been used as part of an investigation into a New Farm murder last month.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she felt rattled when called by a detective seeking information on a bus trip she'd taken in New Farm three weeks earlier.

Her unease grew when the officer also revealed the name of her partner.

"He was saying, 'You were travelling on a certain bus on a certain day at a certain time'," she said.

"And I said, 'That could be my partner [using my Go Card]. And he said, 'Would that be ...', and then gave his name. And I thought, 'Oh shit'."

The woman said she had little recollection of the trip and genuinely couldn't help the officer.

Police and TransLink have both confirmed the practice but remain tight-lipped about the frequency and circumstances of such requests. ...

July 27, 2010 "Salon" -- The White House was very upset with WikiLeaks for its decision to publish thousands of pages of classified reports and documents describing our mission in Afghanistan. But according to Yahoo's Michael Calderone, it was very pleased with how the New York Times dealt with its semi-exclusive access to the documents.

Times Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet took reporters Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt to the White House last week to brief the administration on what they planned on publishing. And they all got gold stars. ...

... Surely if taxpayer dollars are involved, this network should be run by the national broadcaster? ...

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has strenuously defended her approach to two of Labor's welfare spending decisions saying she will always question whether policies are affordable.

Labor has been rocked by claims made on the Nine Network that during Cabinet discussions last year Ms Gillard did not support the Government's plans to introduce paid parental leave and questioned a rise in the age pension. Fairfax also reported today Ms Gillard opposed a rise in the age pension because "old people never vote for us". ...

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced more than $740 million to build a rail link to Redcliffe, north of Brisbane.

The funding was announced at the Prime Minister's first public appearance of the election campaign with embattled Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

The long-awaited 12.6-kilometre rail line between Petrie and Kippa-Ring is expected to cut congestion and reduce travel times.

The State Government will commit $300 million to the project and the Moreton Bay Regional Council will commit $105 million.

Six new stations will be built on the line....

... LORRAINE LONG [Medical Error Action Group]: It never ceases to amaze me, the mistakes and things that go on, like this, but nothing happens. The mal-practitioners are allowed to continue practising and if they don't they'll just move interstate and get registration through that medical board and continue on.

They don't learn from their mistakes and there's no severe government control that will rein them in. And that's the failure. ...

July 26, 2010 "The Guardian" -- Brevity is the hallmark of military reporting, but even by those standards the description of one especially disastrous event is remarkably short: "The patrol return to base."

It started with a suicide bomb. On 4 March 2007 a convoy of US marines, who had arrived in Afghanistan three weeks earlier, were hit by an explosives-rigged minivan outside the southeastern city of Jalalabad.

The marines made a frenzied escape, opening fire with automatic weapons as they tore down a six-mile stretch of highway, hitting almost anyone in their way – teenage girls in the fields, motorists in their cars, old men as they walked along the road. Nineteen unarmed civilians were killed and 50 wounded.

None of this, however, was captured in the initial military account, written by the marines themselves. It simply says that, simultaneous with the suicide explosion, "the patrol received small arms fire from three directions".

And the subsequent rampage as they drove away – which would later be the subject of a 17-day military inquiry and a 12,000 page report – is captured in five words: "The patrol returned to JAF [Jalalabad Air Field]." ...

More Proof Brisbane Needs Another Newspaper

... Many Queenslanders would agree this is certainly not the worst thing the 'Courier-Mail' has done, but it's typical....

... Callum is so plagued by self doubt, the 20-year-old says he has decided to delay his dream of opening his own restaurant. “I’m an amateur,” he says. “I don’t consider myself a professional chef yet – and I’m no more deserving of the title than anyone else.” ...

The Rudd government didn't deliver on SBS but maybe someone else will. Will it be Julia Gillard and the ALP or another party? Who will promise to rescue SBS, to fund into the future and rid it of ads? Before an election, collectively we can all influence politicians. They want your vote and we want their promise to fix SBS with proper funding. Call talkback radio and tell others about the campaign too at SaveOurSBS.org Tell your friends too.

Hundreds of Amazon tribesmen in warpaint have taken over a hydroelectric power plant with 100 employees inside, demanding $US5.6 million ($6.25 million) for the burial and hunting grounds they lost to the dam, media reports said.

Talks between some 300 members of at least six different Amazon tribes and the Aguas da Pedra power company broke down recently, triggering the takeover of the Dardanelos power plant and 100 employees working there at the time, Globo News television said.

The protesters said they want to talk with the company and also with representatives of the energy and environmental ministries, as well as the National Indian Foundation (Funai) and Brazil's Environmental Institute.

In full warpaint, tribal leaders said they want $US5.6 million in compensation for cultural and social losses stemming from the destruction of an indigenous burial ground and a tract of hunting grounds since the hydroelectric dam went up nearly three years ago. ...

Record summer temperatures, farm fertilisers and a lack of wind have created a gigantic carpet of evil-smelling weed covering large areas of the Baltic and threatening both marine life and seaside tourism, scientists warn.

The 377,000 sq km of blue-green algae, covering an area the size of Germany, has been identified by satellite cameras. It extends from Finland along the south coast of Sweden and surrounds the Danish island of Bornholm.

Scientists from the German section of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Hamburg have warned of the damaging effects of the weed.

"These huge algae carpets hit the marine environment most," said Jochen Lamp, a WWF project spokesman.

"They kill plants and encourage the spread of dead zones on the sea bed which have no oxygen left in them."

Blue-green algae, which often smell of rotten eggs, can also harm humans as they contain cynanobacteria, which can produce skin rashes and other allergic reactions as well as poisons that damage the liver. Doctors warn that drinking water contaminated with the algae can cause severe diarrhoea.

The current algae explosion in the Baltic is the largest since 2005 and has been encouraged by daytime temperatures of up to 38C, light winds and an absence of waves, which normally help to break up weed carpet.

Scientists say one of the main causes of blue-green algae is over-fertilisation of farmland, leading to large quantities of phosphorous and nitrogen being washed off the land and into the Baltic from rivers. They say that under the right climatic conditions a weed explosion is inevitable. ...

Plastic Bottle Yacht To Arrive In Sydney

A catamaran made out of plastic bottles and captained by an heir to a banking dynasty will sail into Sydney Harbour today.

The Plastiki is made from 12,500 PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and is expected to sail through the Heads around 11:00am (AEST).

The leader of the voyage, David de Rothschild of the banking dynasty, has sailed about 8,000 nautical miles from San Francisco to Sydney to make a point about the way plastic is used. ...

'Key' Aussie Invention Ignored Locally

In the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, an Australian company was recently awarded a prestigious government award for the most innovative company to invest in the state this year.

At its new production facility in Heinsberg, Germany, Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd was producing "a key technology of the future", said Petra Wassner, managing director of NRW.INVEST, the state's economic development agency.

The Victorian-based company was praised for investing 9.5 million euros ($A14.16 million) in the facility, creating 80 new jobs and contributing "to a more efficient and cleaner energy supply in North Rhine-Westphalia", Wassner told the award ceremony in Dusseldorf.

But Ceramic Fuel hasn't attracted nearly as much excitement in Australia, forcing the company to go global to survive.

"We are really big news here," Ceramic chief executive Brendan Dow told AAP from Germany.

"(In Australia) we are treated like a science project.

"It's really quite frustrating."

The big news is Ceramic Fuels' BlueGen fuel cell device.

Roughly the size of a dishwasher, the device uses solid oxide fuel cell technology to convert natural gas into electricity and heat.

It generally produces more than enough electricity to power the average household - unless it is summer and you're constantly running the air-conditioner - and enough heat to produce a tank of hot water daily.

In Germany, utility companies supply the device free of charge to households, who then pay for the natural gas they use. ...

Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Darwin and many other cities are News Ltd. one paper towns. In fact Rupert Murdoch owns about 70 percent of Australia's print media, and he seems to control close to 100 per cent of Australia's public discourse, especially through his infiltration of the ABC.

Do the Greens have any policy to curtail the destructive influence of Rupert Murdoch on Australian society?

That's the response we received to our recent question about why negative stories about News Ltd. never mention it by name. ...

The Iraqi city of Fallujah continues to suffer the ghastly consequences of a US military onslaught in late 2004.

According to the authors of a new study, “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009,” the people of Fallujah are experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia, infant mortality, and sexual mutations than those recorded among survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the years after those Japanese cities were incinerated by US atomic bomb strikes in 1945.

The epidemiological study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Studies and Public Health (IJERPH), also finds the prevalence of these conditions in Fallujah to be many times greater than in nearby nations.

The assault on Fallujah, a city located 43 miles west of Baghdad, was one of the most horrific war crimes of our time. After the population resisted the US-led occupation of Iraq—a war of neo-colonial plunder launched on the basis of lies—Washington determined to make an example of the largely Sunni city. This is called “exemplary” or “collective” punishment and is, according to the laws of war, illegal. The new public health study of the city now all but proves what has long been suspected: that a high proportion of the weaponry used in the assault contained depleted uranium, a radioactive substance used in shells to increase their effectiveness....

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has promised a $2,000 rebate for people who update their old motor vehicles.

Campaigning south of Brisbane, Ms Gillard said that if Labor is re-elected, owners of pre-1995 cars who buy a new car after January 1 next year would be eligible for the rebate.

Ms Gillard says motorists will be eligible for the Cleaner Car Rebate when they purchase a new, lower-emission, fuel-efficient vehicle, should Labor be returned to Government. ...

In a truly historic vote 86 per cent of ETU members voting in a recent plebiscite regarding affiliation with the ALP have voted to disaffiliate from the party.

This leaves the ETU in a position to selectively support political candidates in keeping with the core principles of the union. As members would be aware the ETU is supporting Greens candidates Adam Bandt in Melbourne and Richard Di Natale in the senate at the upcoming federal election. ...

Protesters who set up a makeshift "democracy village" in Parliament Square against the war in Afghanistan were evicted by bailiffs early today.

A barrier of green plastic reinforced by a six-foot metal fence, described by one activist as a "green Berlin wall", now prevents them from reclaiming the area. An attempt to overturn a high court ruling that gave the mayor of London the right to remove the village was rejected by the court of appeal on Friday.

Watched by police, around 50 bailiffs began to evict protesters and remove their tents and belongings at 1am, in an operation that lasted more than three hours. Some protesters chained themselves to scaffolding.

Claire Sandbrook, chief executive of Shergroup, the high court enforcement agency employed to clear the village, said that her company filmed the eviction to ensure there was no wrongdoing.

Some of those removed have started a smaller camp of nine tents alongside anti-war protester Brian Haw, who was not affected by the high court ruling. ...

The New Order Of Oz

The Order of Mates celebrated beside Sydney Harbour the other day. This is a venerable masonry in Australian political life that unites the Labor Party with the rich elite known as the big end of town. They shake hands, not hug, though the Silver Bodgie now hugs. In his prime, the Silver Bodgie, aka Bob Hawke or Hawkie, wore suits that shone, wide-bottomed trousers and shirts with the buttons undone. A bodgie was a Australian version of the 1950s English Teddy Boy and Hawke’s thick grey-black coiffure added inches to his abbreviated stature.

... The new prime minister’s partner is a former hair products salesman called Tim Mathieson. This would be of no interest had he not been given the job of “Australia’s men’s health ambassador” by one of Gillard’s cabinet colleagues, the health minister, even though he had no experience in healthcare. Mathieson is now a “rising star” in real estate, thanks to one Albert Dadon, whose company is seeking planning permission for a contentious high rise development in Melbourne. Dadon can claim membership of the Order of Mates. As head of the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange, he arranges admiring tours of Israel for politicians and journalists. Gillard went on such a junket last year in the wake of Israel’s massacre of 1400 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. She who would be the first female prime minister of Australia drooled her uncritical support for their killers.

... MARK COLVIN: Helen Coonan, your leader has been frequently quoted as saying that climate change is absolute crap. Do you even have a climate policy?

HELEN COONAN: Well of course. I mean we happen to be the party with a climate policy for direct action. That's been out there for some time and what we've seen, of course, from Ms Gillard today is not a policy really but just a pose. And this reference off to a community committee is just another way of avoiding confronting what will, inevitably, happen. It's just a camouflage to enable Ms Gillard to introduce a new carbon tax. We know there's now been a preference deal with the Greens and that wouldn't have come without some nod no doubt to the fact that there'll be a carbon tax and all the increases on pressures on families and increases on electricity. I mean a carbon tax is coming as sure as night follows day. ...

There Were Protests Around The Country Last Thursday Which Were Largely Unreported

The trial of a construction worker charged with breaching federal industrial laws has been adjourned for two months.

Rigger Ark Tribe is charged with failing to answer compulsory questions about a stopwork meeting held at an Adelaide building site in 2008.

Hundreds of union members have held vocal protests outside the court each time he has appeared.

The prosecution has called evidence from five Australian Building and Construction Commission witnesses.

Tribe's lawyer Michael Abbott has objected to all the evidence, arguing the investigation was conducted unlawfully, which leaves no case for his client to answer.

The court heard the Commission made special arrangements for witnesses, who had entered court via a secure door for magistrates rather than through the main entrance where protesters rallied.

The case will resume in September.

Unions have threatened nationwide strikes if Tribe is sent to jail.

Voters should not under any circumstances give their first preference to the corporate controlled major parties.

By doing so, they also give them $2.31 for each House of Reps and the same for each Senate vote.

To return the election process to a people's democracy, voters need to vote for minor parties and independents ahead of the major parties.

By putting the corporate-controlled major parties last and second last, the party that you put second last will still receive the preference distribution.

People should not listen to the corporate media co-conspirators who claim that a vote for minor parties or independents is a wasted vote. If enough voters followed the above it would press the major parties to return to looking after the electorate rather than their corporate masters.

Santo Ferraro Beerburrum

Two-Headed Fish Report Kept Under Wraps

The state government has refused to release a final scientific report into the spawning of two-headed fish at a Sunshine Coast fish hatchery due to an ongoing legal stoush between the hatchery owner and her neighbouring macadamia nut farmer.

But lawyers representing both parties want the report released.

The final report by the Noosa Fish Health Investigation Task Force was meant to be released in February 2010, and then April 2010.

... Nick Robson of Barry Nilsson Lawyers, representing Mr Ziesemer, said he and his client were "frustrated" by the government's refusal to release the report.

"It's not one side of the litigation that wants a release - Gwen Gilson the plaintiff wants it released, and so does my client," Mr Robson said.

"But the government has decided not to, which is frustrating ... because it could help prove or disprove the plaintiff's case.

"The fact that it's locked away when it could provide important answers for the case is a little disappointing." ...

The final report contains information from Queensland Health into an alleged cancer cluster among Boreen Point residents. ...

The report will be crucial in deciding whether carbendazim, a chemical used in crop spraying and already banned in the United States, will also be banned in Australia.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority said last week any ban or tighter controls on carbendazim rested on the outcome of the report.

Carbendazim has been the subject of an on-going review by the APVMA since 2007. ...

Authorities have detained a Chinese-based bulk carrier after an oil spill at the Port of Brisbane.

Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) says the oil was seen near the bulk carrier Johannes Wulff just before 10:00am. Two oil skimmers and five other pollution response vessels were deployed for the clean-up and all major shipping was stopped for several hours.

MSQ says an oily sheen may be visible on the river for the next few hours but it does not pose a risk to the environment.

Investigators are trying to identify the source of the leak and how much oil was spilled.

River City Director Sells Shares

One of the loudest champions of the River City Motorway Group, director Peter Hicks, has sold almost half his shareholdings in the troubled toll road operator.

Mr Hicks sold 250,000 shares for an average of 0.041¢ a share, the company said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

The sale netted Mr Hicks $10,250, a far cry from the $250,000 those shares would have been worth when River City listed on the ASX in 2006. River City shares fell 2.7 per cent to 0.036¢

River City is the owner of Brisbane's troubled Clem Jones Tunnel.

The fledgling company has acknowledged it is in danger of defaulting on its debt covenants in two years' time if traffic flows do not improve substantially. ...

Analysts said traffic needs to rise to at least 80,000 vehicles a day for the company to avoid a default.

But while the company has access to $136 million to cover interest repayments it is paying nearly $9 million a month out of those reserves. ...

... A veterinarian examined the donkey and found the half-hour flight over heads of beachgoers last week did not inflict any physical damage, said regional spokesman Igor Zhelyabin.

"The veterinarian has come to a conclusion that the animal is clinically healthy," he said.

The donkey's mental state however remained unclear.

Animal rights activists, who condemned the stunt as cruel, have said the animal must have been very distressed by the flight as well as a rough landing on the water. ...

Bob Brown should be included in the leaders' debate on Sunday. If the Greens get the balance of power in the Senate, their views will shape policy over the next term, and we should know what those views are. Brown represents people who don't identify with the shared populism of Labor or the Coalition. His presence might generate robust debate instead of the usual comparison of the major parties' similar opinions. I am not a greens member, but Brown's is a voice we need.

Faun Harbord, Glebe

Ipswich residents commuting to Brisbane by train will be able to see and hear journey information following the launch of a $15 million project to install Passenger Information Display Screens.

Queensland Raid interim chief customer officer Theo Taifalos said the project would provide passengers with instant journey updates on easy-to-read screens that operate in conjunction with the public address system. ...

Workers of Queensland, The Labor Government Are Laughing At You

The Queensland government has promised it won't rush a new payroll system for police, fire and ambulance officers, in the wake of the nurse pay debacle.

Ambulance, fire, emergency service, and corrective service officers are still being paid by the outdated Lattice system - the software used by the Queensland Health payroll office before it switched to its current troubled program.

Those in charge of implementing Queensland Health's new system - in which many staff have been underpaid, overpaid and not paid at all - were criticised in an auditor-general's report for rushing the system's introduction before proper testing was done and fail-safes were in place.

Advertisement: Story continues belowPolice Minister Neil Roberts told a parliamentary estimates hearing today that changes to a new payroll system were necessary but wouldn't be rushed.

"The decision on the preferred payroll system will be based on an assessment on what best suits the needs of this department," he said.

"The department will not take any unnecessary risks in implementing a new payroll system."

Mr Roberts said nothing was more important than ensuring the department's employees were paid correctly. ...

A former drama teacher at an exclusive Melbourne girls' school picked a girl from the student database and filmed her undressing with a spy camera hidden in his desk. Mark Robert Stratford, 49, was employed as director of drama at Lauriston Girls' School when the offending took place in 2008 and 2009, the Victoria County Court heard yesterday.

The Federal Court should expedite the cases of Australians who had heart attacks after taking the anti-arthritis drug Vioxx so they do not die before getting compensation, a Melbourne barrister has argued.

Julian Burnside, QC, made the plea at a directions hearing yesterday after a judge this year found Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attacks, and the Australian subsidiary of Merck, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, had breached the Trade Practices Act by selling it. ...

Professor at Harvard Medical School will no longer be able to take industry money to speak for drug or medical device companies or accept gifts, travel or meals under a new conflict-of-interst policy announced Wednesday.

The medical school also took steps to separate, but not ban, industry financing and industry exhibits from Harvard's postgraduate education classes.

And it reduced by half, to $10,000, the lmit on how much a faculty member can be paid by a company whose product or invention is under study by the faculty member; the current limit is $20,000. Harvard is one of the few universities to impose such a cap....

The new rules, going into effect Jan. 1, still allow for industry and conduct research financed by the industry. The rules were first reported by The Boston Globe.

Harvard is not following some other medical centres, like Stanford, which have banned corporate support for individual post graduate medical education classes. Harvard would allow such financing if it comes from at least two corporations.

Harvard also did not go as far as Partners Health care, the non-profit owner of two Harvard-affiliated hospitals, in restricting the amount of pay top faculty and officials are permitted to receive from serving on corporate boards. Partners set a limit of $5,000 a day of actual work for a corporate board. Some employees previously received over $200,000 a year for a limited number of meetings.

For most of the 78 years since its founding in Omaha, the Oriental Trading Company has been the life of the party. In the market for hibiscus hula skirts ($5.00 a piece)? Ring-shaped shot glasses ($4.99 a dozen)? Perhaps neon vampire teeth ($7.00 a gross)?

All that and more can be found inside the Oriental trading Catalogue, a dizzy compendum of enough plastic doodads and cheap whatsits to satisfy the sugared-up 6-year-old in anyone.

Only now the company's business seems to be deflating faster than a cow print latex balloon ($9.95 for 25). Oriental Trading is struggling to pay its creditors after being sold for $1 billion in 2006 to the Carlyle Group, a big private investment firm with long, deep ties to Washington power brokers.

It is just the latest setback for the venerable Oriental Trading which made headlines last year when the son of its founder lost nearly $189 million in a single year on the game tables of Las Vegas.

The company missed an interest payment in late May on part of its $640 million in bank loans. It is currently in talks with its lenders to fix its tilting finances. Oriental Trading, which mails out 300 million catalogs annually, has been hit hard by rising postal costs.

But the ocmpany, with annual revenue of about $485 million, has also struggled to shoulder the mountain of debt stemming from its leveraged buyout by Carlyle, whose private equity empire includes brand names like Hertz, AMC entertainment, Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins.

Carlyle bought Oriental trading from another private equity firm in a deal valued at $1 billion in the midst of the biggest buyout boom in history. ...

Australia. Dumping Ground And Laboratory

A breast cancer treatment drug which may be banned in the US is still safe for use in Australia, its manufacturer says.

A US advisory panel has dealt a blow to Roche's multi-billion dollar drug Avastin, urging officials to revoke the medicine's approval for breast cancer after they found the drug's benefit did not outweigh its serious risks.

The Cancer Council yesterday told the ABC that Avastin is only used in Australia to treat lung, colon and brain cancer.

But in a statement, Roche says the drug is approved to treat advanced (metastatic) breast cancer in Australia as well. ...

In the US, Members of a Food and Drug Administration panel said they did not see enough of a benefit from Avastin in advanced breast cancer to justify its serious risks.

The drug's risks include gastrointestinal perforations, bleeding and blood clots.

US Roche said rates of those problems were low, at less than 4 per cent in the breast cancer trials.

But panel chairman Wyndham Wilson, a National Cancer Institute researcher, said there is definitive evidence that Avastin causes serious and life-threatening side effects.

"Small numbers, but if you're the one, that's not what you want to be exposed to," he said.

Overall data "does not support this being effective" in advanced breast cancer, he added.

Billboard, Brisbane Road Labrador

Playboy launches new work-safe website

Playboy has launched a website that it says eliminates the need for men to throw themselves over their computer screen when the boss walks by. ...

It's Time To Remove Rupert Murdoch From Australian Media Ownership And Break Up News Ltd.

The Storm's former chairman, Rob Moodie, has launched a withering attack on the club's owners, News Ltd, comparing their ''intimidating'' tactics to those of multinational tobacco firms.

Dr Moodie, who has battled with tobacco companies in his position as one of Australia's foremost preventive health experts, told the Herald:

''Coming up against News Ltd isn't easy. From my experience in health I'd compare their tactics to those of a tobacco company - they are just so powerful, they have so many resources and they can be very intimidating.

''I have been shocked by their approach to ethics.''

The health expert, who enjoys an international reputation for his work on HIV/AIDS, also criticised the close relationship between the media company and the NRL. News Ltd owns 50 per cent of the National Rugby League as well as significant shares in Foxtel and Fox Sports.

He said: ''It seems to me that News Ltd and the NRL have been acting as one ever since the [salary cap] breaches were discovered. They may own a half share of the NRL but their influence seems to go beyond that.

''That's the power of News … It would be different if the Storm and NRL were owned by an organisation that wasn't a media company. They can release things and put their spin on issues to suit their agenda.'' ...

The Defence Department has launched an investigation into the tender process for a contract to transport troops to the Middle East.

The current contractor, Strategic Aviation Group, has raised concerns about the new tender process with the Inspector-General of Defence.

In a statement, the Defence Department says auditors have been asked to carry out an immediate check of the tender process.However, the department has not outlined what concerns have been raised.

Former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon has launched legal action against four newspapers over reports about his alleged links with a Chinese-Australian businesswoman.

Mr Fitzgibbon resigned from the portfolio in June last year after he breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct.But he had been embroiled in controversy before his resignation after failing to declare that Chinese-born businesswoman Helen Liu had paid for his two trips to China when Labor was in Opposition.

Mr Fitzgibbon is now pressing ahead with legal action for defamation over several stories about his alleged links with Ms Liu.

The claims lodged in the ACT Supreme Court say the stories published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Canberra Times, The Age and the Financial Review were sensationalised and the journalists knew the claims were false.

All four media outlets have indicated they will challenge the defamation action.

... Over the past few weeks, the Murdoch Press have dug up and begun flogging the rotted carcass of the dead horse known as the Gold Coast Cruise Ship Terminal on the Southport Spit.

A genuine, honest, trusted local newspaper would send this lot packing, again. Or at least pretend to acknowledge the local opposition to their plans to takeover and destroy our public paradise by the sea. ...

All parties in parliament except for the reigning socialists have called for pensions not to be frozen in 2011 as proposed by the central government.

Zapatero's cabinet expects to save 1,500 million euros of public funds by freezing state pensions for retirees, widows and widowers, orphans and the long-term sick next year.

Members of all other parties say it will see a 'notable reduction' in the 'confidence and credibility' of the so-called Toledo Pact, which was drafted in 1995 to regulate the future of state pensions. Politicians in Madrid have called for the government to 'guarantee the necessary climate of trust and loyalty' and 'suspend the freezing of pensions' for 2011, since this is 'especially relevant in times of recession'.

They want to see the PSOE adopt alternative methods of saving public funds in order to cut Spain's state deficit.

A blistering heat wave with 100-degree-Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) temperatures and stifling humidity has caused more than 1,000 cattle deaths in Kansas the past few days and forecasts call for the heat to continue through Friday.

Kansas is the third largest cattle producer with nearly 2.1 million head in feedlots. Even healthy cattle eat less when it's so hot and heat-related losses sent cattle prices to a two-month high at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Monday.

"I think it was a combination of heat and high humidity in areas that don't always have that kind of humidity," said Todd Domer, spokesman for the Kansas Livestock Association.

The Kansas Livestock Association is educating producers on how to secure federal compensation for their losses.

Innovative Livestock Services Inc said its three Kansas feedyards lost about 1,000 cattle in recent days due to the higher temperatures and lack of wind. The company operates three Kansas feedyards and two in Nebraska. ...

Air traffic controllers in Spain are threatening ‘a complicated summer’, and claim that the high level of absenteeism and medical time off is due to the stress which has been created by the lack of personnel. Union USCA said the number of controllers off sick had increased over recent months as a consequence of the pressure of work. They claim that rotas are too tight and so any absence has its consequences.

Minister for Development, José Blanco, said the controllers were causing ‘serious damage’ to the country, the airlines and the travellers. He said that AENA had asked Social Security to inspect such high numbers of people off sick and legal action would be taken if irregularities were found.

He called for ‘responsibility’ from the controllers.

Italian Doctors Protest Proposed Budget

Doctors in Italy called a one-day work stoppage for Monday to protest budget cuts, a move expected to delay some 40,000 surgeries, authorities said.

About 100 doctors and nurses gathered outside the Italian parliament in Rome, many of them waving signs and blowing vuvuzelas -- horns that became infamous after complaints by players ad TV viewers during the World Cup -- ANSA reported.

"We have been forced to resort to a strike because of health-policy decisions which have shown indifference to the work medical staff have to do in increasingly difficult conditions," protest organizers said.

Cuts in the Italian government's proposed austerity package will "lead to a shortfall of 30,000 doctors in the next four years and the firing of half the short-term staff engaged in fundamental activities like ER services," they said.

Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio denied that, saying the austerity budget "does not feature cuts."

Protests over the austerity plan have already by held by public-sector workers, diplomats, subsidized theatres, short-term workers, students, magistrates and pensioners, ANSA reported.

The Victorian branch of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) has withdrawn its support for Labor at the Federal Election.

The powerful union says Labor's refusal to scrap controversial laws restricting union action on building sites has prompted the decision.

The Labor Government has retained the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which was introduced by the Howard Government.

The ETU secretary, Dean Mighell, says the union will encourage its members to vote for the Greens.

"We would hope if the Greens have the balance of power that they can convince Labor to do what Labor ought to do, and implement Labor policy, strangely enough, to get workers' rights back on the agenda in this country," he said.

"I've long championed that Unions should be affiliated with political parties in the interests of their members.

"If you take off all the labels of WorkChoices, Tony Abbott wouldn't need to change the Fair Work Act, it is so similar to WorkChoices it's not funny."

Yet The System Remains Unquestioned

Queensland Attorney-General Cameron Dick says he will appeal against the sentences imposed on former Bundaberg Hospital surgeon Jayant Patel. ...

Just What Australia Needs - An American Style Health System

One of Australia's biggest healthcare companies, Healthscope, has been sold to a private equity consortium after a two-month takeover battle.

The Healthscope board has backed the $6.26 a share offer from a consortium led by American-based private equity groups TPG and Carlyle Group.

The deal values Healthscope at $2.7 billion. Healthscope shares surged about 11 per cent when the company resumed trading after announcing the deal.

Healthscope was trading 9.8 per cent higher at $5.93 at 11:24am (AEST).

Healthscope says it is Australia's second largest private hospital operator, with 48 hospitals in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Prince of Wales Private Hospital in Sydney and the Melbourne Private Hospital.

It says the consortium does not plan to change the company's current management or business plans.

Queensland. Banjo Pickin' Hokey Pokey Yokeyville Racist Backwater, Administered By:

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has defended parole conditions banning the ringleader [Lex Wotton] of the Palm Island riots from speaking to the media or addressing public meetings. ...

Ms Bligh said the conditions were no different to parole conditions given to other prisoners.

"You will find the conditions for this prisoner very similar to conditions imposed on many prisoners who are being paroled from prison," she told reporters.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman said the no media access condition on a parole order was a standard part of the legislation.

But Black and White Justice Foundation director Stewart Levitt believes it's unusual to prohibit a public spokesman and former politician from attending a public meeting.

"We will be seeking the go-ahead from Lex to take this to a Queensland court," Mr Levitt said.

"They infringe the international covenant on civil and political rights, which Australia has ratified.

"Nelson Mandela came out of 27 years of jail and was able to run for president right away and that was under the apartheid regime in South Africa." ...

Parole orders may include conditions relating to a number of matters, including employment, accomodation, programs to be undertaken and curfews. However these conditions must be to ensure the offender's good conduct or to stop the offender committing an offence.

Water quality in the Brisbane River could be compromised by a decision to remove mangroves at South Bank.

University of Queensland mangroves expert Norman Duke said the damage to the river could be widespread.

Dr Duke said about 40 species of wildlife could be affected and it could have an impact on the quality of Brisbane River water.

"The mangroves act as filters for cleaning up the river ways of sediments and deposits," Dr Duke told brisbanetimes.com.au.

"There could [also] be an aspect of erosion mitigation as well, where mangroves play a role in keeping the edges of the river together."

Aesthetic values also should be taken into account, Dr Duke said.

Despite publicly championing water quality issues in the Brisbane River in recent years, Lord Mayor Campbell Newman's office refused interview requests. ...

South-east Queensland had already lost 900 hectares of mangrove to Brisbane Airport and about 10 per cent of the 12,000 hectares of mangrove on Moreton Island were in a "dead state", Dr Duke said.

A United Nations Environment Program report released last week found global mangrove forests are being lost up to four times faster than land forests.

"As every development takes what might be considered an insignificant area, over the years every little piece becomes an accumulated huge loss," Dr Duke said.

"Now in the Brisbane River there really is very few mangrove areas remaining that might support some wildlife."

Obviously the ALP, concentrating on fighting for right-wing votes with the Liberals, is a bit worried about progressive voters saying “to hell with this, I’m voting for a party that ISN’T right-wing” and leaving it for the Greens. To that end, expect a steadily-increasing barrage of anti-Greens smears everywhere from the Daily Telegraph to your letterbox, peaking in the last week with the most damaging, misleading, dishonest one they can imagine.

The one they’ve gone with today, courtesy of Paul Howes from the ALP-affiliated AWU, seems somewhat counterproductive, however:

Unfortunately for Brown and likeminded environmentalists, such as NSW MP Ian Cohen, his party is being infiltrated by many whose commitment to the environment is questionable, and who are more focused on turning the Greens into a left-wing, socialist-style party. Some people call these Greens “watermelons” – green on the outside, red on the inside.

The ALP is trying to scare left-wing voters back into the fold by telling them that the Greens are a left-wing party?I’m not entirely convinced that will work.

PS “Stalinist”, Paul? Do you really think that will fly?

More Health Fears Near Closed Toxic Dump

Residents living near a disused toxic waste dump at Tullamarine in Melbourne's north-west say cancer rates in the area are eight times the Victorian average.

The Tullamarine Community Group has released its second health report on the impact of the Tullamarine Hazardous Waste Landfill. The report has been compiled by the Western Region Environment Centre.

The group says pleas for help have been ignored by the state government and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), which is responsible for monitoring the site. The site, which processed residential and industrial chemicals, was closed down in 2008.Another report, released by the group in May, found that 74 residents living within four kilometres of the site have been diagnosed with cancer. ...

Petron Philippines assured the public Sunday that it is ready to pay all legitimate damage claims tied to the oil slick off the coast of Rosario, Cavite, as a result of its ruptured undersea pipeline last week.

Petron Public Affairs Officer Charmaine Canillas said a dialogue is under way among officials of Petron Philippines, militant fishermen’s group Pambansang Lakas ng Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to determine the extent of damage caused by the oil spill.

“Petron Philippines is willing to pay all legitimate claims in connection with the recent LPG leak in Rosario Cavite, including the cleanup operation,” said Canillas, speaking to mediamen at the weekly Tinapayan sa Dapitan forum.

Liquefied Petroleum Gasoline (LPG) leaked from Petron’s submarine pipeline, which was damaged by the anchor of a ship battered during the onslaught of typhoon “Basyang.”

Water Shortage Hits Metro Manila

MANILA -- The record-low level in Angat Dam, the capital's main water reservoir, has finally caught up with millions of residents of Metro Manila as the Maynilad Water Services Inc. implemented supply cuts until July 23.

In a statement, Maynilad said the disruptions in water supply started Friday in various barangays in 11 cities and in Cavite after it received a 30-percent supply cut from the dam.

"Since February this year, our water allocation from Angat Dam has been steadily reduced because of El Niño... For the month of July, our allocation has been cut by 30 percent and as a result, around 46 percent of our customer base has experienced reduced water pressure," the statement said.

As of 6 a.m. Saturday, water level in Angat Dam is at 157.68 meters, 0.06 meter higher than the historic low of 157.62 meters recorded last Thursday.With this, Maynilad said a total of 46 barangays in Quezon City, Caloocan, Malabon, Valenzuela, Las Piñas, and Navotas have been "severely affected" by the water supply reduction.

In a separate interview, Maynilad spokesperson Cherubim Ocampo said that among those severely affected by the water shortage are 22 barangays in Quezon City, 13 in Caloocan, four in Malabon, four in Valenzuela, two in Las Piñas, and a barangay in Navotas City.

"We have been doing extraordinary measures to address the problem. We have deployed 28 water tankers to affected areas to supply water. This service is for free but those who want to avail need to present proof that they are customers of Maynilad," she said. ...

A group of students from a Melbourne private school have narrowly avoided criminal charges after an alleged shoplifting spree on a school trip to New Zealand.

The 16 boys from Xavier College at Kew in Melbourne's east were in Queenstown as part of a school skiing trip.It is alleged they stole ski clothing and souvenirs worth around $5,000 from at least seven different shops in Queenstown.

The boys, aged between 14 and 17, were let off with a warning by police, but their details have been passed on to immigration authorities. ...

Fishkill Hits Laguna Lake, Philippines

Manila, Philippines - Some 5000 hectares of Fish Pen were destroyed by typhoon "Basyang" on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, affecting thousands of local raised fresh water fish "Tilapia" and "Bangus". According to some residents, the pollution is caused by wastewater and garbage thrown into the creeks and rivers that flow into Laguna Lake. Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) chairman Ed Manda said the fishkill happens every rainy season when the lake's oxygen level goes down due to pollution. Authorities say they are doing their best by reminding those establishments which contributes to the pollution, they also help them make sure they follow certain regulations tocomply with the pollution laws.

This phenomenon now extends to shores of Binangonan, Rizal; Pakil, Laguna; and the western side of Muntinlupa.

Authorities say the fish is safe to eat, but only in moderation. And it will take a minimum of 3 months before these fish pens will be established again.

While Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $550 million to resolve a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the SEC, Goldman has not been held accountable for many of its other questionable investment practices. A new article in Harper’s Magazine examines the role Goldman played in the food crisis of 2008 when the ranks of the world’s hungry increased by 250 million. We speak to Harper’s contributing editor Frederick Kaufman. ...

A Question For Q & A

What are your respective positions on keeping the ABC independent from News Ltd.?

The New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) has compiled a damning report into Australia's most prominent anti-vaccination group, the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN).

The HCCC accuses the AVN of providing inaccurate and misleading information and selectively quoting research out of context to argue against vaccination.

The report has also noted accusations that the AVN harassed the parents of a child who died of whooping cough last year, after the parents advocated the importance of childhood vaccination.

Meryl Dorey runs the AVN from a home office on the north coast of NSW.The AVN provides anti-vaccination information through its website, magazine and seminars.

...The children's choir singing toward the end is the Hitler Youth singing "Die Jugend Marschiert" (Youth on the March)

How appropriate.

Australian Federal Police are supporting Bali Nine drug mule Scott Rush's final appeal against his death sentence.

Rush's lawyers have lodged his long-awaited judicial review, also known as a PK, in Indonesia's Denpasar District Court.

The appeal pushes for a 15-year sentence for Rush, one of nine Australians convicted over a 2005 plot to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin out of Bali.

... Mr Keelty's letter, written before his retirement last year, makes it clear Rush was just a courier.

"There is no indication that Scott was an organiser or aware of the scale of the organisation behind the volume of drug importations," the letter said.

Mr Keelty and the AFP faced heavy criticism for tipping off Indonesian authorities about the Bali Nine, thereby subjecting them to possible death sentences instead of arresting them in Australia. ...

Jump In My Car. I Wanna Drive You Home

'Sina' report [17/7/10]: DALIAN, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Flames that engulfed a port in Dalian, a coastal city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, were basically extinguished Saturday morning, 15 hours after blasts hit two oil pipelines.

The fire and explosion caused no casualties, a city government spokesman said at a briefing at 10 a.m. The fire site was far from residential areas.

As of Saturday morning, fire fighters had switched off valves on all oil tanks and put the flames under control, said Xu Guochen, secretary-general of the city government.

He said more than 2,000 men and 338 fire engines from 14 cities across the province worked through the night to extinguish the fire.

The accident aroused the attention of China's top leadership, prompting instructions from President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang rushed to the fire site Friday night to direct the rescue work.

China's Air Force sent two Y8 aircraft to the rescue operation, carrying 17.8 tonnes of fire extinguishing agent.

The fire site was still overshadowed by smog Saturday morning.

At sina.com, China's leading news portal, local residents complained a stinging odor was smelt in all four downtown districts of Dalian.

Xu said the flames gave off gas containing sulphur and aromatic hydrocarbon that were not fatally toxic.He left no time for questions at the briefing.

Authorities in Dalian are yet to assess the damage to the environment.

An explosion hit an oil pipeline of 0.9 meter in diameter at 6 p.m. Friday and triggered an adjacent smaller pipeline to explode near Dalian's Xingang Harbor.

Both pipelines, owned by China National Petroleum Corp., caught fire. The blaze of the larger pipeline was extinguished around midnight, but at least five subsequent explosions worsened the fire on the smaller pipeline.

A spokesman with the Dalian fire brigade said earlier it was too difficult for workers to switch off the oil pump on the smaller pipeline because of mechanical failures caused by the fire, and oil spills exacerbated the fire situation.

Firefighters had to switch it off by hand, which took much longer time, the spokesman said.

As of 9 a.m., the fire was under control but sporadic sparks were still seen at the site, he said.

The accident happened after a 300,000 tonne oil ship uploaded oil in the harbor. The tanker left the harbor safely.

The pipelines were links between oil ships and oil tanks on land.

(Reuters 16/7/10) - Soaring temperatures across large swathes of Russia have destroyed nearly 10 million hectares of crops and prompted a state of emergency to be declared in 17 regions.

On Friday the state-run Moscow region weather bureau said it expected the heatwave, which has gripped the country since late June and is estimated to have already cost the agricultural sector about $1 billion, to continue into next week.

Saturday could see temperatures in Moscow hit 37 Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit), which would break the previous record of 36.6C. set in 1936. ...

Why Are These Kind Of Speeches Always Delivered At The Lowy Institute?

On the eve of his departure as the Defence Minister, John Faulkner has lashed out at critics of the Government's military commitment to Afghanistan.

Senator Faulkner says the debate on Afghanistan has become polarised and it is not helping the effort to bring stability to the war-ravaged nation.

He says Australia's commitment is substantial and is proving effective in its main objective of training the Afghan army.

As he prepares to step down, Senator Faulkner fronted an audience at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. His message was that Australia must stick to its commitment in Afghanistan. ...

What Happened To Australian Sportsmanship?

Australia's Mark Renshaw has apologised to Tour de France officials for the headbutting incident which got him controversially thrown off the race.

Renshaw, the lead-out man for British sprinter Mark Cavendish in the HTC-Columbia team, was excluded after he tried to headbutt Kiwi Julian Dean three times and also for blocking the path of American Tyler Farrar as they drove hard for the finish line. ...

Man Dies At Desal Plant In Adelaide

A man has died in a workplace accident at the construction site of Adelaide's new desalination plant in the city's southern suburbs.

A spokeswoman said police patrols and ambulance crews were at the scene.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner and SafeWork SA officials will also investigate.

The desalination plant, which will eventually provide up to half of Adelaide's water supplies, is due to start operating later this year.

NICOLA ROXON: This MyHospitals.gov.au website will be live in the course of next month. We are very excited that we are giving knowledge and information to patients. It’s been agreed to by all the states and territories except Western Australia and that means that patients will be able to get information about every hospital in the country.

... ALEXANDRA KIRK: When people need to go to a hospital it’s in many cases they don't have time to go onto the internet and choose and look at the data. They need to go to the nearest hospital very quickly. So is there a limit to the usefulness of this idea?

NICOLA ROXON: I am not ever going to suggest that before somebody calls an ambulance they should check on the website this information. This information though is going to be very important for lifting the standards of hospitals across the country. We know that health professionals are a very proud and skilled group of people so it’s an accountability that improves the quality of care by health professionals themselves being able to make comparisons. But importantly it gives patients information when they do have options, when they are looking at having elective surgery. There might be many patients who can see that travelling a distance will actually mean they will be seen more quickly and that might be preferable in their circumstances.We believe that you should provide information to the public. It’s the public that funds these hospitals. And it’s an opportunity for us to give patients much more information. And over time because the collection of the data is so complex we'll be able to add layers of extra information which will be valuable for patients into the future....

Facts by themselves teach us very little; all facts need to be evaluated in a context, since by themselves they do not lead to any insight about what they really mean. Thus the problem here is a broad enough education to learn critical thinking skills. This has largely disappeared in education today. People get through high school and remain functionally illiterate. Those who make it through university are memorizing and regurgitating Powerpoint slides, caricatures of careful thinking. Even the professors, who should be in the best position to evaluate facts, are caught up in the game of careerism, which locks them into pandering to whatever dominant narrative is current to keep one's position and advance in a discipline. In order to enhance egos, keep tenure and get promotions, the habits of thought of most professors are geared to personal survival, no longer a search for truth through application of accumulated knowledge.

What is au courant is all, no matter how wrong-headed it is; this I call "neophilia" or the knee-jerk love of the new (and by implication rejection of anything that has a long history of refinement in thought). Then there is the huge issue of the domination of ideologies; the more they offer "explanations" or "solutions", the more attractive they will be for lost people trying to reduce cognitive dissonance. The most successful ideologies are those that become dominant narratives regardless of their distortion of anything resembling the truth of the matter (by definition ideology means distortion of any semblance of truth).

In sum, education no longer gives people the tools for critical thinking and schools have become nothing more than high-flown tech schools to fit memorizing conformists into a complex but terminally distorted socioeconomic system. Thus people don't want to know what is really happening to them, that would be too painful and distressing in the face of the enormity of challenges to rethink and set right the pathological trends in society. So their thinking short-circuits along ideological lines to reduce cognitive dissonance (what else can they do, they don't have the tools to analyze anything?). Bottom line is, the problem with "facts" is not being equipped to evaluate them for relevance and their place in a larger understanding. Instead they are used post facto to justify emotion-based preconceptions.

It might not be as bad as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but for Coolum residents who value the serenity and amenity of Stumers Creek, the black, greasy slick that they say coats sections of the waterway is also a disaster.

Jack Hubbard, who enjoys fishing Stumers Creek from his backyard at Coolum Waters retirement resort, first noticed a gritty slime, which he likened to sump oil, in the creek last December.

Despite his plea at the time for residents to keep a lookout for anyone who might be dumping oil illegally, the slicks continue to spoil the creek.

He said the creek, which usually hosted an abundance of fish, was now bereft of life.“The original tenants like crabs, multiple fish species, eels and all the marine life have disappeared due to this contamination,” he said.

“This time of year is mullet season and there should be lots jumping around, but I haven’t seen one jump in ages.”

The 86-year-old said he believed the substance was motor oil because “it’s the same colour and consistency”.

A council spokesperson said there was no evidence of oil in the creek this week and residents should contact council immediately if they suspected oils or other pollutants had been dumped in waterways.

Cancer Fears Shut Down Gas Trial

Queensland authorities have shut down an underground gas project in the state's south after water from nearby bores was found to be contaminated with a cancer-causing chemical.

Cougar Energy has an underground coal gasification (UCG) plant near Kingaroy, where it is trialling the burning of coal underground and piping the synthetic gas to the surface.

The method, deemed as the cleanest way to use coal, is being trialled at three locations in Queensland under the supervision of a panel of scientific experts.

But tests conducted by Cougar Energy found traces of benzene, a known carcinogen, and the toxic chemical toluene in underground water from nearby bores on June 29.

Queensland's Department of Environment and Resource Management has ordered Cougar Energy to close the plant and farmers near the site are being asked not to use bores until further tests clear them of contamination. ...

Ex-Tamil Fighters Start Factory Life in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan women who were Tamil combatants a year ago are leaving rehabilitation camps and moving into the work force. Four hundred just arrived at a hostel for workers in a factory that ships clothes to Target and Wal-Mart.

NITTAMBUWA, Sri Lanka (WOMENSENEWS)--Four hundred women who once fought for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam left rehabilitations camps in the northern district of Vavuniya last month and made the seven-hour trip south to a hostel here set up for them by a major apparel exporter.

Fourteen months ago many of them carried arms. They gave them up in May when Sri Lankan troops won the 30-year battle with the separatist group. Now, with their lives as guerrillas behind them, they faced new jobs in clothing factories owned by the Tri Star Group, a major apparel exporter in Sri Lanka that has set up housing for the ex-combatants.

They arrived in the evening and the next morning they would be enrolled as machine operators in three garment plants a few miles away. Each day Tri Star buses transport them to work and back.

In the rehabilitation camp they were taught to meditate, participated in theatrical activities and received training on beauty, culture and personal care.

Almost a year later, it was time to rejoin society. ...

More than 200 people gathered at the Yirara College in Alice Springs over July 6-9 for a conference entitled Defending Indigenous Rights: Land, Law, Culture Convergence. ...

Former National Indigenous Times editor Chris Graham was asked to presents the results of his investigation into a Lateline program aired in May 2006.

The program used fabricated sources and false information to exaggerate child sexual abuse in the Aboriginal township of Mutitjulu.

Graham said: “This story is the story that sparked the intervention. We know how dishonest the intervention is, but the story that sparked it is even more dishonest.”

David Brockman and Leticia Patterson from the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association said the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people and communities had gone backwards since the intervention.

“The fact is, this was used as an election issue to override the rights of people”, Brockman said.

A women’s meeting at the convergence adopted a statement that called for the “law that takes away our human rights as Indigenous peoples of this country” to be repealed and for Aboriginal affairs minister Jenny Macklin to resign. It rejected the lie that the purpose of the intervention was to protect women and feed children: “Women are suffering, we’re worse off here now than we were ever before.” ...

Strange growth at JEBH
I am very surprised that council’s engineering and operations has used the 2006 publicly exhibited concept plan adopted by council to justify the distance of infill now being dumped from the northern shoreline of Jack Evans Boat Harbour, particularly when a later plan was available.
Even if council had used the final draft of the Aspect Studio’s construction implementation plan (December 2008), most observers including myself and at least three reported councillors cannot reconcile the distance of polluting infill extending from the existing northern shoreline of the harbour.
Others do not agree with council’s statement that, ‘The adopted foreshore line has not materially changed since the original concept plan was publicly exhibited and adopted by council in 2006.’ The harbour’s northern beach covered by areas of fill will be protected concrete/rock revetment walls in deeper water.
Of public concern is leaching of infill sediment below the inadequate construction boom-line placed near adjoining beds of seagrass. The new infill area is part of a previously advertised scheme for the sale of commercial development land now being formed on the northern shoreline of the Jack Evans Boat Harbour, all at the cost of public amenity and culture. Whether the council has constructed these infill works in accordance with the Review of Environment Factors dated April 2009 is yet to be examined.
Our community needs to write to council about these concerning matters.
Richard W Murray
Tweed Heads Environment Group

The ABC will not televise any more Queensland Cup rugby league games from Stockland Park at Kawana in the immediate future after concerns about the ground’s camera tower were raised by a workplace health and safety audit.

ABC sports producer Greg Elliott confirmed an audit of a number of outside broadcast locations, including Stockland Park had been carried out by an external consultant.

“Issues came up at some of the locations, including Stockland Park,” Mr Elliott said.“Changes may have to be made before we go back to some of the venues.”

Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles CEO Justin Vievers said while the club was “naturally disappointed with the decision”, the Queensland Cup draw had been rescheduled to give the team two more televised away games – last weekend’s 16-8 defeat of Souths Logan and a fixture against Norths in Brisbane on August 7.

“They’ve told us they have some issues with the tower,” Mr Vievers said.

“It’s disappointing they are not here this weekend (Sea Eagles host third-placed Redcliffe this Saturday) because it would have been a good TV game.

“They’ve given us a couple of TV games away from home instead.”

Mr Vievers said with planning under way for a 1000-seat grandstand to be built at the facility by the middle of next year, to include undercover grandstand seating, change rooms, medical and media rooms and public toilets, the venue would soon have the “best facilities in the business”.

“It will be our mini Suncorp Stadium. I don’t think anyone else in the competition will come close to our facilities,” he said.

The ABC broadcast last season’s Queensland Cup from Stockland Park live across Queensland, with the Sea Eagles downing Northern Pride to win the premiership in its first year back in the state-wide competition.

The CityGlider service has carried more than 100,000 passengers each month since its launch in April.

Brisbane's first 24 hour high-frequency bus service has been hailed a success just three months after it hit inner-city streets.

The $5 million CityGlider service has carried more 300,000 passengers, according to Brisbane City Council.

Council's Public and Active Transport chair Margaret de Wit said CityGlider, which runs on a continuous loop between West End and Newstead, has carried more than 100,000 passengers each month since its launch in April. ...

... CHAIR: That concludes the block of non-government questions. We will come back to nongovernment questions but, Premier, now for some government members' questions. I have asked you in the parliament previously about the fantastic Greek festivals we have here in Queensland, but I would now like to refer to the SDS at page 1-4 and recall that last year we announced the new annual Brisbane Festival incorporating Riverfestival for the first time, which in my recollection was a great success. I am wondering whether you can report to the committee how planning for this year's Brisbane Festival is progressing and whether you have any advice on any particular events that might be of interest to members of the committee.

Ms BLIGH: Chair, I am very pleased to provide you and the committee with further advice. I was pleased last week to launch the festival program at the Powerhouse, together with our major sponsor and partner the Brisbane City Council. The program this year will go from 4 to 25 September. I suggest that everyone put those dates in their calendar. This is the program: it looks like this. It is all in one book and I encourage people to have a look at it. I think the only problem you will have is trying to limit the number of things that you can possibly see in what I would describe as an avalanche of theatre, dance, music and the visual arts.

We have had a period of time in Brisbane where we have had a number of festivals alternating in different years-some run by the council, some run by the state. I think it has been a very important strategic move for the capital city of our state and our artistic reputation nationally that the state government and the Brisbane City Council have come together-put aside different political persuasions, put aside different levels of government-and acted in a way which I think is in the best interests of Brisbane. The mayor of Brisbane likes to talk about creating Brisbane as Australia's next world city. If you are going to be a world city, you need to have, in my view, a well-recognised and well established festival so that everybody understands what time of year it happens and that it is going to happen every year. That is what I think we are now well on the way to establishing.

The second festival that is funded in this way, as I said, will start on 4 September. There are so many highlights that it is hard to say which ones I would draw to your attention. I cannot not talk about the fact that it will have a very Cuban flavour. First of all, we will have an [Havana club, which will feature Cuban music. Most notably, we will see Cuba's leading modern dance company, which is known as Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, put some sizzle into the festival. I did want to read these reviews because I think they add a bit of sizzle into our estimates. One review says, 'Every pelvic thrust and every entry is a sprint,' and another says, 'Passages are performed in such perfect sync and with such sexual intensity that you cannot tear your eyes away.' I thought I would draw that to your attention. They will be performing for the first time on the same festival program in a Brisbane exclusive with one of the world's greatest ballet companies, and that is the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, performing Don Quixote. The contemporary dance company of Cuba and its national ballet have never performed together outside of Cuba, and it will happen for the first time in Brisbane. Eighteen months later New York will be getting the same treat. So New York will be riding on our coat-tails, and I think that is great for Brisbane. …

At 'Camp Obama' volunteers around the United States learnt how to integrate powerful stories with strategy and skills. Meeting each other at a million points of hope and energy, these stories transformed a political campaign into a popular movement. Now we're bringing this powerful training to Brisbane.

We've already seen in the lead-up to the federal election that we're back to politics as usual: sound bites, spin doctors and media pundits ignoring real people and their stories. This is the opportunity to learn the secret weapon of the Obama campaign so we can work together in the key electorate of Ryan to make a massive impact this election.

Yes, I'm interested in attending the Community Organising Workshop

Where: Kenmore Hills - more details on application
When: 31st of July and 1st of August
Cost: $30 (this is to cover costs and includes lunch)
Spaces are limited - don't miss out!

Click here to read the draft agenda and apply for the Community Organising Workshop

When you arrive on Saturday morning you'll be greeted by an enthusiastic group of highly caffeinated facilitators. You'll mingle with other like-minded people from GetUp and other climate groups such as the Australian Conservation Foundation who'll be joining you over the weekend, and through the election as volunteers in Brisbane. You might even be surprised to find one of your neighbours there. ...

The spin doctors, attack ads and focus group tested sound bites are waiting in the wings. Media pundits have their eyes on the political horse race, ignoring the people affected by the policies they squabble over. In this campaign, we will tell the stories of these people. Together we will provide the passion, humanity and energy so absent in the practiced smiles and hollow lines of our politicians.

Hope to see you there,
Sara, for the GetUp team

PS - Can't make the workshop? Sponsoring someone else to come is a powerful way to make an impact: click here to get make sure a fellow GetUp member can be part of the Community Organising Workshop.

PPS - GetUp is looking for election interns for our Ryan campaign. If you, or someone you know, is interested, click here for more information.

Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has appeared on Cuban TV to warn the world that the West's confrontation with Iran and North Korea could erupt into nuclear war.

The 83-year-old claimed the conflict could break out if the USA, in alliance with Israel, tried to enforce sanctions again Iran for its recent nuclear activities. ...

In the fall of 1999, the drug giant SmithKline Beecham secretly began a study to find out if its diabetes medicine, Avandia, was safer for the heart than a competing pill, Actos, made by Takeda.

Avandia’s success was crucial to SmithKline, whose labs were otherwise all but barren of new products. But the study’s results, completed that same year, were disastrous. Not only was Avandia no better than Actos, but the study also provided clear signs that it was riskier to the heart.

But instead of publishing the results, the company spent the next 11 years trying to cover them up, according to documents recently obtained by The New York Times. The company did not post the results on its Web site or submit them to federal drug regulators, as is required in most cases by law. “This was done for the U.S. business, way under the radar,” Dr. Martin I. Freed, a SmithKline executive, wrote in an e-mail message dated March 29, 2001, about the study results that was obtained by The Times. “Per Sr. Mgmt request, these data should not see the light of day to anyone outside of GSK,” the corporate successor to SmithKline.

The heart risks from Avandia first became public in May 2007, with a study from a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic who used data the company was forced by a lawsuit to post on its own Web site. In the ensuing months, GlaxoSmithKline officials conceded that they had known of the drug’s potential heart attack risks since at least 2005. ...

The Federal Government will invest $1 million in a new set of disability friendly housing designs and building guidelines.

Parliamentary secretary for disabilities, Bill Shorten, has launched the voluntary livable housing design standards at Ropes Crossing, near Penrith in Sydney's west.

The aspirational targets will aim to include wider doorways, ground-level bathrooms and entry-level access in a bid to improve living standards for the aged and disabled, as well as young families.

The Federal Government will invest the $1 million over four years to drive a partnership with leaders of the construction and property sectors to promote the guidelines, which the Housing Industry Association (HIA) and Property Council of Australia have welcomed.

Mr Shorten says the guidelines are voluntary, with the hope the will be accepted as standard in the future.

"People don't buy cars without seatbelts any more. People don't buy cars with ashtrays in them any more," he said.

"What we're seeing is the intelligent evolution reflecting market demand." ...

Heatwave Grips Europe

More than 40 train passengers needed medical treatment for dehydration in Germany this weekend after the air conditioning broke down. The railway apologized for the fault which affected several of its high-speed ICE trains as Europe gasped under temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius.

German railway operator Deutsche Bahn apologized on Sunday after several passengers collapsed from heat exhaustion in three of its high-speed ICE trains when the air conditioning broke down on Saturday during the hottest weekend of the year so far.

Temperatures across much of Germany rose to just under 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and exceeded 50 degrees in the affected trains. In one train travelling from Berlin to the western town of Bielefeld on Saturday, several students on a school trip suffered dehydration and fainted and a pregnant woman tried to smash the window in a desperate attempt to get air. ...

Two Russian museum curators were found guilty of "inciting religious hatred" for displaying a painting of Jesus Christ with Mickey Mouse's head superimposed.

A Moscow court ordered the two men, Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev, to pay fines of £4,200 each.

They ruled that a 2007 exhibition in Moscow called "Forbidden Art" had caused psychological trauma and moral suffering to Christians.

Critics said the case harked back to Soviet censorship and underlined the Russian Orthodox Church's growing power. ...

When your child spies a trashy porn mag in a servo and asks out loud: “Mummy why is that lady not wearing a shirt?”, should you give her the honest answer? Say, “Well sweetie, men take those magazines home and masturbate over them”? ...

http://www.sayno4kids.com/blog/?page_id=13

What's Wrong With This Page?

If this page appears normal, you need to detox.

Avoid Murdoch publications for a week.

China Launches Armada To Head Off Algae Plume

Chinese authorities have dispatched a flotilla of more than 60 ships to head off a massive tide of algae that is approaching the coast of Qingdao.

The outbreak is thought to be caused by high ocean temperatures and excess nitrogen runoff from agriculture and fish farms. ...

ASB Makes A Sensible Decision!!!!!!

An ad featuring members of the Brisbane Broncos helping out in sponsor NRMA’s office has been banned – because player Sam Thaiday is featured pinching chocolate bars from a vending machine. ...

The NRMA claimed that Thaiday had already paid for the chocolate, saying: “The humour of the Advertisement is to show in a light hearted manner that the Broncos players are a bit out of place in a typical office environment due to their size, strength and inexperience.

“In one scene, Sam Thaiday is shown jiggling a vending machine to dislodge a chocolate bar that he had purchased which had become stuck. Consistent with the humour of the Advertisement, this action causes numerous chocolate bars to fall out of the machine because of Sam’s size and strength.”

However, the ASB ruled: “The Board considered that there is no suggestion that the player has not paid for one of the products and that there is not necessarily a suggestion of theft. However the Board noted it would not be the case that the man would have paid for the number of product that fell from the machine and that therefore there is a depiction or suggestion of theft.” ...

A Question For Q &A

What is the Greens' position on the Federal Government's secret internet blacklist policy, and if the Coalition had a firm policy guaranteeing Australians freedom of access to the internet, would the Greens support that?

He Said What?

A Tweed environmental group is doing its best to ensure climate change issues remain on the agenda of new PM Julia Gillard. Members of Tweed Climate Action Now (Tweed CAN) met recently with staff from Justine Elliot’s office to highlight their concerns. They also personally delivered nearly 200 letters expressing disappointment at the government’s lack of action on the issue, which will be passed onto the new PM. The group is calling for greater cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, saying Australia’s reliance on coal was unsustainable.The group is also calling on other residents to do their bit. ‘Right now the federal government appears to be in policy limbo in regards to the ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme). Now is the time for the community to write to Julia Gillard and express their desire for an effective carbon pollution reduction policy. We urge everyone who wants more action on climate change to write and make their feelings hurt,’ said group member Yasir Assam.

So Piss Off!

Robert Fisk wrote last week in the Independent of how an unnamed friend of his, "a Very Senior Correspondent of the BBC", responded to a recent challenge. Fisk could no longer recall whether it "was about the BBC's grovelling coverage of Israel or its refusal to show a film seeking help for wounded Palestinian children after the 2008-09 Gaza slaughter (on the grounds that this would damage the BBC's 'neutrality')". But the BBC correspondent was blandly dismissive:

"I recognise this is an issue."

Fisk skilfully unpacked the meaning of this "very revealing" BBC reply:

"Of course, what he should have said was: I know this is a problem. But he couldn't. Because BBC-speak doesn't allow words like problems - because problems have to be solved. And the BBC doesn't solve problems. Because they do not exist. There are only 'issues'. And issues only have to be 'recognised'. Thus what my friend really meant was: 'I know exactly what you're talking about but I haven't the slightest intention of admitting it, so piss off.'" (Fisk, 'Newspeak: why the BBC has an "issue" with problems', The Independent, July 3, 2010; http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-newspeak-why-the-bbc-has-an-issue-with-problems-2017279.html)

This has also been the experience of many of our readers who complain to BBC editors and journalists about endless examples of bias, distortion and omission in BBC news. All too often, Kafkaesque responses are generated by the clanking pistons, turbines and pumps of the BBC complaints machinery. ...

Free Paul The Octopus!

Queensland University of Technology Drops Cruel Toad Lab

PETA's Laboratory Investigations Department learned about a physiology course at Australia's Queensland University of Technology in which cane toads were being killed after having their chests cut open in crude and inhumane classroom experiments so that students could observe the effects of various drugs on the toads' hearts. We urged the school's administrators to end the cruel procedures and shared information about modern, humane, and educationally superior alternatives. After reviewing the course and evaluating the information that we provided, the school announced that it had completely ended the use of animals in these experiments.

It's Your ABC, So Don't Be Afraid To Question Them

We've contacted them many times. Usually we get ignored, but sometimes we get an answer.

Here's our latest effort:

Re: Deaths in custody in Queensland

I refer to your 'Deaths in custody in Queensland' story of [9/7/10], and particularly the following:

"...KATHY MCLEISH: They were devastated and media headlines added to the horror but it turned out there had been no car-jacking. The coroner found a communication error had led to that report, but the Kealtons say the police didn't return to straighten out the mistake and it was days before a witness contacted them to tell them there was no car-jacking.

LEIGH KEALTON: The police knew that didn't happen so there was really no excuse for them to put out that sort of story first to us under those tragic circumstances and secondly to the media because all of our friends and family both here and overseas were aware of that report in the newspaper. So it was a pretty hard pill to swallow. ..."

Is there an ABC editorial policy that dictates when the ABC mentions the Murdoch press they don't mention them by name, unless it's putting them in a positive light?

Queensland Is The New Alabama

Professor Gracelyn Smallwood, speaking exclusively to the National Indigenous Times from Townsville said nothing surprises her of the action of Queensland police officers' last minute attempt to place an injunction on the CMC Chair Martin Moynihan from ruling on disciplinary action that should be taken on their handling of the death in custody of Cameron 'Mulrunji' Doomadgee.

"If Police Commissioner Atkinson can't make a strong decision against these suspect cops, then he ought to do the right thing and step down," Ms Smallwood said. "Those police officers who arrived first onto Palm Island and went and had a beer and meal with Senior Sergeant Hurley at his home, even before they secured the crime scene, should be made to account for their incompetent handling of this case.

"And I don't want to hear of them sun bathing at Waikiki Beach whilst suspended on full pay either.

"They should be sacked so the public can have confidence in our police service again.

"If nothing's done about these suspect cops - I'd insist on another Royal Commission to take place to clean out the Queensland Police department.

"There are a lot of good police in our service - but these rotten apples are making a very bad name for them whilst they go unpunished by their Commissioner," Ms Smallwood said.

Ms Smallwood referred to public servants who have been sacked for disciplinary reasons and feels the same rules should also apply to Queensland police officers.

"There's been far too much collusion by Queensland Police officers involved in this sad case and it didn't surprise me that an all-white jury found Hurley not guilty, even after he admitted lying under oath."

"Premier Anna Bligh has a lot to answer for as well, as she was far too quick off the mark in wanting to reappoint Commissioner Atkinson for another lengthy term in his position, despite a dark cloud that has been hanging over his head," Ms Small wood said.

Ms Smallwood commented that this case has the whole world watching and compared the actions of Queensland police to the way police behaved towards blacks in Alabama in the southern state of the United States. "No wonder the world looks on Australia a some backwater, racist country that shows scant regard for their Indigenous population. Just look at the way this case had been covered up from the Premier of Queensland, the Police Commissioner and the investigating officers on the ground - it makes me sick thinking about all these people getting off whilst our brother Lex Wotton still still in jail for a crime he didn't commit."

About Bloody Time

Two Brisbane City Council bureaucrats are suing The Courier-Mail for more than half a million dollars, saying they were defamed in a report last year.

Dennis McGreevy and Ric Simpson have taken action against Queensland Newspapers, publisher of The Courier-Mail, saying a page seven story published last September brought them into disrepute. ...

How Do We Get Rid Of The Smirking Fakes And Thugs Sitting In Our Parliament?

The daughter of jailed former Queensland government minister Gordon Nuttall says the Parliament has a vendetta against her father.

Nuttall was found guilty last year of corruptly receiving more than $300,000.

Parliament's ethics committee has recommended Nuttall be fined $72,000 and be brought before the Bar of Parliament for contempt.

Kim Nuttall says her father reached an agreement with prosecutors to pay restitution and court costs by selling the Woodgate house she lives in.

She says she has been told to leave the home on Queensland's Fraser Coast within three months.

Ms Nuttall has pleaded with the Queensland Parliament to leave her father alone.

"As far as I'm concerned, someone out there has a vendetta against him and they won't stop until he's absolutely destroyed," she said. ...

The state government should re-open its probe into why sexual assault allegations at John Oxley Youth Centre in 1988 were never fully investigated, two long-running critics say.

Journalist Bruce Grundy, who devoted almost 22 years to investigating the issues linked to the Heiner Affair, said the government's $120,000 payment to a woman allegedly raped as a 14-year-old while in government care showed the full issue needed to be investigated.

And Kevin Lindeberg, a former Labor Party union official at the heart of two decades of inquiries, said the entire matter had never been independently investigated.

Mr Grundy said the investigation should start with the actions of staff at the John Oxley Youth Detention Centre in 1988. ...

What Crimes?

... FELICITY OGILVIE: The Attorney-General's office says that the removal of the clause that specifically deals with David Hicks doesn't change the spirit of the bill that David Hicks shouldn't benefit from his crimes. Do you think that that's true? Do you think that David Hicks won't be able to sell his story? ...

Six Years In Jail, No Charge

Babar Ahmad, 35, is the longest-serving prisoner held without charge or trial in the UK. In his first media interview since his arrest on a US extradition warrant in 2004, Mr Ahmad tells Robert Verkaik that he is the forgotten victim of the 'war on terror'. In March 2009, he was awarded £60,000 in compensation after an admission by the UK's anti-terrorist police that they subjected him to 'grave abuse, tantamount to torture' during his first arrest in December 2003. Corresponding via email from a secure isolation unit at Long Lartin prison, he calls on the Government to charge him or release him. Today, the European Court of Human Rights rules on his case. ...

When Is The Government Going To Release The Report Into The Montara Oil Spill?

... PETER GARRETT: I think that we've seen in the US obviously raises high levels of apprehension about issues to do with potential accidents, particularly drilling as deep as in the Gulf of Mexico. What I would say is that we will have in place the strictest and best regulations as is needed to ensure that we're properly protecting the environment. ...

Why Are We So Dependent On One Mega Nursery At Bowen For All Our Fruit & Veg?

Isn't this just an excuse to explain why fresh food prices are going to skyrocket in the next month or two?

North Queensland horticulturalists says the recent poisoning of about 7 million tomato seedlings is "industrial sabotage".

A major police investigation is continuing into the poisoning of the plants and police believe a herbicide was injected into the irrigation system used by two nurseries at Bowen about 10 days ago.

The State Government says it is considering posting a reward for information into the poisoning of the seedlings. ...

Ms Kreymborg [Bowen District Growers Association (BDGA) spokeswoman] says some capsicum, eggplant and melon seedlings were also poisoned, affecting about 30 growers.

"Bowen's the largest winter growing region in Australia so if we've lost 4 million seedlings of tomatoes and 2 million capsicums - that's definitely going to have an impact on the industry,' she said.

"It will probably last about three weeks or so and it should drive prices up.

"I can't tell you exactly how much it will drive the prices up, but at our end it could double the price."

Doesn't this remind you of the Cyclone Larry/$12 a kilo Bananas/John Howard explaining that was why inflation was so high?

Gitmo?

... DANIEL WILKINSON [Human Rights Watch]: These prisoners that they're talking of releasing were imprisoned in, most of them in 2003 under Fidel Castro.

But there are scores more political prisoners who have been locked up since Raul Castro took power. The local human rights groups have a list of some 160 plus individuals. But based on our research we think that there are more than that.

You know Cuba has a system in place where you can be arrested for under legal provision that's absolutely Orwellian. It's called dangerousness. And under dangerousness you don't have to commit a crime to be sentenced. You just have to be perceived to be dangerous by the state. ...

Six-Year-Old On Terror List

The father of a 6-year-old Ohio girl who turned up on the U.S. government's terror watch list says the worst thing his daughter has ever done is probably been mean to her sister.

But Santhosh Thomas, a doctor from Westlake, Ohio, says he's sure that's not enough to land his 6-year-old Alyssa on the no-fly list of suspected terrorists...

An airline ticket agent informed the family of their predicament when they embarked on a recent trip from Cleveland to Minneapolis ...

The Thomases were allowed to fly that day, but authorities told them to contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to clear up the matter. Now they've received a letter from the government addressed to 6-year-old Alyssa, telling her that nothig in her file will be changed.

June 26 Aolnews.com article

Rupert Murdoch has his sights set on gaining complete control of BSkyB and increasing his stranglehold on a free and independent media in the UK. He currently owns 40% of the company but wants to increase his stake to 100%. ...

Lawyers for two residents on Queensland's Sunshine Coast involved in a legal battle over alleged chemical drift and fish deformities say it could be years before a final report into the matter is released.

A Queensland Government taskforce was set up last year to investigate claims mist from chemicals used on a Noosa macadamia nut farm caused fish deaths and deformities at a neighbouring hatchery. ...

One of the chemicals alleged to have caused the fish deaths and deformities is carbendazim, which is currently being reviewed by Australia's chemicals regulator.

Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority spokesman Alex Moore says it is frustrating that the release of the final report has been delayed indefinitely.

"We do rely on evidence in order to take action, so the more evidence there is for a chemical that may be dangerous, the easier it is for us to take action," he said.

"So we would have loved to have seen a result from this, but we'll continue to do our job the way we do it and monitor any sort of incidents that might be occurring outside of Noosa as well."

Carbendazim is a widely used broad-spectrum benzimidazole fungicide. A 4.7% solution of carbendazim hydrochloride is sold as Eertavas, an effective treatment for Dutch elm disease.

Carbendazim was included in a biocide ban proposed by the Swedish Chemicals Agency and approved by the European Parliament in January 13, 2009.

The fungicide is controversially used in Queensland, Australia on macadamia plantations.

Queensland

Where apparently there is no work for doctors in the public health system [a quick search on 'Seek.com' reveals that to be a lie], and yet your taxes are being spent subsidising the private health system:

A far north Queensland heart specialist says he is unable to work because of a bureaucratic bungle.

Dr Roger Chatoor says the Australian Medical Board has refused to renew his registration because he has not spent enough time working in the public system.

Dr Chatoor was recruited from the United Kingdom to the Cairns Private Hospital last year.

He says one of those requirements was for him to spend a portion of time working within the public health system.

But he says he has been told there are not any cardiac jobs available within public health.

"I've got hundreds of patients who want me to look after them," he said.

"I have this desperate need to look after them and I can't look after them.

"I've been told that the only framework that would allow me to return to work would be seeking public employment as part of my ongoing clinical activity - I have desperately sought public employment since I arrived here."

However, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) has defended its decision not to renew the registration of Dr Chatoor.

In a statement, the RACP says the matter is ongoing but its assessment processes are fair and transparent.

Queen Undergoes Performance Review

One is not surprised it took Australia's media nearly 24 hours to figure out Jose Ramos Horta is the titular head of East Timor. But one scratches one's regal bonce when contemplating whether the recipients of trillions of taypayer dollars funneled into so called economic stimulus will be as scrutinized as one is about to be?

The Queen is among those who will share the pain of Britain's $68 billion worth of tax rises and spending cuts.

The Royal household had asked Westminster to approve a rise in its official annual income, but prime minister David Cameron not only refused the request, he demanded the Palace open its books to public scrutiny. ...

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she is happy with the policy aim of the Government's proposed internet filter, but understands there are concerns about it.

The Government plans to introduce a mandatory filter to block sites that contain illegal material. [evidently before December!!!!] ...

"Salon" -- July 05, 2010 -- Last week, I interviewed Mother Jones' Mac McClelland, who has been covering the BP oil spill in the Gulf since the first day it happened. She detailed how local police and federal officials work with BP to harass, impede, interrogate and even detain journalists who are covering the impact of the spill and the clean-up efforts. She documented one incident which was particularly chilling of an activist who -- after being told by a local police officer to stop filming a BP facility because "BP didn't want him filming" -- was then pulled over after he left by that officer so he could be interrogated by a BP security official. McClelland also described how BP has virtually bought entire Police Departments which now do its bidding: "One parish has 57 extra shifts per week that they are devoting entirely to, basically, BP security detail, and BP is paying the sheriff's office." ...

Murdoch's Staff Are Directly Responsible For This Country's Xenophobia

... Which of our lily livered commentators will dare point out how the xenophobia in this country has been cultivated by the Murdoch Press, and is being painted as a general national feeling rather than a minority point of view? ...

Who Is The Prime Minister Pandering To?

Thank you very much to the Lowy Institute for hosting me today.

The Lowy Institute has established a reputation for independent, robust and forceful analysis of Australia’s place in the world. It is exactly the right place to make today’s address: Moving Australia Forward.

I first would like to acknowledge the enormous contribution of the Institute’s founding benefactor, Frank Lowy. Frank Lowy is a great Australian. He was a refugee who escaped to Israel after World War Two in a crowded boat full of asylum seekers.

After fighting for Israel, he arrived on our shores as a very determined 21 year old. He worked hard and went from factory worker to milk bar owner to Blacktown shopping centre developer and in time, to the largest retail property group in the world - Truly great achievements and a remarkable story. ...

Little Sri Lanka is rarely a model of anything. But since it crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam its government has found itself in an unfamiliar position. Some of the world's less savoury regimes are beating a path to its door to study "The Sri Lanka option".

Last November, Myanmar's military dictator, Than Shwe, who rarely travels abroad, visited the island "so that his regime can apply any lessons learned to its efforts against the ethnic groups in Burma," says Benedict Rogers, a biorapher of General Than. In May last year at a meeting of regional defence ministers in Singapore, Myanmar's deputy minister made the link explicit, saying the world had witnessed a victory over terrorism in Sri Lanka but had forgotten about the insurgency in his country.

In October Thailand's prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, held talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart about the lessons of the Tigers' defeat (for handling a Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand, not the protests cleared this week in Bangkok). In March a military delegation from Bangladesh met Sri Lanka's army chief, to swap notes on what he called Sri Lanka's "successful completion of the war for peace". Behind the scenes, hawkish generals and politicians from Colombia to Israel seem to be using Sri Lanka's experience to justify harsher anti-terror operations.

Louise Arbour, head of the International Crisis Group (ICG), says the Sri Lanka model consists of three parts: what she dubs "scorched-earth tactics" (full operational freedom for the army, no negotiations with terrorists, no cease fires to let them regroup); next, ignoring differences between combatants and non-combatants (the new ICG report documents many such examples); lastly, the dismissal of international and media concerns. A senior official in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's office, quoted anonymously in a journal, Indian Defence Review, says "we had to ensure that we regulated the media. We didn't want the international community to force peace negotiations on us." The author of that article, V.K. Shashikumar, concluded that "in the final analysis the Rajapaksa model is based on a military precept ...Terrorism has to be wiped out militarily and cannot be tackled politically." This is the opposite of the strategy America is pursuing in Afghanistan. [Snort! Yeah pull the other one - Ed] It is winning a widespread hearing.

More than two-thirds of 370,000 free Go Cards being given away by the state government remain unclaimed, with only days left of the promotion designed to convert commuters from paper tickets.

With the giveaway period set to expire on the weekend, Translink yesterday confirmed only 110,000 people had taken up the offer to claim the free Go Cards, complete with $10 credit.

A Translink spokesman said 12,600 pre-loaded Go Cards had been handed out during 10 public events held since early last week, while 97,400 people had signed up online.

That meant 260,000 free Go Cards were yet to be claimed. ...

Brisbane City Council will pay about $5 million to an unsuccessful Northern Link tunnel project tenderer, despite its rejection yesterday.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the joint venture submission from Leighton, Baulderstone and Razel will not be investigated any further.

Council had been evaluating three multi-million-dollar tenders for about seven weeks.

Cr Newman said council had agreed to pay each tendering consortium, whether they were successful or not. ...

A Question For Q & A

"A Careful War"

Part One of a rare and powerful insight into the persepectives of the soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and the people they are fighting for.

... "We have been very pleased with the response from readers since the launch of the new websites for The Times and The Sunday Times in May," said Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International.

"The new sites showcase our award-winning journalism in a very visual way, giving readers exclusive content and interactivity so that they can get even more from the news. We believe the new sites offer real value and we look forward to continuing to invest and innovate for readers." ...

... So, as a matter of principle, you resign from the ALP after 50 years because: "thugs now dismiss leaders at their whim. In cowardly conspiracies."

But you happily continue to work for the Murdoch machine despite the "thugs" and "cowardly conspiracies" at every level of his machine doing everything to appoint, dismiss and control the leaders of your country (and the rest of the world for that matter). Despite the inestimable damage they are constantly doing to this country's democratic process and media. ...

So will members of the Go-Betweens use the new bridge after it opens at 4am tomorrow?

"And pay that exorbitant toll?" thundered guitarist John Willsteed. "P-lease!"

But the mock outrage was just for show.

Willsteed later told brisbanetimes.com.au he was keen to use the bridge.

"I think all of this road and bridge infrastructure stuff makes a real improvement to the city," he said.

I wonder if the band knew of the simmering outrage amongst people living in South Brisbane and West End would they still be happy to have their name attached to this monstrosity.Whichever way you look at it the Go Bust Bridge should never have been built for vehicular traffic except buses.
Ratepayers are already in hock to the tune of around $25 million to subsidise the tolls but Newman couldn't care less. He was given no permission from the people of Brisbane to use our money for this purpose.
Brisbane Ratepayers to Foot the Bill | Clayfield - July 04, 2010, 3:46PM

Imagine If You Could Harness This Energy And Enthusiasm To Make Australia (And The World) A Better Place For Everyone ...

The 10 km run has been run and won as part of the Gold Coast Airport Marathon.

More than 5,000 have taken part in the race which kicked off at the Broadwater at 7:20am this morning.

Michael Shelley was the first to cross the line, beating the previous course record by four seconds to finish in a time of 28 minutes and 57 seconds.

He used the 10 km as a warm up for the New Delhi marathon which will be held in October. ...

In Case Of War Crimes - Break Glass

... It was on the night of the 16th January 2009 that six activists broke into EDO MBM’s manufacturing facility on Home Farm Rd Brighton. For an hour they wreaked havoc with hammers. Filing cabinets and computers were hurled from top-floor window. Machinery was also sabotaged. One of the reasons that the six had so much time in the factory was ironically that Sussex police saw a bomb in the car-park and cordoned off the area for specialists to arrive. The ‘bomb’ was in fact a dummy, a prop for EDO to display at trade fairs, precision guided out of an upstairs window by the decommissioners. ...

Cancer is no longer just a disease: it is now the enemy. In the war against cancer, sufferers have become soldiers, battling bravely or dying heroically. Heroes are created and celebrity cancer stories are supposed to give us all hope. We raise money for cancer the same way we once bought war bonds, as a surety for victory over our deadly foes. But where does the battle really lead us? Are we less able to look at the truth of cancer, and of living and dying, than ever before?

ERNIE STEINER, SON: Oh, look, we're extremely happy and very thankful that the Australian court system is separate from government and can make an independent decision of the minister.

Geoff Wants To Help

... Australians need to reclaim their democracy. This involves holding our elected representatives to account, and getting them to represent OUR interests rather than those of multi-national corporations.

An important aspect of this will require big changes to our media. ...

Ministers Need To Be Accountable (To Us, Not Madonna King)

Queenslanders should expect more from their politicians, and this unprecedented failure of public administration is a perfect illustration of how our political system and our politicians have failed us.

Queensland politicians are the least accountable for their decisions. Queensland Parliament sits fewer days than just about any other in the country. We do not have an Upper House to scrutinise legislation and ministerial decisions. Without a strong opposition, Ministers have been able to get away with not having to take responsibility for decisions that they make.

McChrystal - Death Squad Poster Boy

The sacking of the head of NATO’s military command in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, caused a surge in coverage of the man described by political analyst James Petras as “Cheney’s chief assassin”.

In May 2009, Petras sampled from McChrystal’s CV. The general had played a central role in directing units involved in “extrajudicial assassinations, systematic torture, bombing of civilian communities and search and destroy missions”. He was “the very embodiment of the brutality and gore that accompanies military-driven empire building”. ...

... Remember, he's about 100 years old and despite the myths, he can't live forever. One day he'll be dead and you will be alive. And a lot of very, very, very pissed off people are going to be wandering around with pitchforks looking for the people who allowed people like him to do this to our world. ...

Why Queensland Needs An Upper House And Brisbane Needs A Newspaper

Queensland Minister for Information Technology Robert Schwarten has denied he has been in hiding over the state's health department payroll problems. ...

Mr Schwarten has held a press conference today in his electorate in Rockhampton in the state's central region, where he took questions on Queensland Health's payroll problem.

He denied he had been avoiding media interviews on the topic.

"Any notion that I've dodged anybody here shows how far removed those Brisbane-based journalists are from reality," he said. ...

Brisbane City Council Gears Up For National Tree Day

West End residents are up in arms over yesterday's disappearance of 16 riverside trees, despite approval for their removal being given nearly two years ago.

Council last night confirmed Pradella Developments received permission to cut down the trees in September 2008.

Locals believe the trees were removed to make views available to the riverside apartments. ...

Why Is This Non-Story ...

The International Cricket Council has urged Australia to find another candidate to lead the sport's governing body after former prime minister John Howard was rejected....

Being Given Prominence Over This?

Soccer's world governing body FIFA will investigate claims that Australia's 2022 World Cup bid team gave gifts to try and influence votes.

The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) is accused of giving jewellery to the wives of FIFA executive committee members.

The FFA says the gifts were given at a dinner before the formal bidding process began. ...

Houston. We Have A Problem

... TICKY FULLERTON: Times are very tough and in the near term General Petraeus talked about things getting tougher.

Earlier this evening counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen said that about 80 per cent of these sorts counterinsurgency wars end in negotiations.

Can I ask you, CDF, how does it feel to be part of a war that caused so much, knowing that you will likely sit around a table at some point, presumably with the Taliban?

ANGUS HOUSTON: Well I think what is important here is to understand Australia's objectives in this war that we are in.

We are there because we had a number of Australians killed in October, October the 12th 2002 in a terrorist bombing in Bali. We are there because almost 3000 people were killed in the 9/11 bombings in New York. Some of them were Australians.

Terrorism has worldwide reach and what we saw back a few years ago was a country called Afghanistan which was home to al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda was able to act with impunity and conduct training and support activities out of Afghanistan to the detriment of the rest of the world and indeed the detriment of the rest of the world with extreme loss of life.

I put it to you that we could never ever let that happen again so what we have to do is ensure that the outcome we achieve in Afghanistan is one that denies Afghanistan as a sanctuary for terrorists into the future. ...

Nice To Have A Good News Story Every Now And Then!

Rather than the usual "US versus THEM", law and order beat ups, class war, lies and fear mongering:

Quick thinking police have saved the life of a woman who collapsed in court.

The 43-year-old was appealing against a traffic conviction in a Tweed Heads court when she collapsed.

Three officers gave the woman CPR until an ambulance arrived.

It is believed the woman suffered a heart attack but she is now in a stable condition at the Tweed Hospital.

Acting Inspector Bill Darnell from the Tweed Byron LAC says the three officers deserve recognition.

"We are trained in it and it's protection of life so in the event that we are confronted with that situation it's not something you think about ," he said.

"You jump straight in and do your best to try and revive the person until those more trained can come along and assist.

"The Tweed Byron command will formally recognise the efforts of these three police and recommend they be recognised officially for it."

Does Mark Scott Want Australians To Turn Off Their Local ABC?

... Wasting precious airtime on the promotion of Rupert Murdoch’s business interests is transforming Coast FM's broadcasts into a monocultural, listless drone that increases the likelihood of listeners switching off and missing out on really interesting segments - such as the interview with Tara Simmons.

And how has it come about that taxpayer funded shows are to be broadcast on Pay TV for us to purchase?

Is the future for our taxpayer funded national broadcasters to be nothing more than vehicles to promote Rupert Murdoch’s publications and Pay TV? ...

Barbarians Not Just At The Gate, They're Bloody Everywhere

There are two political sides running Australia as one. They both need to suck up to Murdoch's press for favour. Here is some more proof of this:

... CHRISTINE WALLACE [journalist and Julia Gillard biographer]: Well, you see, Janet is the problem for Barnaby [Joyce], because Janet Albrechtsen, Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt, the absolutely rolled gold, right wing political commentators of Australia, all love Julia and this is why you guys are...

So there you go Australia.

Rupert has decided.

It remains a puzzle in Australia that while almost everyone can agree that the Murdoch press is rubbish, they apparently hold so much power over our elected politicians.

Action: Vote for the first person or party to tell Rupert and his operatives to go get fucked!

The PM, Her Manbag, His Employer & Their (Virtually Unremarked) Connection

Suspend for a moment your disbelief and try to imagine the following scenario: Prime Minister Julia Gillard's partner, Tim Mathieson, is employed by an Australian property developer of Arab background whose position on the Middle East conflict is unashamedly, even crusadingly, pro-Palestine. In addition, our property developer of Middle Eastern appearance has formed an Australia-Arab Cultural Exchange and staged a series of forums bringing together Australian politicians and representatives of countries and groups in the Middle East committed to achieving justice for the Palestinian people. Imagine further that Gillard, as deputy prime minister, has both led a political and media delegation to a forum meeting in an Arab/Muslim capital and, in return, received an Arab/Muslim political and media delegation at a similar forum here in Australia. ...

The Surgeon Has Been Found Guilty And The System Hasn't Even Been Called In For Questioning

Former Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel has been remanded in custody after being found guilty of three counts of manslaughter and one count of grievous bodily harm. ...

Nary A Whimper As Health Care Identifier Passes Senate

... The controversial electronic healthcare identifier legislation passed the Senate a couple of days ago, with amendments from the government. It appears to be the same concept as the Australia card, with a number instead of a chip. Somehow, all of the privacy issues and civil rights concerns have either been forgotten or dismissed by the Senate.

The Healthcare Identifier is now law and Medicare is expected to start issuing a unique, 16-digit healthcare identifier to every Australian from July 1. Doctors, hospitals, healthcare organisations and allied health providers will receive similar identifiers.

So how much of the budget is going to be spent on this when almost all of us have medicare cards anyway? How will this alleviate waiting time in emergency or outpatients, the backing up of ambulances and the huge waiting time for elective surgery?...

A report by the state's Auditor-General has found the new Queensland Health payroll system was not properly tested before it went live.

Thousands of workers have been incorrectly paid since the new system was introduced in March.

The report says there was "confusion over the roles and responsibilities" of the Government agencies and contractors involved in implementing the new system.

The Auditor-General found "system and process testing had not identified a number of significant risks".

"System usability testing and the validation of the new processes in the business environment was not performed," the report said.

"As a result Queensland Health had not determined whether systems processes and infrastructure were in place for the effective operation of the new system."

Implementing the new payroll system has so far cost $64.5 million.

In addition, IBM has been paid a further $37.5 million for whole of Government IT work.

Queensland Health and the State Government will not confirm reports that two senior bureaucrats have been sacked over the problems.

Health Minister Paul Lucas will hold a media conference later today to respond to the report.

Why Isn't The Queensland Government Going To Pay These People?

Jobs at Screen Queensland

The following positions are vacant:

Translink Cine Sparks Volunteers

Screen Queensland is now seeking volunteers for Translink Cine Sparks, Australia's foremost film festival for young people.

Volunteers are required to cover front of house duties for the screenings at the Australian Cinèmathéque, GoMA and audience liaison at the Family Film Fiesta taking place at King George Square and Queen Street Mall.

Hours of work are mainly 10am-2pm Tuesday 27 July to Friday 6 August with some evenings during the week and at the weekend.

Volunteers will have the opportunity to view the screenings while on duty.

Volunteers will be considered favourably for volunteering at St George BIFF to be held 4 -14 November 2010.

The full TransLink Cine Sparks programme is available at http://www.translinkcinesparks.com.au/

To apply, complete the attached form and return to the contact details stated on page two.

Applications close Friday 9 July at 5pm.

If The Government Wants To Encourage Queenslanders To Use Public Transport, They Need To Make It Free

The Queensland Government is giving away 400,000 Go Cards to public transport users in the south-east.

The cards are loaded with $10 credit for use on bus, trains and ferries.

Premier Anna Bligh says they are targeted at people who are not regular public transport users.

Australia Is A Privatised, Racist Backwater

West Australia's Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) says it cannot understand why the Government will not be pursuing criminal charges over the death of Warburton elder, Mr Ward.

The 47-year-old died after being transported in the back of a prison van in searing heat through the Goldfields in 2008.

The airconditioning in the back of the van was not working and Mr Ward collapsed on the trip from Laverton to Kalgoorlie when temperatures reached into their 40s.

ALS president Dennis Eggington says the Coroner clearly identified who was to blame and why.

A coronial inquest found the Department of Corrective Services, the two prison van drivers and their employer G4S [formerly Global Solutions Limited] were all partly responsible for his death.

But yesterday, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Joseph McGrath, told Mr Ward's family he would not be pursuing any charges because there was no prospect of convictions. ...

... Minister for Main Roads Craig Wallace said that the link was the first cycle and pedestrian path linking Brisbane’s north and south to the east.

“This investment in cycling infrastructure will have a significant impact on people’s transport choices,” said Minister Wallace. ...

The Federal Government has backed a new voluntary code of conduct on body image for the fashion and advertising industries.

The code of conduct was developed by the National Advisory Group on Body Image and provides a list of principles to guide those working in the media, advertising and fashion industries.

Designers are being asked not to hire models with a dangerously low body mass index and also not to hire excessively muscular male models.

The code also includes a ban on advertising rapid weight loss products and cosmetic surgery that is not medically necessary....

Youth Minister Kate Ellis has also launched a new body-image tick of approval which will be awarded to businesses who stick to the new rules outlined in the code. ...

Rather than legislation, let's have some pissweak, pointless industry negotiated guidelines and a framework going forward and in terms of - because when it comes to the sexism, objectification of women's bodies and the fetishisation of sexual violence fostered by Australia's media, we don't want to be breaking any glass ceiling - do we sister?

One of Australia's most powerful Indigenous groups says a French woman who stripped on top of Uluru should be deported.

Alizee Sery, 25, climbed to the top of the sacred rock and was filmed stripping down to a bikini, an act she described as a "tribute" to Aboriginal culture. ...

Brooks Soak or Mer Rrkwer-akert is 250km northwest of Alice Springs in central Australia. It was a vitally important, permanent source of good quality water. Mer Rrkwer-akert once supported more than 900 members of Anmatjerr community but its waters were also prized by cattlemen who started moving into the area in the late 1800s.

In 1928, white pastoralists accused local Aborigines of the murder of Frederick Brooks. At the time, many community members said the accusation was false and a pretext for what happened next. It is estimated that in retribution as many as 110 Aboriginal men, women and children were massacred on Coniston Station hence the Coniston Massacre.

Despite these memories Mer Rrkwer-akert remains a fundamentally important site to the Anmatjerr and Warlpiri peoples. This film directed by Dr Lisa Watts and April Campbell follows Anmatjerr community members as they return to the degraded waters of Brooks Soak after an absence of 40 years.

The Murdoch Press Are NOT On Your Side

... Like this bizarrity in the July issue of Murdoch's Woolworths' 'Fresh' magazine:

... With nutrition and obesity reaching epidemic proportions and the work-life balance tipping in favour of employers, enjoying dinner together has never been more important. ...

Trees, Bats And Eggs

Councillors Polglase, Youngblutt, Holdom, Skinner and van Lieshout apparently don’t believe in replacing deliberately poisoned trees. At last week’s council meeting, they were told that a mature Forest Red Gum in Shady Lane, Banora Point, had been deliberately poisoned, presumably by a selfish neighbour to improve his or her sea views. It was proposed that when removing the tree, council would leave the trunk in place with a sign on it noting the tree was ‘killed in an act of vandalism and requesting any information in regard to the poisoning’. When Greens Cr Katie Milne, backed by Cr Barry Longland, tried to amend the move to enable the planting of two semi-mature replacement trees on the site, the majority councillors opposed the suggestion, so now the evil neighbour has been rewarded and as a result will enjoy uninterrupted ocean views. The message from pro-development councillors seems to be: go forth and poison living things you find inconvenient.

Councillors aren’t the only ones who regard trees as dispensible. Backburner is told that quite a few mature silky oaks which provided shade at the Uki sporting horse grounds in Rowlands Creek Road were recently chopped down because of fears that bats carrying the dreaded Hendra virus may use them. Some locals say the drastic action by the ground committee was driven by paranoia as fruit bats, like bees, feed on nectar from all sorts of flowering trees everywhere. Four years ago, horse owners in the Tweed were on tenterhooks after a local horse came down with the lethal virus, an incident which sparked national headlines. Are we to chop down every big tree around because of unfounded fears? One local said, ‘more people die from bee stings or flu virus than any infection from an animal’. He’s also worried: ‘there’s an old Moreton Bay fig tree there as well, is that next?’ ...

An ‘egg-cellent’ suggestion by Cr Katie Milne was thrown out at the last council meeting. She proposed a policy that would see only eggs sourced from non-caged hens used at official functions and dinners. The cruelty inflicted on caged battery hens used in commercial egg production is well documented. However, Tweed mayor Warren Polglase was scornful of the idea, saying the council’s priorities remained ‘roads, rates and rubbish’, not eggs. Cr Milne wasn’t talking about priorities, her move was about raising awareness of the cruel practice and how, by continuing to buy caged-hen eggs, ratepayers in effect are supporting it. ...

First Nations people marched through downtown Toronto on Thursday, waving flags, including upside down Canadian ones, and pounding on drums.

It was the latest in a series of protest marches coinciding with the arrival of G20 leaders and other delegates in the city.

Organizers said they were hoping to draw international media attention to aboriginal issues.

"We're here basically to bring attention to the impact that G8 and G20 meetings have and the effect their social and economic policies are going to have on indigenous people, lands and resources," said Russell Diabo, a Quebec Mohawk who is a spokesman for the group Defenders of the Land.

Activist Jaggi Singh says his group will protest the extensive security around the G20 summit. (Timothy Neesam/CBC)

"We have a lot of unresolved issues we need to see addressed domestically, without Stephen Harper talking about going overseas and dealing with development there."

The protesters highlighted First Nations land claims and the still unsolved cases of more than 500 aboriginal women who have been slain or gone missing across Canada in the last three decades.

About 1,000 First Nations protesters walked peacefully along University Avenue chanting and singing. At Toronto City Hall, they continued their protest, watched over by Toronto police, and the march ended with a rally at Allan Gardens.

It was the first large-scale protest of the G8 and G20 summit week and took place without any incidents or arrests.

However, at a mid-afternoon news conference, activist Jaggi Singh from the group No One Is Illegal hinted that the peaceful protests may soon end.

Standing in front of the newly erected security fence, Singh said, "This [fence] is completely illegitimate and it deserves to be taken down."

He said the $1 billion in security and fences would not stop protesters "from attacking — and I use that word — from attacking the people who are responsible for enormous misery in the world."

Singh said the G20 leaders deserve to be confronted and the protest groups will be begin doing that on Friday.

... The Go Between Bridge, which joins Brisbane's CBD to West End, is set to open to traffic in early July, but tonight was the scene of a one-off concert. ...

Forster and Grant McLennan, who died of cancer in 2006, formed the Go-Betweens in Brisbane in the late 1970s. ...

... Forster said the concert showed how far Brisbane had come as a city since the Go-Betweens first began performing in the late 1970s.

"Politically for some reason the Queensland Police force thought 300 punk rockers were going to overthow the Queensland government," he said,

"And so there were very strong police actions against students, punk rock and bands in general because it was just sort of seen as this far greater threat than it actually was.

"At the time the Bjelke-Petersen government was basically a lot more interested in things other than the arts or music or infrastructure for things that young people could do.

"They were more interested in mining, real estate and bags of cash being sort of snuck under desks, than they were in what the people wanted or what the people needed in terms of music or the arts in general.

"So it was a dark time. It was a time when there was no encouragement for anyone that wanted to do anything creative, basically you had your friends, you had your band, you had places that you could find to play and that was about it." ...

... Your ABC has a commercial partnership with Harper Collins Publishers Australia to publish and distribute ABC Books.

Substantial airtime and internet space courtesy the national broadcaster is devoted to promoting these publications, such as this week's endorsement of Valli Little's 'Quick Smart Cook' book - along with 'delicious.' magazine - on Coast FM. ...

News From 'Green Left Weekly'

Refugee to give Abbott a lesson

... Asked about the best way to influence government policy, Wakil said he believed that once people hear the reality from people seeking asylum, they change their views. He encouraged people to educate their work mates, families and communities. He also said refugee supporters should “use this election year to choose candidates that are passionate about assisting asylum seekers in a humane way”.

Wakil said both major parties’ refugee policies “have been disappointing” and “demonstrated a racist approach”.

“No Australian government has a mandate to brutalise asylum seekers and refugees”, he said.

Sam Watson's response to the CMC’s June 18 findings

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) hierarchy, beginning with Atkinson, must be sacked.

It is clear from the CMC’s review that nothing has changed in police culture since the days of [former corrupt Queensland premier] Bjelke-Peterson and [former corrupt politician] Russ Hinze.

Aboriginal people in Queensland cannot trust any state institution to get to the bottom of the stinking swamp of racism and complicity that is the Queensland police system. Nearly six years after a black man died of shocking internal injuries, supposedly due to a heavily built police officer “falling” on him, not one Queensland cop has been found guilty of anything.

Even the CMC review — which comes after three coronial inquiries, the original police investigation and the internal police review of that investigation — can’t bring itself to identify possible criminal charges against those involved in the chain of cover-up.

The CMC has given Atkinson 14 days to report back on what action he will take against six officers that investigated Mulrunji’s death, but it claims that there is insufficient evidence to support criminal charges.

If Atkinson’s reply is unsatisfactory, the CMC will “apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal to commence disciplinary proceedings”.

This in an open invitation for Atkinson to turn the six police responsible for the initial inquiry and the subsequent review into sacrificial lambs for the QPS hierarchy. But those who oversaw and defended the behaviour of the QPS, from Atkinson down, will get off scot-free.

What’s more, Premier Anna Bligh recently reappointed Atkinson to the job of commissioner and police minister Neil Roberts has said he has full confidence in Atkinson.

The CMC report brings a day of reckoning for the whole corrupt shambles that is policing in Queensland. It would never have happened without the ongoing movement for justice for Mulrunji and his family.

That movement will continue until the blue wall of silence that is the QPS is smashed forever.

Murdoch Press Fabricate Another Controversy