Iranian Militias Marry, Rape Virgin Prisoners Before Executions
TEHRAN, Iran — Members of Iran's feared Basij militia forcibly marry female virgin prisoners the night before scheduled executions, raping their new "wives" and making it religiously acceptable to execute them, a self-professed member of the paramilitary group said.
Captured soldier Bowe R. Bergdahl afraid he'll never see family
A CAPTURED US soldier has told America "I am scared" in a video released by the Taliban.
Skip school and 'lose the right to drive'
BAD students could be denied a driver's licence because if they can't be trusted in class "how can we trust them behind the wheel?"
Second just as significant, says Aldrin
FORTY years since he was the second on the moon, Buzz Aldrin says it's no matter who was first.
Cannibal now wants love on the menu
CANNIBAL is seeking love and promises potential partners that his people-eating days are over.
Government offers support to school after fourth student suicide Chanelle Rae
Cyber bullying has been blamed for the suicide of a Victorian student, the fourth from her school to take their life in six months.
Judy Moran charged with murder
GANGLAND matriarch Judy Moran and co-accused Suzanne Kane have been charged with the murder of Des "Tuppence" Moran.
MP rape accuser 'a Centrelink cheat'
THE woman who alleges she was raped by Victorian MP Theo Theophanous was found guilty of lying to welfare authorities, a court has heard. - The woman is under far more scrutiny than that ALP guy. We know he had sex with her. It was inappropriate and he should not be in office. - ed
Police fears for girl after family murdered
POLICE are concerned for the safety of a 15-year-old Sydney schoolgirl orphaned when her entire family was bludgeoned to death in their Sydney home. - nobody feels safe when the ALP are in government. - ed
Telstra customers charged for paying bills
TELSTRA customers will soon be slugged $2.20 when they pay their bills by mail or over the counter.
Terminally ill right to die girl changes mind
A TERMINALLY ill British teenager who demanded the right to die has changed her mind. Last December, Hannah Jones, then 13, pleaded with doctors to end a legal bid to force her to undergo lifesaving treatment so she could spend a last Christmas with her family, The Daily Mail reported. But she has now put her name back on the transplant list for a donor heart, eight months after rejecting a first offer.
Boyfriend could have drugged child
An inquest into the death of a one-year-old boy from a suspected drug overdose has heard the child's mother left her child alone with her boyfriend for long enough that he could have given the child a lethal dose of morphine and methadone.
Cop bashed with plate at mass brawl
A policeman has been injured while trying to control a mass brawl at a pub in Sydney's south west.
Surviving Mumbai gunman confesses
The lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks made a surprise confession at his trial on Monday, saying he was recruited by a militant group inside Pakistan. He had left a low-paying job to look for training to become a professional robber.
Moon landing anniversary sparks calls for mission to Mars
APOLLO astronauts have marked the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing with a call for Americans to take risks, go back to the moon and beyond, to Mars.
Jupiter Struck by Object, NASA Images Confirm
PASADENA, California — A large comet or asteroid has slammed into Jupiter, creating an impact site the size of Earth, pictures by an Australian amateur astronomer show.
=== Comments ===
Garrett’s mastered the language of politics
Piers Akerman
IN THE appendix to his masterpiece 1984, written in 1948, George Orwell wrote that “it was expected that Newspeak would have finally superseded Oldspeak (or standard English, as we should call it) by about the year 2050”. - The double standard is known and used within senior ALP ranks, but its application precedes the Rudd government. It is true that Rudd has been more successful at implementing it than most, but there are also glaring examples of how the ALP has applied double standards in the past.
I'm reminded of an Alan Jones interview with a NSW Government minister on Monday, yesterday. Jones had highlighted how bad the government had been, and shown it was promising nothing worthwhile. Jones took phones calls, and first caller said "I'm a rusted on Liberal voter but because of how bad the opposition has been I will vote independent in the next election."
Thing is, the caller was probably an ALP plant. The words he used were inconsistent with a Liberal party supporter. The idea that voting independent is anything other than a vote for the ALP is ludicrous .. as may be recalled when the last time independents held the government under Greiner and Fahey.
Jones is compelled to accept such callers, when he would not be able to accept calls from an actual Liberal supporter who had no doubts that the opposition had been doing a very good, but unrecognized job. The owners of 2GB have much to answer for, under those circumstances. - ed.
===
'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
At 19, Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher was one of the youngest victims of the Afghan war. These letters – given to The Independent by his family – reveal the excitement of a teenager sent to fulfil his dream, and his maturity in confronting the possibility that he might not make it home
Cyrus Thatcher was killed on 2 June 2009. This is the letter he wrote to be delivered to his family if he died:
Hello its me, this is gonna be hard for you to read but I write this knowing every time you thinks shits got to much for you to handle (so don't cry on it MUM!!) you can read this and hopefully it will help you all get through.
For a start SHIT I got hit!! Now Iv got that out the way I can say the things Iv hopefully made clear, or if I havent this should clear it all up for me. My hole life you'v all been there for me through thick and thin bit like a wedding through good and bad. Without you I believe I wouldn't have made it as far as I have. I died doing what I was born to do I was happy and felt great about myself although the army was sadly the ending of me it was also the making of me so please don't feel any hate toward it. One thing I no I never made clear to you all was I make jokes about my life starting in the Army. That's wrong VERY wrong my life began a LONG time before that (Obviously) but you get what I mean. All the times Iv tried to neglect the family get angry when you try teach me right from wrong wot I mean to say is I only realised that you were trying to help when I joined the army and without YOUR help I would have never had the BALLS, the GRIT and the damn right determination to crack on and do it. If I could have a wish in life it would to be able to say Iv gone and done things many would never try to do. And going to Afghan has fulfilled my dream ie my goal. Yes I am young wich as a parent must brake you heart but you must all somehow find the strength that I found to do something no matter how big the challenge. As Im writing this letter I can see you all crying and mornin my death but if I could have one wish in an "after life" it would be to stop your crying and continueing your dreams (as I did) because if I were watching only that would brake my heart. So dry your tears and put on a brave face for the rest of your friends and family who need you.
I want each and everyone of you to forfill a dream and at the end of it look at what you have done (completed) and feel the accomplishment and achievement I did only then will you understand how I felt when I passed away.
[To his brothers:] You are both amazing men and will continue to be throughout your lives you both deserve to be happy and fofill all of your dreams.
Dad – my idol, my friend, my best friend, my teacher, my coach, everything I ever succeeded in my life I owe to you and maybe a little bit of me! You are a great man and the perfect role model and the past two years of being in the army I noticed that and me and you have been on the best level we have ever been. I thank you for nothing because I no all you have given to me is not there to be thanked for its there because you did it cause you love me and that is my most proudest thing I could ever say.
Mum, where do I start with you!! For a start your perfect, your smell, your hugs, the way your life was dedicated to us boys and especially the way you cared each and every step us boys took. I love you, you were the reason I made it as far as I did you were the reason I was loved more than any child I no and that made me feel special.
Your all such great individuals and I hope somehow this letter will help you get through this shit time!! Just remember do NOT mourn my death as hard as this will seem, celebrate a great life that has had its ups and downs. I love you all more than you would ever no and in your own individual ways helped me get through it all. I wish you all the best with your dreams.
Remember chin up head down. With love Cyrus xxxx
===
ONE GOOD PUNCH FOR A MAN
Tim Blair
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin takes down a moon denialist:
===
SIXTEEN HOURS PER QUESTION
Tim Blair
Joe Hildebrand responds to an inquiry from Media Watch:
I also note with interest that notwithstanding your anxiousness about the 5pm Friday deadline, you have waited more than two days to approach me for a response to your three questions. This strikes me as either a tactical ploy that indicates Media Watch has already decided to progress with the story regardless of my response or a very long time for a journalist(?) to compose an email. If the latter, this equates to more than 16 hours per question, which I imagine would be a concern for productivity even at the ABC.
===
ROLL OUT THE BARREL
Tim Blair
Bad luck for a country music-lovin’ Australian medic:
A doctor caught driving with a blood alcohol concentration almost six times the legal limit was driving home to a hospital from a country music show, a court has heard.
But he’s got a legitimate excuse:
The court heard he was under emotional stress at the time because his wife and their two children lived in Adelaide.
===
FEELINGS
Tim Blair
Nice line from Phil Coorey, reporting on Robert Hill’s appointment to an element of the government’s pointless emissions trading scheme:
Mr Hill will chair the Australian Carbon Trust, a $75 million initiative that will promote energy efficiency in homes and small businesses, and allow individuals to feel they are making a difference by letting them buy carbon permits.
Meanwhile, record low temperatures in Al Gore’s home state. I wonder if Al is playing weather lotto?
===
Bigger, smaller, whatever
Andrew Bolt
2002:
Australian scientists say global warming is turning the world’s squid into much larger creatures…
2009:
Global warming is shrinking fish.
UPDATE
More, yeah, whatever. If in doubt, add global warming:
For the third time since 2005, giant Nomura’s jellyfish are set to descend on the Sea of Japan… Scientists are unsure why Nomura’s jellyfish are invading the Sea of Japan in recent years. The spectre of global warming has raised its head, however, theories have been posited that overfishing, pollution or rising ocean temperatures may have depleted the fish that would prey on Nomura’s jellyfish in the polyp stage.
Giant gunks of algae off Alaska have journalists seeking the same old angle, only to meet one scientist who refuses to play the game:
But asked if the blob’s surprise appearance could be connected to global warming, Whitledge hesitated to draw a link. ”The water’s actually very cold this year compared to other years,” he said.
===
Don’t cry
Andrew Bolt
Cyrus Thatcher, a 19-year-old British soldier killed in Afghanistan on June 2, writes to his mum and dad:
Hello its me, this is gonna be hard for you to read…
===
Hamilton omms
Andrew Bolt
Global warming alarmist and authoritarian Clive Hamilton has left planet Earth - or been expelled:
So I think where we’re going is to begin to see a Gaian earth in its ecological, cybernetic way, infused with some notion of mind or soul or chi, which will transform our attitudes to it away from an instrumentalist one, towards an attitude of greater reverence. I mean, the truth is, unless we do that, I mean we seriously are in trouble, because we know that Gaia is revolting against the impact of human beings on it.
Hamilton has found not science but a neo-animist faith - and one that’s hostile to humans, as well as to reason. Note how the ABC presenter laps it up.
===
Hole in foot
Andrew Bolt
Silly us. It was actually Greg Norman’s former wife who choked out there.
As Norman now says, with his customary class, is that he’d actually have won ones like that 1996 Masters had his new wife, former tennis champion Chris Evert, been with him:
In a revealing TV interview aired in the US, Norman was asked: “Had Chrissy been in your life 20 years ago would you have won some of those that got away?”
Norman replied: “Chrissy would have instilled a different thought process going into it and I would say the answer probably would be yes.”
And just in case you thought Norman surely can’t have fallen so far:
Norman said his (new) wife was a great tennis coach.
“I have a wonderful teacher and the greatest thing about my coach - she lets me sleep with her every night,” Norman said.
Erk.
===
Add “nude mum” and watch it sell
Andrew Bolt
It’s Scoop all over. Some stories are too good to disbelieve, like the one that had the media slavering about the teenager who sold naked pictures of his mum on TradeMe in revenge for having to clean the garage. Truth is...
===
Don’t know, don’t care
Andrew Bolt
Busting the myth of a record turnout of inspired voters:
For all the attention generated by President Barack Obama’s candidacy last year, census figures show the share of eligible voters who actually went to the polls in the November presidential election declined from 2004.
It seems there was a bit of “none of the above” about. Not that you saw that reflected in the media coverage at the time.
===
Everyone just talks about the weather
Andrew Bolt
But imagine the force needed to make them do something about it:
A survey commissioned by the Australian Industry Group (AiGroup) has found more than 60 per cent of businesses were not taking steps to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
===
The great Reagan speaks ..
===
Not Buying It?
New poll shows 50 percent oppose Obama's health care plan
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," July 17, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
LAURA INGRAHAM, GUEST HOST: In the "Factor Follow-up" segment tonight: Are Americans beginning to revolt against Obamacare? A new poll shows that now 50 percent are opposed to the president's health care reform, while 42 percent support it. And now the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that the Democratic-backed plan is going to increase the cost for most taxpayers, not save them money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLAS ELMENDORF, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: With us now is Elizabeth Carpenter. She is the associate director — political director of the New America Foundation, which is a left-leaning think tank.
Now, he also said it was an unsustainable level of government spending, government growth. And he was projecting out, not just today but out into the future. How does this square with all of these promises that it's going to bring down the cost of health care and this is going to be this brand new utopian vision of nationalized medicine where we have this new, invigorated system? It does not seem to add up.
Click here to watch the segment!
ELIZABETH CARPENTER, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Well, this is a good conversation to have and I'm glad you asked the question, because I think, you know, the president has been clear, health care reform is going to be paid for.
(CROSSTALK)
INGRAHAM: Yes, on the backs of people like me, maybe. But how — you know, it's going to be paid for, it doesn't — the numbers do not add up. The Congressional Budget Office is not partisan…
CARPENTER: Here is the thing that we should all recognize here that Congress is trying to legislate, and this is part of the legislative process. And part of the legislative process is to get feedback from people like the Congressional...
INGRAHAM: They don't want feedback.
CARPENTER: Oh, I think they do.
INGRAHAM: Why do they want feedback? They are trying to ram this thing through. I mean, I don't mean to raise my voice, but they are trying to ram this thing through without the public knowing what is in this 1,000-page monstrosity of a bill. No good comes from 1,000 pages in this federal government. No good.
CARPENTER: Well, I think what you're seeing today, and frankly, as a result of the Congressional Budget Office testimony is some moderate Democrats, moderate Republicans who are working on this.
INGRAHAM: They are freaking out.
CARPENTER: Well, no, I think they are…
INGRAHAM: Yes, they are freaking out.
CARPENTER: They are going back to the — to what we know we can do. We know that 30 percent of health care spending in this country does not add clinical value, does not make patients healthier.
INGRAHAM: And we want bureaucrats to decide that for us?
CARPENTER: No, we don't at all.
INGRAHAM: Good.
CARPENTER: We want patients to have more information about…
INGRAHAM: Well, let's get into that because…
CARPENTER: …their care.
INGRAHAM: Well, we have President Obama, a couple of days ago, was talking about health care in the United States, and he was talking about end of life issues. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The most important thing we can do on end of life care right now is to make sure that we are empowering everybody to make decisions for themselves about how they want to deal with the end of life and to encourage people to look at hospices as a legitimate option for dealing with these issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now I find that to be creepy, for the president of the United States to be saying basically, we hope more people — you old people, you get sick, you know, we encourage you to look at hospices. That's not it. That's not the only thing. The House bill actually compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years on issues such as alternatives to treatment and also issues such as nutrition that they might be taking, antibiotics, and artificially administered nutrition and hydration. Is that not a frightening thing to you that old people could be visited in their homes and essentially be told, all right, sweetie, you have had a good life?
CARPENTER: I think the thing that we're talking about here is giving patients more information, because to be honest, the data shows that many patients in America do not get the care they want at the end of life, because they do not know other options are out there...
INGRAHAM: Go die. Go to a hospice and die.
CARPENTER: ...and frankly they haven't had a chance to have the conversation with their doctor. So I think…
INGRAHAM: Why should the government go into someone's home and have a consultant talk about the end of life issues?
CARPENTER: I think you should ask the American…
INGRAHAM: What happens when the Democrats…
CARPENTER: …Medical Association, our doctors...
(CROSSTALK)
INGRAHAM: They're embarrassing themselves.
CARPENTER: …because they have supported the House bill.
INGRAHAM: Yes, well, they're embarrassing themselves.
CARPENTER: So I think the doctors of America have spoken.
INGRAHAM: Yes — well, first of all, I know a lot of doctors personally. The doctors have not spoken all through the AMA. The fact that a government bureaucrat will come to an old person's house as a mandatory counseling session — first of all, stay away from my father, who is 83 years old. I do not want any government bureaucrat telling him what kind of treatment he should consider to be a good citizen. That's frightening.
CARPENTER: I think what we want is for you and your father to have a conversation about what he wants when his...
INGRAHAM: That is none of your business. The Democrat Party has consistently…
CARPENTER: Right now you and your father might not have the information...
(CROSSTALK)
INGRAHAM: That is none of your business. That is not the government's business. The Democrat Party has routinely said, hands off our bodies, it is all about choice, it's pro-choice, don't touch our bodies, and keep your hands off when it comes to abortion. But when it comes to the elderly who have paid into the system their entire lives, basically the message from President Obama is, OK, we hope, we hope, we hope you consider these other alternatives.
CARPENTER: Well, whether or not you take advantage of that information ultimately is going to be up to you and your dad.
INGRAHAM: Well, do you think this is flying? Do you think this is going to go through? Because I'm sensing the American people have had just about enough of the wool being pulled over their eyes.
CARPENTER: I think what the American people want is for us to stop having these rhetorical wars and start solving the problem.
INGRAHAM: Yes, but you think this is going to increase competition among private insurers?
CARPENTER: I think right now many Americans have no choice of private insurance and what we want to do is give every American that choice.
INGRAHAM: Then why are the numbers dropping for this? Why are the numbers dropping?
CARPENTER: What numbers?
INGRAHAM: Approval for the way President Obama is handling health care.
CARPENTER: Because I think — I think what we know is that Americans are nervous about losing their health care coverage.
INGRAHAM: Yes.
CARPENTER: They're nervous about their jobs.
INGRAHAM: As they should be, because they're about to lose it.
CARPENTER: And right now, this legislative debate is exactly what they need. They need to know more about what is going on.
INGRAHAM: Yes, well, if we had a debate, that would be great. We appreciate you joining us. Elizabeth, thanks for being with us.
CARPENTER: Absolutely.
INGRAHAM: It's spirited. That's what you do on a Friday night.
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