Saturday, September 25, 2010

Headlines Saturday 25th September 2010

=== Todays Toon ===
Major General Philip Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC (born 12 December 1937) was the 24th Governor-General of Australia 2003–2008. He was the first Australian career soldier to be appointed governor-general. He had previously served as Governor of Western Australia 1993–2000.
=== Bible Quote ===
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”- Hebrews 10:35-36
=== Headlines ===
Trouble on Mideast Front: Clinton Scrambles to Save Talks
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to meet with the Palestinian president as the Obama administration enacts furious, last-chance diplomacy to prevent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from failing this weekend.

Ahmadinejad Defends Sept. 11 Insults

Fox News' Eric Shawn goes one-on-one with the Iranian president, asking him to explain his 'offensive' lecture to the United Nations General Assembly, where he said the 9/11 terror attacks were work of the U.S. government

Colbert's D.C. Routine: Funny or Off Base?
If Dem leaders were trying to bring national attention to migrant farm labor by inviting Stephen Colbert to a House panel hearing, they succeeded, but the comedian's performance didn't leave many lawmakers laughing

Texas to Publishers: Less Islam, Please
Texas Board of Education adopts a resolution that calls on textbook publishers to limit what they print about Islam in history books

Breaking News
Toddler found wandering street
POLICE are searching for the parents of a toddler found on a street in western Sydney in the middle of the night.

US in Afghanistan until 'job is done'
PRESIDENT Barack Obama says the US will stay in Afghanistan until "the job is done", despite his July 2011 deadline for troops to start coming home.

US bank robbers strap bomb to teller
EMPLOYEE kidnapped from his home, had explosives fitted to his body and used to steal money from Miami bank.

MacKillop exposed pedophile priest
DOCUMENTARY claims Catholic Church took revenge on sister and excommunicated her.

NSW/ACT
Lone ranger danger from campers
RANGERS are ordered not to confront illegal campers flocking to one of the coast's most popular sites after some were threatened.

Lock me up, American tourist pleads
AN American singer's unusual plea to be sent to jail so he can defend a charge of bashing a NSW MP has been denied.

Singles curling up to furry friends
FOR an increasing number of single people, a dog or a cat is easing their loneliness by sharing their bed. Share your stories.

Yet another state MP retires
MENAI MP Alison Megarrity has become the latest NSW MP to jump ship, announcing that she is retiring at next year's election.

Fatality at street racing hotspot
A STRETCH of road where a female pedestrian was killed by a car driven by a P-plater was notorious for street racing, locals said.

Mother on murder charges
THE mother of a toddler who died from a lethal cocktail of methadone and morphine has been charged with his murder.

$1 million too little to stop suicide
THE Gillard Government will spend $1.1 million to reduce suicide and self-harm at The Gap.

Brett Stewart is a gentleman
MARGARET Cunneen told a jury she believed sex charge accused Brett Stewart was innocent.

Fraser-Kirk 'flirting with McInnes'
IT was DJs Kristy Fraser-Kirk who hit on him and not the other way around, says ex- CEO Mark McInnes.

Savouring peace behind the scarf
"When I put the scarf on," Rebecca Kay says, "I have never felt so beautiful in my whole, entire life."

Queensland
Passengers rob, beat taxi driver
TWO people have been charged after a 23-year-old man taxi driver was assaulted and robbed by his passengers in Ipswich overnight.

Drunk in Townsville taxi chase
A DRUNK man threatened a taxi driver with a bottle of alcohol before stealing his Toyota Prius and launching a police chase across Townsville.

Hunt for runaway mum folds
A FUGITIVE mother has no idea she is no longer wanted by Australian authorities after leads on her location dried up and the investigation folded.

Parking prang sparks punch-up
TWO men argued after crashing their cars in the car park of Deception Bay Shopping Centre, north of Brisbane, on Friday night.

Stabbing victim in hospital
TWO people are being questioned by police after a suspected stabbing in Bundaberg that left one person in hospital with a head injury.

Nicholls still wants JPL's job
THE LNP's Tim Nicholls has revealed he still harbours ambitions to be leader and contradicted John-Paul Langbroek's position on asset sales.

Crime fighters make peace
QUEENSLAND'S top crime fighters have buried the hatchet, declaring the state's police largely corruption-free despite allegations against Gold Coast officers.

Worst fare evaders revealed
COMMUTERS from Logan and Caboolture have been named as the worst offenders for fare evasion across the southeast's public transport network last year.

Centaur tragedy remembered
ONE by one, the wreaths floated away on the calm ocean as family members remembered the most violent act in Queensland maritime history.

Court told Sica `confided in writer'
A MAN accused of slaying three siblings told a woman writing a book about him that she would become famous if she got his confession, a court has heard.

Victoria
Tyler Fishlock's inspirational story
Perfect in My Eyes is a moving story of how a perfect life became filled with tragedy and heartbreak.

Pride and passion at people's parade
FIVE blocks of the city are choked by barrackers a'shouting, 29 hours early.

Hinch hangs in after surgery
RADIO personality Derryn Hinch may need a liver transplant to win his cancer battle.

$3b toll on taxpayers
VICTORIAN taxpayers could hand over as much as $3 billion over the next 25 years to the private developer of the Frankston bypass.

140,000 fans take the city by storm
FANS have been warned to behave themselves on the AFL'S biggest day of the year.

Stop the spying: former police chiefs
TWO former police chiefs yesterday challenged the tactics of top cop Simon Overland over the escalating police whistleblower row.

Molly told to pipe down
ST Kilda tragic Molly Meldrum could find himself in a nasty neighbourhood war if his Saints break their premiership drought.

Team Turner want tradition to end
COLLINGWOOD premiership players Ken and Jamie Turner are hoping that a tradition comes to an end today.

Winner for the barbie
THE umpires' verdict is in - no fare is fit for a grand final unless it's a snag, or 20, on the barbie.

Brumby to miss Grand Final
PREMIER John Brumby has cancelled his public engagements including at the Grand Final to be with his ill father.

Northern Territory
Nothing new

South Australia
Studying tourism's bite on sharks
SCIENTISTS are circling cage-diving operators as they try to find out how regular visits from tourists are affecting the behaviour of great white sharks.

SA wines tops with collectors
SOUTH Australia has dominated the release of a new form guide to the most collectable wines in the country.

Port Lincoln's prices defy sales trend
PORT Lincoln has defied a national trend of investors and tourists shunning Australian coastal towns, recording a rise in the median price of units and continued strong demand from interstate buyers.

Developers use cash as tool in claim
ADELAIDE City Council has attacked hidden donations from developers and called for a more open and independent planning process.

Medical graduates have nowhere to go
AUSTRALIA is heading for a medical crisis as doctors-to-be face an internship shortage.

We can pick up uni theatre and shift it
DEFENDERS of Union Hall have called for the building to be relocated rather than demolished, as part of a multi-million-dollar proposal.

Facebook threats to footy great
A FACEBOOK page promoting violence against the family of SA football legend Ken Eustice has been shut down after complaints to police.

Liddy did study on child sex
PAEDOPHILE magistrate Peter Liddy forensically studied cases of child sex abuse while perpetrating deviant acts against young boys, it can be revealed.

Why Labor has been off target
IT COULD alternately be a brave or a foolish government which predicted what it would be able to achieve 10 years into the future.

Pipeline price under the pump
A PIPELINE to pump sand from northern beaches to the south has been cut to less than half its planned size due to a cost blowout.

Western Australia
Train services back on track
FAMILIES who feared their Royal Show day would be derailed by the train driver pay dispute have been spared any inconvenience after a deal was struck late tonight.

Driver lied about school bus rollover
TWO men have been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice over a Wattle Grove crash in which a truck collided with a school bus, causing it to roll.

Jim Beam thief in glassing threat
DETECTIVES are looking for a man who threatened to glass a bottle shop manager with two bottles of Jim Beam he stole from his shop.

Hundreds farewell Andrew Allan
EMOTIONAL tributes have flowed for a Year 11 student who died after being sent home from a WA country hospital without seeing a doctor.

Bushfire warning at Walpole
A BUSHFIRE is burning in thick coastal vegetation near Walpole, 420km south of Perth with the potential to threaten homes and lives.

People smuggler Ahmadi jailed
A LAWYER representing a convicted people smuggler who brought 562 refugees to Australia says his client hopes history will judge him in a ``kinder light''.

Water wasting council wins award
THE council at the centre of the bore water wastage scandal took home a `Waterwise' award this year.

WA miners caught in drug sting
MORE than 2600 mine workers have been screened for drugs and explosives in a massive police operation targeting the mining industry.

Plea for 'ill' people smuggler
THE first man to be extradited from Indonesia to Australia on people smuggling charges is too ill for a long jail term, a Perth court has heard.

Dowding son told safety switch lie
THE son of a former WA premier signed a document wrongly stating he had installed a safety switch in a home where a toddler was electrocuted.

Tasmania
Nothing new
=== Journalists Corner ===
Join us this Saturday, September 25, 2010, for an important rally to stand with Aung San Suu Kyi and urge Ban Ki-Moon to take critical action on Burma at the upcoming 65th session of UN General Assembly.
On Monday, September 27, 2010, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will meet with "Group of Friends" on Myanmar (Burma), a group consisting of key 14 countries. We will be rallying in front of the UN Plaza on Saturday to ensure that at the meeting, the following crucial issues are raised and concrete action taken.

  1. Free Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's democracy movement and legitimately elected leader of the country
  2. Free all 2,200 political prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally
  3. Denounce Burma's upcoming sham election and its undemocratic results
  4. UN Security Council must move urgently to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma

Rally Details:

Date: Saturday, September 25, 2010
Time: 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Place: Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, NYC (E 47th Street & 1st Avenue) PLEASE NOTE: it's an open space/ground but not a building.


Please come out this Saturday and rally with us. Help us amplify our voices for Burma and urge Ban Ki-Moon to act on Burma now!

Hope to see you there,
===
Join us this Sunday, September 26, 2010, for a special commemoration of Saffron Revolution of 2007.

We will join forces with prominent monks, former political prisoners, and Burmese and American democracy activists to honor the courageous efforts of non-violent demonstrators, who put their lives on the line to demand freedom, justice, and democracy in Burma.

The Saffron Revolution was led by Buddhist monks, and joined by tens of thousands of local residents and democracy activists. Monks held their alms bowls upside, a revolutionary gesture known throughout the history of Burma, indicating their protest against Burma's authorities. The military regime brutally crushed the peaceful protesters. Not sparing even the sons of Buddha, the soldiers beat and killed scores of monks, nuns, democracy activists and innocent citizens. To this day, hundred of leaders and protesters of Saffron Revolution remain behind bars, serving sentences up to 60 years or more.

Event Details

Date: Sunday, September 26, 2010
Time: 4:00pm - 6pm
Place: Bryant Part - 42nd street, between 5th & 6th Avenue


The event is sponsored by the International Burmese Monks Organization (IBMO). For more information, contact IBMO office at (718) 426-3959.

Please pass along this event information to friends and family. Join us for a powerful evening as we remember and honor the heroes of Saffron Revolution.

Looking forward to seeing you there,
John Stossel Hosts: "The Battle for the Future"
Government is eating up 40 percent of the economy, unions are bankrupting cities and states, over-taxing businesses and punishing entrepreneurs. So, can America be saved? John Stossel digs for answers and solutions.
===
Beck on Jon Stewart's 'Factor' Appearance
Glenn Beck drops by to give his take on the Jon Stewart sit-down! Plus, the New Black Panthers' case is heard. But, why is a justice department official testifying despite being told not to? Bill investigates.
===
Guest: Rep. Mike Pence
Democrats savage the GOP plan ... but, is it really working? Greta gets the inside story from Indiana Representative Mike Pence.
===
On Fox News Insider:
VOTE: What Factor Drives Your Voting Decisions?
VIDEO: Stephen Colbert Asked to Leave ... Congressional Hearing?
Interview: Sarah Shourd Recounts Being Held Captive in Iran
=== Comments ===
Shocking Political Poll in New York
BY BILL O'REILLY

Conservative Carl Paladino, backed by the Tea Party, is running for governor against New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, whose father used to be governor of the state.
Paladino is running on a "mad as hell" ticket, saying he will dismantle what he calls the corrupt legislature in Albany:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARL PALADINO, R, NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: By now, I think you're seeing the difference between me and my competitors. One wants to clean up Albany with a whisk broom. The other, he might even use a mop. Me, I'll clean out Albany with a baseball bat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Whoa. A few months ago, Carl Paladino was considered a fringe guy, a man who had virtually no chance to be governor of New York.
WELL LISTEN TO THIS: A brand-new Quinnipiac poll among likely voters shows that Paladino is just six points behind Mr. Cuomo, 49 to 43. That is beyond shocking and is shaking up the Empire State big time.
There is no question that after California, New York state has the most chaotic government in the country. New York may go into bankruptcy. The state debt is estimated at more than $60 billion. That's impossible to pay off.
In addition, New York is the second highest taxed state in the union, yet it continues to run up massive debt.
I LIVE IN NEW YORK, AND HERE'S WHAT I AM LOOKING AT: roads falling apart, bad public schools in many areas, corrupt politicians all over the place, sky-high property taxes terrorizing elderly people.
The state is a disaster and the legislature corrupt.
Andrew Cuomo, who was the Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Clinton, is a traditional politician who is not mad as hell:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW CUOMO, D, NEW YORK GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I don't want to be part of a campaign that degrades state government. When you degrade government, you degrade the people of this state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So based upon the Quinnipiac poll, Paladino could win. He is now within striking distance in a heavily Democratic state.
If Mr. Paladino pulls off the upset, the Democratic Party will be dealt a crushing blow nationwide. That's how intense this race is.
===
Tyrants Like Ahmadinejad Need to Be Challenged
By Phyllis Chesler
Yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad loudly slammed shut the door that President Obama insists is still wide open.

In a rant at the United Nations, Amadinejad sounded just like newly convicted Pakistani-American Al-Qaeda terrorist, Aafiya Siddiqui, who was just sentenced to 86 years. Both the President and the Lady scientist-turned-terrorist believe that America and Israeli Zionists plotted 9/11 and that both capitalism and Jews must die.

Siddiqui’s lawyer claims that her client is “mentally ill”; she may be right. Perhaps Amadinejad is also “mentally ill”—were Hitler or Stalin really in good mental health?—but it doesn’t matter since Amadinejad’s finger is on the nuclear trigger and his money is on Hezbollah, his own private global, terrorist army in Lebanon, Iraq, Argentina, Venezuela and elsewhere.

Here’s what worries me. Obama’s silence equals American complicity. “Not in my name, Mr. President.”

Iranians have marched and died in Teheran protesting the regime of their mad mullahs. Remember Neda Sultan? Remember the creative ways in which Iranians used technology to circumvent the government blackout of their computers? Iranian dissidents (Shiva Nazar-Ahari, Emadeddin Baghi) are being sentenced to long jail terms; long-term Iranian diplomats (Mohammed Reza Heydari, Hossein Alizadeh, Farzad Farhangian) are defecting from European Embassy posts.

Iranian women have been exceptionally brave and, in my view, have put most Western feminists to shame. They march even when they expect to be imprisoned, tortured, or murdered. A group of Iranian feminists once asked me whether I thought they should take to the streets on International Woman’s Day given that the government had threatened to shoot them down like dogs. I suggested that their lives might be even more precious than their principles, that surely they could work secretly to bring down their government.

They chose to march. Afterwards, they excitedly told me that “only 113 were arrested” and that they had “already located where 110 are being held.”

Yesterday, Iranian protestors were out in full force to demonstrate against Ahmadinejad at the United Nations. Soona Samsani is a supporter of exiled leader Maryam Rajavi and is someone with whom I have worked.

Samsani has just published a piece titled “Iranian Women Stand Against Misogynist Ahmadinejad.” She insists that international pressure works when it comes to human rights violations and points to the example of the delayed stoning of Sakineh Mohammedi Ashtiani. Samsani writes:

“During Ahmadinejad's five-year tenure as the regime's president, 1,860 people have been executed, among them 42 women, with 261 cases reportedly carried out in public. Additionally, seven have been stoned to death, among them women. Iran is also the only child executioner in the world, hanging 36 juveniles in the same period. So, it is high time for the forceful rejection of the false notion that opposition to such crimes is tantamount to warmongering. The only benefactor of this notion is the Iranian regime. What has instead become clear time and again is that when the international community actually applies pressure on the Iranian regime when it comes to human rights abuses, the regime succumbs.”

Today, the New York Times showed contempt for the Iranian protestors in New York. A photo on the front page shows an empty street, with one lone, perhaps dejected man, seated next to a giant face of Ahmadinejad which is lying on the floor. They banish their coverage to page A21, where they show a sea of other protests which their reporter presents as something of an annual autumnal version of Spring Break. The piece is titled “The Weather Was Perfect for Outrage.” “Outrage has become a habit, if not an occupation,” it says.

Shame! There are Iranians who are being tortured in jails who are waiting for news about their outside supporters. Is this the best the privileged, liberal West can do?

I remember participating in a panel together with Ramesh Sepharrad of the National Committee of Women for a Democratic Iran which took place at the United Nations. About eight Iranian women officials in serious hijab sat down in a menacing bloc. Samsani, also in hijab, started taking their photos. Sepharrad took the mike and said: “We know who you are. Tell the mullahs back in Teheran what you heard here. Tell them that women will overthrow their corrupt regime and bring them down.”

The bloc left hastily. I was astonished by the Iranian women’s cool bravery.

Iranian dissidents, like Muslim and ex-Muslim dissidents everywhere, deserve American support. Obama’s approach of “engaging” with or appeasing Islamist tyrants is not enough, nor is his choosing Islamists as his consultants for the FBI, CIA, and Armed Forces.

Choose Iranian dissidents instead. They will not tell him what he wants to hear. Imperial Presidents need that kind of advice.

Phyllis Chesler, Ph.D. is professor emerita of psychology and the author of thirteen books including "Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman" and "The New Anti-Semitism." She has written extensively about Islamic gender apartheid and about honor killings. She once lived in Kabul, Afghanistan. She may be reached through her website: www.phyllis-chesler.com.
===
OPEN THREAD CSI
Tim Blair

I’ve been robbed once, had my house burgled twice and my car broken into three times (plus one car stolen). Total losses: surprisingly, only three or four grand. Readers are invited to tell their own stories of engagement with the criminal classes. - I used to drive my 18 yo Honda Civic to Holsworthy railway to park and catch a train to Rockdale and visit my grandma. My car was broken into three times in two years. Once they smashed a side window and smashed a car radio. Another time they used a screw driver to jimmy the lock, but took nothing. Another time they jimmied the other lock, and took nothing. I began to dream of parking there and waiting in the car with a flashlight .. but then I got afraid of what would happen if I actually found them. It was the inconvenience which got me most. I eventually moved, and shared a flat in the inner city. My flatmate was a druggy student and I reckon he tipped off his mates that I was getting the alarm connected to my 10 year old Ford Fairmont Ghia. I only had it a few months when it was stolen. I went to report it to the police, and discovered there was an outstanding warrant for my arrest (1 day jail) for failing to vote .. it wasn’t enforced, and I later got the conviction quashed .. and Bob Carr later got the record shredded (which also shredded my evidence of my declaration of Australian Citizenship).
I sold the next car after a year, rather than going bankrupt, and so have been a pedestrian since NYE 1996. But that didn’t stop the theft. I was asleep at home in my ground floor unit in Berala one hot summer night, early December 2001. A person broke in between 12 pm and 5 am and took my wallet, my mini disc player and a few odds and ends. I believe he was later caught by police breaking into another place armed with a machete.
The value of my loss would not exceed $10k, but it cost me much more. - ed
TT replied
The art of the paragraph is dead, in return no-one reads your post...seems fair.
- I remember another time I was locked out of my unit by my own flatmates, and they kept my things. It was my attempt to break into my own unit which attracted police attention .. and my call for help. I had left my second story window ajar, and attempted to enter through it when I found the door deadlocked at the entrance, and my flatmates had left for the weekend to go skiing, possibly thinking I would just walk away. But not without my things! So I leveraged myself between a brick wall and a wooden fence, and climbed to the second floor window I had left ajar. But there was a security grate. I lifted myself from the top rung of the security grate and lowered myself in, getting half way in, when I realized my ribs were too far from my back to allow me entrance. My enormous belly was through, and so I was suspended from the second story window on my back and unable to get back out, or slip in further. I waited for a while, mortified, thinking I might be able to make something give way, then realized that some thing was going to be my back. So I started calling for help. Softly at first, then with gusto. Someone on the third floor leaned out and asked if I needed help. I said yes, and they said they had called emergency. Police arrived first and wanted to know what I was doing there. I tried to explain, and they asked to see my ID. I explained it was on the ground next to my bag. They asked me to open the bag and show them. I explained I couldn’t get down. Emergency then arrived. Police claimed jurisdiction. Emergency services said they would wait to see what happened. Police ordered me down and I failed to comply, explaining why. Emergency services wisely pointed out loudly to the police if it became a health matter they would have to act. I said I was losing feeling in my feet .. which was true enough. So emergency services cut me in. Then I couldn’t find keys for the front door, but I was given my bag and produced my ID, which had my old address. I promised I would visit the police the next day. I was kind of glad that the police hadn’t searched the premises .. I hadn’t had time to hide my porn stash. This is a true story that is part of my autobiography available on Kindle at Amazon. - ed

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