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Roll up for Slippery Pete’s sex scandal circus
Piers Akerman – Thursday, October 04, 2012 (4:15am)
ROLL up, folks, roll up for the Slippery Pete Sex Scandal Circus.
Come right in to Sydney’s Federal Court Building and see Julia Gillard’s personally recruited, hand-picked Speaker, one of the most senior public officials in Australia, slinking in to Justice Steven Rares’ courtroom.
You have to be sharp though!
Yesterday Slipper slipped in through an underground car park entrance slouched in a Commonwealth car to avoid the waiting media. Then he used an internal lift to the mediation rooms, which are in a restricted part of the building alongside the offices of the Commonwealth Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General.
But, listen up folks, he didn’t have the permission of the court and Justice Rares made sure that the sneaky rat-run was out of bounds for his exit.
As a court spokesman said in a statement: “In view of media inquiries today, I wish to point out that Mr Slipper did not seek, nor obtain, permission from the court to access the building via the private secure car park. The expectation is that all litigants enter and exit court buildings through public entrances.”
James Ashby, the former staffer who has accused Gillard’s Speaker of sexual harrassment, walked in the front door with his legal team.
Slipper attended the court ordered mediation session after failing to front on Tuesday.
That’s right, he didn’t make it to his own hearing though he made some remarks about the expense of appearing.
Justice Rares was unimpressed by the no-show as he made clear when he ordered yesterday’s appearance.
Not that the forced talks did much good.
Though Slipper and Ashby were locked in mediation talks the entire day the matter was not resolved.
There is a third party in the talks – the Commonwealth. That’s right. We taxpayers are taking part but though we are picking up the cheque (more than $720,000 in legal fees so far) we are not being told what we are getting for our cash.
Shame, Julia, shame.
Or, more accurately, shame Nicola Roxon, shame, because it is the shewish Roxon who controls the money stream as Attorney General and it is the legally-trained Roxon who has made a complete goose of herself with her outrageously injudicious comments about the matter.
Taking a sizeable chunk of the loot is Melbourne civil liberties lawyer Julian Burnside QC, representing us.
The Commonwealth has already agreed to pay Ashby $50,000 to settle one aspect of the matter but it seems even that agreement has come asunder.
Slippery Pete, meanwhile, is still drawing down his salary, and his perks and his taxpayer-funded travel seems unassailable.’
Did we expect anything less from this government and its team of clowns?
Absolutely not!
Come on in, folks, you are paying for the show, you deserve a ringside seat to see how Labor is wasting your hard-earned money.
See the Speaker (unfortunately not dressed in his self-designed robes), see the alleged victim, listen to the evidence of steamy text messages.
It’s all happening at the Federal Court and you’re footing the bill.
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No one is buying the ALP’s tales of deceit
Piers Akerman – Thursday, October 04, 2012 (7:29pm)
WHILE Julia Gillard and her Cabinet have been doing everything possible to keep broadcaster Alan Jones front and centre in the public debate, the mums and dads, the retirees and everyday Australians have been forced to focus on the economy.
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RACE IDENTIFIED
Tim Blair – Thursday, October 04, 2012 (5:46pm)
Various pale people are complaining about the apparent whiteness of a Fox News focus groupassembled to judge the first debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
Superficial colour-based judgments can be problematic. How do these racial referees – including ABC re-tweeters Jonathan Green and Mark Colvin – know that the focus group isn’t composed entirely of Australian Aborigines?
UPDATE. As for the debate itself, “Even the lamestream media Obama supporters acknowledge that it was an embarrassing loss for Obama,” writes Elizabeth Price Foley. Seems so, with plenty of others besides. The Independent‘s Amol Rajan:
There’s no need to detain ourselves with any questions over who won last night’s first television debate: the President was trounced.
The Australian‘s Brad Norington:
Mitt Romney scored an easy win over Barack Obama in their first televised presidential debate just five weeks before US voters go to the polls, according to results of an early opinion poll.
The Age‘s Nick O’Malley:
Barack Obama, the man considered by many to be the greatest political orator of his generation, was left rambling and flat footed many times during the first presidential debate.
The Guardian‘s Gary Younge:
In the end there were no zingers; no knockout blows; no major blunders. But there was a winner: Mitt Romney.
The NY Times‘s Gail Collins:
Hillary Clinton is known as one of the most beloved figures on the planet … Did you read John Noble Wilford’s article in The Times about the discovery of the remains of a dinosaur the size of a house cat?
Gail’s attention may have wandered. Creepy TV host Bill Maher:
Obama made a lot of great points tonight. Unfortunately, most of them were for Romney.
The NY Times‘s Charles Blow:
There are two more chances for the president to change tactics, or at least to show up to the debates energized and nimble: President Xanax just doesn’t cut it.
And crockumentarian Michael Moore:
This is what happens when u pick John Kerry as your debate coach.
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EGGZACT SCIENCE
Tim Blair – Thursday, October 04, 2012 (1:12pm)
The highlight of British Egg Week:
Using sophisticated maths and a process known as data mining, scientists have uncovered a statistical relationship between a person’s character, lifestyle and social class and whether they like their eggs boiled, fried, scrambled or as an omelette.In the new study, the research team found that poached egg eaters are outgoing, listen to upbeat music and are happier, boiled egg consumers are disorganised, fried egg fans have a high sex drive, scrambled egg aficionados are guarded and omelette eaters are self-disciplined.
And raw egg drinkers tend not to make great movies. Personally, I’m a poacher.
UPDATE. “Poaching tips please Tim!” asks reader TimT. “I usually manage to get my poached egg all right, but sometimes the white effectively separates from the yolk instead of surrounding it. This is most annoying.”
Yes. It is the worst thing.
Perhaps your water isn’t spinning fast enough. I sometimes use a standard hand mixer with one of the beaters removed. This method achieves a vortex of terrifying speed and power; I recommend it when poaching multiple eggs simultaneously.
Also, you can never use enough vinegar. This French stuff is sensational. Further tips here.
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On they come
Nauru has failed:
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Kroger vs van Onselen
One of these two men is an adult.
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Romney by a knockout
It’s difficult to see how Mitt Romney could have been much better than he was in tonight’s debate. Romney was crisp, forcful (without being disrespectful or obnoxious), and almost always on point (especially during the crucial first hour). Most importantly, he was vibrant and even passionate…
As for Obama, I think he debated fairly well. But he paled in comparison to Romney. The president’s performance was subdued; he was far less inclined to address Romney’s points than Romney was to rebut his; and he tended to ramble… Obama was just tired and uninspired.
I’ve been watching presidential debates for quite a few years, but I have never seen one like this. It wasn’t a TKO, it was a knockout. Mitt Romney was in control from the beginning. He was the alpha male, while Barack Obama was weak, hesitant, stuttering, often apologetic. The visuals were great for Romney and awful for Obama. Obama looked small, tired, defeated after four years of failure, out of ammo. One small point among many: Obama doesn’t even know how to stand at a podium, as he continually lifted up one leg. He would be below average as a high school debater.
There were 1,800 people on Power Line Live tonight, and the verdict was unanimous: it was a great night for the forces of good…Through the evening, Romney came across as the competent executive, in command and optimistic. Obama was the defeated, out of ammo failure whose ideas have been tried and found wanting. I don’t know how the Democrats will try to spin this one, but it just doesn’t matter. There was only one credible leader on the stage tonight, and it wasn’t our failed president.
Look: you know how much I love the guy, and you know how much of a high information viewer I am, and I can see the logic of some of Obama’s meandering, weak, professorial arguments. But this was a disaster for the president for the key people he needs to reach, and his effete, wonkish lectures may have jolted a lot of independents into giving Romney a second look.
Obama looked tired, even bored; he kept looking down; he had no crisp statements of passion or argument; he wasn’t there. He was entirely defensive, which may have been the strategy. But it was the wrong strategy. At the wrong moment.The person with authority on that stage was Romney - offered it by one of the lamest moderators ever, and seized with relish. This was Romney the salesman. And my gut tells me he sold a few voters on a change tonight. It’s beyond depressing. But it’s true.
“I don’t know what he was doing out there. He had his head down, he was enduring the debate rather than fighting it. Romney, on the other hand, came in with a campaign. He had a plan, he was going to dominate the time, he was going to be aggressive, he was going to push the moderator around, which he did effectively, he was going to relish the evening, enjoying it,” Matthews said.“Here’s my question for Obama: I know he likes saying he doesn’t watch cable television but maybe he should start. Maybe he should start. I don’t know how he let Romney get away with the crap he throughout tonight about Social Security,” Matthews complained.
Another Obama supporter, liberal comedian Bill Maher, went on a similar Twitter rant, firing off such comments as, “Obama made a lot of great points tonight. Unfortunately, most of them were for Romney.”
Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed said Romney fared better, compared with 25 percent for Obama, according to results aired on CNN after the match concluded. Forty-six percent said they found Romney more likeable, compared with 45 percent for Obama, CNN reported.
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Maybe ‘I do’
Opposition frontbencher Kevin Andrews has written a deeply thoughtful and impeccably researched book on marriage (order here).
It is sad that such a defence of marriage needs to be made - but it does, and Andrews makes that case compellingly.
His argument is that marriage is fundamentally about the children - not about equality, self-actualisation or even happiness.
That said, marriage does indeed tend to make the married happier, healthier and wealthier. Indeed, not being married is as unhealthy as smoking - and if Labor is so concerned about health as its anti-smoking hysteria suggests it should be as violently against divorce as it is against cigarettes.
Andrews also notes that a third of divorced people regret their marriage breakup five years later and even more think their marriage could have been saved. All the more reason to valorise marriage and repair the tradition. All the more reason to reject arguments that seek to reduce it to no more than an honoring of affection, celebration of love or a statement of broadmindedness.
Andrews himself:
Andrews himself:
Survey after survey shows that faithfulness, commitment and companionship in sharing life together are the central aspirations of married couples. These things are at the very core of a vision for marriage as a state of unconditional love, forgiveness and reconciliation, and service between spouses.
Indeed, the most recent social science research reveals that couples whose marriages are established on intense levels of romantic bliss are more likely to divorce than those who have a more practical and realistic view of their relationship.It is not that romance is not important. It is necessary, but insufficient, to hold together the long-lasting marriage to which individuals aspire…This might stand in stark contrast to the cult of instant gratification that is celebrated in the entertainment industry and held up as an ideal, but it corresponds with the experience of most parents, who know the joys and challenges of raising children.Marriage as an institution has an irreplaceable social dimension in the nurturing and socialising of children, by providing them with the economic resources and extended family networks of mutual support and protection. It is in marriage that children have the best chance to experience the domestic virtues, based on respect for human life and dignity, and learn to practise them in understanding, patience and mutual encouragement and forgiveness.
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Rather Jones than his haters
Most Australians do not like a brawl involving 100,000 people against one. Nor do they like disproportion. And here we have an attempt to ruin someone over an impromptu remark, made at a private function, on the spur of the moment and later withdrawn, together with a public apology.
On Tuesday, the retail magnate Gerry Harvey, after ordering his company, Harvey Norman, to pull its advertising from the Jones show, put the question: ‘’You have to ask are you part of a lynch mob?’’This campaign, supposedly in the name of tolerance and decency, is no longer an attempt to rebuke, or even shame, but to destroy a person because of his views. It has become a show of power, a warning, a precedent.
The campaign is being directed at one man who nobody has ever been obliged to listen to. I would much rather have the emphatic biases of Jones, the gauche excesses of Kyle Sandilands, the squadron of earnest progressive clones at the ABC, than this gutless, sanctimonious wash of collective, opportunistic blackmail.
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No drama. His name isn’t Jones and he’s with Labor
FORMER Health Services Union national president Michael Williamson has been arrested by police this morning.
Police Commander for the Fraud Cybercrime Squad, Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson said this morning Mr Williamson was facing charges of up to 20 offences.“Those allegations relate to him approaching others and instructing them to delete computer files and destroy American Express credit cards from HSU,” he said.“We believe he was trying to thwart our investigation."…More arrests are expected to be made to five others, according to police.“Some are senior HSU members, others are former members,” Det Insp Dyson said.
He would not confirm whether Craig Thomson was one of those five but said Mr Williamson’s son was.
UPDATE
The Age gets another attack of the AbbottAbbottAbbott. What’s the bigger news, do you think - the charging of Labor’s former national president, or the bitter Tony Windsor yet again bagging Tony Abbott?
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Silencing Jones is all politics
DON’T be fooled. This vicious campaign to silence Alan Jones isn’t to stop him from ever again being rude.
No, it’s to stop the 2GB broadcaster from attacking the Left.
It’s also to smear Opposition leader Tony Abbott by association. It’s that cynical.
As I’ve said repeatedly, Jones was cruel and offensive when he told Liberal students at Sydney University the Prime Minister’s father died last month of shame at her lies.
But don’t tell me Jones’ noisiest critics have never heard anything so shocking from their own.
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Don’t let Underpants Conroy near your paper
STEPHEN Conroy was long a friend of mine, strong on things like getting government out of people’s hair.
You know, in the days before the enemies of free speech started to get on top.
But perhaps being in government himself has gone to his head, because the Communications Minister has changed.
Take his boast to telcos at a New York conference last week of his “unfettered legal power”.
“If I say to everyone in this room, ‘if you want to bid next week in our spectrum auction you better wear red underpants on your head’, you’ll be wearing them on your head.”
Warning. This is the same man who last year set up a witch-hunt inquiry the Greens wanted into the “hate media”.
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Is this the real Obama?
It’s extraordinary how Barack Obama, in this speech five years ago to an audience of black ministers, not only lapsed into an us-vs-them racial narrative, but adopted a black “accent”.
This video is not news, screams the Left. Well, yes ... but actually no.
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Swan demands credit for the looming crunch
WAYNE Swan is claiming - no, demanding - credit for the Reserve Bank’s latest interest rate cut…Take it Wayne, take all the credit for:
THE resources boom coming to a screeching halt.
MAJOR sectors of the economy such as housing and retail operating under great stress.
AN overvalued Aussie dollar shredding manufacturing and making life tough for tourism operators dependent on foreign visitors.
Take the credit, please Treasurer. When a wood duck waddles but thinks it’s a rooster strutting, who am I to stand, so to speak, in its way.
There’s a surreal perception about interest rates which has taken hold in Australia, that our Treasurer in the full flowering of his unknowingness continually embraces and projects.
This is that an official interest rate cut is the Reserve Bank sticking a gold star on the economy, and putting an even bigger one on the Treasurer’s exercise book, as if he were still at primary school. Well done, young Wayne!
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Are Americans too race-conscious to sack Obama?
A significant date in the nation’s civil rights progress involved an African-American baseball player named Robinson, but not Jackie. The date was Oct. 3, 1974, when Frank Robinson, one the greatest players in history, was hired by the Cleveland Indians as the major leagues’ first black manager. But an even more important milestone of progress occurred June 19, 1977, when the Indians fired him. That was colorblind equality. Managers get fired all the time. The fact that the Indians felt free to fire Robinson — who went on to have a distinguished career managing four other teams — showed that another racial barrier had fallen: Henceforth, African Americans, too, could enjoy the God-given right to be scapegoats for impatient team owners or incompetent team executives.
Perhaps a pleasant paradox defines this political season: That Obama is African American may be important, but in a way quite unlike that darkly suggested by, for example, MSNBC’s excitable boys and girls who, with their (at most) one-track minds and exquisitely sensitive olfactory receptors, sniff racism in any criticism of their pin-up. Instead, the nation, which is generally reluctant to declare a president a failure — thereby admitting that it made a mistake choosing him — seems especially reluctant not to give up on the first African-American president. If so, the 2012 election speaks well of the nation’s heart, if not its head.
Likewise in Australia with Julia Gillard. Her election was hailed as a sign we weren’t sexist. Even better proof of that will be when we can criticise her performance without being damned as misogynists.
But to protect her, Labor and its allies are playing that sexism card at every turn.
Spot the real sexists.
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Syria’s bloody friends exposed
The nexus of terror exposed:
ONE of Hezbollah’s most senior operatives has been killed in Syria and buried in his home village in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, the militant group has confirmed.
Ali Hussein Nassif, a founding member of the organisation, was killed at the weekend in Al-Qusayr, a town between the Syrian city of Homs and the Lebanese border, in what is believed to have been a roadside bomb explosion…
Hezbollah has openly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the uprising began, a fact that has lost it widespread support in the Arab world, where it was once revered as leading resistance to Israel. The Shiite Islamist movement relies on Syria as a link to its main patron, Iran.Media outlets loyal to Hezbollah, including al-Manar television and the moqawama.org website, both carried stories acknowledging Nassif’s death, which they said had happened as he ‘’carried out his jihad duties’’.
Let’s recall the position of a council unfortunately appointed by the Howard Government six years ago:
The government is on a collision course with its Muslim advisory group over its claim that Hezbollah should not be considered a terrorist organisation.
The Muslim Community Reference Group is considering writing to Prime Minister John Howard asking the government to reconsider its listing of the militant arm of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.
The group is meeting tomorrow and will decide whether to put the demand to Mr Howard.
And here are some of the comments members of this council made in support of Hezbollah.
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High Court puts Shorten in his place
THE High Court has issued a stinging rebuke to Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten for his “partisan” intervention in litigation, at taxpayers’ expense, on behalf of the Australian Education Union…The costs decision followed a dispute between Bendigo TAFE and senior teacher Gregory Barclay, who was also an AEU official. The High Court last month ruled that Bendigo TAFE’s chief executive had not breached Labor’s Fair Work Act when she took disciplinary action against Mr Barclay…In a separate judgment from the majority, Justice Heydon admonished the AEU ... “The respondents’ position is typical of the mindless and rancorous technicality which characterises litigation about industrial law...”Justice Heydon… said those comments applied equally to the minister to the extent he shared the AEU’s approach on costs....
Justice Heydon said the circumstances of the case were “exceptional”. This was because the minister’s position before and during the hearing was “not that of an intervener, but that of a partisan”.
There is a deeply authoritarian and vindictive streak to this government that I fear will be given full rein if Labor is re-elected - and the media will feel it most.
But one other point should be made. Think of the effort, risk and worry Bendigo TAFE’s chief executive took on to discipline the teacher, especially when even the Gillard Government would help the union fight her right up to the High Court.
How many other principals or chief executives would dare to exercise their own authority in such circumstances?
The case:
The case:
UNION officials will no longer be an untouchable class in the workplace, after the High Court overturned a ruling that had given them special legal protections under Labor’s industrial relations regime.
In a unanimous judgment, the High Court allowed an appeal by the Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE, overturning a full bench Federal Court ruling that had given union delegates additional legal protections from “adverse actions”.The court found the Bendigo TAFE’s chief executive, Louise Harvey, had not breached Labor’s Fair Work Act when she took disciplinary action against senior teacher Gregory Barclay, who was also an official of the Australian Education Union.The judgment said on January 29, 2010, Mr Barclay had sent an email to all members of the union employed at the TAFE, which noted allegations of serious misconduct by unnamed persons, who were said to have been involved in the production of false or fraudulent documents in connection with an upcoming audit.
Mr Barclay did not report the allegations of misconduct to TAFE management when he became aware of them, or provide details of the allegations to management when asked to do so.
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Gillard’s bill: $7000 a year to feel good about doing nothing
Such extra costs really hurt people who must pay their own bills - and what makes it even more obscene is that all that pain is for zero gain to the climate:
JULIA Gillard’s personal carbon tax bill for living in the Lodge is costing taxpayers an average of $7000 a year...
Released under Freedom of Information, the redacted copies of the monthly power bills reveal that in just the first month of the carbon tax, the Lodge was hit with a $601 indirect carbon tax bill for 30 days of power use.
The government’s own renewable energy schemes added a further $430 to the bill for the month, or an average of about $5000 a year.
The bill, covering the full month of July 2012, was $5645.
It represented a $1500 rise in power usage compared to the same month last year.
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Mambo suggests refugees want to sunbathe
SURFWEAR company Mambo has apologised after suggesting asylum seekers come to Australia to sunbake.
The firm used its Twitter account to post a message about the warmer weather being enjoyed across parts of the country on Thursday, suggesting it might be why refugees come to Australia.
"28 deg. today with the sun gently basting naked beach bodies. Reason #27 why those poor asylum seekers would risk their life to get here?"
The comment provoked criticism from other Twitter users, with many branding it insensitive and calling for an apology.
"Seriously #Mambo how is that even a damn joke - like refugees don't have warmth where they come from. Stupid ignorant media team," one person wrote.
Ian Rintoul of the NSW Refugee Action Coalition also criticised the company.
"It's a despicable, tasteless use of the misery of asylum seekers for crass commercial purposes," he told AAP.
Mambo issued an apology, admitting it overstepped the mark and removed the Tweet.
"There's a fine line between irreverence and bad taste. We overstepped the mark. We are idiots. Apologies. #sorry," the company wrote.
- Actually, the refugees are responding to lies Gillard told. - ed
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Cultural studies professor says parents shouldn't be surprised by risque behaviour
AUSTRALIAN parents shouldn't be surprised if their young daughters want to dress in revealing clothes and act in a "risque manner".
Dr Michelle Smith, a cultural researcher at the University of Melbourne, said today's young girls are being “held to account to ideals of sexual innocence” while being bombarded by examples of adult women who are admired for being sexy.
“We continue to insist on girls remaining sexually innocent, through criticism of girls who wear revealing clothing and the shaming of teen mothers and sexually active girls,” she said in a speech today at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne.
“But we also surround girls with messages that suggest being a sexual adult female means being on constant sexual display,” Dr Smith said.
Dr Smith said our criticisms of PM Julia Gillard are proof that our messages confuse young girls and ultimately promote the idea that “there is not a sphere of life where being sexy is not the ultimate achievement of a woman.” During her speech Dr Smith gave several examples of popular television and music videos that also influence young girls.
“In music video clips where women are often gyrating in lingerie –without Fatima's white picket fence to shield them. In film and television, where fictional worlds are largely populated by women who are young and attractive (and who may have had surgical intervention to increase their bust size or plump their lips).
In advertising, where women's sex appeal is used to sell everything from clothing to ice cream, and in which topless pole dancing mothers who have money shoved into their g-strings by men, as in the infamous Nando's chicken TV ad, are deemed by the Advertising Standards Board as "not incompatible with family values" and by the company itself as "a forthright display of empowerment".
In magazines, where female perfection comes courtesy of Photoshop, and, most pervasively, on the internet where millions of pornographic images and videos of women are readily accessible to anyone, including children. Even online criticism of our nation's first female leader often contains jokes about her sexual prowess and attractiveness. According to this logic, there is not a sphere of life where being sexy is not the ultimate achievement of a woman, nor a place where how she looks is not the most important thing about her.”
Counselling psychologist Meredith Fuller told news.com.au that while she agrees with Dr Smith’s hypothesis, encouraging the right kind of conversations with your pre-teen family members will help things change for the better.
“We have to encourage young girls to make mindful decisions. It’s important to encourage your daughters to have their own personal style.” Ms Fuller said.
‘We also need to remind them that life will quickly become boring if they compress all of life’s experiences in a short amount of time.”
Ms Fuller said these conversations should start when you first notice that your pre-teen is concerned about fitting in and following trends; usually no younger than seven or eight.
“You can have the conversation as a family. Ask your daughter what kind of styles she likes and always remind her that sheep don’t set trends.”
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/cultural-studies-professor-says-parents-shouldnt-be-suprised-by-risque-behaviour/story-fneszs56-1226488061144#ixzz28KlQzGmi
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News Limited chief executive Kim Williams warns on media curbs
MOVES to impose greater government regulation on the media were a threat to democracy and could provide for "star chamber" judgments on journalism, says News Limited chief executive Kim Williams.
"It can never be the role of government regulators to oversee editorial positions, it's a basic democratic line that should never be crossed, no matter how aggrieved a government feels," Mr Williams said at the 2012 A.N. Smith Lecture in Journalism at the University of Melbourne last night.
Noting massive changes to digital modes of news delivery and print, he took aim at the government-instigated Convergence Review and Finkelstein Inquiry into Australian media, saying they reflected "a grave threat to press freedom".
"The best thing government can do in this environment is accept the realities of digital empowerment and craft policies that respect and travel with this change rather than try an inevitably futile route to contain, control and supervise in the service of political interest," Mr Williams said.
"Journalism and the democracy it celebrates and serves depend on it."
He said a central recommendation of the Finkelstein inquiry was a statutory body with power to seek court orders to fine and jail those it judged to have contravened regulations.
"But it is unfettered by the normal checks and balances such as a requirement that it must publish reasons for its decisions or even that its decisions are appealable," Mr Williams said.
"In short, it junks natural justice in favour of fast processes and absolute authority - it is nothing more than a star chamber.
"This is not trite banter on my part, it is a serious issue requiring serious and persistent resistance."
He said the Government's motivation was an alleged bias and continued attempts to influence policy through the press.
"Who determines anti-government bias in a democracy?" he said.
"Since when has it been wrong for newspapers to have clear and distinct editorial positions on key questions of the day?"
He said strong media knew what it stood for and based their economic welfare on knowing their readers.
"Good publications know what they believe in, they know their readers. They should take positions, otherwise they risk becoming mush."
Those who supported greater regulation of a free press "think that the judgment of sophisticated regulators is superior to the judgment of ordinary Australian citizens.
"That judges, ministers and bureaucrats know better than people who buy newspapers. There is a profoundly undemocratic undercurrent at the bottom of the media regulation push today."
Mr Williams said the challenges facing the media in the "third industrial revolution" were significant but new digital technologies and accessibility were themselves drivers of media diversity.
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Ten tips to spice up your lovelife (just like they do in the movies)
EVER find yourself sinking into your seat in a darkened cinema and wondering why your lovelife isn't as exciting as the one on the big screen? Perhaps it can be. Here are ten relationship rules that we can learn from the movies.
1. Brave the weather conditions and get close to nature. There's nothing quite like a picnic in the park or a steamy pash in the pouring rain to stimulate the senses.
"Doing something together that's different from the usual - not necessarily sex-related - can help you to relax in a new space", sexologist and relationship expert, Dr. Nikki Goldstein, tells news.com.au.
"While exercise gets blood levels going and endorphins flowing, it also boosts energy and confidence in the bedroom", she adds.
Think Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams' passionate reunion in The Notebook, Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral - what is it about the rain?
2. Never underestimate the value of a good old fashioned shopping spree to spoil each other and splash some cash. A new wardrobe can often give a stale relationship fresh legs. Remember when Richard Gere and Julia Roberts famously maxed-out the credit card on Rodeo Drive in Pretty Woman? - happily ever after indeed.
Pretty Woman
Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in an iconic modern day Cinderella adaptation. The shopping spree scene is every girls' fave. Source: Supplied
3. Be creative with costumes. Whether it's sci-fi, superhero or the more daring leather-clad variety, amp up your lovelife with some themed attire.
"It‘s fun and helps a lot to take love-making out of the ordinary and into the realms of fantasy, ecstasy and even the bizarre if you wish", recommends Dr. Charmaine Saunders, couples' therapist and author of Women and Stress, and Winning Relationships.
Spider Man
Superhero fantasy: This steamy upside-down kiss between Spidey and Mary Jane has been reinacted time and time again. Source: Supplied
4. Be bold. You never know if he/she’s into you until you put yourself out there. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Playing games is so 2010.
Just think, if straight A's nerd Matty can work up the guts to pash the stunning Danielle at a party full of jocks in The Girl Next Door, then there's hope for us all. (Cue David Gray, This Year's Love - anyone?)
Girl Next Door
An honour student falls in love with a porn star in The Girl Next Door, starring Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert. Picture: 20th Century Fox Source: Supplied
5. Make sure you've got the right tunes to set the mood. Ryan Gosling's hunky character in Crazy Stupid Love has his 'Dirty Dancing routine' down to a fine art. What's yours?
Crazy Stupid Love
Ryan Gosling's character knows the trick to woo a woman involves the Dirty Dancing theme song... and a six-pack of course. Source: Supplied
6. Love, care, share during mealtimes. When you and your partner dine out together, opt for dishes that you can share such as tapas, tasting plates or even a dessert at the end. We all remember Lady and the Tramp's adorable kiss over a plate of spag bol!
Lady and the Tramp
Childhood fave: Tramp takes his Lady out for a romantic dinner. This was Walt Disney at his very best! Source: Supplied
7. Choose a unique location to set the scene. "A new location can be particularly beneficial for women ... it's about breaking the sexual patterns", Dr. Goldstein agrees.
Rose and Jack's steamy session in the back of the car in Titanic got everyone a little hot and heavy.
Titanic
Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet's steamy love scene in the back of the carin Titanic is an iconic one. Source: Supplied
8. Trial some new hobbies together. It doesn't have to get as messy as a spinning pottery wheel (although Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore didn't seem to mind), but go for something out-of-the-box and fun that you can learn together.
"Humour is one of the best ways to defuse tension when there's conflict between two people," Dr. Saunders says.
Ghost
How can we forget the kiss between Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in Ghost alongside the spinning pottery wheel? Source: Supplied
9. Cook up a storm together. Try replacing your "date night" with a special dinner for two that you have both created. Spending time together in the kitchen will also give you a chance to catch up at the end of a long day.
No Reservations
Fiery chefs Kate and Nick in romantic comedy No Reservations bonded over their love of food. Source: Supplied
10. Never let the sun go down on an argument. While you might not end up chasing your loved one around the house with a firearm, à la Brad and Angelina style, settling disputes before you go to bed at night is said to be relationship 101 and makes for great make-up sex.
"Communication is the big one", Saunders says. "Whatever difficulties a couple faces, communication skills are going to help. Without them, solutions are impossible to find."
Mr and Mrs Smith
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie set tongues wagging in the sexy action flick Mr. and Mrs. Smith that brought them together
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/ten-tips-to-spice-up-your-lovelife-just-like-they-do-in-the-movies/story-e6frfmvr-1226486725464#ixzz28Kn4rSGs
===
- The Daily Telegraph
- October 04, 2012
A MEMBER of the Nomads motorcycle club has died after a collision with a ute on Oxford St this afternoon.
The incident occurred when the motorcyclist collided with a dark-coloured Toyota Hilux ute eastbound on Oxford St, Paddington shortly before 2pm.
According to sources, 12 Nomads were riding in formation when the crash occurred.
Witnesses came to the aid of the motorcyclist, freeing him from under the ute where he had become trapped.
An ambulance spokesman said the 30-year-old man was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital in a critical condition where he later died.
The driver of the ute was not injured, but has been taken to hospital for mandatory blood and urine tests.
A Transport Management Centre spokeswoman said Oxford St was closed between Elizabeth and Queen Sts, but westbound has now been re-opened.
Some buses are being diverted in the area.
===
NSW Libs and Nats sign election deal
THE NSW Nationals and Liberal parties have inked a deal to minimise three-cornered contests at the next federal election.
NSW Liberal Party president Arthur Sinodinos and state Nationals chairman Niall Blair signed the coalition agreement on Thursday night.
The agreement divides up the federal seats that each party will contest, with the exception of Throsby, which they will both contest.
It also determines the order of candidates on the Senate ticket.
The Liberals will nominate for positions one, three, five and six and the Nationals will have two and four on the joint ticket.
"This agreement allows us to present voters with a strong, united alternative to Labor, the Greens and the independents at the next election," Senator Sinodinos said.
Mr Blair said the agreement allowed the Nationals a clear run at Independent Rob Oakeshott's seat of Lyne in northern NSW.
===
Thousands of Americans in 'millionaire' households received jobless benefits
Nearly 2,400 Americans who received unemployment insurance in 2009 lived in households with income of at least $1 million, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The service's 10-page report focuses on unemployment following the longest recession since World War II and efforts by Congress to reform the federal unemployment system amid several years of $1 trillion-plus budget deficits.
The Labor Department requires states to pay unemployment compensation to eligible beneficiaries regardless of their income levels because individual or household income does not impact the “fact or cause of unemployment,” according to the report.
The Republican-controlled House passed a bill this session that included a provision to impose an income tax on unemployment benefits for high-income earners. However, the bill signed Feb. 22 by President Obama did not include that provision.
The 112th Congress introduced a total of five bills related to restricting or putting a large tax on unemployment payments for workers who had high incomes.
The report was released after about 1.1 million people exhausted their jobless benefits during the second quarter of 2012, when more than 4.6 million filed initial unemployment claims, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the survey.
“Sending millionaires unemployment checks is a case study in out-of-control spending,” Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told Bloomberg. “Providing welfare to the wealthy undermines the program for those who need it most while burdening future generations with senseless debt.”
In 2009, there were 2,362 people in so-called “millionaire” homes who reported unemployment insurance income. They represented 0.02 percent of the 11.3 million U.S. tax filers that year. In addition, 954,000 others in households earning more than $100,000 reported receiving unemployment benefits.
The number in 2008 was slightly higher, 2,840 people. They represented 0.03 percent of 9.5 million tax filers that year. And 807,000 others in households earning more than $100,000 reported receiving unemployment benefits, according to the report dated Aug.2.
Eliminating the federal share of unemployment benefits for millionaires would save $20 million in the next decade, according to the report.
Coburn introduced legislation in February 2011 that essentially would have prohibited federal funding of unemployment benefits for people who had at least $1 million in assets.
Bloomberg reports the Democrat-controlled Senate voted unanimously for the measure, but it was added to another bill that has yet to pass the chamber.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/03/roughly-2g-americans-in-millionaire-households-received-jobless-benefits/#ixzz28KpRJ3RY
===
Tomb of Mayan snake lord discovered in Guatamala
Archaeologists say they've discovered what could be the tomb of one of the greatest Mayan rulers, the seventh-century warrior queen Lady K'abel.
The tomb was revealed during digging at the ancient Maya
city of El Perú-Waka' in the rain forest of northern Guatemala. Alongside the body, excavators found a white jar shaped like a conch shell with the head and arm of a woman carved at the opening. The artifact had four hieroglyphs that suggest it belonged to K'abel.
city of El Perú-Waka' in the rain forest of northern Guatemala. Alongside the body, excavators found a white jar shaped like a conch shell with the head and arm of a woman carved at the opening. The artifact had four hieroglyphs that suggest it belonged to K'abel.
"Nothing is ever proven in archaeology because we're working with circumstantial evidence. But in our case we have a carved stone alabaster jar that is named K'abel's possession," David Freidel, an archaeologist working on the site, explained in a video. Freidel, of Washington University in St. Louis, said the find is "as close to a smoking gun" as you get in archaeology.
The plazas, palaces, temple pyramids and residences of El Perú-Waka' belong to the Classic Maya civilization (A.D. 200-900). K'abel was part of a royal family and carried the title "Kaloomte'," which translates to "Supreme Warrior," meaning she had even higher in authority than her king husband, K'inich Bahlam, according to Freidel and his excavation team. She was the military governor of the Wak kingdom for her family, the imperial house of the Snake King.
and residences of El Perú-Waka' belong to the Classic Maya civilization (A.D. 200-900). K'abel was part of a royal family and carried the title "Kaloomte'," which translates to "Supreme Warrior," meaning she had even higher in authority than her king husband, K'inich Bahlam, according to Freidel and his excavation team. She was the military governor of the Wak kingdom for her family, the imperial house of the Snake King.
K'abel is believed to have reigned with her husband from about A.D. 672-692. [Top 12 Warrior Moms in History]
]
Ceramic vessels found in the burial chamber and carvings on a stela (stone slab) outside of it also indicate the tomb belongs to K’abel, as does a large red spiny oyster shell found on the lower torso of the remains, the researchers said.
"Late Classic queens at Waka', including K'abel, regularly wore such a shell as a girdle ornament in their stela portraits while kings did not," the researchers wrote in a report on the finds.
An examination of the remains indicated the buried person was a "mature individual," the researchers wrote. But the bones were too deteriorated for scientists to determine whether they belonged to a male or female.
Excavations have been underway at El Perú-Waka' since 2003. The K'abel find has not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
===
DK writes .. "...When it come to discussing Gillard one clearly can confirm that negativity creates more negativity. There should be a Julia Gillard free day established as a national holiday.Her father is the luckiest one so far because every other day is a day of shame.
With so much controversy astute companies will benefit from 2GB advertising now more than ever as more and more listeners tune in to Alan Jones. Those firms that have ceased advertising with 2GB are very short sighted. I bet within a month all will be back as if nothing happened.
Gillard's week of glory will be short lived as more and more people start to suffer from Green Labor's failed policies realising what Jones said about Gillard's father was closer to the truth than no one wants to admit.
Gillard stinks. Her government stinks. Her colleagues stink. It's time to call an election to clear the air."
Gillard vows never to talk to Jones again
Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-vows-never-to-talk-to-jones-again-20121003-26zs0.html#ixzz28LAHmntu
ULIA GILLARD has wiped Alan Jones from her life, saying she will never talk to him again, either on radio or in person.
In her first appearance since Jones was reported telling a Liberal function Ms Gillard's father died of shame over his daughter's lies, the Prime Minister sought to draw a curtain on the episode, saying she did not want to talk about it.
When asked whether she would appear on Jones's program again, she said: ''No, I would not.''
Illustration: Rocco Fazzari
Jones says he has tried to ring Ms Gillard to apologise in person but Ms Gillard said he was wasting his time. ''I haven't spoken to Mr Jones and I don't intend to,'' she said.
Ms Gillard's father, John, died last month aged 83. She said she and her family had been overwhelmed by the thousands of Australians who had expressed their support.
Jones was recorded 12 days ago telling a Sydney University Liberal Club function Mr Gillard had died because of the lies his daughter told. A jacket made from a chaff bag was also autographed by Jones and auctioned. Previously, Jones has said Ms Gillard should be tied in a chaff bag and dumped at sea.
A Liberal MP at the function, Alex Hawke, said the auction was ''having a go at Alan Jones''.
''It was meant to be light-hearted,'' he said.
While Ms Gillard chose to stay above the fray, her ministers continued to attack Jones yesterday and seek to implicate the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, by claiming he had created the environment of personal abuse that encouraged conservative commentators to make offensive remarks.
The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, and the manager of government business, Anthony Albanese, noted how Mr Abbott had once said Ms Gillard had a target on her head.
Kevin Rudd has also been attacking Mr Abbott and Jones. But the manager of opposition business, Christopher Pyne, noted how Mr Rudd, after becoming opposition leader in December 2006, had sought Jones's support.
''The grotesque sucking up to Alan Jones by Kevin Rudd on his program was slightly vomitous when he was leader of the opposition,'' he said.
''There was nothing he wouldn't do for Alan Jones … and now he has the gall to lecture the Liberal Party about Alan Jones.''
The mining billionaire and Queensland Liberal National Party figure Clive Palmer empathised with Ms Gillard.
''Certainly a situation like that is very unfortunate for the Prime Minister and I'm certainly deeply concerned about her, her family and her feelings,'' he said.
Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-vows-never-to-talk-to-jones-again-20121003-26zs0.html#ixzz28LAHmntu
DK adds "...I bet Jones is now sharpening his sword. Gillard doesn't have the guts to confront Jones after the last interviews where Jones proved to everyone what disrespect Gillard has for the office of prime minister. She is no leader. She has no vision for this country. The only vision she has is trying to remain in power as long as possible because the longer she remains the better her life time pension will be. What a parasite she and her goons all are. Fleecing us all while we work to pay for Green Labor's unaccountable spending sprees."
===Perilous times
The Republican Jewish Coalition produced a short documentary showing yet again how hostile Obama is to Israel.
Please share it with everyone you know who is planning to vote for this man again next month. I don't want anyone to have the excuse that they didn't know. If people don't know it's because they don't want to know, or because they don't care. They will share in the responsibility for what comes next.
It will be their fault.
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