News In Briefs

Wow, I’ve been super-busy and haven’t had a chance to post. There is a major copyright issue going through Australian Federal Parliament at the moment, so we’ve started a petition here: http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/10234.html

Please sign it, and let people know about it.

It seems that nowadays we need only to look at what a politician won’t say to glean the truth of a situation. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is very excited about his new treaty with Indonesia, which may or may not be a security agreement. Or defensive pact. Well, whatever it is, it isn’t like the treaty Labor PM Paul Keating signed with them in 1995. But Alex isn’t quite sure why. When the issue of nuclear (sorry, new-kew-ler) agreements came up, he pleaded ignorance to the ABCs AM news program. Seems The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald are just beating up a non-issue. Fair enough, ‘Lex. Those two papers are known for their tabloid nonsense, scare-mongering, and news invention.

 The fact of it is that Australia wants to sell uranium to… well… anyone, really. Indonesia wants to buy some. Sweet! We can sell uranium to the world’s largest Islamic state as part of our treaty. After all, we have their word they won’t develop weapons. And if you can’t trust the Muslim governments of the world, then who can you trust? Expect to see less West Papuan refugees in illegal detention.

That’s right, folks, it’s duck season. Well, lame duck season. Yes, Dubya has lost control of Congress and looks set to lose the Senate as well. Poor feller… seems the people aren’t buying the lies any more. A poll of voters has shown that the war in Iraq is the biggest reason for the massive swing towards the Democrats. Also on the top ten list is the general incompetence or incarceration of many of Bush’s cronies.

 So, in Georgie’s last two years we may see the troops home from Iraq. How embarrassment?

Japanese-ridden Delta Blues has just won the Melbourne Cup. Underdog favourite Tawqueet finished up towards the back, and favourite Yeats didn’t place. Just goes to show any horse can win the Cup on the day.

 This may be the case for Fijians who are stocking up in case there’s another military coup. The new Prime Minister is looking at pardoning George Speight and his pals who led the 2000 coup. Fiji’s military chief is so dismayed at the possible release of coup-sters that HE has threatened a coup.

 Rabbit Season! Duck Season! Rabbit Season! Duck Season! Duck Season! Rabbit Season!

… and they wonder why we don’t take them seriously.

 You just know its Halloween when Hollywood couple Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Philippe split up. What a tragedy, the Cruel Intentions duo over after all these years.

 More of a tragedy is the fact that we’ve lovingly embraced Halloween here in Oz. Maybe it’s a part of our desire to become the US (just look at our foreign policy, economic policy, neo-conservative government, fast-food outlets, misspelling mum, etc). Does anyone think we REALLY need another excuse to purchase?

 And this business of trick-or-treat. If someone lobs eggs at the wrong house, it may spark a race riot. Perhaps I feel I’m being terrorized by the ghouls hiding around the corner. Can I call ASIO?

 Nonsense!

Forensic investigators have made a shocking discovery about the Peter Brock crash in Western Australia. Contrary to popular belief, the car was fitted with a Peter Brock Polariser. It is believed that the unit failed to do anything at all, just like on the VL Calais Director, at which point Brock departed from the road like HDT did in 1987.

So a lot of women are upset at a Muslim cleric who says women who dress like tramps invite rape. But what about the traditional Islamic garb? Don’t those women invite attacks from ninjas?

 US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld has struck out at critics of the war in Iraq, warning them to “back off”. Rumsfeld said that while benchmarks for security, political and economic progress are valuable, "it's difficult. We're looking out into the future. No one can predict the future with absolute certainty." He said the goals have no specific deadlines or consequences if they are not met by specific dates.
 "You're looking for some sort of a guillotine to come falling down if some date isn't met," Rumsfeld told reporters. "That is not what this is about."
 “You can’t hold us accountable for our actions. I know there are those Nancy-boys in the liberal media who keep talking about Enron and DeLay and Abramoff, but we’ve had a strong track record of doing what the President thinks is right, regardless of what anyone else says.”
 Noting that this is the political season, Rumsfeld also complained that critics and the media are trying to "make a little mischief" by trying to "find a little daylight between what the Iraqis say or someone in the United States says. And we can’t have daylight in the Whitehouse, Cheney’s uncomfortable with it.”
 When questioned about the goals and benchmarks, Rumsfeld responded “that kind of talk is exactly the kind of performance-based assessment the Democrats want you to buy into. It’s not that easy, you can’t just sit down and say ‘let’s bring the troops home, let’s create a stable democratic nation in the middle east,’ because if we do that, we lose our relevance, and when we lose our relevance, the terrorists win.”

A "sexy" pole-dancing kit has been pulled from the toys and games section of a website run by Britain's biggest retailer after protests from outraged parents.
 The Peekaboo pole-dancing kit, which has a "sexy garter" to help "unleash the sex kitten inside" was sold in Tesco Direct's toys and games section, The Daily Mail reported.
 "Soon you'll be flaunting it to the world and earning a fortune in Peekaboo Dance Dollars," its blurb reads.
 "Unleash the sex kitten inside ... simply extend the Peekaboo pole inside the tube, slip on the sexy tunes and away you go!"
 The £50 ($125) kit includes a 2.6-metre chrome pole, a "sexy dance garter" and a DVD demonstrating suggestive dance moves, the report said.
 However, family campaigners slammed the kit's status as a toy, saying it would "destroy children's lives".
 "It is an open invitation to turn the youngest children on to sexual behaviour," Dr Adrian Rogers of the Family First group told The Daily Mail.
 "This will be sold to four-, five- and six-year olds. This is a most dangerous toy that will contribute towards destroying children's innocence.
 "Children are being encouraged to dance round a pole, which is interpreted in the adult world as a phallic symbol.
 "This should only be available to the most depraved people who want to corrupt their children."
 The Daily Mail report said Tesco had removed the kit from the toys and games area of its site, but would still sell it as a "fitness accessory".
 The retailer denied the pole-dancing kit was sexually oriented and it was clearly marked for adult use.
 "Pole dancing is an increasing exercise craze. This item is for people who want to improve their fitness and have fun at the same time," a spokesman said.
 Other British retailers had been forced to remove sexually suggestive children's products from their shelves, including padded bras with a "Little Miss Naughty" logo, the report said.
smh.com.au

 One of our local radio stations just finished yet another countdown. This time it was the best 2006 songs of all time. And so, after weeks of drivel we’re presented with the top 20 (“top” being loosely related to best at best).
 See the finalists here: http://www.kofm.com.au/prizes/essential/top20.php

 I personally think number 13 is the best. What do you think?

 ***It’s a Friday Survey!!!***

7-Eleven has refused to carry Cocaine Energy Drink in its stores after complaints about the name of the beverage. This isn’t the first time the convenience retailer has had a problem with ‘pep-juice’. Some Hindu franchisees refused to carry Red Bull because it misrepresents a sacred animal as a caffeinated alternative to sleep.

 New film ‘The Colour Of The Cross’ by Jean Claude LaMarre will feature a black Jesus. LaMarre, who plays Jesus, wrote, directed and financed the film.
 "It's very important because (the film) is going to provide an image of Jesus for African-Americans that is no longer under the control of whites," says Stephenson Humphries-Brooks, an associate professor of religious studies at New York's Hamilton College and author of "Cinematic Savior: Hollywood's Making of the American Christ."
 What Jesus looked like has long been debated by theologians around the world. Different cultures have imagined him in different ways, says Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University. In Japan, Jesus looks Japanese. In Africa, he is black. But in America he is almost always white, like the fair-haired savior painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in "The Last Supper" in 1495.
 While some black churches have images of a black Jesus behind the altar and others have claimed Christ was black, Prothero says "none of those arguments or images have filtered much into the mainstream."
 It looks like a Ghetto Passion is on the cards.
 “It provides a positive image of blacks, something that's been scant in the U.S.,” says the Rev. Cecil "Chip" Murray, longtime leader of L.A.'s First African Methodist Episcopal Church and a producer of the film.
 Yep, black man arrested for no crime, tried and found guilty, then executed. WAY positive.
 It’s taken over a hundred years to get a black Jesus onto the silver screen. News In Briefs wonders how much longer till we have a Palestinian (or HISTORICALLY ACCURATE) Jesus.

The National Federation for the Blind is suing Target in the US because it’s web site is inaccessible by blind people.
Screen-reading software like JAWS and HAL have helped blind people to navigate the internet opening up communication and shopping options.
Rather than let Target get away with it’s flashy graphics, NFB wants ALL website to be readable by blind-enabling software.
YouTube and Flickr are anxiously awaiting the verdict.

It looks like the nations of the South Pacific want to give Australia a time-out, and not the tasty chocolate kind. Attempts to extradite Julian Moti have been met with accusations of bullying by Soloman Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. Here’s the latest from AAP:

Sogavare fears he will be arrested over the Julian Moti affair when he returns home later this week.
Sogavare is in Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum and has told his Papua New Guinea counterpart he could be arrested when he flies home on Thursday, PNG's Post-Courier newspaper reported today.
On Friday, a day after Sogavare left for the forum, police raided his offices in Honiara looking for evidence of involvement in Moti's illegal entry into the Solomons from PNG.
Moti - an Australian lawyer who is a friend and adviser to Sogavare - was able to flee PNG, aboard a PNG military plane, despite Australia's efforts to extradite him on child sex charges.
Sogavare wants the Australian to become his country's next attorney-general and has refused Canberra's demands to hand him over.
The Solomons Immigration Minister Peter Shanel has already been arrested on deception charges related to Moti's arrival in the Solomons, and Sogavare fears the same fate, the newspaper said.
The Post-Courier said Somare tried to offer Sogavare some comfort when the pair discussed the Solomons leader's fears of arrest.
He told Sogavare he hoped "Australia would not go to that extent of arresting the Solomons prime minister".
In Honiara, Sogavare's press secretary Deli Oso said she and other staff had heard rumours that the prime minister might be arrested upon his return.
"If there is a plan then the plan is illegal," she said.
During Friday's raid, Solomons and Australian police serving there seized a fax machine thought to have been used to send an exemption order to Moti, authorising him to enter the Solomons without valid travel documents.
Canberra had earlier cancelled his Australian passport.
A Honiara court has been told the immigration minister Shanel denied issuing Moti with an exemption order.
However just such a document, signed by Shanel, was allegedly made, according to Solomons Police Commissioner, Australian Shane Castles.
Sogavare - together with the leaders of PNG, Fiji and Vanuatu - issued a statement yesterday condemning the raid on his Honiara offices as provocative and unnecessary.
It was also a "a serious violation of Solomon Islands territorial sovereignty and integrity," the statement said.
Somare went further, later labelling Australia arrogant over the raid and Canberra's decision to suspend ministerial contact with PNG until it explains Moti's escape aboard a PNG military plane.
The Moti affair has severely damaged Australia's diplomatic relations with the Solomons and PNG.
Sogavare has threatened to oust Australians serving with the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) if Canberra continues to pursue Moti.
At the forum in Fiji today, he presented Pacific leaders with a plan to reduce Australia's role in the mission.
But it is understood to have been rejected by forum members, who fear what might happen in the Solomons if the Australians were pulled or forced out of the country.
Meanwhile, Moti - who is on bail on charges of illegally entering the Solomons - appeared for mention in the Honiara Magistrates Court today. He did not comment to the media.
Moti's associate and Sogavare's nephew, Robson Djokovic, also appeared today on charges of aiding Moti's escape from PNG.
He said it was obvious that the pursuit of Moti was politically motivated.
Djokovic was on the PNG flight with Moti and Honiara lawyer Chris Hapa but said they and the Solomons government had nothing to do with organising it.
"You can refer to us as cargo," Djokovic said.
Meanwhile, Melbourne silk Nathan Moshinsky left the Solomons today after cutting short his posting as the Solomons solicitor-general.
Sogavare last week threatened to "deal with" Moshinsky and the police chief Castles, accusing them of "spearheading" the "unnecessary arrest, detention and humiliation" of his immigration minister.
He accused them of being influenced "by their ultimate loyalty to Canberra".
Moshinsky cited family issues and the deteriorating political situation as reasons for leaving. He said he knew nothing of reports the government was moving to deport him.
Castles - targeted for removal by Sogavare - today said he was offended by suggestions he was a puppet for Canberra and was seeking advice on the Solomons government's threats to slash his wages.

This is our first attempt at emailing posts in, so bear with me if we lose something in the translation.

Anglican Archbishop Phillip Jensen has copped flak for opposing the ordination of gay ministers in the Church of England. His detractors highlighted the good examples set by some of the openly gay members of the Church. Jensen responded by quoting the Bible. Expect further division in traditional Churches as the issue of homosexuality butts up against the foundations of the Faith.