Rakyat Merdeka pig out on fornicating dingoes

Paper 'has right' to publish cartoon
March 30, 2006 - 12:20PM
A cartoon depicting Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as fornicating dingoes is a grotesque stunt by a tacky publication, Mr Downer says.

"Mis-ter Dil-lon" "There you go"

A TV hero for real-life change - smh.com.au March 29, 2006

Dennis Weaver Actor 1924-2006

The actor Dennis Weaver, who has died aged 81, made his name as Marshal Matt Dillon's deputy, Chester Goode, in the long-running television series Gunsmoke, and later starred as the eponymous hero of McCloud, in which a hick detective from New Mexico brings his sleuthing skills to the streets of New York City.

"Ice", or crystal methamphetamine psychotic, dangerous patients"

The Ice Age
"The Ice Age" – on Four Corners, 8.30 pm Monday 20 March, ABC TV.
Reporter: Matthew Carney Broadcast: 20/03/2006

It’s cheap, highly addictive and ultra-powerful. "Ice", or crystal methamphetamine, is now more popular than heroin, playing havoc with the minds and the bodies of nearly 50,000 Australians.
Ice is filling emergency wards with psychotic, dangerous patients, to the alarm of doctors who thought they’d seen everything. "They’re the most out of control, violent human beings I have ever seen in my life - and I’ve been around for a long time," says one. "It makes heroin seem like the really good old days."

Four Corners goes to the heart of this destructive new epidemic. Reporter Matthew Carney takes his camera into a netherworld inhabited by hardcore ice addicts – or skaters as they call themselves – who live for their next hit.

This tribe of junkies roams the inner city, scoring and shooting up. They stay manically high for up to a week, without food or sleep. Finally, they crash and eat, before the welfare cheque arrives and the cycle starts all over again.

"We’re the fringe-dwellers," says "Mick", whose veins are so wrecked he can barely find a place to inject. His mate "Mattie" can’t imagine life without ice: "It just seems to find me, it’s like everywhere I go, it’s there… who knows what’s gonna happen in 10 years’ time mate?"

"Lenore" boasts 23 personalities, each with its own name. She obsessively sorts through rubbish for days on end when she’s on ice. It’s her way of making order out of her chaos. Asked what would stop her from using ice, she replies: "Death."

Another friend, "John", is covered in scabs. He picks constantly at his skin to rid himself of "ice bugs" that he imagines to be living inside him, the result of a bad batch of ice. His delusion is common among ice addicts.

Ice isn’t only a cheap drug for hardcore addicts. It’s also big on the party circuit and is used across the social spectrum. "Jason" used to be a computer engineer earning good money. Now, he’s trapped between the ice he needs to get himself going, and the heroin he uses to settle himself down.

Remarkably, authorities appear to be ill-prepared to stop the ice wave that is sweeping the country. Australia has no dedicated treatment programs. Jails are the main rehab facilities. There are no legal substitute drugs. Research funds are scarce.

To prepare this report Matthew Carney followed groups of ice users over the summer. His extraordinary degree of access - revealing the participants’ candour and confronting behaviour – will challenge and unsettle viewers.

Blair Howard national security legislation

Knowing the enemy makes leaders friends
March 28, 2006 - The threat of terrorism has united two otherwise very different politicians, writes Gerard Henderson.

The fact is that Howard knows Australia has real enemies. Just as Blair understands that some Islamist revolutionaries want to destroy democracy in Britain. That's why they have so much in common despite their differing political philosophies.

[Gerard Henderson is executive director of the Sydney Institute.]

Great Britain has declared war and that, as a result, Australia is also at war.

Broadcast Message by Mr R.G. Menzies, Prime Minister
3 September 1939, 9.15 p.m.

"It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war. No harder task can fall to the lot of a democratic leader than to make such an announcement. Great Britain and France, with the co- operation of the British Dominions, have struggled to avoid this tragedy. They have, as I firmly believe, been patient; they have kept the door of negotiation open; they have given no cause for aggression. But in the result their efforts have failed and we are, therefore, as a great family of nations, involved in a struggle which we must at all costs win, and which we believe in our hearts we will win. What I want to do tonight is just to put before you honestly and as clearly as I can a short account of how this crisis has developed. The history of recent months in Europe has been an eventful one. It will exhibit to the eyes of the future student some of the most remarkable instances of a ruthlessness and indifference to common humanity which the darkest centuries of European history can scarcely parallel. Moreover, it will, I believe, demonstrate that the leader of Germany has for a long time steadily pursued a policy which was deliberately designed to produce either war or a subjugation of one non-German country after another by the threat of war. We all have vivid recollections of September of last year. Speaking in Berlin on September 26, 1938, Hitler said, referring to the Sudeten-German problem which was then approaching its acutest stage:- 'And now the last problem which must be solved, and which will be solved, concerns us. It is THE LAST TERRITORIAL CLAIM WHICH I HAVE TO MAKE IN EUROPE.' Four days later at Munich, when the problem had been settled on terms which provided for the absorption of the Sudeten country into Germany and which otherwise professed to respect the integrity of the remainder of the Czecho-Slovak State, Hitler participated with the Prime Minister of Great Britain in a statement which went out to all the world. Its most important sentence was this: 'We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other question that may concern our two countries and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible causes of difference and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe.' What a strange piece of irony that seems today, only 12 months later. In those twelve months, what has happened? In cold-blooded breach of the solemn obligations implied in both the statements I have quoted, Hitler has annexed the whole of the Czecho-Slovak State; has, without flickering an eye-lid, made a pact with Russia, a country the denouncing and reviling of which has been his chief stock-in-trade ever since he became Chancellor; and has now, under circumstances which I shall describe to you, invaded with armed force and in defiance of civilised opinion the independent nation of Poland. Your own comments on this dreadful history will need no re- enforcement by me. All I need say is that whatever the inflamed ambitions of the German Fuehrer may be, he will undoubtedly learn, as other great enemies of freedom have learned before, that no Empire, no Dominion, can be soundly established upon a basis of broken promises or dishonoured agreements. Let me now say something about the events of the last few days. The facts are not really in dispute; they are for the most part contained in documents which are now a matter of record. On Friday, August 25-that is, nine days ago-Hitler asked the British Ambassador to call on him and had a long interview with him. Hitler said that he wished to make a move towards England as decisive as his recent Russian move, but that first the problem of Danzig and the Corridor must be solved. He went on to indicate that he was looking forward to a general European settlement and that if this could be achieved he would be willing to accept a reasonable limitation of armaments. On Saturday, August 26, the British Ambassador flew to London to give a detailed account of his conversation to the British Government. On Sunday, August 27, the British Cabinet fully considered the whole matter and, incidentally, was apprised by me of the views of the Australian Government. On Monday, August 28, the British reply-which I may say was entirely in line with our own views-was taken back to Berlin and was delivered to Hitler in the evening. That reply stated that the British Government desired a complete and lasting understanding between the two countries and agreed that a pre-requisite to such a state of affairs was a settlement of the German-Polish differences. It emphasised the obligations which Great Britain had to Poland and made it clear that Great Britain could not acquiesce in a settlement which would put in jeopardy the independence of a State to which it had given its guarantee. The Government said, however, that it would be prepared to participate in an international guarantee of any settlement reached by direct negotiation between Germany and Poland which did not prejudice Poland's essential interests. The Note pointed out that the Polish Government was ready to enter into discussions and that it was hoped that the German Government would do the same. On the night of Tuesday, August 29, Hitler communicated to Sir Nevile Henderson his reply to the British Note. In it he reiterated his demands, but agreed to accept the British Government's offer of its good offices in securing the despatch to Berlin of a Polish emissary. In the meantime, it was stated, the German Government would draw up proposals acceptable to itself and would, if possible, place these at the disposal of the British Government before the arrival of the Polish negotiator. Astonishingly enough-for the German proposals were not then even drafted-the Note went on to say that the German Government counted on the arrival of the Polish emissary on Wednesday, August 30, which was the very next day. Sir Nevile Henderson pointed out at once that this was an impossible condition, but Hitler assured him that it was only intended to stress the urgency of the matter. On the Wednesday, Hitler's communication was received by the British Government and their reply was handed by Sir Nevile Henderson to von Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister, at midnight. At the same time the British Ambassador asked whether the German proposals which were to be drawn up were ready, and suggested that von Ribbentrop should invite the Polish Ambassador to call and should hand to him the proposals for transmission to his Government. I would have thought this was a very sensible suggestion, but von Ribbentrop rejected it in violent terms. Von Ribbentrop then produced a lengthy document containing the German proposals, which you subsequently saw in the newspaper, and read it aloud in German at top speed. Sir Nevile Henderson naturally asked for a copy of the document, but the reply was that it was now too late as the Polish representative had not arrived in Berlin by midnight. You see what a travesty the whole thing was: the German Government was treating Poland as in default because she had not by Wednesday night offered an opinion upon or discussed with Germany a set of proposals of which, in fact, she had at that time never heard. Indeed, apart from the hurried reading to which I have referred, the British Government had no account of these proposals until they were broadcast in Germany on Thursday, August 31. On the night of August 31, the Polish Ambassador at Berlin saw von Ribbentrop and told him that the Polish Government was willing to negotiate with Germany about their disputes on an equal basis. The only reply was that German troops passed the Polish frontier and began war upon the Poles at dawn on the morning of Friday, September 1. One further fact should be mentioned and it is this: in the British Government's communication of August 30, it informed the German Chancellor that it recognised the need for speed and that it also recognised the dangers which arose from the fact that two mobilised armies were facing each other on opposite sides of the Polish frontier, and that accordingly it strongly urged that both Germany and Poland should undertake that during the negotiations no aggressive military movements would take place. That being communicated to Poland, the Polish Government on Thursday, August 31, categorically stated that it was prepared to give a formal guarantee that during negotiations Polish troops would not violate the frontiers, provided a corresponding guarantee was given by Germany. The German Government made no reply whatever. My comments on these events need not be very long: the matter was admirably stated by the British Prime Minister to the House of Commons in these words:- 'It is plain, therefore, that Germany claims to treat Poland as in the wrong because she had not by Wednesday night entered upon discussions with Germany about a set of proposals of which she had never heard.' Let me elaborate this a little: you can make an offer of settlement for two entirely different purposes. You may make your offer genuinely and hoping to have it accepted or discussed with a view to avoiding war. On the other hand, you may make it hoping to use it as 'window dressing' and with no intention or desire to have it accepted. If I were to make an offer to my neighbour about a piece of land in dispute between us and, before he had had the faintest opportunity of dealing with my offer, I violently assaulted him, my offer would stand revealed as a fraud. If Germany had really desired a peaceful settlement of questions relating to Danzig and the Corridor she would have taken every step to see that her proposals were adequately considered by Poland and that there was proper opportunity for discussion. IN OTHER WORDS, IF GERMANY HAD WANTED PEACE, DOES ANYBODY BELIEVE THAT THERE WOULD TODAY BE FIGHTING ON THE POLISH FRONTIER, OR THAT EUROPE WOULD BE PLUNGED INTO WAR? Who wanted war? Poland? Great Britain? France? A review of all these circumstances makes it clear that the German Chancellor has, throughout this week of tension, been set upon war, and that the publication of his proposals for settlement was designed merely as a bid for world opinion before he set his armies on the move. We have, of course, been deluged with propaganda from Berlin. We have been told harrowing stories of the oppression of Germans; we have been told that Poland invaded Germany; we have even been told-somewhat contradictorially [sic]-that Germany was forced to invade Poland in order to defend herself against aggression. The technique of German propaganda; of carefully fomented agitations in neighbouring countries; the constant talk of persecution and injustice; these are all nauseatingly familiar to us. We made the acquaintance of all of them during the dispute over Czecho- Slovakia, and we may well ask what has become of the Czech minority and the Slovak minority since the forced absorption of their country into the German State. It is plain-indeed it is brutally plain-that the Hitler ambition has been, not as he once said, to unite the German peoples under one rule, but to bring under that rule as many European countries, even of alien race, as can be subdued by force. If such a policy were allowed to go unchecked, there could be no security in Europe, and there could be no just peace for the world. A halt has been called. Force has had to be resorted to to check the march of force. Honest dealing, the peaceful adjustment of differences, the rights of independent peoples to live their own lives, the honouring of international obligations and promises-all these things are at stake. There never was any doubt as to where Great Britain stood in relation to them. There can be no doubt that where Great Britain stands there stand the people of the entire British world. Bitter as we all feel at this wanton crime, this is not a moment for rhetoric; prompt as the action of many thousands must be, it is for the rest a moment for quiet thinking; for that calm fortitude which rests not upon the beating of drums but upon the unconquerable spirit of man, created by God in His own image. What may be before us we do not know, nor how long the journey. But this we do know, that Truth is our companion on that journey; that Truth is with us in the battle, and that Truth must win. Before I end, may I say this to you? In the bitter months that are to come, calmness, resoluteness, confidence and hard work will be required as never before. This war will involve not only soldiers and sailors and airmen, but supplies, foodstuffs, money. Our staying power, and particularly the staying power of the mother country, will be best assisted by keeping our production going; by continuing our avocations and our business as fully as we can; by maintaining employment and with it our strength. I know that, in spite of the emotions we are all feeling, you will show that Australia is ready to see it through. May God in His mercy and compassion grant that the world may soon be delivered from this agony.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged Australians to remain

We need you now, Blair tells Australia - 27mar06
theadvertiser.news.com.au

Address by the Prime Minister , the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, to the Australian Parliament, March 27, 2006 – A global alliance for global values
In 1939, when Britain declared war on the Nazi tyranny, that same day your Prime Minister announced you were at war too. No ifs, no buts, just solidly with the world. How magnificent and how typical. We needed you then. We need you now. This is a struggle of a very different nature, but it will determine our collective future. It is one, together, we can win.

British PM Blair defends war on terror - smh.com.au
March 27, 2006 - 7:54AM
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged Australians to remain committed to the war against terrorism, saying it was as much a battle about values as it was about arms.

Wayne Rainey - 2003 - Ten years after the crash

Wayne Rainey - Ten years after the crash - mcnews.com.au
September 5th, 2003 - Trevor Hedge

It is 10 years today since the crash which ended triple 500cc world champion Wayne Rainey's motorcycle racing career.

Despite being left a paraplegic, American Rainey has adapted to superkart and boat racing in recent years.

Rainey recently participated in an interview with Australian media where he tipped Troy Bayliss as the rider most likely to challenge Valentino Rossi next year.

The following are excerpts from that interview.

Q: Wayne, you might just tell us what you are doing these days.

A: At the moment I’m kind of doing a Kevin Magee! I’m working on my four wheeler. I think when I went and visited Kevin what was he, the Horsham Hurricane I saw some of the stuff that he rode around in and I was amazed that he could even go racing after riding some of that stuff that he built. I’m out here tiddling away with my four wheeler, just goofing off a bit.

Q: Wayne, how have you been since you got out of team management? Have you been keeping busy?

A: Oh yeah. I’m having much more fun now. The team management thing was probably the bottom pit as far as Yamaha Racing was concerned. After the accident that was really the last of our success together and then I had these opportunities after the accident to come back and to run the team and I had the opportunity with Marlboro and then Yamaha stepped up and there was a lot of opportunity for me after the accident. Not really knowing which way to go, that was a pretty clear road for me to follow. I guess I could have looked back and thought maybe I could have stayed home and just pursued my personal life at home.

Q: Presumably you maintain some sort of interest in Grand Prix racing. What’s your assessment of the four-stroke category now as opposed to the two-stroke that you were involved in, and maybe even just give us a little pinpoint form guide as to how you see some of the guys?

A: As far as the four-strokes go, I think from the technical side there is much more interest now. As far as the technical side goes, being a four-stroke, that’s what all the manufacturers make. The two-strokes have kind of, when I stopped and maybe just a few years after that, gone as far as they were going to go there was only just a few manufacturers involved and now with the four-strokes we have much more interest for other manufacturers to be involved. It’s what they showcase. I think safety aspects, much, much safer to ride than the 500 was first of all because I think the four-stroke, the way that the power band is, the power band is from 6,000 to 14,000, 15,000, 16,000 RPMs, so our Grand Prix bike it was like 9,500 RPM to about 12,500, so it was a very short power band. I think nowadays you see much less high-sides than what you used to see with two-strokes, so that safety wise it’s much safer as far as that aspect goes.

Q: What do you think of the current crop of GP riders. It’s one of the questions that gets bandied around all the time, but who is the best at the moment? Is it Rossi? Do you think he is coming back to the pack? What do you reckon?

A: I’m pretty far away from that. I only hear what you see on the television, but he seems to be the guy that is the most consistent, the most aggressive. He can pass early in a race, late in a race, he pretty much controls what everybody else does. I think the only other guy that really is starting to get my attention is Troy Bayliss - and he is doing a very good job on that bike. I like the lines that he takes, they’re much more right, as I can see compared to a lot of the other guys. I think Bayliss is a guy that, with his experience and his age, that if they give him a decent bike next year he could fight for the world championship next year.

Q: You’re into go karts. Are you just mucking around with them or are you doing any competitive races?

A: It’s funny you should ask that. We just tested at Laguna Seca (in California) on Monday and it’s the first time I’ve driven my karts since November, so I’ve been off a while but we actually have a race here September 6-7 and there are a couple of boys from Australia coming here and they beat me pretty easily, but they can’t quite get a hold of Eddie (Lawson, fellow former American multiple 500c world champion) yet, but I’m still doing that a bit. It’s a TZ250 and I can do a 1:26 (one minute 26 seconds) with my hand controls around Laguna Seca and I think they race 1:25, 1:26, so it’s been quite interesting for me to go back out there and not really compete against these other guys - there is a few guys that I can race with, but I think the biggest surprise for me is that I can challenge myself. I’m obviously not going to win, but I do enjoy putting my helmet on and going out there and trying to trying to go as fast as I can. It’s just fun, I try to have fun in the end. It can get very frustrating because obviously having no feeling from the chest down I always pick up what’s going on with the kart a little bit late, so mentally I’m always holding back because physically I just can’t pick it up soon enough, but I enjoy it at the end of the day.

Q: You rode in an era of Grand Prix racing that was one of the really special eras against some great riders Lawson, Gardner, Kevin Schwantz. You and Kevin were the two high-profile Americans. The American presence dipped quite a bit after you and Kevin got out of the sport. Could we get your point of view on the current resurgence of American riders into Grand Prix this year. We see Colin Edwards in there, Kenny Roberts Junior is still around on a Suzuki, and young Nicky Hayden is there this year. Can you give us a bit of an insight on that resurgence of Americans heading to Europe and what you think of the Hayden, Edwards and junior group of riders?

A: With Hayden, I expected him to do what he is doing now a bit sooner in the year. Maybe it’s just been a culture shock for him, being from Kentucky and racing in the States, only in the States, he’s never really had a chance to see what the world was like and I think it’s taken him some time to adjust. I don’t think the bike has been that difficult to ride, I just think he maybe was a little bit early as far as making the jump to go over there and everything happens so much quicker as far as the qualifying routine, what goes on as far as the press side, learning tracks and travelling stuff. Like I said, I expected him to do much better than what he has been doing, but maybe now he is starting to get the hang of it and I expect in a year or two that he will probably be the dominant American guy. Whether he will be like the Americans in the past remains to be seen. As far as Edwards goes, it’s hard to say if his talent is enough or if the Aprilia is going to be good enough. I don’t know. Edwards is a tough deal because he was superbike world champion, but we’ve seen that with Corser (Australian Troy Corser), we’ve seen that with Fogarty (British superbike legend Carl Fogarty), we’ve seen that with Hopkins (American John Hopkins). These guys that come over to GPs and they get their tail between their legs, and I’m just kind of wondering if Edwards is of the same mould or if he is going to be able to pull it out here in the end, but I’m hoping that he can raise his level up a bit more. Junior (Roberts), I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happened to the guy. He had that one decent year (winning the 500cc world title in 2000) and that has been it, and he really didn’t do much before and he hasn’t done nothing since, and you kind of wonder how long he is going to keep his ride. Hopkins is another young kid that he could be a surprise. I think if he can get a decent ride out of Suzuki as far as their bike goes. It’s really hard to say when we’ve got Junior and Hopkins the only guys on (Suzukis) there. I’ve seen they put a wildcard guy on that bike and he was right there. That would never happen in the old days. You put a wildcard on one of our bikes - and one of the top Japanese guys - and we would laugh at them. I question the talent of the Suzuki guys. Junior pretty much has showed his hand. Hopkins, I hope he hasn’t. I hope there’s a lot left there. But it is nice to see four Americans over there because you do have something, as far as the American side goes, to look at.

Q: From what you’ve seen from the distance of the Kawasaki this year, could Rossi win on the Kawasaki?

A: Probably in a world superbike race. I don’t know. I’ve never seen the Kawasaki (on race telecasts). I only see it in still photos. I’ve never seen it on the track. I don’t really know. How bad is it? I don’t know. Would McCoy do well on a Honda? I’m sure he would. Is McCoy the top Kawasaki guy? I don’t even know. My philosophy was that you have always got to be the first guy on your own brand of machine, and Rossi is obviously the first Honda guy. I think Hopkins is the first Suzuki guy. With Ducati it looks like it’s pretty close between those two riders (Capirossi and Bayliss). The Kawasaki guys, I’m not sure, but I think McCoy, to revitalise his career, he is going to have to start smoking his Kawasaki boys.

Q: Is there anybody else that you see from America, Australia or Europe that you think could be able to step up and be competitive and get the thing going to what it used to be like?

A: I think a lot of that depends on the manufacturers. I don’t know how bad this Yamaha is, but you look at (Spaniard) Carlos Checa, this is a guy who used to crash 25 30 times a year on a 500, and I think this year he has only crashed maybe 10 times, I’m not sure. And that’s the top Yamaha guy. Then you look at Barros (Brazilian Alex Barros), they gave him a Honda last year and I think he won his first time out on a four-stroke and now he is on a Yamaha and he is struggling. Again, unless these manufacturers step up and go head-to-head to try to beat Honda, unless you are on a Honda it’s going to be difficult. I think Barros’ record has shown that, I think Sete’s record has shown that. I’m hoping that the Yamaha steps up. Somehow I think the Yamaha should be on the podium. I’m just not quite sure that it’s all the bike’s fault, but we can only go by who is riding it now. I think if Rossi was on the bike he would be winning, to tell you the truth.

Q: To pick up on a couple of things you said there: one was that you had the talent, but also beating your teammate. When the Lucky Strike team and Kenny Roberts pulled you and (Australian) Kevin Magee in, if anything Kevin was probably seen as potentially a better rider. What were the differences you observed between the two of you and in a friendly way, in just an analytical way for learning - what were the differences between the two of you and what brought you through? Kevin was quick, we know, and could ride the things, but he only won one Grand Prix.

A: It’s funny, I was thinking about that a little bit today. I think there was a few races that Kevin fell off where he hurt himself, and I didn’t get hurt in my first and Kevin hurt himself. When you hurt yourself a few times you lose confidence and then the team, pretty much towards the end of the year, they focus on the guy that they think can get the best result. Kevin won Jarama (in Spain) early on that year and I didn’t win until later in the year at Donington, but by that point Kevin’s confidence had gone down and mine was going up - and that might have been the difference then. He did win Jarama, didn’t he, Kevin? I remember that one. A great race.

Q: Just to go back to 1993. You, by rights, would have won the world title again that year, but in fact it went to Kevin Schwantz, who actually won 25 GPs but only that one world title. It would have been a rather strange situation in a way for a guy who had won as many races as Kevin to have never won a world title. Obviously he was a great rival in your era, as were Doohan and Gardner, but what do you make of Schwantz’s career?

A: I would never say Kevin wouldn’t have won the championship, even if I would have finished the year without my accident. We don’t ever know. Kevin won the championship and I didn’t, and I made the mistake, so I was the one that made the mistake, not Kevin. If I would have stayed in there and hung in there and finished the year, we don’t know who would have won the championship, even though I was leading the championship and there was a few races left and those tracks favoured me because of the past results there. We just never know, but Kevin won his championship and in that particular year he put it together much better than he had ever done before. Maybe he was just a slow learner as far as remembering, because he was awful fast at some races and some races he was nowhere, or he was on the ground. So he obviously put it together and he did the job that it took to be world champion and, for sure, he was the best rider Suzuki has ever had.

Q: The obvious question too is your recollections of Gardner initially and then later Doohan as well.

A: With Gardner, he was probably more of a rival to Mick. He was a cowboy. As far as I was concerned, he was not afraid to hit the ground and he could be very spectacular on the bike - and he was a bulldog. I thought some of the races that he rode, I couldn’t understand why he was kind of using some of the lines he was and then some races he was spot on. I think Gardner also is another guy that got hurt and it kind of hurt his confidence at the end of his career. He had already been world champion and we all know what he has done in Australia for the sport, and that helped Mick. I don’t know what Mick has to say about that, but Gardner did help Mick in many ways. He helped make the sport what it is, and I think Gardner was a type of guy, kind of like a Schwantz type thing for me, he was a guy you loved to beat on the track, especially your countryman. I would much rather get beat by Gardner and Doohan than I would Schwantz, and I think Doohan was the same way with Gardner - he’d much rather get beat by anyone else but him. It was good for the sport and those two guys helped make me what I am today, or what I was then. Rivalries are a good thing and always will be.

Q: One person that was very close to you, young Liam Magee (Kevin’s nephew), we lost him last year, which was very tragic down here, but it shows you the fickleness of racing.

A: Liam, I watched him grow up in the paddock. You hate to see anyone get hurt and especially die in racing, but I think the one thing that was, if there was anything good about it, is that he was doing what he wanted to do. I always say that about my accident: that I was in control of what I was doing, and so I thank God for that because there’s a lot of other people that get hurt or they die and it was nothing to do with their situation at all. That stuff happens every single day.

Q: Wayne, perhaps some memories racing in Australia? As we said at the beginning, you and Schwantz were de facto Australians to us and we kind of cheered for all you guys. You did have some great races here and some great memories from racing out here, both at Phillip Island and perhaps Eastern Creek.

A: Yeah. Phillip Island is one of my favourite circuits. I think ’89 there, Kevin and I, and I think it was Mick and Gardner, we had a heck of a race there. Maybe it was Christian Sarron I don’t think Mick was quite up to speed yet. Yeah. I was kind of sad to see it leave Phillip Island, but we went to Eastern Creek. One of my favourite trophies I have in my trophy case is my Eastern Creek trophy because it was like an 1850s cup, and I think they had insurance that it would not leave Australia because they thought Gardner or Doohan would win the race. When I won the race I was really stoked about that. But the race track was nothing like Phillip Island.

Q: You mentioned before about the boats, are you into speedboats now?

A: I have a 28-foot deck boat. It’s got a 502 Merc cruiser in it with twin superchargers on it. It’s got a winch on it, like what they use from a houseboat they pick up jet skis with. I have one of those that picks me up - I’m about as big as a jet ski now. I use that and I get on the boat and I get in the seat and I just bark orders all day when I’m driving. The thing now though is that everybody, like my kid Rex, he likes to wakeboard, so when you wakeboard you don’t go over 15 miles an hour. The boat goes 75, so I’ve got to wait until everybody gets off the boat before I go out and have fun.

Q: In that regard, Wayne, with Colin Edwards on the Aprilia and its much-reported flyby-wire throttle, how hard would that be to control by just pressuring the handlebar instead of having the real time twisting the throttle, so to speak?

A: I wouldn’t want nothing to do with that. If your hand is not connected to the throttle by cables, unless it’s bullet-proof, but I hear stories about the thing running on when the throttle is off and for me I would refuse to ride the bike.

Q: We saw an announcement about six weeks ago regarding an American Grand Prix. There had been talk of the US Grand Prix coming back, but it’s certainly not going to be next year - and it’s another year away. What are your feelings on that? Perhaps on where it ought to be and whether America is hungry for a Motorcycle Grand Prix again?

A: Yeah, I think they are. In my opinion, I think Laguna Seca is the place for it. Laguna Seca is a very technically, physically demanding track, probably the most out of any circuit that I’ve raced at anywhere in the world. A lot of the accidents that we’ve seen at Laguna Seca had nothing to do with the race track it was all rider fault. It’s because it’s so challenging, because you have short straights in between fast corners, so you’re either accelerating or you’re shifting or you’re braking or turning, so there is no time to relax - and that’s what made it so special. When I’ve talked to Mick about Laguna, he really enjoyed Laguna just because it was so physically challenging. I think we’ve got some garages over there now that we didn’t have in the past and they have been trying to update the facility over there to make it more GP-friendly and I would like to see it come back to Laguna. We’ve actually had some talks with Dorna about it. I would like to see it come back, for sure, and I think so would the public.

Q: Would you be involved in some way in resurrecting the US GP?

A: Oh, yeah. I’m working with Laguna, being real close to the circuit because I live just up the road from it, I have had contact with Carmelo (Ezpeleta, head of Dorna, the commercial operator of the MotoGP championship), with Dorna, we’ve had some meetings with them, and he is going to come out and take a look at the facility from what they’ve been doing and what the future plan is. For sure, I’d be involved, yep.

Q: You said you were out at Laguna last Monday in the kart. Safety is increasingly an issue, as it was in your day with various rider meetings, and the riders now have a safety committee - and we may see Suzuka (venue for the Japanese MotoGP) go off the calendar next year because of that. Safety-wise, is Laguna up to scratch or would some things have to be changed for safety from your perspective as a rider?

A: There is one corner that would have to be fixed and we’ve already drawn out a sketch to the corner, but I think every race track in the world, if you make them all safe, then you take all the challenge out of them. If you make every track safe, the public can’t even get close to even watch, they can’t even get close to a corner because you need so much run-off. I raced at Laguna and it was plenty safe when I rode and I can’t imagine the tracks being so much more safer now than it would make Laguna Seca obsolete. As I said about Laguna, all the accidents happened because of rider error nothing to do with the race track nobody hit walls and I think that’s the main concern is just having enough run-off room. Kevin’s accident (Kevin Magee’s in 1990) was kind of a freak accident. Gardner’s, when he crashed, was too much throttle, but the ground is the same hardness no matter which country you are in.

Q: Which is the corner that’s the problem at Laguna that would have to be changed?

A: It would be the corner after the Corkscrew there’s not enough run-off. It’s turn nine. Actually they call it Rainey Corner! I’ve told them in the past this needs to be fixed, and I’ve already fixed it as far as what needs to be done so we would have to change the corner and we would slow it down some. We could take all the challenge out of it just to make it safe, but that corner does need to be addressed, but that would be the only one.

Q: Eddie Lawson, how is he enjoying himself and what’s he doing?

A: He’s as grumpy now as he has always been.

Q: I thought back in America he would be happy.

A: No. Eddie and I, we get on better now than we ever have, probably because I can’t race against him head-to-head. We keep my dad (Sandy) busy, he works on our karts, and we’ve got a race coming up here after this weekend and it’s a fairly big-sized race for us. I think there’s 50 or 60 karters from six or seven different countries - and Eddie has won the race over the past two years. I finished fifth both times. Eddie is very competitive still, he wants to just kill everybody, and he works very hard at it. I think the only thing that Eddie does different now that he didn’t do when he raced bikes is that he works on the karts now. He even works on my kart! I have got to keep him happy.

Q: You mentioned your dad. How is Sandy?

A: My dad, he is getting a bit up there in age. We just got him out of the hospital about a month and a half ago. He had some problems with some blood clots in his legs and stuff, so we had to get that fixed up for him. Eddie and I, we keep him busy. We’ve got a shop (workshop) for him down in LA and he is part of the team without my dad, for sure, Eddie and I wouldn’t be doing this.

Q: The karts we are talking about presumably are superkarts, or what we in Australia know as superkarts? Something that’s a lot quicker than the average go kart.

A: Yes, it’s not a go kart. We call it a superkart and there’s a lot of titanium, all the bodywork is carbon fibre, and they’ve got adjustable wings and we’ve got metallic brakes and they’re TZ250 motors in there. Eddie is about a second and a half quicker than what a bike has ever been around Laguna Seca in. With a kart you can brake much deeper, you can go around the corners in a gear higher, and they don’t go down the straightaway as fast, that’s about it. For my situation, I do everything obviously with just my hands, so I’m quite busy, so when I run into these guys I just tell them I just ran out of feet. Slow down.

Q: Have you had much success with it, Wayne, because we don’t obviously hear much down here about what happens in the karting world over there?

A: I’m about three seconds slower than what Eddie goes but I do about the same lap times that the world superbike guys do in the race, so it’s not too bad. I’m not going to win against the quick guys in a kart, I’m not going to compete, I’m not going to beat those guys, obviously. As I say, I don’t really do it to go out there and try and win, I just do it because I enjoy that I can challenge myself and the situation that I’m in.

Q: Will we ever see you back here in Australia, Wayne?

A: You never know. Yamaha has tried to get me to go to a few races the last couple of years and either something has come up and I’ve just not really had the motivation to go, do the travelling bit. I don’t miss that part at all. I do miss the GP scene because I have a lot of friends that are still competing and that still work in that arena and I haven’t seen them in a long time, so it is (would be) nice to go back there and see everybody and say hello. I might go to Motegi (Pacific MotoGP in Japan) this year to go and see my friends in Japan, so some day I will probably come back.

Closer: You are always welcome down here. Good to talk to you Wayne, it’s been a pleasure.

"revolutions, euphoria to disillusion-Vaclav Havel"

Another stage in self-liberation from communism
Ukrainians need not despair, writes Vaclav Havel. There are ways to overcome their post-Orange blues
March 27, 2006

"All revolutions, in the end, turn from euphoria to disillusion. In a revolutionary atmosphere of solidarity and self-sacrifice, people tend to think that when their victory is complete, paradise on earth is inevitable.
Partnerships based on shared rules, standards and values are the heartbeat of modern security.
NATO membership carries obligations, because situations may arise - and we have already experienced them - when NATO follows a UN appeal and conducts an out-of-area military intervention where, for example, genocide is being committed. In other words, NATO membership, like EU membership, comes at a price.
However, the advantages far outweigh possible disadvantages."

Vaclav Havel is former president of the Czech Republic
Project Syndicate

Buck Owens, 76, dies

I note: 'Hee Haw' co-host Buck Owens, 76, dies
GREG RISLING
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Singer Buck Owens, the flashy rhinestone cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with hits like "Act Naturally" and brought the genre to TV on the long-running "Hee Haw," died Saturday. He was 76.

US 1940 isolationist middle west

416 Mr R. G. Casey Minister to the United States, to Department of External Affairs Cablegram 132WASHINGTON, [21 June 1940]

[1] My telegram 117. [2] Opinion here continues to be divided. There is a strong movement, especially in usually isolationist middle west, for all aid to Allies short of actual participation in war. [A hard] fighting isolationist party especially in Senate supporting stronger national defence and opposing supplies to Allies of materials from Government sources on grounds that it may impair defence of United States. In between is a large body of bewildered opinion much of which would respond [to a strong lead] if only it were forthcoming. Rather widespread preoccupation with what are regarded as vital interests of United States and needs of local defence is discouraging interventionists and encouraging isolationists. It is too early to anticipate effect of new appointments of Republicans Knox [3] and Stimson [4] to President's Cabinet. It win certainly strengthen it but whether President will as a result take stronger line remains to be seen. Some observers fear that Republican Party which has promptly disowned both men may adopt strong anti-war, anti-Allied aid, all for national defence policy in endeavour to catch isolationist votes. This would be reversal increasing tendency support aid for Allies exhibited by Willkie [5] and even though hesitatingly by Vandenburg [6] and a return to strict isolationist attitude maintained by Taft and more or less by Dewey.
[7] CASEY
1 Insertions in square brackets have been taken from the Washington file copy on AA: A3300, 18.
2 Document 366. 3 U.S. Secretary of the Navy. 4 U.S. Secretary of War. 5 Willkie and Dewey were candidates for the Republican nomination for the 1940 U.S. Presidential election. 6 Vandenberg and Taft were U.S. Senators. 7 This cablegram was repeated as no. 41 to S. M. Bruce, High Commissioner in London.
[AA: A981, ITALY 60B]

"plethora of journalists who have little or no understanding."

Media coverage of raids aids extremists: Keelty
By Tom Allard
March 24, 2006

boy tenor bands easy-listening music

It sure ain't opera, but boy tenor bands are money in the bank
These supergroups have operatic overtones, but it's just well-dressed pop, says Matthew Westwood - March 24, 2006

Cyndi Lauper’s Body Acoustic - I'm old, not dead

The Times March 21, 2006
Times2
OK, so I look good. I'm old, not dead
The Andrew Billen Interview

"Cyndi Lauper’s new songs have more of the porch than the torch about them, yet she still finds it hard fitting in with the hockey moms"

Malmédy incomplete and rushed investigations

Article from World War II Magazine
Massacre at Malmédy

Sadly, incomplete and rushed investigations, suspicions about the methods used to obtain confessions, and inadequate or flawed evidence ensured that guilty men escaped proper punishment, and there can be little doubt that some innocent men were punished during the trial. In the final analysis, justice itself became another casualty of the incident.

Earlier posting:
While we read in Ardennes-Alsace

CMH Pub 72-26
"In the Losheim Gap the advanced detachment of the 1st SS Panzer Division, Kampfgruppe Peiper, moved forward through the attacking German infantry during the early hours of the seventeenth. Commanded by Col. Joachim Peiper, the unit would spearhead the main armored assault heading for the Meuse River crossings south of Liege at Huy. With over 100 tanks and approximately 5,000 men, Kampfgruppe Peiper had instructions to ignore its own flanks, to overrun or bypass opposition, and to move day and night. Traversing the woods south of the main panzer route, it entered the town of Buellingen, about 3 miles behind the American line. After fueling their tanks on captured stocks, Peiper's men murdered at least 50 American POWs. Then shortly after noon, they ran head on into a 7th Armored Division field artillery observation battery southeast of Malmedy, murdering more than 80 men. Peiper's men eventually killed at least 300 American prisoners and over 100 unarmed Belgian civilians in a dozen separate locations. Word of the Malmedy Massacre spread, and within hours units across the front realized that the Germans were prosecuting the offensive with a special grimness. American resistance stiffened."

In the book The War Between The Generals David Irving

Page 377
"Stimson told Roosevelt of the massacre of 150 U.S. troops at Malmedy
by the 1st SS panzer division, as described by survivors. "Well," replied the President cynically, "it will only serve to make our troops feel towards the Germans as they have already learned to feel about the Japs."

Page 380
"to the south at Bastogne, the tip of the other talon of the pincer, the fighting around Bastogne was getting fiercer as the enemy - and particularly the proud SS divisions - fought back against Patton. He wrote apprehensively on January 4, recalling the scandals he had brought down on himself in Sicily: "The 11th armoured is very green and took unnecessary losses to no effect. There were also some unfortunate incidents in the shooting of prisoners (I hope we can conceal this)." not far away, a Waffen SS unit had killed many Americans in a shoot-out near Malmédy early in Rundstedt's offensive, and had laid the American dead side by side - like the cordwood heaps Patton himself had commented on earlier - just before being thrown back in a counterattack. American combat propaganda made an atrocity out of this - the famous "Malmédy incident" - the episode that Stimson, in good faith, had related to Roosevelt."

schizophrenia - cannabis - psychosis

I note that at Carol Platt Liebau

"a New York Times piece about a study showing that long-term heavy use of marijuana slows both the mind and the body. As if we hadn't already guessed . ."

Earlier I posted Sunday, January 08, 2006 on Health Crisis - schizophrenia - cannabis
Cannabis is worst drug for psychosis - theaustralian.news.com.au - Simon Kearney
November 21, 2005 - Four out of five people with incurable schizophrenia smoked cannabis regularly between the ages of 12 and 21.
Andrew Campbell, of the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal, warned that a hidden epidemic of cannabis-induced psychosis could make the so-called soft drug more dangerous than heroin.
And also:
Studies link cannabis use to psychosis in teenagers - smh.com.au January 28, 2006
Evidence is mounting that heavy marijuana use can increase the chances of developing severe mental illness for some adolescents whose genes put them at added risk.
The link between cannabis and psychosis gained ground this week when two influential medical journals reviewed the research to date and concluded it was persuasive.
In PLoS Medicine, Professor Wayne Hall, a public health policy expert at the University of Queensland, wrote that genetically vulnerable teenagers who smoke marijuana more than once a week "appear at greater risk of psychosis". An article in the British medical journal BMJ cited estimates that marijuana could contribute to about 10 per cent of psychosis cases.

United States battle 1,000 killed and 2,200 wounded

Battle of Tarawa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Date: 20 – 23 November 1943
Location: Tarawa
Result: American victory
Only 17 Japanese and 129 Koreans were alive at the end of the battle. Total Japanese and Korean casualties are about 4,690 killed in action. For the United States, about 1,000 were killed in action, and a further 2,200 wounded. The heavy casualties sparked off a storm of protest in the United States, where the high losses could not be understood for such a tiny and seemingly unimportant island.

"..widespread mutiny in the French army"

Nivelle offensive
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Nivelle offensive was a 1917 Allied attack on the Western Front in World War I. The operation was a costly failure.

When Robert Nivelle took over from Joseph Joffre as French Commander-in-Chief in December 1916, he argued that a massive onslaught on German lines would bring French victory in 48 hours. The plan was put into action on 16 April 1917 after support from France's Prime Minister, despite strong disapproval from other high-ranking officials.

The Nivelle offensive was a huge and costly undertaking, involving around 1.2 million troops and 7,000 artillery pieces on a broad front between Royle and Reims. Its main focus was a massive assault on the German positions along the Aisne river, in the Second Battle of the Aisne. From the start the plan, which had been in development since December 1916, was plagued by delays and information leaks. By the time it went into action in April 1917, the plans were well known to the German army, who took appropriate defensive measures as a result.

The offensive achieved very little in the way of territorial gain, nowhere near the 48-hour breakthrough envisaged. In the aftermath of its end on 9 May 1917, Nivelle was sacked, his career over. There were over 187,000 French casualties alone, sparking widespread mutiny in the French army.

"..terrorists are extremely media savvy.."

From Iraq's front line, it looks like the media has lost the plot
March 19, 2006
By Miranda Devine

A soldier friend stationed in Baghdad for the past two months has been sending me emails with such arresting lines as: "It's late here and I [have] to get the Chief of Staff back to the Palace."

From his office in the fortified military and government area, the Green Zone, he scans the web for news about Iraq and compares it with his reality.
The only "quagmire" he sees is "the soft patch of ground out by the rifle range and no civil war in sight".
His reality is quite different: "I am more and more impressed with the Iraqis every day. There are problems, to be sure, but I do not know of any country that has gone through the sorts of upheavals that this one has without any problems.

His reality is quite different: "I am more and more impressed with the Iraqis every day. There are problems, to be sure, but I do not know of any country that has gone through the sorts of upheavals that this one has without any problems.

"One just has to remember the catastrophes of the French Reign of Terror, or the Russian and Chinese revolutions, not to mention the disasters that were Vietnam and Cambodia." "I think it is right that we are here," wrote my friend last week on his 39th birthday, "and that we support these people against the thugs, criminals and terrorists who would try and turn back the clock on them".

Condoleezza Rice - Foxy Lady

Ruckus at Rice speech
By Dylan Welch - with AAP
March 16, 2006 - 5:46PM

"Moments before Dr Rice entered the conservatorium flanked by secret service agents, three violinists and one cellist playing classical music on stage broke into a lively string rendition of Jimi Hendrix's famous song, Foxy Lady.
Dr Rice showed her versatility in responding to the claims by saying she was glad of the evidence that democracy was alive in Australian universities and "I'm glad to say that democracy is now alive at the university of Kabul and the university of Baghdad as well''.

"systematic phonics program"

Phonics - sounds like a great idea
March 16, 2006
There is a problem, there is a solution. What are we waiting for?, writes Miranda Devine.

Isaac Hayes - But no one understands him but his woman

Show Shafted
March 15, 2006

Los Angeles: Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef on the satiric cartoon series South Park, says he is leaving the shown because of its "inappropriate ridicule" of religion.
"There is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs and others begins," the 63-year-old said. Hayes, a follower of the Church of Scientology, did not mention a recent South Park episode that poked fun at Scientology and some of its celebrity followers.
A spokesman said the show's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were disappointed but "feel that it's a bit disingenuous to cite religious intolerance as a reason" for pulling out of the show" because the series has lampooned religion since the start.

Isaac Hayes - Theme from Shaft Lyrics

Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? Shaft!
Ya damn right!
Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man?
Shaft!
Can you dig it?
Who's the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about?
Shaft!
Right On!
They say this cat Shaft is a bad motherf..
Shut your mouth!
I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft.
Then we can dig it!
He's a complicated man
But no one understands him but his woman
John Shaft!

"academic pursuits of universities and TAFE"

Graduates 'lacking job skills'

Soviet Russia murder plot Pope JPII

Attempt on pope's life traced back to Brezhnev
An Italian investigation into the assassination attempt on the late pontiff John Paul II will conclude that Soviet forces were behind the attack, writes John Follain
March 13, 2006

Moscow 1941 - Baghdad 2003

Moscow 1941 Stalin
Stalin's shame wiped WWII's greatest battle from history
Stuart Wavell, London
March 13, 2006
Baghdad 2003 Saddam
Mistrust of army defeated Saddam
Reuters
March 13, 2006

evil extremist strands of Islam

Islamic studies are the keyto understanding terrorism - Piers Akerman

"The roots for this evil can be found within extremist strands of Islam such as the Wahabism followed by bin Laden, which takes as its inspiration a literal reading of the Koran and the sharia law derived from its teachings.
It's not enough for the West to ask Muslims, from Iraq to Cronulla, to become part of the solution. It should also be asking why so many are demonstrably not interested in bringing criminals to justice and working for peace."

'communities "that just want to be left alone" '

Town planners the village idiots
The Australian 9 March 2006
Bernard Salt Demographer

"Being seen to consult everyone has become far more important than actually doing it
The town-planning community talks a lot about inclusiveness: modem society is a broad church and we must consult and engage all members equally.
But even more important than actually consulting everyone is being seen to consult everyone. I reckon that town planners just love the power kick of conducting meetings, workshops and community consultations where they can strut their stuff before an audience. Town planners raise issues, negotiate outcomes, set priorities and establish agendas. They razzle-dazzle mums and dads with their oh-so-smooth talk of overlays and the consultative process. The Average Joe or Jo just doesn't stand a chance when going head-to-head with a fully grown town planner.
Now perhaps I am being paranoid but I think that some planners have evolved into that big brother that George Orwell warned us about. Have you ever tried to argue a contrary case with a town planner?
Consider for example their latest cause celebre, the "urban village".
I have advice for cynical, free-market supporting property developers everywhere. When you submit that development application for broad-hectare sub-division, do not label the project common suburbia. No, no, no. Call it an "urban village". The same goes for apartment projects in the centre of town: this is not another tower block, this is an urban village. OK, so it's a "vertical urban village". OK, OK it's a "sustainable vertical urban village"
You see town planners really are a very simple life-form. They have evolved over millions of years nurtured only by the sound of a selected bunch of phrases and terms. A modem town planner cannot digest a term like "suburbia"; it makes them feel ill. But when it comes to terms like "urban village", it's ecstasy.
The entire race of town planners seems to have this idealistic vision of an urban society in which residents know their neighbour and happily chat with their local butcher. Here is an urban Utopia where everyone "feels" part of a warm, caring and - bless their town-planning souls - loving community.
Here is a place that replicates the social structure of an 18th century English village, dropped smack bang in the centre of Sydney.
How can anyone argue against the virginal purity of an urban village as a town planning concept?
Well I can and do argue a contrary case.
The lifestyle of some residents in modern cities does not support the logic for urban villages. There are some admittedly recalcitrant, people who like the anonymity of the big city. Odd as it may seem, these people feel no need to chat with neighbours, or with butchers. These people get all of the social interaction and personal validation they need from social networks operating at their workplace.
Residence and workplace in ye olde English villages were one and the same: there was but a short stroll between thatched cottage and village common. It was in everyone's interests to get along with their neighbour, their butcher, their baker.
But many households in today's inner cities are comprised of singles or couples who work full time. They do not have rosy-cheeked children longing to wander off to chat with the village smithy under a spreading chestnut tree. I think that most residents of Melbourne's Southbank and Sydney's Pyrmont would have busy work-based lives.
But this apartment-based lifestyle is also confrontingly devoid of the home-based social interaction that planners have prescribed in their urban villages where "everyone knows your name".
I would like to put forward the following heretical idea. The town planning community seems to be universal in espousal of the philosophy that all cities should accommodate a diverse range of communities. Well, how about provisioning for a community that does not want to be part of a community? Is that allowed? Or should we just be planning for communities that behave in a way that planners approve of? I think that the CBD fringe should make a modest provision for an urban landscape that is devoid of any sense of community. The type of people likely to live in such places would regard their apartment as a bolthole, a reprieve, a sanctuary, from workaday life. This is the New-York notion that "I socialise at work and I merely launder and sleep at home - and if I am lucky occasionally I might not even sleep at home".
Urban landscapes designed to minimise human contact would present streets without corner shops and without civic meeting places. Streets would be harsh and Manhattanesque with no place for neighbours to gather to indulge in wanton eye contact, let alone idle chat. These streets would look a lot like a hotel corridor: functional places facilitating easy access to private spaces.
The last thing residents of non-communities want is a dutiful chat with the neighbour when they arrive home after a long day at work. They do not want to know the name of their butcher; but more importantly, they do not want their butcher to know their name.
I know these views are confronting to many town planners who think everyone is socially isolated and could do with a jolly good dose of neighbourly love and village affection. But if our communities really are as inclusive as is proposed, then surely even these non-conformist views should be provisioned for? I therefore look forward to town planners planning for some communities "that just want to be left alone".

Bernard Salt is a Partner with KPMG

Milosevic heartless. Yet heart attack?

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has died, the UN war crimes tribunal announced yesterday.

UK sensitivities protection

With the earlier posting: Thursday, March 09, 2006
UK people "So where the bloody hell are you?"
'Bloody' tourism ads banned From: AAP By Chris Herde March 09, 2006
UK advertising would need to rename this movie:
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
and this obituary mentions bugger, definitely could not be used today:
Portrait of the artist as a feisty young aristocrat - smh.com.au

March 10, 2006
Sybille Bedford Writer 1911-2006
"Her passport was about to expire, and she did not want to visit the German consulate in France. In order to obtain a British passport, Maria Huxley suggested that Sybille marry "one of our bugger friends". A gay English army officer, Walter ("Terry") Bedford, obliged and they married in 1935."

And of course DH Lawrence could not be mentioned as he used a certain word often in one of his books.

"Labor directionless rabble squabbling old men"

Politics changed while Labor wasn't looking
By Michael Duffy
March 11, 2006

"Today, after 10 years, Labor is a directionless rabble run by squabbling old men. Maybe, as Mark Latham said in his diaries, the party has no future.
This would not be the end of the world. In 1944 the floundering United Australia Party, our main conservative party, accepted its irrelevance and dissolved itself. It was replaced by a fresh political force, the Liberal Party. The rest is history."

UK people "So where the bloody hell are you?"

'Bloody' tourism ads banned
From: AAP By Chris Herde
March 09, 2006

"no movie studios luvvy lunatics run the asylum"

By George, Hollywood's out of touch
March 9, 2006

"Unlike Brokeback Mountain's cowboys, film's liberal luvvies are out and they're proud, notes Miranda Devine.
The days of the big movie studios may be numbered, leaving the luvvy lunatics to run the asylum. And then - who knows? Their politics might change when they have to do some real work for a living."

"Middle Eastern males and vehicles that police wish to identify"

Strike Force Enoggera release Conulla riot photos
8 March 2006
Detectives from Strike Force Enoggera today released the photos of 20 men who they believe were involved in riotous and violent behaviour at Cronulla on the day of the race riots last December.

Bracks - Iemma - secret men's business

Bracks caught out bagging Iemma's leadership
March 8, 2006 - 9:51PM
Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has been accidentally caught out on tape agreeing his NSW counterpart Morris Iemma lacks leadership.

selective history - Crusaders and imperialism

Kevin Donnelly: Moral outrage selective
School texts present the 9/11 terrorists and Christian Crusaders as morally equivalent
Crusades equal to 9/11: textbook
Justine Ferrari, Education writer
March 08, 2006
A textbook widely used in Victorian high schools describes the Crusaders who fought in the Holy Land in the Middle Ages as terrorists, akin to those responsible for the September 11 attacks.
Japanese history textbook controversies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Japanese textbook controversies is a series of controversies over the government-approved history textbooks used in the secondary education of Japan (junior high school and high school). The controversies primarily concern the constitutionality of the government authorization system itself and the textbook descriptions of the wars and imperialism conducted by the Imperial Japan in the first half of the 20th century that the post-war Japanese government has been accused of whitewashing by the Japanese activists as well as the governments of South Korea and the People's Republic of China.

"Howard haters enhancing Howardism"

Haters are their own worst enemy
March 7, 2006

"Much of the intelligentsia's criticism of the Prime Minister smacks of obsession, observes Gerard Henderson.
Right now, the irrationality of so many Howard haters has the unintended consequence of enhancing Howardism."

Gerard Henderson is executive director of the Sydney Institute.

"Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly needs learn spirit of this nation"

Dubious cargo and a flag of convenience - Piers Akerman

"Nineteen years ago, Lakemba mosque's notorious Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly was fighting a deportation order sought by then immigration minister Chris Hurford.
Yesterday, the sheik was pictured on the front page of The Australian newspaper, standing in front of the mural of Mecca which covers a wall of his office, wrapped in the Australian flag, demanding expulsion of radical Muslims and criticising Prime Minister John Howard's Muslim advisory committee, to which he belongs – but doesn't participate in.
As the nation's Islamic spiritual leader, the Mufti still needs to learn a lot about the spirit of this nation."

Hollywood's dismal 2005 ends with a "Crash"

'Crash' stuns by winning best picture
Beats out 'Brokeback'; Hoffman, Witherspoon best actors
By Russ Britt, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:29 AM ET Mar 6, 2006
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) - The movie "Crash" stunned Hollywood by taking the top prize at the 78th Academy Awards Sunday, as the complex tale of race relations in Los Angeles bested "Brokeback Mountain" for the best picture Oscar.

Where the bloody hell am I?

photo - smh.com.au: Iemma and Roozendal
story: Bus lane closures damned and praised - smh.com.au

"Call people dogs, expect to be bitten."

Labor hit with its own stacked trap
March 6, 2006

"Only a cretinous party would use the same abuse of racial politics that led to defeat, writes Paul Sheehan."

Shorten Labor's odds and chances Shorten

I note disagreement at:
Victor tells how he'd shorten Labor's odds

As the Labor Party reels over moves to oust the former federal leader Simon Crean, a victor of the upheavals, Bill Shorten, has seized the chance to show off his leadership credentials.

to my post Wednesday, March 01, 2006:
Labor Party victory chances Shorten
Wednesday, March 01, 2006

biglizards Re-Defeat Bush dead-dog party and Michael Gawenda

Disasters - natural and man-made - erode support for Bush

"A growing number of Americans believe the US has problems of its own that need to be addressed, writes Michael Gawenda."

While biglizards says:

"So just bear that in mind when next you read a poll from CBS - heck, from anyone - screaming that Bush's poll numbers are plummeting, that they're at an all-time low, that his support has actually sunk below zero, and that he will soon be voted off the planet: if you conduct your survey at the Re-Defeat Bush dead-dog party, you can pretty much get the poll to jump up and spit sweet apple cider in your eye."

Brokeback Mountain Chick flick whiff misogyny

Chick flick with a whiff of misogyny
By Miranda Devine
March 5, 2006

"Marriage is depicted as ugly. Ledger's character comes home from a hard day's work to a house full of dirty laundry and screaming, snot-covered babies and a frazzled, nagging wife up to her elbows in dirty dishes."

Geeks in white coats shall inherit the earth

Geeks in white coats shall inherit the earth
By Miranda Devine
March 5, 2006

"Beware geeks bearing gifts.
Perth exploration geologist Louis Hissink suspects "politicised science has replaced religion as the arbiter of human affairs ... priesthoods of both organisations are concerned with what happens in the future and that current behaviour is thought to affect that future, hence it needs to be proscribed and prescribed".
It used to be men in purple robes who controlled us. Soon it will be men in white lab coats. The geeks shall inherit the earth."

Mark Aarons again Nazis not Red fathers

I note Mark Aarons again Nazis not Red fathers:
Ardent Nazi took Liberal to extremes
March 4, 2006

Lyenko Urbanchich, Nazi propagandist and political powerbroker, 1922-2006 - The passing of Lyenko Urbanchich ends the almost 70-year political career of the man who invented ethnic branch stacking in Australia.

Mark Aarons has written extensively about Lyenko Urbanchich's life and political career, most recently in his 2001 book War Criminals Welcome.

Earlier:
My post Monday, January 16, 2006:
Mark Aarons crimes against humanity and his father
First we had:Government lags on action against war criminals - January 16, 2006 - Mark Aarons is author of War Criminals Welcome and Sanctuary: Nazi Fugitives in Australia.
Then we had: Laurie Aarons
Then finally we had:crimes of communism
[Again should Mark Aarons explain crimes against humanity and his father and not be questioning other people's alleged crimes?]

easy occupy moral high ground when gets breezes

No facts in the bags of green pretenders
By Michael Duffy
March 4, 2006

"But moral vanity still flourishes. My favourite example at the moment is the environmentalists in fashionable suburbs who disparage McMansions for using energy-wasting air-conditioning. The fact that it's five or more degrees hotter out west in summer doesn't seem to concern the critics in places such as Waverley. But then, it's easy to occupy the moral high ground when it gets ocean breezes."

Women - potential risks inadequately explained

Breast scan program deplored as coercion
By Julie Robotham Medical Editor
March 4, 2006

"Women in NSW will receive revised information about having mammograms to detect breast cancer, amid claims the benefits of the X-ray technique have been over-emphasised and the potential risks inadequately explained."

Earlier: My post Friday, March 03, 2006
"life-saving treatment after an abortion" - but not for baby
about: Inform, empower: who could deny that?
The new pregnancy counselling measures could boost women's choice and help cut abortion rates
March 03, 2006

Ginsburg nodding agreement

Ginsburg Falls Asleep: Media Pretend Not to Notice

Pat Metheny - "somebody invents a new way of describing things"

Quest to remain relevant keeps the street music in modern jazz
Award-winning guitarist Pat Metheny believes young players should study the tradition but try to look forward as much as possible, writes Ashleigh Wilson - theaustralian.news.com.au
March 03, 2006
Pat Metheny takes a deep breath and sighs.

"Any kind of discussion about genre gets to the point where my eyes sort of glaze over. It's kind of a non-issue," he says. "Every couple of years, somebody invents a new way of describing things and runs it up the flagpole to see if anybody salutes it. In my case, I've seen at least 10 or 12 different banners run up the flagpole for different tunes, and none of them have anything to do with me."

"life-saving treatment after an abortion" - but not for baby

Selena Ewing - theaustralian.news.com.au:
Inform, empower: who could deny that?
The new pregnancy counselling measures could boost women's choice and help cut abortion rates
March 03, 2006

"Women are not exercising informed consent when risks are not disclosed. Sadly, abortion's proponents have been silent about 16-year-old "Sarah", who needed emergency life-saving treatment after an abortion at a prominent Brisbane clinic.

Selena Ewing is a researcher in women's health and a director of the think tank Women's Forum Australia."

Skeepy the boesch kahngarieu

If wog and skippy are out, let's find something inclusive
Frank Devine - theaustralian.news.com.au
March 03, 2006

"Has cheerful Australian irony exorcised the evil in "wog"? Old enough to have developed good control of insouciance, I nonetheless stop short of openly advocating "wog". If we wish to discourage it as the people's choice in discussion of ethnic affairs, however, we need to find an informative, non-euphemistic, non-insulting substitute.
Maybe it's time to consider American style: "Italian American", "Chinese American" and so on.
There may be a greater element of imposition in this than Burchfield would recommend, but it's a usage that might win support in our post-multiculturist interest in inclusiveness. "Martian Australian", for euphemistic example, neutralises finger pointing with an embrace."

NSW water conservation during drought

smh.com.au ffximage - Par for the course ... floodwaters churn up the first tee at Bellingen golf club.
smh.com.au - The NSW north coast town of Bellingen , near Coffs Harbour, has been cut-off by floods, with heavy rain expected to fall until at least tomorrow.
March 3, 2006 - 4:58PM

Vega out of Harmer's way

Harmer and Vega out of tune - smh.com.au
March 3, 2006 - 4:20PM
Embattled over 40s radio station Vega FM has suffered a blow with the departure of one of its key personalities, Wendy Harmer.
The news comes as a further setback to the station, which is broadcast in Sydney and Melbourne, after last month's disappointing ratings figures.
Vega FM
Rate Vega - smh.com.au
Love it - 19%
Don't mind it - 24%
Hate it - 19%
Never heard it - 38%
Total Votes: 797

Earlier:
vega failed boomer talk
February 22, 2006

VegAgony and ecstasy defining 2005
Sunday, December 25, 2005
VegAgony and ecstasy defining 2005

Vega play boomer music not broadcast boomer talk
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Vega should play boomer music not broadcast boomer talk, then maybe this boomer will listen.

"Paradise Road killing of 80 people omitted"

A map to Paradise Road: A guide for historians Hank Nelson

Bruce Beresford’s feature film, Paradise Road, announces itself in large print to be "based on a true story". The preview, as previews often do, goes further, and claims it as "the extraordinary true story". The "media information kit" for the film asserts that "Beresford and producer Sue Milliken researched the story over more than two years". They interviewed survivors, read books and consulted unpublished diaries. Beresford is acknowledged as writer/director, but elsewhere David Giles and Martin Meader are also credited as writers. The film is said to be centred on a group of women who are on a ship fleeing Singapore. Having survived the bombing and sinking of the ship they think that "the worst is over", but they find that the tough times are in the prison camp, and that is when they face their harshest test of survival. The women who gather in the camp are the ones who meet in Muntok and later in Sumatra: Australian nurses, Dutch women from the East Indies, English women from Singapore and Malaya, Protestant missionaries and Catholic nuns, and other women-diverse in nationality, race and social status.
When introducing viewers to setting and characters, and getting the characters into a prison camp, Paradise Road makes an obvious change from "true incidents": the killing of eighty people on the beach is completely omitted.
Problems arise because of the power of the media: the "based on" history becomes the history for most people. Even reflective film-goers have few readily available alternative perceptions of events exploited on film. The conclusion seems inescapable: historians must involve themselves in the screen world. They have an obligation to write about films, to make sure that films and writing intersect, and beyond that they should do research for what goes on to the screens and express their own findings on screens. They cannot assume that what they write will eventually have its impact on screens: page and screen may never meet.

The author
Hank Nelson is with the research School of Pacific Studies at the Australian National University.

Paradise Road movie incident missing Banka Island

Paradise Road (1997) Directed by Bruce Beresford
User Comments:
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful:-
Lest We Forget, 21 February 2005
Author: puckstopper from Melbourne, Australia
Paradise Road is based on the true story of women POWs in Sumatra during WWII. The film, for the most part, follows what really happened... with one glaring exception!
The incident that is prominently missing from Paradise Road is the Bangka Island massacre, which was one of the worst atrocities committed against women POWs during WWII and is an integral part of this story.

"I wonder what I would do if I could.." Dr. Helen

I note Dr. Helen comments:

"People's minds work in such different ways and it is amazing how we all come to find our path in one way or another. I wonder what I would do if I could live another lifetime and choose another career path knowing what I know now - I think I would choose to be a film director and start at a young age - but since that is an impossibility - then luckily, I can live vicariously through others by devouring their writing, music, politics and films."

"Da Vinci Code.. convoluted fantasies of a petty French fascist"

Dean Bertram: Jesus hoax born of a fascist's fantasies
March 02, 2006

"In the legal drama over Dan Brown's best-seller, The Da Vinci Code, history remains the big loser
Ron Howard's screen adaptation of The Da Vinci Code is due for release this May. Starring Tom Hanks, the buzz is that it will be capital-B big. When we watch Hanks decipher what is being billed as "the biggest cover-up in human history" it is worth remembering that he is acting out the convoluted fantasies of a petty French fascist."

Dean Bertram is a PhD candidate in the department of history at the University of Sydney.

"John Howard's hallmark has been his ability to understand.."

Critics left clueless - dailytelegraph.news.com.au
By Piers Akerman
March 02, 2006

"John Howard's hallmark has been his ability to understand what average Australians want and what sort of future they hope for their children, while the Opposition and their fellow travellers in the chip-on-the-shoulder media brigade are distinguished by their risible failure to appreciate the extent to which the Howard leadership has been embraced by Australians across the political spectrum in ever increasing numbers.
The corollary is that, as long as these critics remain as isolated as they are, they longer they will remain in bewildered opposition."

"..crying wolf on environmental matters..."

A debate begging for more light - smh.com.au
March 2, 2006

"Scientists sceptical of climate change are silenced and consensus is feigned, says Miranda Devine.
Scientists are supposed to have open minds, and pose opposing theories without fear of condemnation. The consequences of crying wolf on environmental matters may be that future generations will stop listening. Which may or may not be a bad thing."

United States foster democracy audacity

The Other Iraq
by Victor Davis Hanson
February 27, 2006
Tribune Media Services

"It was nearly an impossible task to remove Saddam Hussein, foster democracy in the heart of the ancient caliphate and restore on a relatively short timetable what took the Husseins three decades to destroy. Meanwhile, all this must be done surrounded by Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia; in the midst of a larger war against Islamic fundamentalism; and while under global scrutiny from a largely hostile audience.
Yet what amazes is not so much the audacity of even thinking the United States could attempt such a thing, but rather that it may just pull it off after all — if only we remain patient."

©2006 Tribune Media Services

John Howard is loathed by Latte Man but loved by Lager Man

Comrades, your central thesis isn't all the rage - theaustralian.news.com.au
The PM is loathed by Latte Man but loved by Lager Man
Janet Albrechtsen
March 01, 2006

"The most delicious kind of satire is the unintended. And so it was especially poignant that just as David Williamson was protesting in these pages last week that he always knew McMansion Man was as mythical as Soviet Man, his left-wing comrade Adele Horin from the Fairfax stable was accidentally, but magnificently, sending him up.
And while Williamson was correct to point out that "suburban people are as diverse and multifaceted as anywhere else", the fact that Howard has managed to capture that diverse group of people must only add salt to the Left's wounds."

Labor Party victory chances Shorten

theaustralian.news.com.au Editorial: The enemy within
The Victorian Labor Party is in a sorry state of strife
March 01, 2006

"The first fortress has fallen in the Victorian Labor Party's civil war, with Bob Sercombe's decision to surrender Labor's standard in the seat of Maribyrnong to union chief Bill Shorten."