"The girls went a little berserk, but that's girls for you."

Still shakin' after all these years
September 28, 2006 The New York Times and smh.com.au
At 71, a rock'n'roll founder is still a killer at the keyboard, writes Jon Pareles. Jerry Lee Lewis sits down at a red piano at a record store in New York's Rockefeller Centre and proceeds to rock'n'roll. His left hand pumps boogie-woogie chords, his right splashes and jabs, and his voice easily leaps up to the high notes of Great Balls of Fire.

"unisex brain is a fantasy"

Feminism begs to differ, but unisex brain is a fantasy
So, says Janet Albrechtsen, girls and boys are different after all. D'oh

"Let us get back to what universities are best at doing, namely teaching and research."

Beware universities' quest for mediocrity
September 26, 2006
The "big is best" brigade has succeeded in making many first degrees second rate, writes Harry Messel.

Debus fiddles while Sydney burns

Liberal candidate to stay at DPP
The Attorney-General, Bob Debus, wasn't responding to questions about whether his office was responsible for the leak.

Fears of worst bushfire season ever
September is not even over, and firefighters are gearing up for what could be one of the worst bushfire seasons ever.

Geoffrey Edelsten Swans

Choking life out of our games
National leagues are conquering tribal passions in all codes, writes Paul Sheehan.

But no mention recently of:

"As for the Swans, they were also rejected and were headed for extinction until sold to medical entrepreneur, "Dr Geoffrey Edelsten" in 1985. Edelstein instigated a marketing campaign intended to gloss over the Swan's liabilities."

Evita not crying?

Sydney out of NRL.
Melbourne out of AFL.
Australia out of Davis Cup.
Evita not crying?

Costello defends Pope

Costello defends Pope
September 23, 2006 - 3:07PM
Treasurer Peter Costello has defended Pope Benedict XVI over his controversial comments on Islam, saying the violent reaction was about the stifling of free speech.

stupid journalists can be collectively

P. P. McGuinness: Memo to Aunty - Let the strikes roll on
By striking, the Vietcong-style warriors are saving the ABC money and improving the quality of the programs
September 22, 2006
It is amazing how stupid journalists, some of whom are individually very intelligent, can be collectively.

Bush best commentary 9/11

Don't be stupid, Bush's wise insights are worth heeding
Frank Devine
September 22, 2006
Having been reasonably diligent about splashing around in the torrents of commentary that marked the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 air raids on New York and Washington, I employed a refreshed mind to conclude that the best commentary came from President George W. Bush.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy supplying marijuana to a 14-year-old student

Drug-supply teacher avoids jail
September 20, 2006
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 29, of West Pymble, had pleaded guilty to a charge of supplying or knowingly taking part in supplying a prohibited drug.

"Muslims nothing to teach me on a particular issue.”

The Pope, Jihad, and “Dialogue” Andrew G. Bostom
September 17th, 2006

Until Muslims evidence a willingness to engage in such forthright discussions, Benedict appears to share Dr. Malik’s sobering conclusions from his February 2003 speech: “One certainly needs to be open at all times to learn from the Other, including to learn at times that the Other right now has nothing to teach me on a particular issue.”
Andrew G. Bostom is the author of The Legacy of Jihad.

"The Pope Is Right About Islam"

The Pope Is Right About Islam
Jim Kouri

Me thinks they protest too much

Iemma Government doing "f... all''

Iemma premier dope
By Simon Benson
September 16, 2006 12:00
Article from: dailytelegraph

MP resigns from job over drink-driving but keeps job

MP resigns over drink-driving
September 16, 2006
Article from: AAP
Earlier: Carr backs drink-drive Minister
April 2, 2005
NSW Planning Minister Craig Knowles was charged with drink driving on his way home from a farewell function for one of his staff members at a city hotel.

kofi meets cigar

Annan 'visits Casto in hospital'
September 15, 2006 09:02pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
Ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan have met in the Cuban leader's hospital room, according to a Cuban newspaper.

"Alice in Wonderland world of peer-referenced journals.."

David Martin Jones and Carl Ungerer: Delusion reigns in terror studies - Academics are using tax dollars to lay the blame on the West for militant Islam - September 15, 2006 - "In this Alice in Wonderland world of peer-referenced journals read only by participants in this mutually reinforcing discourse, the focus of study is not Islamist ideology and its propensity to violence, but our own long-repressed responsibility for the cause of Islamist rage. Given the nature of preferment and funding in Australian academe, the imams of critical terror studies will continue to maintain this delusion for the foreseeable future."

And I'll never have that recipe again Oh, no!

MacArthur Park Jimmy Webb
MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark All the sweet, green icing flowing down...
Someone left the cake out in the rain I don't think that I can take it 'cause it took so long to bake it And I'll never have that recipe again Oh, no! Oh, no No, no Oh NO!!

Solomon Islands deja vu all over again

As we can read at quotedb
"This is like deja vu all over again." Yogi Berra
Todays news:
Aussie diplomat expelled from Solomons September 13, 2006 Article from: AAP
PM won't accept diplomat's expulsion September 13, 2006 Article from: AAP
Previous events on Solomon Islands as reported to DEA/DFAT:
Nankervis to Burton Teleprinter Message
20 August 1947
"Native trouble in British Solomon Islands Protectorate is likely to reach climax on September 1st when clash between opposing factions is threatened."
Pyman to Burton Minute
17 September 1947
"If we proceed to offer our services by means of exchange of ideas and advice derived from our own experience, we may be associated in the minds of ill-informed outside critics, with the repressive measures employed and also with the possible ultimate failure to devise real remedies for a situation that could continue for some time and even worsen. In order to forestall unrest expected on 1 September, police numbers were increased in troubled areas and possible ringleaders arrested. Two British warships were reported in the Solomons in September."

"double-dip appeasement"

A lesson the West could not ignore
September 12, 2006
After September 11, taking Saddam Hussein at his word was far too great a risk, writes Gerard Henderson.
"The evidence suggests that bin Laden's immediate motive for attacking the US homeland turned on his opposition to the presence of Western military forces in Muslim lands. It is sometimes forgotten by Bush's many critics that US and other Western forces were invited into Saudi Arabia to drive Saddam's forces out of Kuwait following Iraq's invasion of that country in 1990. Many who opposed George Bush snr's decision, which was sanctioned by the UN, to liberate Kuwait were later indifferent to the threat of weapons of mass destruction - even after September 11. It was a case of double-dip appeasement."

Iemma River Flood

September 11, 2006
Deluge hits commuters hard, but not the dams
NSW Rainwater harvesting projects announced
While in the Unharvesting project Royal National Park - Audley Weir Traffic Hazard - Local Flooding

"multiculti PC pap"

Mark Steyn: Straight-talking PM
The other day, on a flight from Malaga to Manchester, a bunch of holidaying Brits mutinied and demanded the removal of two suspicious "Asian" passengers in "heavy clothes" and "checking their watches". The evicted passengers appear to be blameless, but the other travellers had spent the days since the Heathrow arrests listening to British government ministers trotting out the usual hooey about how the improved security procedures would be impeccably non-discriminatory and they seem to have concluded, reasonably enough, that although the new rules may prevent your toothpaste, Diet Coke and gel-filled bra (to name three now prohibited items) from boarding, they were unlikely to stop the mad bombers getting on.
In other words, the more the gulf widens between the Government's multiculti PC pap and the obvious truth, the more the state risks de-legitimising itself in the eyes of the citizenry. Tony Blair has a good pitch when he's surveying the distant horizon and the big picture and doing his Tone of Arabia routine, but he hasn't yet managed to find a line on the homegrown jihad that resonates with his electorate. If I ran the speechwriting departments in the White House and Downing Street, Howard's bloke's-eye view would be the working template.

Brock killed, too early to speculate

Legend Brock killed in rally crash
September 08, 2006
But police said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash. Known as "Peter Perfect" and the "King of the Mountain", Brock retired from full-time racing in 1997 but returned to Bathurst to win the 24-hour race in 2003.

Rain but most down drain into Iemma River

Heaviest rain in months Storms dumped some of the heaviest rain on Sydney in months, with significant falls also in both the Illawarra and Hunter regions. The western suburbs reported heavy falls, some exceeding the average for the whole of September, but the Warragamba Dam catchment once again missed out.
Bulk Water Storage & Supply Report 07 September 2006
During the week approximately 100 millimetres of rainfall was recorded on the Woronora Catchment, 30 millimetres on the Blue Mountains and Upper Nepean catchments and 15 millimetres on the Warragamba and Shoalhaven catchments.
As at 3 p.m. 7 September 2006, the inflow rate to Warragamba Dam including Shoalhaven transfers was 830 megalitres per day and to Tallowa Dam was 1000 megalitres per day.

music downloads "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."

Dylan rubbishes modern recordings
Veteran singer Bob Dylan has called the quality of modern music recordings "atrocious" and "worth nothing".
He also failed to denounce illegal music downloads, saying: "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."
Earlier: iPod and right to get music free
Shine wearing off iPod

iPod and right to get music free

Shine wearing off iPod
Apple Computer's wildly successful iPod dominates digital music in a way that Sony's tape-playing Walkman could have only dreamt about. As a result, Apple's iTunes music store has become the leading music retailer on the internet, but five years after its launch, the iPod is starting to lose its sheen. According to New York trend forecaster Zandl Group the iPod backlash has begun. "If you talk to those who feel there's a genuine right to get music free, they say they're never going to pay for music. It's a very ideological decision."

Steve Irwin killed. Crikey!

Steve Irwin killed in freak accident at sea
September 04, 2006
Prime Minister John Howard said Irwin was a typical Australian larrikin who brought joy to millions of people around the world.
"I am quite shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death," he said. "It's a huge loss to Australia."
Steve Irwin - known worldwide as the Crocodile Hunter - was famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and his catchcry "Crikey!".

Annan and Ahmadinejad neither bare-faced liars

Annan and Ahmadinejad neither bare-faced liars as cbsnews photo shows.

pedophiles underground, good place

We can read in the: smh.com.au that "US-style laws to allow publication of the whereabouts of pedophiles on a public register were "opportunistic", "stupid" and would drive offenders underground, the NSW Police Minister, Carl Scully, has warned."

Put pedophiles underground, and solve the problem.

Three Zambian gang-raped 15-year-old girl

Three Zambian men, two on student visas, faced Parramatta Local Court yesterday on charges of aggravated sexual assault involving actual bodily harm of a 15-year-old girl who was held captive and gang-raped by up to five men over eight hours in a Sydney home unit, a court has been told.

Britain declares war on Germany

3 Sep 1939 - At 11 am Britain declares war on Germany to be followed at 5pm by France. Australia and New Zealand also declare war on Germany.

Ron Delezio named Father of the Year 2006

Father of the Year
Ron Delezio credits his daughter Sophie's remarkable survival after two horrific accidents with making him a better dad.
Ron Delezio named Father of the Year
By Katherine Field
September 01, 2006 Article from: AAP

Australia's Father of the Year Ron Delezio credits his daughter Sophie's remarkable survival after two horrific accidents with making him a better dad.

The brave five-year-old suffered horrific burns and lost both her feet when a car crashed into her Fairlight daycare centre in December 2003.

Then, in May this year, she suffered more life-threatening injuries when she was hit by a car at a northern Sydney pedestrian crossing.

But Sophie was all smiles today, in a pink skirt with a matching ribbon in her hair, as her dad was named 2006 Father of the Year by the Australian Fathers' Day Council.

Accepting the award, a humble Mr Delezio agreed his family's brushes with tragedy had made him a better father.

“I appreciate my family a lot more than I did before ... I just cherish the time,” he said.

“Hopefully there's a lot of people out there to learn from the experiences that we've learnt, we've learnt the hard way.”

Mr Delezio, who has a grown son from a previous marriage as well as seven-year-old Mitchell, said he is looking forward to seeing Sophie's progression through life's milestones.

“There's no reason why someone like Sophie ... can't go to university, can't have families, and can't put in decent contributions to our society,” he said.

Since Sophie's first accident Mr Delezio has worked to provide support to burns survivors and their families, setting up the Day of Difference Foundation in 2004.

Alongside his wife Carolyn Martin, and all three of his children, the newly-crowned Father of the Year said he was completely surprised by the honour.

But his children were unanimous that he was no ordinary dad.

“He's more than fantastic,” Mitchell said.

Eldest son John, himself a father-of-three, described his dad as a great role-model.

Ms Martin agreed.

“Ron's been able to rise above the challenges we've had in life and make something good come of it,” she said.

Mr Delezio spent long vigils at Sophie's bedside, saying he was inspired by other families with sick children in hospital.

”We saw the love and dedication of these fathers and mothers to their children and how we believe that sort of love and devotion helped save their lives,” he said.

The Australian Father of the Year award, which marks the importance of fathers to the country and to the development and wellbeing of children, has been running since 1957.