Excuse Me For Being Cynical But...

The BS meter is off the scale with this one:

A PERTH woman worshipping at a mosque has described the terror of feeling a bullet whizz past her ear in a drive-by shooting.

Ahdielah Edries, 38, was on the second storey of the Mirrabooka mosque, north of Perth, last night when an unknown gunman fired a shot through the window about 8.45pm yesterday (WST).... Following the blast the gunman fled the scene in a green Jeep Cherokee four-wheel drive parked across the road.

Yeah, right.

Ms Edries, president of the Islamic Council of Western Australia...

... sure you are, darling...

...said at least 100 women and children were on the second floor of the packed mosque, praying during the holy month of Ramadan.

There were about 300 men worshipping on the ground floor, she said.

That would be because women aren't allowed with the men in the mosque proper.

The usual suspect weighs in:

Ameer Ali, who heads the government's Islamic advisory committee, said that while this was the first shooting in an Australian mosque, others had been ransacked and worshippers' cars had been vandalised.

He suggested an ongoing debate on the threat of radical Islam was encouraging violence and intimidation against Muslims.

And blames critics of the Religion of Peace:

"...where do the criminals get the courage to do this?" Mr Ali told the Associated Press. "It comes from what our leaders say in public, so I think our leaders share some responsibility for these acts."

Mr Ali, head of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, declined to identify the leaders whose comments he thought might encourage such attacks.

Rather interesting that as of yet, Australian Muslims are still playing the victim card. Perhaps this is precisely because of unnamed leaders who speak out against Muslim violence.

Elsewhere, in countries in which the government cowers, they're more likely to respond to criticism like this:

or this.

-- Nick

Derring Do

A new book promises:

plenty that will upset the old bra-burning feminists who steadfastly refuse to allow biology to get in the way of ideology

according to Janet Albrechtsen.

Why? Because American neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine dares to suggest:

Girls are different from boys

Albrechsen notes that only a woman could suggest this and survive, recalling:

Last year, Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University, told an academic conference that his young daughter, when given two trucks in another effort of gender-neutral parenting, treated them like dolls, calling one "daddy truck" and the other "baby truck". Some in the audience reacted with disgust to Summers' address. A biologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology walked out, later saying leaving was the only option, otherwise "I would've either blacked out or thrown up"....

In a interview later, the biologist, Nancy Hopkins, said: "It's so upsetting that all these brilliant young women (at Harvard) are being led by a man who views them this way." Summers' leadership did not last long. The uproar came when he hypothesised that genetics, more than environment, might explain the dearth of women in science and engineering. Suggesting that genes may explain why statistical distributions of men's and women's quantitative and spatial abilities are not identical, with more men coming in at the higher end of the scale, did not go down well in academe. Lawrence was eventually hounded out of Harvard.

Not everyone was hoodwinked by ideology. Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology who teaches classes on the human mind, told The Harvard Crimson: "Good grief, shouldn't everything be within the pale of legitimate academic discourse, as long as it is presented with some degree of rigour? That's the difference between a university and a madrassa... People who storm out of a meeting at the mention of a hypothesis, or declare it taboo or offensive without providing arguments or evidence, don't get the concept of a university or free inquiry."

-- Nick

The Fight For The Right To Party

Does it seem like this is happening more often?

A 16-year-old youth has appeared in a Brisbane children's court charged with the bashing murder of a another teenage boy... A charge of grievous bodily harm was upgraded to murder last night... He was left in a coma with a fractured skull after being punched unconscious and then kicked in the head outside an 18th birthday party in Alexandra Hills, in Brisbane's east, late on Saturday.

It is:

...violence is getting worse and the chances of criminals being caught are lower than ever.

Among the reasons:

Grange identified an obvious cause: the surge in binge drinking, suggesting it exposed both male and female victims to much higher risk and disinhibited perpetrators. Matt Baggott, Leicestershire's chief constable (believed) changes in youth culture and alcohol consumption were the underlying cause...

All but one of seven judges I interviewed - who spoke on condition of anonymity - shared this analysis. 'My feeling is that people go further than they used to... Violence cases are much nastier. Perpetrators have drawn and used knives more often. If there's a mob, they've all kicked the victim's head.'

Like the chief constables, a female judge at one of the country's busiest crown courts blamed changing social mores and alcohol. 'In the Eighties, the pubs shut at 11pm and the clubs by 1am or 2am. There were no alcopops, and women didn't start the evening by knocking back a series of double-measure shorts. Now, with dance music, ecstasy, and much harder drinking, young people are accustomed to staying out all night. The behaviour of women has changed especially: they're much more sexually aggressive and aggressive generally; some are armed. We see people accused of committing serious violence that we never saw 20 years ago, and some of them are women. At the same time, they are being exposed to much greater risks.'

-- Nick

21st Century Gals

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is more concerned with women's rights than most western feminists. Recently he has been trying to repeal the Hudood Ordinance:

...which requires four male Muslim witnesses to support a rape charge. If the accused is acquitted, the victim becomes liable to prosecution for adultery.

While Musharraf was out of the country earlier this month, a committee of hardline Islamic scholars neutered his bill to protect women’s rights which would have repealed the Hudood Ordinance. The scholars claimed the bill was un-Islamic because it “encouraged adultery”.

Meanwhile, Suzanne Fields notes Phyllis Chesler:

...is one of the few (Western) feminists with the courage to challenge her soft sisters for having "failed their own ideals and their mandate to think both clearly and morally."

The plight of Islamic women abused in the name of Allah in the Middle East and in Europe requires aggressive rebuke from women in the free world, but feminists in the West, and particularly in the United States, are struck dumb in an academic ghetto, stuck with a parochial approach to women's studies and obsessed with their personal "body rights" and their sexuality.

-- Nick

Beat Me, Beat Me

Gloucestershire Police in the UK have rejected 108 potential recruits - because they were white and male. All 'in the name of promoting diversity and advancing women and ethic minorities instead':

What, in this lamentable story, is this guilty obsession with race, this daft and patronising determination to exclude and demoralise the indigenous people? It is actually imposed in Gloucestershire by people who are mostly white males themselves. What is wrong with them? Why are they unwilling to hold the line against thoughtless, intrusive, guilt-ridden, destructive stupidity? One word for it is self-hatred.

-- Nick

Vale Ken

Again proof that we Australians don't know enough about our culture.

While the National Trust names snobs and dilitants amongst its 'living treasures' (Cheryl Kernot? Paul Keating?? Michael Leunig??!), true Australians whose ceaseless work making Australia a better place are ignored.

Like Ken Cheng, who passed away this week. His name may not be familiar but his work certainly is. Ken is the man who, along with William Young, brought Dim Sims to Australian diners and drinkers:

KEN Cheng, who turned a secret recipe for home-made dim sims into a Melbourne institution, has died aged 83.

It was business as usual yesterday at the South Melbourne Market where the humble Chinese-born cook sold his sought-after treats, as deep-fried snacks and often as a hangover cure.

Mr Cheng's son Edward said his father never fully appreciated how iconic his dim sims had become...

...Kuen Cheng - who became known as Ken - was born in China in 1922.

At the age of 18, fleeing poverty and the Japanese invasion, he took a job with the United States Marine Corps.

His family says he ended up stationed with US troops in Darwin before working his way down to Melbourne.

But South Melbourne Market old-timers tell the story slightly differently, believing Mr Cheng arrived in Melbourne as a personal chef to General Douglas MacArthur during World War II.

God bless you Ken.

-- Nora

Chavez 'like a dictator without class'

Marvellous observation by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer:

Mr Downer said he was not surprised Mr Chavez received some laughs and cheers at the General Assembly following his comments.

"I've seen it before with Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, and Dr Mahathir the former prime minister of Malaysia," Mr Downer said.

"A lot of these people who get up there and denounce the free world and denounce the United States, they get a bit of applause. They get applause from like-minded people.

"He can say what he likes but he has to live with the consequences of his words, and I just think in a country like Australia people look at a man like that ranting and it reflects very poorly on the whole of Venezuela that they've got a leader as classless as that in his political behaviour."

-- Nora

Unbalanced

In one of the few parts of the world where Christians fight back in response to Muslim violence:

THREE Indonesian Christians who were on death row for inciting violence against Muslims in 2000 were executed by firing squad, their lawyer said.

while a lead Muslim conspirator in the 2002 Bali bombings, Abu Bakar Bashir, serves less than 26 months in jail and is now free to suggest obscenities such as this:

INDONESIAN TV shows that feature scantily dressed women are more dangerous than bombs... "If you ask which are more dangerous, half-naked women or the Bali bombs? The answer is of course women who bare their bodies."

Better cover up, girls.

-- Nick

Cop That

Two foreigners have been beheaded in Saudi Arabia:

AN Afghan and a Bangladeshi, who were respectively convicted in Saudi Arabia of drug trafficking and murder, were beheaded by the sword today, the interior ministry said... (Saudi Arabia) applies a strict form of Islamic law. The death penalty applies to murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking.

Apostasy is:

Abandonment of one's religious faith, a political party, one's principles, or a cause.

Now there's a real crime.

-- Nick

Profit And Loss

Failed bookkeeper Roy Hilliard is a failure all round:

He was found at a hospital in the central Victorian town of Castlemaine, where he lives, following a suicide attempt.

It's the fifth suicide attempt Mr Hilliard has made since court proceedings over the missing millions began.

-- Nick

First They Came For The Communists...

Some years ago - in fact, quite a few years ago - an associate was gloating over the fact that 'they' were beginning to crack down on nasty smokers (like myself), chucking us outside and talking about warning labels on cigarette packets.

Said associate was something of a boozehound and scoffed when I pointed out that once 'they' had finished with smokers, they'd be coming after the drinkers.

The time has come:

The Salvation Army has called for warning labels on alcohol packaging...

I'd give it five years before we have full colour labels of autopsied livers.

Who's next?

-- Nick

Quod Erat Demonstrandum, Baby

How dare you call us violent:

...(you will have no choice but) Islam or death," the statement added, citing a hadith (saying of the Prophet Mohammed) promising Muslims they would "conquer Rome ... as they conquered Constantinople".

Morons.

-- Nick

UPDATE: Sydney Archbishop George Pell steps up to the plate:

Cardinal Pell today backed Pope Benedict, saying the violent reaction to his comments on Islam and violence illustrated his fears... "They showed the link for many Islamists between religion and violence, their refusal to respond to criticism with rational arguments, but only with demonstrations, threats and actual violence."

So Sad, Too Bad

Ameer Ali says he is disappointed with Pope Benedict XVI for linking Islam to violence.

Ali can do the job perfectly well all by himself:

"Hezbollah is not a terrorist organisation."

-- Nick

No Crocodile Tears

On Wednesday the world publicly bids farewell to Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter.

Take a moment to read this eulogy and toast the great conservationist with a

Crocodile Cooler
1 Shot(s) Lemon Vodka
1 Shot(s) Midori
1/2 Shot(s) Cointreau
1 Shot(s) Lime Juice
1/2 Shot(s) Sugar Syrup
Top with Soda Water

-- Nora

Within Reason

In the news this week, some in the secular world tut-tut over the speech made by Pope Benedict XVI this week and some Muslims burn him in effigy over comments that apparently were critical of Islam and of Mohammed in particular.

As you know some Muslims get rather excitable and are prone to demonstrations of violence when you say something bad about the Big M. Christians might get all irritated and picket but they generally "turn the other cheek".

But let's take a look at some of the key aspects of the pontiff's speech (the full text is highly recommended reading).

Benedict pointed to some of the key differences between Christianity and Islam and is summarised nicely by The Guardian.

At the heart of the matter is this:

Christianity teaches that God is logical whereas Islam teaches that God is transcendent and therefore can act illogically.

Transcendent is an adjective from the Latin that means going beyond ordinary limits; surpassing; exceeding. Superior or supreme or, in the case of theology, a diety transcending universe, time, etc.

Theoretically this is true - an omnipetent being can do whatever it wishes - and in fact a variation on this (as well as the fallibility of man) is central to the 2003 film Bruce Almighty.

But look at it this way, who is the more perfect being? The powerfully built man who lashes out and hurts things simply because his strength allows him too, or the powerfully built man who selectively uses his strength to help and restrains his stength because he know he has the power to harm?

While Judeo-Christianity acknowledges that God can do whatever He wants, it is always with the cavaet that there is a logic behind it and in many cases humanity can know what that plan is.

A Sunday school question: Would God be God if He went back on His word?

The Bible is full of instances where God has bound Himself to a promise.

The most famous of which is the vow never to create another flood like the one Noah experienced:

Then God told Noah and his sons, "I am making a covenant with you and your descendants, and with the animals you brought with you--all these birds and livestock and wild animals. I solemnly promise never to send another flood to kill all living creatures and destroy the earth." And God said, "I am giving you a sign as evidence of my eternal covenant with you and all living creatures. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life.

The Judeo-Christian precept that God is logical is the bedrock on which modern scientific enquiry is based - if God created it, there must be some logic in its development or function that can be understood.

While popular belief would say that the Church stifled scientific enquiry, the reverse is actually true.

Observations of the natural world in genetics, physics, biology and anatomy were all fostered by the medieval church built on the Greek enquiry of ancient times.

A discussion on this subject will inevitably lead to discussions of Galileo and the Church never pausing to reflect that the concept that the Sun moved around the Earth had been accepted as scientific fact since Aristotle posited the notion 14 centuries earlier.

The concept of logic in Christianity is very interesting indeed. We'll let Benedict take it from here:

Logos means both reason and word - a reason which is creative and capable of self-communication, precisely as reason. (The apostle) John (in John 1:1) thus spoke the final word on the biblical concept of God, and in this word all the often toilsome and tortuous threads of biblical faith find their culmination and synthesis. In the beginning was the logos, and the logos is God, says the Evangelist. The encounter between the Biblical message and Greek thought did not happen by chance.

Logical God or illogical Allah? I know what diety appeals to me.

-- Nora

UPDATE: Mary Katharine Ham articulates this issue beautifully here.

Pope Apologises; Religion Of Peace Goes About Business As Usual

In a surprising move, Pope Benedict has apologised for offending Muslims by telling the truth about how their religion has spread by violence.

Of course, the response of the religion of peace was to threaten:

AN Iraqi armed group has threatened to carry out attacks against Rome and the Vatican in retaliation for Pope Benedict XVI's remarks on Islam, according to a statement posted on the internet today. "We swear that we will destroy their cross in the heart of Rome ... and that their Vatican will be hit and wept over by the Pope," said Jaish al-Mujahideen (the Mujahideen's Army) in the statement, whose authenticity could not be confirmed.

The statement lashed out at "Zionised Christians and loathsome crusaders" and was accompanied by six films showing attacks against US military targets in Iraq, which it said were "dedicated to the dog of the crusaders (an apparent reference to the Pope) in retaliation for his remarks". "We will not rest until your thrones and your crosses have been destroyed on your own territory," said the group, which has claimed many attacks against US and government forces in Iraq.

and commit violence:

five churches - only one of them Catholic - were attacked in the West Bank, although no one was hurt...

In Iraq, the Government asked Muslims not to take their anger out on the small Christian minority, after the door of a church in Basra was attacked.

Meanwhile, on the very same page of News.com.au (screengrab) this morning, two neighbouring links show the religion of peace going about business as usual:

At least three dead in shop, hotel blasts

SIX simultaneous motorcycle bombs killed at least three people and wounded more than 60 on a busy street in the southern Thai town of Hat Yai on Saturday, police said. Attacks were expected this weekend in three Muslim provinces further south on the anniversary of the foundation of one of the separatist guerrilla groups there, but the bombs in Hat Yai took authorities by surprise.

and

39 more bodies found as violence flares

AT least 39 corpses have been recovered in Iraq, while another eight people have been killed in separate attacks... In the previous four days, security forces recovered nearly 150 bodies, most of them from Baghdad - the epicentre of the conflict between the newly-empowered Shiite majority and the ousted Sunni Arab (Muslim) elite that has left thousands dead since February.

Weak-kneed apologists at the Vatican are looking for any excuse to appease:

The Church source said the Pope, who for years was a professor of theology in his native Germany, had perhaps made a mistake by mixing up his past and present roles.

Others were more realistic:

...another diplomatic source praised the Pope for "calling a spade a spade". "I see this as a wake up call for Christians. It will be interesting to see what the next step will be, but I don't think he has to apologise for anything, nor do I think he will," the diplomatic source said.

The worst thing about all of this is that The Pope has apologised.

It's a real surprise. I thought the man had balls.

And having weighed in, the last thing he should have done is backed down in the face of Muslim hypocrisy.

Ultimately, it will cost even more lives.

-- Nick

Alberto Dominguez, Gentleman

(This post has been 'future dated' to hold it at the top of posts from The Thin Man Returns for the week of 11-17 September 2006. Main page viewers please scroll down for newer posts.)

A YEAR after the death of Alberto Dominguez, a Sydneysider called Georgia wrote a tribute to him on a Legacy website and signed it on behalf of all her family:

"i knew the family and i also new his son and i pay my deepest respects for the tragic accident that occured on september 11 we can not bring him back but we can give him the highest honour, above all of the evil that caused his death"

You don't have to search long to find there are many tributes online to Alberto. What makes this one different?

Georgia was only 11 years old when she wrote it on 14 September 2002.

Children today live in an age of acceleration - quick, from school to music lessons, dash home to play outside so you can hurry indoors to do your homework so you can rush to play Xbox and race to watch television. There's barely time for the present let alone the past.

What kind of man was Alberto that he would move a child to such eloquence a year after his passing, a child with so many other things to do, a child not even his relative?

We could tell you that as a young man, Alberto was a national cycling champion in his native Uruguay. He migrated to Australia around 1973 and worked as a baggage handler for Qantas for 21 years before retiring.

Nicknamed Pocho, he was a leading figure in Sydney's Spanish community, hosting a Spanish music radio show and also founding Sydney's 'Club Uruguayo'.

When he died aboard American Airlines Flight 11, leaving his wife Martha, four children and six grandchildren, he had just used his holiday to visit a sick relative in Boston and was on his way home to Australia via Los Angeles.

But it's not the raw facts of where he went and what he did in the physical world that highlight the impact of a man's being. It's how he affected those whose lives his touched.

At his funeral service, they said Alberto had a passion for life. And he clearly communicated that passion, that joy with many people.

His family:

"It is nearly five years since you've gone... we love you and miss you every day. May the angels look after you and give you lot's of love."

His workmates:

"Dear Pocho, I worked with you for 4 years. A beautiful and gentle man. You are sadly missed."

"Missing that big trademark smile and happy go lucky nature. A true gentleman. Mates at Qantas."

His friends:

"'Pocho' was a good friend of all my family as i am best friends with his grandchildren who are all my ages 16-17... we are all very sadened by this loss but its really celebrating the great and wonderful FULL life he lived.. with a wonderful family who i am glad i'm a part of..."

"Albert, you are in our hearts and prayers.god bless your family."

"He is what every proud Australian should aspire to be, honest hard working and a loving family man... his legecy and his love of Australia and making his country and family proud will forever be with us in our hearts."

What kind of man was Alberto 'Pocho' Dominguez?

He was an honest, hard working, loving family man, a good friend, a beautiful and gentle man with a happy go lucky nature. He was a true gentleman whose family miss him very much, every single day.

A man who moved a child to stop and honour him.

Postscript:

We live in an age of acceleration - children dash about to do everything they have to do; adults too.

When we volunteered to take part in the 2996 Project at the end of June this year, we intended with all our hearts to get straight onto the task of learning more about Alberto and honouring his memory. We'd always intended to reach out gently and try to contact his family to ask for one simple memory that would become our tribute.

But life got in the way - work, family, the day to day grind and the million and one commitments we all have in our lives. "Tomorrow," we kept saying, "tomorrow we'll start searching and making calls." Then suddenly it was September and we hadn't even begun probably the most important job we had to do.

It didn't take long searching on the Internet to piece together what an amazing life Alberto had and to begin to grasp how admired and respected and loved he was - and, in a way, to begin to feel admiration and respect and love for him too. But then it was September 9 and, in the end, we realised we'd left it too late to go any further so close to the anniversary of his passing.

Here's our tribute to Alberto. It's a lesson 'he' reminded us of:

Never leave it until tomorrow to tell someone you love them.

-- Nick and Nora Charles

With thanks to those who spoke with us and forwarded emails.

UPDATE: The 2996 Project site is down due to high traffic. Click here to visit a mirror site with the full list of tributes

Thick Mick

The Australian Government should sack Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty right now:

FEDERAL police commissioner Mick Keelty has (insisted)... Islamic Australia is not to blame for terrorism... Mr Keelty said racial profiling was self-defeating because it risked alienating mainstream Muslims while ignoring the real danger of homegrown non-Muslim terror.

Mainstream Muslims are alienated already - their religion is as alien to Australian culture in 2006 as is, say, the oppression of women up to and including murder, the sanctioned murder of children and execution for homosexuality.

Keelty goes on:

"I remind people that the firstperson who was convicted of a terrorist offence in Australia was a person with the unlikely name of Jack Roche," the police chief said.

And Roche was a Muslim convert. It's not hard to connect the dots.

How on Earth did Keelty get to the position he occupies today?

Then again, idiocy often rises to the top such as in NSW where Police Commission Peter Ryan emasculated the police force in the face of criminal/terrorist gangs.

Keelty goes from bad to worse:

"Some of the best examples of (terror originating beyond the Muslim community) are coming out of Canada and the UK where people have, for whatever reason, converted to Islam almost as a step towards committing a crime they probably would have committed anyway."

Social misfits were gravitating towards Islam as a justification for lashing out.

Social misfits are gravitating towards a religion that gives them the justification to commit mayhem but it's not the religion's fault?

"True Islam denounces murder, it is not practising the Koran to commit murder or to commit atrocities," he said.

This from our country's top cop.

I bet old Mick was a real pushover for the blaggers in the interview room back when he was doing real police work. No wonder he became a bureaucrat.

Sack him now. He's dangerous.

-- Nick

Swimming In A River In Egypt

Paul Kelly offers an insight into the mind of the 'progressive':

The Western progressive mind is profoundly uncomfortable with the nature of the 9/11 attack. This is an event that invokes God, moral absolutes and cultural divides, a trinity of ideas totally anathema to Western progressives who know that God is dead, moral absolutes don't exist and multicultural diversity is utopia.

The progressive mind, supreme in our media, treats 9/11 as a human interest tragedy that inspires homilies on the meaning of life. This conceals the reality: 9/11 is an epoch-changing event not because nearly 3000 died (more people have died in many other events) but because it was a transforming political, cultural and strategic event.

This is what the progressive mind cannot accept.

Read the rest.

-- Nick

Beater Petie

A not unexpected result but one did anticipate a larger protest vote.

What is it about Peter Beattie that holds Queenslander's so enthralled? Probably not a lot anymore.

The Beattie Labor Government and its electorate are so like an abusive spouse and their partner it's astounding.

He was so charming and handsome at the start of the relationship but now it's obvious he's a liar and a cheat, always promising stuff he won't deliver and taking credit for others' achievements.

Oh sure, in public he's all smiles and happy hand waving but in private you can die waiting for surgery.

Of course, he's been caught out dozens of times but he puts on his sad and serious face and says he so sorry and it won't happen again so the media goes away but it's you who's got to face him tomorrow when the ambulance is turned away from the overcrowded hospital or the power goes out.

It's true you've been courted by another but you can't bring yourself to run away with them. Can you trust them? Can you trust anyone anymore?

Maybe it's better the devil you know that the one you don't. At least you know what to expect and you know he'll be sorry afterwards. For a little while.

-- Nick

Shut Up And Cure Something

As the News.com.au intro to this story read:

A CHILD welfare group plans to push for laws to ban parents from smacking their children after a survey found 70 per cent of adults support it as a method of discipline.

When a huge majority of the population supports something and an elitist minority calls for it to be banned, it must be led by doctors.

Yep:

Foundation chief executive officer... Dr (Joe) Tucci said the time had come to repeal the outdated legal defences allowing parents to physically punish their children. "Enough is enough. This is going to be the biggest-ever push to have these laws repealed."

The laws are:

In Australia, parents are able to smack their children under the legal defence of "lawful correction" or "reasonable chastisement". This defence is limited in New South Wales, where it is illegal to hit a child above the shoulders. In 2004, a Sydney mother was convicted of assault for smacking her three-year-old son about the head after he threw a tantrum in a supermarket.

Tucci intends to get his way the same way other elitist minorities have socially engineered us in the past - by nagging and stamping their feet and demanding what they want and just wearing us down like tired parents until they get their way:

"The Commonwealth needs to put it on the agenda as a national issue and work with the states to get a uniform approach."

There was evidence of changing community attitudes, with support for smacking among Australian adults now 69 per cent compared with 75 per cent in 2002, Dr Tucci said.

"I think we are more willing to entertain the possibility as a community to outlaw it. In a generation, we could change the way we discipline our children."

Yes, because all the other more recent changes to the way we raise and discipline our children have been so effective:

...local police are struggling to cope with the rising, not falling, levels of crime — so much for feeling free of fear and having the right to live in safe communities. I now turn to comments of people who live in various towns and villages on the South Coast regarding how safe and how free of fear they feel. A lady from Glebe wrote on behalf of her 87-year-old mother who lives at Culburra Beach. She wrote before to Mr Costa but got an unsatisfactory reply. She wrote again to the Minister for Police and is still awaiting a reply. She said that despite any assurances about what would happen in Culburra Beach:

"...the same behaviour is still continuing, mostly on a Friday or Saturday night as it has been for the past 5 years. Large gangs of young boys and girls some apparently as young as 14 or 15 are holding the town to ransom. They are drunk, possibly some also on drugs, they congregate at the beach front near the surf clubhouse or in public spaces, parks, anywhere really: they brawl, play unacceptably loud music, ride wheelie bins, tip rubbish everywhere, use foul language and destroy property. Just last Saturday night in a drunken spree they damaged my mother's letter box, (for probably the 6th time), invaded the yards of residences where they sat drinking, tore down a fence, attacked each other with palings, threw a brick through the window of another elderly woman's home, threw a letter box through another window, broke bottles, damaged road signs and other public notices."

So much for people feeling safe and secure in their communities. And this is the beautiful, quiet Culburra Beach we are talking about. This sort of behaviour has been going on for five years — that is, for five years people at Culburra Beach have been frightened to go outside at night.

-- Nick

Obsessive Compulsion

Let there be no complusion in religion - [Sûrah al-Baqarah:: 256], according to Islam's Koran.

So perhaps someone would like to explain this:

Palestinian militants who held two Fox News journalists hostage for nearly two weeks threatened in a statement posted online Saturday to abduct non-Muslims visiting the Palestinian territories and kill them unless their demands were met.

The statement, posted in the name of the Holy Jihad Brigades on a Web site frequently used by militants, said the group would kill any hostages it takes unless they converted to Islam, paid a ransom or Muslim prisoners were exchanged for their release.

"Any infidel blood will have no sanctity," the group said in the statement.

Please note the article's accompanying picture (reproduced above).

And this:

In an Arabic translation of a poorly audible English statement, a man previously identified by the FBI as Adam Yahiye Gadahn said: "I call on all Americans and other infidels to embrace Islam."

Mr Gadahn, who also recited Koranic verses in fluent Arabic, was also dressed in white tunic and turban.

"I call especially on those who have fought for the illusory Crusader plan of (US President George W.) Bush in Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere else, to convert to Islam," he said.

"Time is running out. Choose the right path before it is too late, before you meet the sad end that thousands have (already) known," Mr Gadahn added.

Can't be much of a religion if its adherents have to force people to join on pain of death.

-- Nora

That's Why I Hate The French

This is a tragedy:

Britain's last model-maker, Airfix, today went out of business as its parent manufacturer, Humbrol, called in the administrators.

The company founded in 1949 has struggled in recent decades as TV and the Internet ate into the market.

They've been bought out twice before but the final nail in the coffin may have been driven by the bloody French:

The fatal blow for Humbrol came with the insolvency last month of (1980s buy-out owner) Heller, which owns all the moulds for Airfix models. When Heller went under, Airfix was left without any kits.

"Airfix literally had no moulds as they were all sitting in France and the French refused to allow them to leave France. It would have taken two years to resolve," said Mr Brook.

So much for European union.

-- Nick

The Dopes Of Rugby League

Thanks a bunch, Wendell Sailor:

SCHOOLBOY and social footballers face random drug tests in a statewide crackdown on rugby league drug cheats.

Following the high-profile cocaine cases of Wallaby rugby union winger Wendell Sailor and Cowboys rugby league prop Mitchell Sargent, anti-doping officials are turning their attention to amateur and school-based competitors.

The Australian Sport Anti-Doping Authority does not specify a minimum age and league officials are warning juniors as young as 14 to expect visits from drug-testers.

You can also expect even more kids to drop out of sports, not because they're drug cheats but because it's all getting too hard:

Cairns Brothers captain-coach Brad Arthur said he had warned his players that even taking a cold and flu tablet could be a risk.

and schools to drop league on pre-emptive PR grounds just in case any of the Under-15s test positive.

-- Nick

Idol Moments

Here's cheers to local singer Guy 'Mutto' Mutton who is vying for a wild card entry into Australian Idol this weekend.

Break a leg ole chap.

J-Pop Idol
1oz blue curacao
2oz sake
2oz orange juice
Pour the blue curacao down the side of an old-fashioned glass filled with ice cubes. Allow it to sit before adding the sake. Add orange juice, stir and serve.

-- Nora

Cancel The Burghomeister And The Flaming Torches...

The media loves to stir up the mob to rampage and kill the monster.

But, surprisingly, it can sometimes also produce a sensible piece about the controversial topic of how we deal with paedophiles:

Dr Christopher Lennings, a forensic psychologist who has worked with sex offenders, said Megan's Law had one critical drawback: "It would definitely drive people underground."

"Most people make the mistake of thinking that the primary risk to children is from sexual predators, but we know that the biggest risk comes from people they know."

US expert Jack Levin has warned Megan's Law pushes released offenders into a life of crime.

"It's like the feel-good law that makes you believe you are safe. It makes it more likely that they will reoffend. Many sex offenders refuse to register," he said.

and even manages to elicit calm reason from the usually hysterical Hetty:

Sexual abuse campaigner Hetty Johnson said she would throw her support behind a Megan's Law - if she thought it would work.

"I understand why people want it, because they don't feel safe and they don't have the confidence in the government to protect them. But it doesn't work -- it would just give a false sense of security," she said.

She is instead calling for much more stringent testing of sex offenders before they are considered for parole.

Indeed.

However, American expert Levin suggested:

...a "two strikes, you're out" approach: "They shouldn't be in anybody's neighbourhood. They should be incarcerated. If you're a repeat sex offender, two strikes and you're never out again."

leading to something I've said before and I'll say again - what exactly do we want to regard paedophiles as? Are they serial criminals or incurably mentally ill?

If they're serial offenders, why don't we treat other types of criminal behaviour in the same way? Why don't we demand that the serial burglar or car thief be locked away for life?

And if they're incurably mentally ill, why do we imprison them as ordinary criminals? Why aren't they in secure institutions for the criminally insane?

-- Nick

Taking Liberties

When researching the post below I came across this site which gave me pause for thought.

Which is a more liberating belief system?

One whose ancient holy book encourages this:

In the Quran, God states: Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty...And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and adornments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers...(a list of exceptions) Chapter 24, verses 30-31

In one tradition, the Prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying: ...If the woman reaches the age of puberty, no part of her body should be seen but this --- and he pointed to his face and hands.

From these and other references, the vast majority of Muslim scholars and jurists, past and present, have determined the minimum requirements for hijab: 1) Clothing must cover the entire body, with the exception of the face and the hands. 2) The attire should not be form fitting, sheer or so eye-catching as to attract undue attention or reveal the shape of the body. 3) The clothing cannot be similar to male clothing or to the distinctive clo thing worn by people of other faiths. 4) Clothing must not suggest fame or status.

or that:

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.
She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

-- Nora

Everyone Understands English As Long As You Speak It Slowly Enough

John Howard speaks his mind on Muslim refusal to integrate:

"Fully integrating means accepting Australian values, it means learning as rapidly as you can the English language if you don't already speak it," the Prime Minister said during a radio talkback discussion.

"And it means understanding that in certain areas, such as the equality of men and women ... people who come from societies where women are treated in an inferior fashion have got to learn very quickly that that is not the case in Australia."

Despite his words coming after a rather dhimmi-like preface:

Mr Howard said: "There is a section, a small section of the Islamic population, and I say a small section, which is very resistant to integration."

Islamic groups were nonetheless outraged:

"There's a whole lot of other ethnic communities whose parents, whose grandparents don't speak the English language, and it's never a problem in the mainstream Australian community for them to go on living their everyday life without speaking language.

"Yet as soon as it's a person of a Arab descent or a Muslim person ... politicians feel like they need to bring it to mainstream attention as the only group, like marginalising us even more then we already feel marginalised today."

Actually, born and bred English-speaking Aussies have always been pissed off at migrants of any race or creed who won't learn the language. But they've also been willing to put up with non-English speaking Greek grandmas and Italian poppas because they weren't trying to kill us:

(Howard) told The Australian in February: "You can't find any equivalent in Italian, or Greek, or Lebanese (Christian), or Chinese or Baltic immigration to Australia. There is no equivalent of raving on about jihad, but that is the major problem."

One doesn't mind the monetary cost of the Prime Minister's Muslim Reference Group - at $35M, it's cheap - but one is concerned about some of the outcomes:

Under the $35 million strategy, the Government has agreed to a series of programs ranging from a university for imams to issuing police with a detailed booklet explaining Islam.

Would this be an instruction book such as that issued to British police, telling them to respectfully take off their shoes before entering a terrorist's house?

It would be more useful to issue a booklet to arriving Muslim migrants. In fact, it could be given to all new arrivals as the disastrous experiment of multiculturalism slips into the trashcan of history. The booklet would be cheap as it needs only one page:

"If you don't like where you've come to, go back to where you came from."

That should do it.

-- Nick

UPDATE:
In the story Nicky referenced, these two paragraphs caught my eye:

In a section titled "Addressing isolation and marginalisation", the group says society must be more inclusive to keep young Muslims away from radicalism.

"A more inclusive Australian society is a key issue in making rigid thinking and possible involvement in terrorism less attractive to those at risk," the 26-page report says.

A more inclusive society? Do tell.

Australian society is government by a secular rule of law which does not distinguish between race, creed or colour. Obey the laws and you can practice your religion without sanction, go about your daily lives without government interference - in short have the life you choose.

And the laws are quite simple - don't put people in harms way, everyone contributes their fair share for common amenities.

The dirty little secret is Muslims don't want a more inclusive society, they want the rest of the world to bend to their dictates.

They want what was promised them in the Koran - great riches, rule over the infidel, Sharia Law to reign supreme.

The 'radicalisation' of young Muslims comes from the fact that they want to claim their birthright and they will kill to get it.

Dr Santy, a pyschiatrist, has an excellent primer on Shame, the Arab Psyche and Islam:

Other expressions of the shame culture that are obvious is the rampant psychological projection and refusal to accept responsibility for the atrocities committed in the name of Islam. Not only are we regularly subjected to imams, religious leaders, and leaders of Muslim states stating even now that 9/11 or the London bombings were not committed by Muslims; they also regularly blame the Jews for such acts. In this way they can avoid the shame that taking responsibility for evil.

Additionally, the emphasis by CAIR and other Muslim organizations in demanding that any statement that criticizes or even suggests blame or responsibility by Islam for terror, be retracted or apologized for, is also just a part of the shame-avoidant dance that leads the culture into the blurry realms of delusion.

Finally, it is not surprising that the most murderous thugs espousing religious ideals as they brutally cut off the heads of infidels are hidden behind masks and dare not reveal themselves to the world. I suspect that on some deep level they know that their "pride" in their sick behavior would be more difficult to boast about if they were not anonymous. "If no one knows it is me committing these acts, then I am not shamed," after all.

This also goes a long way to explain why the general Muslim community remains either silent whenever terrorism is uncovered or plays the victim card.

The truth of the matter is even 'moderate' Muslims read the same Koran and see the same promises. While they say they abhor the violence, they do laud the goals.

Columnist Michael Medved hits the nail on the head:

For anyone who takes Islamic teaching seriously, the current state of the world offers a glaring, painful example of cognitive dissonance: the backwardness, poverty, and endemic misery of Muslim societies—particularly compared to the privilege and prosperity of the West—either undermines the validity of the Holy Koran, or proves that evil infidel conspirators have upset the natural, proper, and Godly order of things.

Next time it might be worth asking five simple questions.

-- Nora

UPDATE 2: 'Back off Johnnie or we'll riot'

UPDATE 3: This comment from Chom Fa on news.com's discussion of the issue says it all really (so there's no permalink available):

Ms Iktimal Hage-Ali, the "youth" member of the Prime Minister's advisory group, said there were not enough free classes teaching new migrants English. She states,"There are resources but they cost money. How can they afford the fees?" she said. "I can't imagine an 80-year-old grandmother running out to learn English." Ms Hage-Ali is relying on ignorance to make her fallacious claims; claims which look more like agit-prop than anything aimed at amicable solution-finding. She shows a maturing in the art of 'taqiya', but would be best served by sticking to facts. The AMES (Adult Migrant Education Services) offers free English classes to migrants,in every state, city and regions, and has done so since 1951. Its website says that,"in 2004, AMES helped more than 49,000 people with their English". Over 500,000 people have used AMES and related programs since their inception. I am not up to speed with the current set-up, having last worked for AMES in 2000, but during the Afghan/Iraqi refugee influx, the Government provided additional funding for "special" classes; 200 hours of "private" tuition - necessary because dominant Muslim (male) leadership would not allow their families to mix with "non-believers". These programs died stillborn. I, personally, was involved in setting up "special classes" for 14 refugee families who were "settled" in Canberra, after a period in Baxter Detention Centre. None ever attended. None. Male, female, parent, child, aged or young. Not one. But the demands for material benefit were incessant... and met. Not all Muslims, of course, are this recalcitrant and unbending; I've had many positive experiences with Muslim students, and have formed lasting relationships, but it is well known amongst ESL teachers that a majority of Muslims are problematic, even when conditions of exclusivity are arranged. Certain attitudes are not conducive to language acquisition - apartheid being one of them. Ms Hage-Ali has made demonstrably false claims. She is engaging in a propaganda exercise which, under examination, can only hinder satisfactory outcomes for, and damage the reputation of, the people she purports to represent. (I have been married to an Asian woman for 15 years, and lived in Asia for ten. I support Multi-culturalism. Multi does not mean all.)
Posted by: Chom Fa of Churchill 9:16am today