The Truth Will Out

Authorities have admitting falsifying data - and no, it's not about climate change.

In a reverse of cooking the books to 'hide the decline' Climategate-style, British police have been hiding the increase:

Police forces are using a series of tricks to manipulate crime figures to give a false picture of their performance, a former senior detective has revealed. The techniques – dubbed "gaming" – are used to create the illusion that fewer crimes are being committed and that a bigger proportion are being solved.

Meanwhile, journalists admit burying the truth:

Off-the-record, former players and sports journalists said that (Tiger Woods') womanising was well-known and that he had long been rumoured to be supporting a mistress on the West Coast.

Really can't trust anyone these days, can you?

-- Nick

See No Evil

Bathe children in sludge and they'll come out dirty:

A US teenager (17) charged with strangling his 10-year-old brother to death said it satisfied a craving "like a hungry person eating a hamburger"... Conley told investigators he had fantasised about killing someone since he was in eighth grade. He said he felt "just like" the serial killer Dexter, who appears on the Showtime TV series of the same name.

Dexter screens in Australia on Ten.

Meanwhile students at a Queensland primary school are sexually assaulting each other, boys and girls alike. This case was seen as significant enough by Channel 9 in Brisbane to be one of the three headlines repeated during news 'updates' last night.

Nine probably sees no connection between the sexualisation of children in primary school and their often wall-to-wall screenings of Two And A Half Men in early evening timeslots or last night's use of the blatant Flo Rida oral sex anthem Right Round to play out the supposed family show Funniest Home Videos. In fact, here's a Nine website celebrating the track.

Whatever you do, though, don't smoke in front of children.

-- Nick

Welcome To Minitrue

When George Orwell looked into the heart of politics in 1948 and reversed the digits to predict a foreboding future in 1984, he placed at the core of his tale the means by which government can exert genuine control over a population.

It doesn't do to just be brutal and make the people afraid of you. Fear is a powerful motivator but it tends to work against the cause of it in the end. This is the reason for the fall of dictatorships.

What's needed, Orwell suggested in 1984, is to make the population afraid but focus that fear outward. Thus the people of Airstrip One, the Britain of the not-so-distant future, were locked in an endless war against the brutal hordes of Eurasia, viewing daily footage of an all-consuming conflagration that promised great victories at breakfast and terrifying setbacks at suppertime. Betweentimes, the exhausted population worked solely for the war effort, fearful that their very existence was in constant threat, least from the watching government of Big Brother and mostly from the enemy in a war only ever seen on the telescreens.

Soviet Communism gave the Orwell gambit a good go for decades after World War 2, trying to pursuade their people of the threat to their way of life by decadent Western mores. But the Soviets couldn't afford to wage a real war (it could be argued that in the end they were defeated by being outspent on armaments) and the fantasy of the Western threat could be all too easily shattered by the reality of happy Western tourists in blue jeans and bright clothing, and the exciting music leaking across the borders over the airwaves.

A much better option is a never-ending war against an 'enemy' that cannot be seen.

Thus 'climate change' is Orwell's perfect war, waged upon an implacable, invisible enemy and embraced greedily by governments around the world as a means of distracting the population and setting them to work in the battle against the foe while accepting more and more punishing infringements on their liberties.

It even contains aspects of the pseudo-religious worship of Big Brother. In the war on climate change, Gaia is Big Brother, corrupt scientists her high priests, politicians her cynical policemen, the left-leaning media establishment her Ministry Of Truth, and disbelievers the Winston Smiths who dare to question and must be re-educated for their own good.

-- Nick

What About When The Cougar's Meat Is Your Child?

The education industry's systemic sexual abuse of children goes on and on, not only unabated but seemingly growing. Particularly disturbing is the increase in cases like this:

SEVEN boy boarders at one of the State's most exclusive private schools have alleged they were raped by their female house mistress earlier this year... Their 40-year-old "house mother" appeared in Forster Court last week charged with 34 counts of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated indecency with the students...

It's been quite a couple of weeks:

A FEMALE music teacher who had sex with two students sobbed today as she was sentenced to more than four years jail. Michelle Lynn Dennis... pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual penetration of a child under her care, supervision or authority and one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16. Dennis denied the crimes until the day of her scheduled trial.

And just a few days ago:

A FEMALE teacher at a regional New South Wales school has been charged with having sex with a 16-year-old male student, police say. Police at Dubbo, in the state's central west, charged the 24-year-old woman on November 18 with having sexual intercourse with a person under her care.

The media sees fit to pursue churches to the utmost but does not demand the same scrutiny of the education industry, the sordid history of which should be the subject of a thorough enquiry.

Particularly disturbing is the increasing reportage of sexual assaults and rapes by female teachers, though perhaps this should not be surprising in an environment that celebrates predatory women.

-- Nick

Drivers Cop A Con Job

Only a few days ago, Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson was citing failure to keep the State road toll below 300 for the year as a reason to slap down law-abiding drivers who take a single drink:

Police Commissioner Atkinson yesterday said a reduced (blood alcohol) limit should be "on the table" for discussion, after admitting a high-profile campaign had failed to keep the state's road toll below 299. Mr Atkinson said Queensland could not afford to rule out a tougher alcohol driving limit...

"It would effectively mean you couldn't have a drink," he said. "You couldn't even have a stubby of light beer."

This week, he's admitting the road toll target was a furphy:

QUEENSLAND'S top cop has admitted the state's Below 299 road toll campaign was always unrealistic... Police commissioner Bob Atkinson said the state's road toll had only once fallen below 300 in the past 53 years.

No mention in the story of the top cop's con job regarding the politically-driven zero blood alcohol push.

-- Nick

Drunk On Power

The 'debate' in Queensland over lowering drink driving limits is a cynically transparent exercise by the government.

With the dopey complicity of the Courier-Mail and other media outlets, they've been priming the pump for a couple of weeks:

One third of drink drivers caught more than once
Robyn Ironside
October 25, 2009 11:00pm

QUEENSLAND's drink drivers are failing to learn their lesson as the number of repeat offenders grows steadily each year, in the absence of promised deterrents. Of the 29,913 drink drivers caught in Queensland last year, 10,393 or 35 per cent had been booked at least once before

Then yesterday Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson pretended he was simply responding to public debate when he suggested the driving blood alcohol limit in Queensland should be reduced to zero.

But Atkinson opened his mouth and put his foot squarely in it:

Mr Atkinson said Australia could look to Scandinavia, which had far lower road tolls per head of population than Australia. The alcohol limit in Sweden is .02 and in Denmark .05. Their road toll deaths per 100,000 were four, Mr Atkinson said, compared to eight in Queensland.

The Danish BAC is the same as Queensland's. Their experience plainly indicates factors other than the BAC affect the road toll.

It's also intellectually dishonest to cite figures per 100,000 head of population when you're trying to make one point in your favour (even when you accidentally give the game away) and raw figures when trying to make a different point in your favour:

Last night, Queensland's road toll was sitting at 294 deaths – about a quarter of which have been alcohol- related – and was expected to climb to 340 for the year.

What does this mean per 100,000? The raw figures are meaningless. In fact they may be completely decieving since Queensland has a high population growth rate meaning more drivers on the road every year.

Meanwhile, the government grant monkeys are gibbering with delight:

The director of the Queensland University of Technology Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Barry Watson, said yesterday he thought it was inevitable that Queensland would eventually enforce a zero limit.

So regardless of any evidence to the contrary on the worth of lowering the limit, he's already backing his paymasters...

Dr Watson said it was difficult to estimate how effective a move to zero would be. He backed Mr Atkinson's concerns about needing more research, saying his centre did not have accurate figures on how many drivers in fatalities had blood alcohol levels of 0.05 per cent but the number was not large.

... but he'll have some of that cash anyway, thanks...

"But (lowering the limit) could have a broader effect," Dr Watson said. "So it may have a greater impact for people between 0.05 and 0.10 who have tried to limit their alcohol but miscalculated."

... and we'll ignore the fact that the state has repeatedly denied and discouraged people from using available breathalysers to adequately measure their BAC before driving.

A tow truck service operator then weighs in:

Spokesman for peak motoring body the RACQ Gary Fites agreed it was time to debate the proposal to lower the drink-drive limit. "Let's talk about it, let's look at it – everything should be on the table for discussion."

He acknowledged a large number of drink-drivers in court would have readings just over 0.05. "This could change if we lowered the limit – but we might not be convinced this is the most cost-effective way to reduce the road toll."

What Mr Fites is convinced of or not is irrelevant. The RACQ has sold its membership's right up the river to government without a fight too many times before. They'll be a doormat again and like it.

As will the population of Queensland when, after a wide ranging and vigorous debate /sarc, the Bligh Labor government reduces the limit to .02 instead of zero.

This is purpose of Atkinson raising this:

"It would effectively mean you couldn't have a drink," (Atkinson) said. "You couldn't even have a stubby of light beer."

It's part of the softening up so the populace will accept a smaller excrement sandwich that they'll be grateful for it not being bigger.

The State Opposition fired back late in the day with suggestions that current laws might be more stringently enforced and punished. They - and the currently 60% of ordinary Queenslanders who are against lowering the limit in a news.com.au poll - will undoubtedly be falsely accused of 'supporting drink driving' in the days to come as the media dutifully trots out tragic parents and families of drink driving victims who, let's face it, would sell every last bit of freedom they have to get their loved ones back.

But the opposition is right - if 35% of drink drivers are repeat offenders, one could slash drink driving by that amount simply by taking them more permanently off the road.

However, being genuinely tough on offenders is harder than clamping further down on the law-abiding, and infinitely easier than making driver training as tough as it is in Denmark where, let's not forget, they have half the Queensland road toll with the same BAC as Queensland has right now.

So, come the New Year and the new .02 level, enjoy your one cold light beer on a summer day road trip or at a Sunday afternoon barbeque. You'll be able to look back on it with nostalgia in another few years time when there's suddenly a 'debate' on going all the way to zero.

The only remaining question to ask is: when the limit is zero and the road toll hasn't fallen by the 25% of fatal crashes that 'involve' alcohol, what will government do then?

-- Nick

Why Not Just Kill Yourself Now?

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown is openly homosexual.

He undoubtedly feels oppressed by Australian Christians who disapprove of homosexuality.

But he has this to say about those who want to debate the issue of Muslim immigration into Australia:

"(It's) a pretty despicable comment," he said. "We are seeing a far right, pretty disgusting point of view."

The 'despicable comment' is the suggestion that ghettos are bad and people should be allowed free speech:

(Kevin) Andrews said the issue of a growing Muslim population was a topic that had to be discussed. "To have a concentration of one ethnic or one particular group that remains in an enclave for a long period of time is not good," the Liberal backbencher told Macquarie Radio Network today. "You should be able to talk about it ... it's ridiculous if you can't talk about any subject."

There's a delicious irony that Islam's disapproval of Bob's sexual preferences extends to imprisonment (Saudi Arabia) and execution (Iran).

Of course, these countries are under Sharia law and that will never be the case here (which is probably what the Brits once told themselves).

-- Nick

It's A Reason, Not An Excuse

Mark Steyn nails the Hollywood Loves Paedophiles scandal in his inimitable style and also makes some insightful observations of the star of the show:

Let us stipulate that Roman Polanski has memories few of us would wish to bear. He is the only movie director to have had three generations of his immediate family murdered – his mother, by the Nazis; his wife and unborn child, by Charles Manson's acolytes. The only reason he didn't wind up with his parents in Auschwitz is that, when he was 8, his father cut a hole in the barbed wire of the Warsaw ghetto and pushed his son out.

In a movie, the father would either die or survive for a tearful reunion with his boy. But after the war Polanski's dad remarried, and the new wife didn't want young Roman around. By the age of 13, the pattern of his life was set: That hurried escape through the wire of the ghetto would be only the first of a series of hasty exits.

Steyn then goes on to skewer one of Polanski's biggest boosters:

Harvey Weinstein, the man behind the pro-Polanski petition, rejects the idea that Hollywood is "amoral": "Hollywood has the best moral compass, because it has compassion," he told an interviewer.

Let us agree that Hollywood bigshots have "compassion" for people in general, for people far away in a big crowd scene on the distant horizon, for people in a we-are-the-world-we-are-the-children sense. But Hollywood bigshots treat people in particular, little people, individuals, like garbage.

Still, the little people still get to vote - with their wallets when it comes time to choose which flick they'll plump for in the multiplex.

And while Weinstein fondly imagines his moral compass is the best in town, his business judgement is also today called into question:

Mira-Maxed Out: Disney announced today that Miramax will be undergoing a restructuring that will reduce the amount of films the studio releases per year. This year, Miramax has only released four (with one more — Everybody’s Fine — to go), so there’s not a whole lot of room for downscaling. That sound you hear is Harvey Weinstein indulging in the only thing he can afford right now: schadenfreuede.

-- Nick

Full Circle

As a Who's Who of the international entertainment industry support their famous paedophile pal Roman Polanski, recently arrested after 30 years on the lam, an Australian magistrate feels obliged to mention the passage of years between crime and punishment have nothing to do with his imposition of next-to-no punishment on a lesser known local:

The significant time that had passed since the offence had no bearing on the sentence, (Sydney Magistrate Leslie Brennan) said. "Some 21 years later the matter has resurfaced," Mr Brennan told the court.

But, inexplicably, he adds:

"It was probably always on the mind of the young boy."

Indeed.

In fact, the homosexual assault by paedophile teacher Damien Vance, in which he 'incited' a 14-year-old boy to an act of mutual masturbation between February and October 1988, could have had far more damaging results than being 'on the mind' of the victim.

It may have - perhaps even has - left the now 35 year old with a whole range of psychological disorders including paedophile tendencies, homosexuality, sexual and social dysfunction, depression, sleep disorders - and the list goes on.

Yet Vance received a two-year good behaviour bond.

That his teaching career is now over is neither here nor there. The punishment is manifestly unequal to the crime.

At least the obscurity of this case may allow its victim some closure. No such luck for those who have the misfortune of being the sex toys of the rich and famous.

But one isn't referring - at least not at this moment - to the 13 year old girl vaginally and anally raped by a respected movie maker whose abscondment before sentencing ensured a vile-hearted media would drag the case back into the limelight on a regular basis throughout her adult life.

I'm thinking of Mackensie Phillips who, it was revealed this week, was drugged up from the age of 11 by her respected musician father, John Phillips, of The Mamas And The Papas, then raped by him at the age of 19 in a drug-fuelled stupor on the eve of her wedding. Papa Phillips then went on to continue raping his daughter for 10 years.

(Mackensie) Phillips said the sexual relationship, although she believes it eventually became consensual, was "an abuse of power" and "a betrayal" on her father's part.

A bit like the crime of teacher Damien Vance, really. But I digress.

Ah, such wonderful people, the famous - these cheap jongleurs who, once they have a movie or two or a couple of hit tunes under their belts, presume to tell us how to behave.

John Phillips always had a thing for a pretty young thing. Wikipedia:

While touring California with The Journeymen, he met his future second wife, the teenage Michelle Gilliam. Their affair finally forced the dissolution of his first marriage.

And he and his new wife moved in equally appreciative circles:

The Phillipses became Hollywood celebrities, living in the Hollywood Hills and socializing with stars like Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, and Roman Polanski.

What goes around, comes around.

-- Nick

What Do They Call These People

Here's a list of 100 celebrities who think there is nothing wrong with a man who drugs, rapes and sodomises a 13-year-old girl because they like his movies.

Just remember, when you're selecting a film to watch or an album to listen to, that Polaski raped a child.

-- Nora

All In A Day's Reporting

The UK Daily Mail reports British hospital management took a nurse off 'frontline' duty because she refused to hide her faith. No surprise that she's Christian:

A Christian nurse was taken off frontline duties after she refused to take off a necklace bearing a cross.

Management claimed it was for patient safety:

The hospital trust said today that necklaces were banned as there was a small risk that confused patients could grab them and cause injury.

and:

The policy was nothing to do with the cross itself which could be worn inside (not outside) her lapel

because:

"...the Trust considers the wearing of a necklace to be a risk, albeit small, within a clinical setting because patients, particularly those who may be confused, do sometimes grab for items when being moved."

so:

"If a member of staff asked if they could wear a crucifix pinned on their uniform lapel this would not comply with the same policy for the same reasons but it would be acceptable to wear it if pinned inside their uniform lapel or pocket."

In other words, the display of the crucifix is the offence as logic suggests a patient may be injured grabbing at a lapel with a crucifix on the inside as equally as grabbing at a lapel with a crucifix on the outside.

Better hide your opinions too. The same edition of the Daily Mail reports:

A Christian couple have been charged with a criminal offence after taking part in what they regarded as a reasonable discussion about religion with guests at their hotel.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang were arrested after a Muslim woman complained to police that she had been offended by their comments. They have been charged under public order laws with using ‘threatening, abusive or insulting words’ that were ‘religiously aggravated’.

The couple, whose trial has been set for December, face a fine of up to £5,000 and a criminal record if they are convicted.

Their offence was to state historical facts in the course of a discussion somebody else started:

It is understood that they suggested that Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a warlord and that traditional Muslim dress for women was a form of bondage.

Meanwhile, yet again in the same edition of the Daily Mail, non-Muslims are instructed in matters of respect and consideration:

Home Office staff were officially warned not to eat in front of their fasting Muslim colleagues during Ramadan – in case it made them feel hungry. The advice came in a taxpayer-funded internal document listing do’s and don’ts during the Muslim holy month, which ends this weekend.

In unsurprising developments, a Muslim group takes offence at attempts not to cause offence:

The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, which claims to be fighting a ‘political jihad against Islamophobia’, attacked the document. It said: ‘It is designed to create more hatred in the hearts of non-Muslims.

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

-- Nick

Britain's Health Service Death Panels

US conservatives were shouted down over drawing attention to plans to include 'death panels' in the structure of Barack Obama's health care 'reform'.

American socialists said they were nothing of the sort, although the measures were quickly stripped from the proposed bill, where they were included not under medical considerations but as a means of keeping the down the inherantly crippling costs of a national health service.

Then the UK media got nasty when American conservatives said they didn't want a system like the British National Health Service.

But this is the BHS:

Rosemary Munkenbeck says her father Eric Troake, who entered hospital after suffering a stroke, had fluid and drugs withdrawn and she claims doctors wanted to put him on morphine until he passed away under a scheme for dying patients called the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP)... When a patient is put on the pathway the medical team looks for signs that they are approaching their final hours, which can include loss of consciousness or difficulty swallowing medication. But doctors last week warned semi-consciousness and confusion are a side effect of painkillers such as morphine if patients are also dehydrated. Palliative care experts... last week warned that the LCP can mask signs that a patient's condition is improving.

-- Nick

Believe It, Or Not...

LEMON-headed aliens, scrambled fighter jets and mysterious lights over a cemetery were among details of some 800 UFO sightings released by British authorities today.

But another intriguing finding to emerge from the 1981-1996 archives was a surge in reports at the time of UFO-related blockbusters such as 1996's Independence Day, not to mention the British television run of The X-Files.

Coincidence or conspiracy?

Cue the voice of Jack Palance...

Quick Quiz

Q: What do you call adults who find entertainment in sexualising under age children?

A: Radio clowns Kylie Sanderlands and Jackie O, of course.

-- Nora

Sins Of Omission

Tim Blair calls them 'men of no description' when certain Australian newspapers edit out any mention of ethnic appearance in police crime reports.

Agence France Presse and News Limited go one further in a report on a rape and subsequent circumstances in the United States:

ONE of four boys charged with raping an eight-year-old girl in the US state of Arizona last week will be prosecuted as an adult. The details of the case have shocked local officials and provoked outrage across the United States after the parents of the young victim disowned her on grounds she had "shamed" her family.

It's a matter of disgraceful shame too - on the part of AFP and News - that they did not extend the 'details of the case' to mentioning pertinent facts.

For throughout the remainder of the story, there is no mention of the fact that both the victim and her attackers were Liberian refugees, something which was easy to find in under 60 seconds by Googling the case and reading US reports.

It's quite plain that the agency and/or the news outlet edited out this information so that readers' prejudices against Americans could freely have their head, clearing the way for a picture to form of dastardly rednecks disowning a child raped by equally ignorant and typically thuggish white American boys.

I made three or four attempts early in the piece yesterday to set the record straight in comments but none were published by News' information gatekeepers, though, late in the day, an American reader was able to get it past them.

However, by then the damage was done, and not just in furthering the vile anti-American prejudices of AFP and many journalists generally.

Lost is a vitally important opportunity to consider the implications of Western nations accepting refugees who are psychologically damaged from years of civil war in their homelands.

This story is a stark and shocking example of how Americans are paying for their kindness. In Australia and Britain too, there are like events relating to refugees from similarly war-torn African countries.

It really is time that Western governments considered the welfare of their existing nationals and undertook to assist in resolving conflicts and fostering extended periods of social stability in troubled overseas countries rather than just importing their damaged goods and imagining this largesse will instantly cure the horrors that ail them.

-- Nick

Footnote: Andrew Bolt asks some of the same questions in his blog today.

But Only Wryly So

Amusing that the governments that would ban alcohol advertising in sport have no problems letting pubs stay open all night long.

Hilarious that even The Greens see the hypocrisy:

"The hotels industry donated $1.7 million to the government and over $1 million to the coalition between 2003-2007. Of this $2.7 million, $1.8 million came directly from the hotels lobby group, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA). Clubs donated $382,850 to the government and $461,864 to the coalition between 2003-2007. Of this $844,714, $512,692 came from the clubs lobby group, Clubs NSW. Hotels and the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) are now the fourth biggest donor to the major parties, after developers, unions and the finance industry."

-- Nick

UPDATE: Drug Arm Centre of Addiction director Caroline Salom gets where alcohol problems are coming from and it's not VB sponsoring the footy:

(She) said drugs were an issue but alcohol abuse was much more widespread and drinkers were getting younger. "Where it used to be about 14 or 15, we're now looking at 12 or 13 where young people first start to drink," she said.

Ms Salom said the main reason was the emergence of a definitive adolescence.

"From a sociological point of view, we've created this adolescence period which didn't exist 100 years ago," she said.

"These young people have become more pressured over the last couple of decades to model adult behaviour, and that includes drinking and drugs.

"But they don't have the expectations of adulthood like responsible behaviour, so for them, they don't just have to drink, they have to get drunk." (Emphasis added)

Cop That, Leo

Utopian-minded dreamers love to coo about 'the wisdom of children', a phrase which was the title and also the theme of a short story by another Utopian-minded dreamer.

In the story, two girls playing in new frocks accidentally splash mud on the dress of one. Their mothers argue, causing others to argue and fight. But:

In the meantime, Akulka had washed off her frock, and she and Malasha returned to the pool. The two girls make a small boat out of bark, and they make a stream from the puddle. They go chasing after the boat together, as happy as ever. Akulka's grandmother urges everyone to follow the example of the children, and take their spirit of forgiveness into their own hearts.

Yeah, right.

This is the wisdom of children:

A SWAZI man was stoned to death by a mob of schoolchildren after he stabbed a 13-year-old girl to death with a spear and wounded 12 others at their school... teachers had tried unsuccessfully to stop the students from killing the man.

There's a lesson in there somewhere.

-- Nick

Balls In The Air

THE AFL Players' Association is funding counselling sessions for a woman who claimed to have had sex with up to 200 elite players.

Surely chiropractic treatment would be more appropriate.

She said players kept in regular contact with her and she admitted to sometimes engaging in group sex with them.

She said she was not abused, had always engaged in consensual acts and had not suffered as a result of her lifestyle.

So why the counselling? Unless she provided her services for free, in which case she needs a business coach, not a therapist.

Women's Forum Australia spokeswoman Misty de Vries said the issue, and the latest John Elliott controversy, were further proof players had not shown enough respect towards women.

"It highlights again that even with apparent consent there is a need for more integrity towards women," she said.

Ah yes, in the feminist's disordered thinking 'yes' actually means 'no' unless signed by a notary public.

Amy also declined to comment.

It's also not known whether the notary public also participated in the group sex with feminists.

Either way, society is screwed.

-- Nora

Crackerjack

The BBC says the corporation has:

... an "unequivocal" commitment to religious broadcasting and... Christians, as the majority UK faith, would remain its central audience.

That must be why they have appointed a Muslim, formerly with Channel 4, as Head of BBC Religious Broadcasting.

The Church of England reacts typically too gently and, probably, too late:

"Many of the Channel 4 programmes concerned with Christianity, in contrast to those featuring other faiths, seem to be of a sensationalist or unduly critical nature," wrote Nigel Holmes, a Synod member... From this point of view it is worrying that the Channel 4 religion and multicultural commissioning editor, Aaqil Ahmed, who is a Muslim, is soon to be responsible for all the religious output from the BBC."

It takes a comedian and former kid's show host to not pull his punches:

Don Maclean... who hosted Good Morning Sunday for 16 years, said the broadcaster was 'keen' on programmes that attack the Christian church... "you don't see any programmes on Anglicanism that don't talk about homosexual clergy and you don't see anything on Roman Catholicism that don't talk about paedophiles. They seem to take the negative angle every time. They don't do that if they're doing programmes on Islam. Programmes on Islam are always supportive.

"I'm not against anybody's right to practise their religion and I think we need to talk sensibly to people who practise the Islamic religion... the last thing we want is war on the streets... we need all the moderate Muslims to stand up and be counted."

He added: 'They're all in private telling you how dreadful they think Islamic terrorism is, but they're not forming together in a group and standing up against it. But it's as big a threat as Nazism was in the 1930s when Germans stood back and didn't stand up against that, and if they had maybe the Second World War wouldn't have started."

-- Nick

'You can learn from dead things, you know.'

You've got to laugh at the thought that one of the 'greatest' rock musicians evah wasn't really popular enough to make it on his own merit:

(Manager) Jeffery was so poor he had to borrow money from his parents to fund Hendrix's gigs, so it was vitally important to his strategy that Jimi's records sold. To make sure they did, Jeffery bought hundreds of copies to boost their performance in the charts.

Seeking to boost the performance of his book, a former roadie airs long-standing claims the whacked-out guitarist was murdered.

Fall or push, looks like it was a good career move.

-- Nick

Wax On, Wax Off

To hide the embarrassing facts about Kung Fu David Carradine's undignified death, the family, rather than attempting the usual schtick of positing suicide as a possibility, has instead turned to the fantastic:

KUNG-FU cult hero David Carradine may have been killed by a secret society of martial arts assassins, his family's lawyer claims.

The New York Post reports Mark Geragos suggested Carradine may have been attempting to uncover groups working in the martial-arts underworld at the time of his death.

It seems like the late David Carradine isn't who engages in masturbatory fantasies.

-- Nora

Can't Connect The Dots

They're not journalists because they're bright:

Police arrested 65 revellers for drug offences on their way into the Winter Sound System dance party... Despite the arrests, Acting Inspector Martin Tynan said police and ambulance crews were thrilled with the behaviour of the 17,000 strong crowd. (emphasis added)

Co-writers Antonia Magee and Anne Wright of the Herald Sun miss the obvious even when it's stated directly:

"It has been very quiet. Everyone is very happy with the crowd's behaviour," Inspector Tynan said. “In view that 17,000 people were in attendance and at this stage there are no reported overdoses, then from a harm minimisation perspective we must consider this operation a success,” he said.

It's not despite the arrests, it's because of them.

-- Nick

A Feminist Bent

When is a kidnapping not a kidnapping but a "kidnapping"?



When the online sub writing the pointer decides they know better than the Swedish authorities and AAP's Stockholm correspondents:

The boys were allegedly abducted in October last year by their Swedish mother. She was charged with their kidnapping and became a wanted fugitive in Sweden. The father had custody of the children but the mother was granted access twice a year.

What would the Swedish cops know anyway? They were too dopey to track down the not-really-a-kidnapper who was being aided and abetted by her parents and, it has been suggested, a feminist group.

And who cares that the cops don't have the resources to stake out a house 24/7 for an entire week as did the father?

After all, everyone knows it's only a crime if a father "kidnaps" his children.

-- Nick

Too Little, Too Late?

Melanie Phillips makes a point others have also been trying to make recently:

Although most people may no longer be churchgoers, Christianity infuses all this country's institutions, traditions and values.

These have been systematically attacked by a secular culture of unlimited self-indulgence and self-destructive behaviour, resulting in the collapse of the married family, rising crime, drug and alcohol abuse and a grievous erosion of the sanctity of human life.

She may as well be talking of Australia as of Britain.

But is the point she makes too late, considering the cult of individualism that is washing once strong societies down the gutter?

-- Nick

Interpret It In Your Own Way

Muslim parents in Britain join forces with Christians to stand up for the right to not have their children proselytised to on homosexuality:

Parents face possible court action for withdrawing their children from lessons on gay and lesbian history. More than 30 pupils were pulled out of a week of teaching at a primary school which included books about homosexual partnerships. The controversial content was worked into the curriculum at George Tomlinson School in Waltham Forest, East London...

Pervez Latif, whose children Saleh, ten, and Abdur-Rahim, nine, attend the school, said... Christian and Muslim parents had objected to the theme linked to Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender History Month... One story covered in a lesson was King and King, a fairytale about a prince who turns down three princesses before falling in love with one of their brothers.

It's all about tolerance:

A spokesman for Waltham Forest Council said: ‘As part of the borough’s policy of promoting tolerance in our schools, children are taught that everyone in our society is of equal value.'

... intolerance of which will not be tolerated:

Regrettably, some parents chose to remove their children from school. ‘The council does not condone any unauthorised absence from school and action has been taken.’

Such unity between Muslim and Christian... but wait - just across town in Croydon, South London:

A gymnastics club was forced to stop holding classes at an independent girls school after Muslim parents complained about boy members of the group. Colin Perry, who runs the Shirley Gymnastics Club, said... 'There is a group of Muslim parents with Muslim children at the school and they are the ones putting pressure on the headteacher.'

He was told about the decision at a meeting with headteacher Judy Harris a few weeks ago. 'She said some of the parents have said their children go to an independent all girls school and unfortunately they're concerned because we have got boys in the club,' Mr Perry said.

'She said to us that the school has got far more Muslim children than last year, so effectively we have to interpret that in our own way (enphasis added).'

-- Nick

Nipping Crime In The Bud

Capping off a week in which a 15 year old with a history of carrying a knife was arrested at school following threats to staff comes this warning of things to come:

OUT-OF-CONTROL four and five-year-olds are being suspended from Prep classes in a crackdown on school violence involving attacks on teachers. Education authorities say they have been forced to suspend the pint-sized problem pupils to protect teachers from being kicked, bitten and hit.

At the same time, a generation of children who have never had their egos curbed protest against an attempt to instill some little modicum of discipline:

STUDENTS at a Gold Coast high school are openly revolting against a new headmaster who is enforcing a dress code they say bans coloured bras. Elanora State High students used social networking site MySpace to organise a protest yesterday which was crushed by teachers. Hundreds of rowdy students massed on the school oval at morning tea but were herded back by visibly stressed and angry teachers... "He's banned coloured bras, piercings, dyed hair, and rat's tails (hairdos)," one said. "No one is happy about it. All the chicks wear make-up and everyone has piercings. It's way over the top and old-fashioned - that's why the protest was organised."

The school's P&C Association supports the principal's efforts to enforce the school dress code but some don't think there's any point in trying to shape children's behaviour:

Social commentator and The Courier-Mail columnist Dr Karen Brooks said the students were "just voicing their opinion". "They have the technology to be able to organise a protest like this and I don't think we can stop it."

Really? One supposes not; after all, 'they have the technology' so what's the use?

In Britain, they look nostaligically back upon some old technology:

One in five teachers believe the cane should be reintroduced in schools to restore order in the classroom. More than 20 years after corporal punishment was banned in state schools, many teachers said it was acceptable to hit children "in extreme cases". The majority of those backing the cane said it was needed to crackdown on bad behaviour in British schools.

It follows a Government-backed study last year which found many parents believed discipline had deteriorated since the cane was abolished... One supply teacher told researchers: "Children's behaviour is now absolutely outrageous in the majority of schools. I am a supply teacher, so I see very many schools and there are no sanctions. There are too many anger management people and their ilk who give children the idea that it is their right to flounce out of lessons for time out because they have problems with their temper. They should be caned instead."

And a primary teacher, said: "There is justification, or an argument, for bringing back corporal punishment, if only as a deterrent. I believe some children just don't respond to the current sanctions."

However, the pro-caners are soon put in their place by those who know better:

John Dunford, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Thankfully, corporal punishment is no longer on the agenda, except in the most uncivilised countries. I am sure that this barbaric punishment has disappeared forever."

Meanwhile, back in Queensland:

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg has promised an extra 1000 police across the state within three years under an LNP government... "Safer homes and safer streets is going to be a core priority of an LNP Government', he said.

They is, is they? Mr Springborg obviously needs to get back to school and not just to correct his English.

Here is a radical idea for law and order - bring back the cane and effective discipline in schools, backed by laws protecting teachers from being sued by parents who are as self-entitled as their offspring. Then order the State magistracy to make their sentencing recommendations reflect community expectations.

Curbing crime in its infancy - pun intended - is what is required as a long term solution, not 1000 extra police.

That's like whipping up extra nurses to apply bandaids without asking why so many people are getting cut in the first place.

-- Nick

Wendy Richard

Wendy Richard made her career as a TV actress playing mouthy women. Just two of them.

After her 20 years on the BBC soap EastEnders, she may be recalled as the rather haggard Pauline Fowler. I'd prefer to remember her as the brash and sexy Shirley Brahms in Are You Being Served:



Miss Richard died this week.

There was a lot to like about the actress. Not only did people find her delightful in person, she knew where to draw the line between entertainment and propaganda:

When she left EastEnders she said she was doing so because she objected to some parts of the storyline and script. At one stage, Richard was reportedly given a script which included a vicious tirade against Margaret Thatcher. She refused to perform this sequence, accusing the scriptwriters of using the series as a soapbox for their political opinions.

-- Nick

Short Attention... thingies...

It's an observation many have already noted with regard to overexposure to television. Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield puts web-based social networking sites in the frame as well:

Social networking websites are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users, an eminent scientist has warned. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centred... Computer games and fast-paced TV shows were also a factor, she said. 'We know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist,' she told the Mail yesterday. 'My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.'

Quite.

-- Nick

Apology Awaited

I've asked it before and I'll ask it again after this:

Adrian Nisbett, 59, who taught English at the private school for three decades, was arrested today and charged with sex offences against three boys between 1976 and 1990. Two other teachers - one retired, and one current staff member - are already before the courts charged with sexual assaults on students in the 1980s... Police do not believe the men charged so far acted together, although some alleged victims were common to all three.

When does the education industry intend to apologise publicly for the institutionalised sexual abuse of children?

-- Nick

It's The Will Of God And You Can't Do A Thing About It

An Islamic revolutionary gets hit with a cluebat in this UK Telegraph piece:

Yet the Islamic Republic created by Mr Yazdi and his comrades failed to live up to the dreams of a Muslim democracy, in which sagacious ayatollahs would stand as guardians of the democratic wishes of the people.

"What is happening now is a disaster," says Mahmood Delkhasteh, one of the first young soldiers to heed Khomeini's call to desert the Shah's army and join the revolution. "Many people regret participating."

Within months of the revolution, the euphoria had evaporated as the rival factions began a brutal battle for control of the country, which ended with a repressive state that imprisoned and executed thousands of political prisoners – including many of the revolutionaries themselves.

But he and his fellow revolutionaries remain distinctly Islamic in thinking:

Now, 30 years wiser, Mr Jalaiepour acknowledges the terrible price paid for the revolution and says that gradual change is more effective. "Reform is better than revolution, but sometimes revolutions just happen (emphasis added)," he says.

It's an expression of what's been dubbed Inshallah fatalism:

If in every second phrase, you use that term, and if you really believe that at any moment Allah can come in, and exercise his will or his whim, and if all things are decided by him, well then -- to the extent that that is truly believed, you are less likely to strive.

... as well as:

...mental submission, which Islam encourages. It encourages it because the whole basis of the Total Belief-System is not reason, but authority: you accept what Allah does, without questioning. You follow the human example of Muhammad, without questioning. If Muhammad "marries" little Aisha when she is nine, no need to question that or to question, therefore, the Ayatollah Khomeini when, as virtually his first act, he lowers the marriageable age of girls to nine.

Speaking of Khomeini, the Telegraph article reveals a further cluebat blow for useful idiots among the dhimmis:

...BBC reporter John Simpson... was on the plane taking the ayatollah back to Iran.

"I'd interviewed Khomeini in France, where he was pretty cold and fierce, but he was at least very polite," says Simpson. "But when we went forward to talk to him in the plane, he took no notice of us at all. I asked in my best polite Farsi if he would answer some questions and he just looked out of the window. We had served our purpose during all the interviews he gave before leaving France (emphasis added)."

However, they're not useful because they're bright. Simpson likely still doesn't have a clue.

-- Nick

Looking Before Leaping

A British home renovation store has been forced to withdraw do-it-yourself wind turbine kits after they failed to live up to claims:

The study, which tested different types of turbines in different locations, showed the worst performing devices provided less energy than needed for a conventional light bulb.

It's another blow to knock the wind from the sails of wind power, which is possibly the worst of all alternative energy sources:

Turbines are hopelessly ineffectual. The amount of electricity they deliver is derisory. The total power generated by all the 2,300 turbines so far built in Britain — covering hundreds of square miles of countryside and sea — averages just over 600 megawatts in a year, less than that contributed by a single medium-size conventional power station.

And it further compounds the lack of wisdom in repeatedly running headlong into green 'solutions' for the perceived evils of traditional methods in everything from refrigerants:

Hydrofluorocarbons or 'HFCs' have been increasingly used in the last decade or so as an alternative to ozone damaging CFCs in refrigeration systems. Unfortunately, though they provide an effective alternative to CFCs, they can also be powerful greenhouse gases with long atmospheric lifetimes.

...that are:

...4,000 times more powerful in causing climate warming than carbon dioxide.

...to energy-efficient light bulbs:

...the bulbs are extremely energy-efficient... (but) contain mercury, a neurotoxin that can cause kidney and brain damage. The amount is tiny — about 5 milligrams, or barely enough to cover the tip of a pen — but that is enough to contaminate up to 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe drinking levels...

...that require hazmat handling:

The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior to vacuuming. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

-- Nick

Conclusion Drawn

Police admit road rage is on the rise:

ROAD rage in Queensland is becoming increasingly violent, concerned police have warned in the wake of the shooting death of a young motorist. "Certainly it's something we probably didn't see 10 years ago that we are seeing now," Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said.

Over to road safety expert Professor Barry Watson:

"One thing our research clearly shows is that the people who are more likely to act aggressively on the roads ... things like tailgating, flashing lights and verbal abuse, are people who tend to be more aggressive in their general life. There's an old saying in road safety that people drive as they live and ... contrary to a popular view that anyone can become aggressive on the road, our research suggests it's people who have a propensity for aggression that are more likely to act in an aggressive way on the road."

The two statements lead to a conclusion - that if violent people act violently on the road and violence on the road is increasing then violence generally is increasing.

How could this possibly be? We've spent the past couple of generations trying to make the world a better place by completely re-engineering western society along politically correct lines and raising the rights of the individual to do as they please above all else. And it gets more violent? How confusing.

-- Nick

Off With His Head!

Another day, another offended Islamic interest group:

A BRISBANE radio station may have to explain why it should keep its licence after an announcer was accused of making anti-Islamic comments. Former Victorian police officer, now 4BC drive-time announcer, Michael Smith called for Muslim women who wear an Islamic hijab in public to be fined for offensive behaviour.

Smith's comments seem a little much straight out of the blocks - one normally eases into such things - but the general sentiment of distaste for one of Islam's most obvious symbolic combinations of conspicuous piety and the oppression of women is shared by many.

Indeed, two polls on the the 4BC website currently show vast support for the banning of the hajib in Australia and for religious headgear that covers the face to be removed on entering banks.

In the end, however, Smith could have said something so mildly critical as to be meaningless and the Islamic complaint squads would have still descended.

Is there anything an infidel does that doesn't offend a Muslim?

Not really; that's why Portuguese cardinal Jose Policarpo had little to lose with this:

(He) warned Roman Catholic women against marrying Muslim men. "Be careful with love. Think twice before marrying a Muslim, think seriously because it brings loads of hassle... When you recognise what a young European of Christian upbringing is subjected to, given Muslim attitudes to women, the first time she goes to their countries, we can imagine what that entails. You can only dialogue with someone who is willing to dialogue. With our Muslim brothers, for example, dialogue is very difficult... We have taken the first steps, but it's extremely difficult - because for them, their truth is the only way."

Little to lose except his head, of course. You mustn't offend the Religion of Peace.

-- Nick

Word Up

Words matter, despite the admonishment in the children's schoolyard rhyme.

Christians believe that God spoke the world into being and Jesus is described as the Word.

Words matter because they articulate feelings and communicate ideas; they can create or they can destroy.

Over the past few weeks Nicky and I have been discussing how the use of particular words are being used to influence social thinking.

Here's today's blatant example of words being misused in order to promote a political agenda - animal rights activists, PETA, are trying to make people refer to fish as 'sea kittens'.

And they have developed a game so you can create your own 'sea kitten' from cartoon avatars of flounder, tuna, salmon and trout.

Crazy? Perhaps. Effective? Quite possibly as this comment shows:

I love the idea! Fish get the short end of the stick so often because they aren't cute and cuddly. I love that PETA is suggesting this. And I love that everyone is taking it so seriously. I mean, c'mon! Are you all afraid that someone's gonna come along and tell you that you can't eat fish? Poor you! Think about how it would feel getting hooked through the jaw, dragged into a place where you can't breathe, then having your neck broken. All so someone who doesn't need to can eat you. Real considerate.

Posted by: Glenn Gaetz of 2:44pm today

A very typical reaction of someone whose world view has been influenced into believing that harvesting a protein-rich food resource is the equivalent to killing a family pet.

Worse still, it is the world view of someone who sees no moral difference between killing a human being and killing an animal.

Words matter.

Mum's The Word
1 Shot Vodka
1 Shot Cherry Brandy
3 Shots Orange Juice
Shake all ingredients together with ice and strain into a martini glass.

-- Nora

Tintin's Bogus Adventure

'Openly homosexual' media commentator and former British MP Matthew Parris needs to go back to the playbook and find a new schtick because the jig is up on this one:

AS Belgian comic-book icon Tintin celebrates his 80th birthday, an age-old question has resurfaced: is the boy reporter gay? One commentator says the signs are unmistakable. "Billions of blue blistering barnacles, isn't it staring us in the face?,'' wrote The Times journalist Matthew Parris under the headline "Of course Tintin's gay. Ask Snowy", ahead of today's anniversary.

Proclaiming Tintin gay is straight out of the PR handbook After The Ball, written in the late ‘80s by Harvard social scientists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, themselves homosexual:

“...paint gay men and lesbians as superior — veritable pillars of society... famous historical figures are considered especially useful to us... invariably dead as a doornail, hence in no position to deny the truth and sue for libel.”

Being a cartoon character, Tintin is in no position to answer the claims either and one doubts author Georges Remi's estate would bother these days.

Way to go, Matty, spoiling a children's comic book character.

However, there's a lovely irony in other parts of Parris' column as he ignores Madsen and Kirk's admonishments to not talk about some of the more uncomfortable truths of homosexuality:

"Tintin never talks about his parents or family, as though trying to block out the very existence of a father or mother. As psychologists will confirm, this is common among young gay men,'' said Parris.

Sounds like a psychological disorder to me.

-- Nick

A Weighty Problem

As the NSW Ambulance Service looks at buying extra large planes to transport grossly overweight patients, it's worth considering the causes of the 'obesity epidemic'.

Invited to vent their spleen in The Daily Telegraph:

Should taxpayers have to shoulder the burden of obese patients? Vote here and tell us below.

...presumably lean commenters on the above story have little sympathy for the overweight:

Kyle Ruxton of Kangaroo Flat Posted at 2:06pm today
Get the fatties to pay higher taxes to pay for all this extra equipment. Don't get other people to pay for it, after all, most people don't stuff their faces and claim they have a 'medical condition'. These lard arses need to take responsibility. Quit shovelling food into your mouth and there wouldn't be any need for extra equipment to transport these people.

The erudite Mr Ruxton misses a point one believes Acting NSW Health Minister Ian Macdonald half gets:

"This should be a wake up call to the community to watch what they eat by cutting down on fats and sugars and increasing how often they exercise." (emphasis added)

It would appear to this lean observer that it's lack of exercise that is mainly responsible for the spreading issue of obesity.

Certainly our diets are broadly higher in fats and sugars than they were two generations ago but the problem of people of normal metabolism gaining weight from eating too much of this or that boils down in the end to a simple formula of input versus output.

Food of most kinds is converted to energy in the body and if the energy is not then expended, it's 'banked' by conversion to fat until it can be expended by activity.

People always have become overweight from failing to match output with input. However, the solution to our current problems aren't to be solved in obesity expert Garry Egger's way:

"Government has got to take greater responsibility for this epidemic if it wants to reduce the enormous cost that's going to occur, the enormous cost to the next generation," he said.

It's not government's responsibility, nor is it solely the responsibility of the obese as Mr Ruxton would have it, though certainly at the end of the day it's up to those suffering the problem to do the work that will overcome it.

However, when looking to apportion blame or fault, it needs sharing around.

Poor eating and exercise habits among the young are the responsibility of parents who lack the guts to tell their kids 'no' - no to sitting around the house listening to iPods, watching TV, surfing the net, texting friends and playing Wii and imagining it's exercise. No to 'aw, drive me to school'. And no to constant snacking and poor dietary choices unless they're willing to match input with output by substantially replacing the above sedentary activities with getting out of the house, watching the world outside, perhaps actually going surfing, meeting and playing with friends, undertaking real physical activities instead of virtual ones, and getting on the bike they got for Christmas and riding to school.

Of course, not all parents are 'no-phobic' pseudo-adults enslaved to their not-so-little emperors and princesses, fearful of not giving them their every whim and thus failing to be their children's 'friend'.

There's reason to believe many parents, and children too, are just plain fearful.

They're afraid of the outside world thanks to a media that often promotes danger as omnipresent. But this is Australia and it is still a lucky country in that its streets are not those of such urban warzones as London where kids stab and shoot each other in ever increasing numbers.

However, as Australia's social order shows signs of slipping down the British path, if we're not to allow that perception to become the reality here and give parents actual rather than imagined reason not to let their kids hide at home all day, we should perhaps call on government to address the social issues of violence in society.

In a roundabout way, we're back to asking government to do something.

Perhaps that's what Garry Egger meant.

Or probably not.

-- Nick

Hi Honey, I'm Home

The Courier Mail begins an interesting piece with a fallacious headline:

1950s housewife returns

The story, about how younger women are going back to domestic tasks such as sewing and cooking, says more about the psychology of financially perilous times than it does about a feminist backlash - not that you'd know it from the headline.

So ladies, if you'd like to brush up on the domestic arts from years gone by, take a look through the goodies on Nifty Knick Knacks.

To begin the lesson let's try the classic cocktail - the Old Fashioned:

2 oz Blended Whiskey
1 teaspoon sugar
Few shakes of angostura bitters
2 or 3 tablespoons soda water
1 maraschino cherry and a little of its cherry juice
Combine the sugar cube, bitters and water in an old-fashioned glass. Muddle well, add blended whiskey, and stir. Add a twist of lemon peel and ice cubes. Add slices of orange and lemon and top with the cherry. Serve with a swizzle stick.

Delicious!

-- Nora