News for 31 March

Is this a rock or is this a rock?

An Australian man has been arrested for drink-driving after he asked police the way to Uluru - just 100 metres from the 1,115ft high rock.

Police say the 44-year-old was driving a four-wheel drive with his headlights shining on the rock when he waved them down. It happened in the dark but come on, it's the world's greatest monolith.

Anyway, he failed a breath test


BEER SPA
The world's first beer health centre has opened in the cellar of a family brewery in the Czech Republic.

Beer baths, beer massages and beer cosmetics are on offer at the spa at the Chodovar Family brewery in Chodova Plana.

The converted cellars include seven huge Victorian style baths where guests can swim in beer while enjoying a pint poured at a bathside bar.

Guests on £80 weekend packages can indulge in a range of health treatments including beer wraps, starting at £12 per session.

Owner Jiri Plevka said: "Beer can treat a range of conditions, particularly skin conditions, and the health centre should appeal to men who are put off by 'posh' traditional spas. I have heard of some places in other countries where people can swim in beer but it's just a gimmick.

Cryonic founders melt

Two founders of the cryonics movement - whose members are frozen after death - have been cremated after a freezer mishap.

The bodies of Raymond Martinot and his wife Monique were stored in a freezer in the hope modern science could one day revive them.But, 22 years after his mother's body was put into cold storage, their son discovered the freezer unit had broken down,

Rémy Martinot said he had no choice but to cremate his parents' bodies after the technical fault had seen their temperatures rise above the constant level required of -65C.

"I don't feel any more bereaved today than I did when my parents died, I had already done my grieving," he said.

Teenager carried away in undies
A US teenager may have set a new record after he was picked up and carried by a tornado for a quarter of a mile.

Matt Suter, 19, was in his family's trailer home near Fordland, Missouri, when it was hit by the twister. Matt, wearing only his boxer shorts, was hit and knocked out by a flying lamp before the tornado sucked him through the collapsing trailer walls.

Propelled by 150mph winds, he was hurled up into the air and flew over a barbed wire fence more than 200 yards away.

Matt eventually landed in soft grass in an open field, dazed and bleeding from the scalp wound, but otherwise intact.

"I've always told my girlfriend I wanted to see a tornado," he said. "But I sure didn't want to be in one."

A National Weather Service official used a GPS device to work out that he travelled 1,307ft. let that be a lesson to you, always have clean udies .. like your mother said


Retrainng Sex Workers
Prostitutes in Germany are being given the chance to retrain as geriatric nurses.

About 30 prostitutes, aged 20 to 40, are to take up a two-year training course for auxiliary nurses in North Rhine Westphalia.

The scheme, funded by the church and the EU, is aimed at easing a chronic shortfall in nurses as well as offering an alternative to prostitutes.

One trainee, Angelika, who is in her late 30s and worked in Bochum as a prostitute for six years said she had found the transition very smooth: "I'm feeling good," she said.

Rita Kühn, of the protestant church's welfare programme, said: "They are in general very good at dealing with people, in addition to which they don't get squeamish and have absolutely no fear about touching or being touched."

Retraining? I'm sure the listeners have more ideas for retraining
...................

Look on the Bright Side
A man whose house was flooded after a storm found a bright side by catching trout in his cellar.

Mile Tutic, from Tutici in Montenegro, amazed neighbours by catching eight trout in his cellar after a nearby river burst its banks.

He said: "It's great that I can go fishing whenever I want."

Vale

Alvie Booth recently passed away at the grand age of 98.

Alvie was a wonderful woman who never missed an opportunity to campaign for peace, women's rights and issues of social justice, she was a real activist who even at the age of 92 travelled to the Northern Territory to demonstrate against the mining of uranium, where she was actually arrested and charged with an offence (

The example she set for us all and the message she left for us is to never give up the fight for justice and what you believe in and you are never too old to make your mark and deliver your protest!


Vale Amal Basry, a woman of great courage and humanity, who died in Melbourne on Saturday. After fleeing Iraq with her son, Amal boarded the SIEV X on her journey to Australia. *On October 19, 2001* when the boat went down, Amal survived 15 hours in the cold dark ocean with her son.

Not content with surviving Amal became the witness to that terrible voyage. She retold the story of that night over and over so that those who drowned would not be forgotten. Amal reminded us that *46 children, 142 women and 65 men* lost their lives in their flight to freedom and reunification with their families in Australia. Only 7 made it to
Australia.

In this fifth anniversary year of the Siev X, the Tampa and the Children Overboard boats, we will not forget this brave woman who reminded us that life for refugees is a struggle requiring great courage and humanity.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig

Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig or Lá 'le Pádraig
Pronunciation: law ay-leh paw-rig or law leh paw-rig

: Naomh Pádraig

Word: March
Irish: Márta
Pronunciation: mawr-thah

Word: 17th
Irish: an seachtú lá déag
Pronunciation: on shokh-thoo law djayg

Word: Shamrock
Irish: Seamróg
Pronunciation: sham-rohg


Phrase: Happy St. Patrick's Day (to you singular/plural)
Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona dhuit/dhaoibh or Lá le Pádraig dhuit/dhaoibh
Pronunciation: law ay-leh paw-drig hun-ah gwitch/yeeve or law leh paw-dhrig hun-ah gwitch/yeeve


Phrase: Are you going to the parade?
Irish: A' mbeidh tú ag an bpáraid?
Pronunciation: ah my thoo egg on bah-raw-idh?

Phrase: I will be marching in the parade
Irish: Beidh mé ag máirseáil sa pharáid
Pronunciation: bye may egg mawr-shaw-il sa fah-raw-idh

Phrase: I hope the weather will be fair (for us)
Irish: Ta súil agam go mbeidh aimsear soinneann againn
Pronunciation: thaw soo-il ah-gum guh my am-shir sun-inn ah-ginn

International Lexicon

Anne McAllister (you'll hear her this Friday morning) sent along a document called the Republican Lexicon : Definitions for deciphering speeches and news reports

On closer perusal I see that it's equally applicable here in Australia. I've plucked out my favourites from the original list, and removed referemces to American politicians (for chrissake our own are bad enough)

* alternative energy sources/ n./* New locations to drill for gas and oil.

* class warfare/ n./* Any attempt to raise the minimum wage.

* compassionate conservatism/ n./* Poignant concern for the very wealthy

* healthy forest/ n./* No tree left behind

* laziness/ n./* When the poor are not working

* leisure time/ n./* When the wealthy are not working

* pro-life/ adj./* Valuing human life up until birth

* woman/ n./* 1. Person who can be trusted to raise a child but can't be trusted to decide whether or not she wishes to have a child. 2. Person who must have all decisions regarding her reproductive functions made by men with whom she wouldn't want to have sex in the first place

* stuff happens interj./ Slang./* I don't have to live in Baghdad.

Don'r miss Anne this Friday morning at 9.30 a.m on the old 855 AM

Ron Walker Games

Ron Walker's nice little earner, otherwise known as the Commonwealth Games, begins in Melbourne today.

Walker is the big end of town entrepreneur who stole the Grand Prix from Adelaide during the Kennett regime and brought it to Albert Park. Ostensibly to enrich Melbourne, the noisy hoon-fest disrupted the lives of hundreds of local residents, ruined the peace and tranquillity of Albert Park, and has cost the city -- oops, that's Victorian taxpayers -- hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Most likely, the yearly abomination remains in Melbourne's care solely to preserve Walker's reputation.

Like the Grand Prix, the Walker Games are facing an embarrassing lack of interest. As of Monday, nearly 400,000 tickets remained unsold. And they've given away 5,000 tickets for the opening ceremony.

Without going into the details of what a boring farce the games are -- OK, it's a bunch of former British colonies trying to compete with the subsidised sporting might of Britain and Australia -- the nearly two week event is regarded by the rest of the sporting world as somewhat less than ho hum.

Let's face it, the Games represent nothing more than a business opportunity, in this case using people who excel at running, jumping, and swimming. There can be no greater evidence of the capitulation of governments to big business than in Ron Walker's refusal to invite Phil Coles, the Sydney-based Olympic delegate whom Walker believes voted against Melbourne's bid for the 1996 Olympics. The Victorian Labor Government Minister for Sport, Justin Madden (who used to be such a nice boy), said the snub was out of his hands. Which means it's out of the government's hands. Which means that Walker has precedence over government affairs. Which means that business rules, even when it comes to personal grudges.

Since Ron Walker is a former Liberal Party treasurer, this should come as no surprise. The whole country is in the hands of his ilk.

March 17 Show

Well we're in for a top show this friday morning. I'm bringing in the Big Guns - well one big gun at any rate - Anne McAllister.

We start with Glen, our resident historian (Ourstorian)a proud Irish-Australian. I know Glen will have something to make you sit up.

Anne will knock your socks off.

Don't forget you can ring in yourself after 9.30 on (Melbourne)9419.0155

Week Three

Mimi and I have settled down into a chat mode now. She's a great talker and would probably have no trouble under water.

Her experience in her own country, her knowledge of her own country are unsurpassed by anyone else on Radio anywhere. There is no one on air in Australia who can make comments on Iraq like Mimi.

It's a pleasure to have her across the panel from me.

John Tully

Heavens above! I haven't posted in the blog!

The second show went well with John Tully and his answer to Howard's "history victory". Thanks John and thanks to the Listener.

Virtual Loving Cup

Long distance lovers could soon be able to bond by sharing a wi-fi glass of wine.

Researchers at MIT's Media Lab in Boston say the idea is to give the feeling of a shared drinking experience.

The high-tech glasses will glow warmly when raised, no matter how far apart the drinkers are, reports New Scientist.

Jackie Lee and Hyemin Chung, experts in human-computer interaction, say that communal drinking is an important social interaction that helps bind friendships and relationships.

Lee and Chung have incorporated a variety of coloured LEDs, liquid sensors and wireless links into a pair of glass tumblers.

When either person picks up a glass, red LEDs on their partner's glass glow gently. And when either puts the glass to their lips, sensors make white LEDs on the rim of the other glass glow brightly.

Holden Ad

John Mescall, creative director of ad agency Smart, believes advertising is reflecting the emergence of "soft porn as entertainment and as a lifestyle choice …"

"It's not an advertising thing, it's a society thing," he said yesterday. "Society has adopted easy sexuality as a social norm … If you want to watch sleaze at its worst, just watch Video Hits — and that's in G-rating time."

Advertising Standards Bureau chief Fiona Jolly said her organisation had received complaints about the Holden advertisement that would be considered this month. In general, more women than men complained to the bureau's standards board about the portrayal of people, she said.

But Ms Jolly said that in recent years larger numbers of men had complained about how males were depicted, objecting to advertisements portraying them as "sex objects or not being very intelligent".

The standards board also received complaints about Ford's ads for its Falcon utility. The first one showed women in a country town leaving their jobs to follow a ute down the street.

The tagline was, "It's got unbelievable pulling power". A sequel shows dogs following the ute down the street. The passenger says, "Y'know, I reckon we should pull over and give 'em a ride." The driver replies, "Nah, mate, they're dogs." The tagline again is "unbelievable pulling power". The board found that neither ad breached the code of ethics. Ford yesterday said it did not intend to make any ad denigrating women.

Greer

"Here we have our own dear Prime Minister - this big man inside a tiny man struggling to get out - who's been walking around India with his elbows out, just to prove he's really big; 'I really am a silverback, I might look like a chimp, but I am really a silverback'," Greer told the lunch.

"And there is his wife (Janette Howard), following on in case he should be overcome with conjugal passion. He might need her right there, you know, within six feet: 'Come here my dear'."

A STAFF member of Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon has backed claims by the Greens that Mr Lennon's office is using taxpayers' money to operate a dirt unit.

The anonymous member of the Premier's staff also said that Government Senate leader, Michael Aird, was one of half a dozen people digging dirt on political rivals for public dissemination.

Mr Lennon's chief of staff Rod Scott has been accused of writing an anonymous smear document sent to media outlets as part of an attack on the Greens.

Greens MHA Nick McKim said the document was faxed anonymously to several media outlets earlier this week.

A quick check of the file's electronic signature in Microsoft Word showed it was last saved by "rscott", Mr McKim said.

Mr Aird yesterday confirmed Mr Lennon's office was behind the information, but insisted there was no dirt unit.

But today, one of Mr Lennon's staff members, who wished to remain anonymous, said on the ABC that Mr Aird was one of half a dozen people who "dig dirt for the Premier's chief of staff to disseminate anonymously or otherwise".

Robert Jovicic has become the focal point of the Immigration Minister's power to deport non-citizens on character grounds since he began sleeping on the street outside the Australian embassy in Belgrade in November.

He has just been returned on compassionate grounds but his citizenship is uncertain because a special travelling visa expired at midnight, and he must meet immigration officials in Sydney at 10am today to learn his fate.

A wheelchair-bound Mr Jovicic was very emotional and looked ill when he fronted reporters at Sydney Airport soon after arriving on a flight from London.

The 39-year-old Melbourne man, who had lived for 37 years in Australia, was deported to Serbia in June 2004 by then immigration minister Philip Ruddock following a string of minor burglaries to support his heroin addiction.

Bush knew about Katrina -- and did nothing

March 1, 2006

Video Shows Bush Was Warned Before Katrina
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP)—In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

The footage—along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by The Associated Press—show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Linked by secure video, Bush's confidence on Aug. 28 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.

"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

Some of the footage and transcripts from briefings Aug. 25-31 conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:

—Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. "I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done," National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast.

Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility—and Bush was worried too.

White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Brown discussed fears of a levee breach the day the storm hit.

Other officials expressed concerns about the large number of New Orleans residents who had not evacuated.

"They're not taking patients out of hospitals, taking prisoners out of prisons and they're leaving hotels open in downtown New Orleans. So I'm very concerned about that," Brown said.

Despite the concerns, it ultimately took days for search and rescue teams to reach some hospitals and nursing homes.

Brown also told colleagues one of his top concerns was whether evacuees who went to the New Orleans Superdome—which became a symbol of the failed Katrina response—would be safe and have adequate medical care.

"The Superdome is about 12 feet below sea level.... I don't know whether the roof is designed to stand, withstand a Category Five hurricane," he said.

Guess who's under the bed now?

PETER Costello's attack on "mushy multiculturalism" is used to paint another "us and them" picture. It involves picking a group who are new to Australia, about whom many people are ignorant, let's give them a kick for the benefit of all the "ordinary" Australians.

On one level this is good old Australian bullying. It also draws on our rich tradition of White Australia policy, "yellow peril' "wog bashing" and "Reds under the bed" - tarted up for the 21st century. I remember this, anyone who went to a Catholic school in 1950s (Howard's best loved decade) knows all about good old Australian government bullying and about being called names.

Nice little distraction
PERHAPS it is not unremarkable that Peter Costello has come out, whistling up the dogs of fear and prejudice at this time. It's been a bad couple of weeks for the Coalition, with the Iraqi wheat perks, and also Iraq lurching more and more into total chaos.

Racist Flag

A racist flag
Graham Matthews

Since its adoption as the national flag in 1901, the Australian flag has stood for colonialism, racism and militarism. So it was no coincidence that the anti-Lebanese rioters at Sydney's Cronulla beach last December draped themselves in the Australian flag as they beat, kicked, and threw beer bottles at anyone who looked Middle Eastern. Neither was it a coincidence that Pauline Hanson, founder of the racist One Nation party, chose to promote herself as "the mother of the nation" wrapped in the flag.

The first Australian flag was introduced by Prime Minister Edmund Barton in September 1901. It was chosen from among more than 32,000 popular entries in a national flag competition.

No debate, nor vote, was taken by parliament to adopt the Australian national flag. The initial design incorporated a six-pointed federation star, immediately below the British Union Jack, which adorns the top left corner of the Australian flag. In 1909, the federation stars points were increased to seven to recognise the colonial annexation of the territory of Papua (now part of Papua New Guinea) - a long-held demand of the Queensland government.

In 1911, with the formation of the ACT and Northern Territory, the seventh point was deemed to signify all Australian territories.

Since it came into being, the Australian flag has been associated with state-sanctioned racism.

Among the first decisions of the new parliament was the passing of the Immigration
Restriction Act, 1901. While framed to exclude the insane, prostitutes and criminals, the act's real purpose was to enforce the White Australia policy. Those wanting to immigrate to Australia could be forced to sit a dictation test in a European language - any European language set by an immigration officer. This device was used to stop non-whites from immigrating here. The White Australia policy was only abolished in 1973.

Prior to federation in 1901, Australian states were separate British colonies. Their main flag was that of their colonial master - the Union Jack - under which Indigenous people were driven from their land, poisoned, hunted and corralled into missions. After federation, fair-skinned Aboriginal children were stolen from their parents and wages of Aboriginal workers were withheld.

Aboriginal people were denied rights afforded to other Australians until a special
referendum conferred them citizenship in 1967. But even now, Indigenous Australians are second-class citizens in their own land, with standards of living, health and life expectancy more akin to those of most in the Third World.

In 1915, Australian troops embarked on their first military adventure as a national army. Their first campaign was a failed attempt to invade Turkey at Gallipoli. In subsequent conflicts, the Australian flag has led troops into numerous imperial adventures - Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Solomon Islands.

With the partial exception of Australia's involvement in stopping the TNI's carnage in East Timor in 1999, the Australian flag has traditionally been used to rally nationalist sentiment either for imperialist wars of aggression against countries struggling for national liberation, or wars to defend colonial possessions (such as Papua New Guinea during World War II).

It's perhaps for some of these reasons that the Australian flag isn't that popular today. Brendan Jones, director of Ausflag, says the current flag is only supported by 50% of Australians.

"Ausflag has always been aware that the Union Jack in the corner could be used as a cultural and racist wedge, a means by which white, Anglo Australians could remind everyone else that 'You are not, and will never be, considered truly Australian'."

A point to really consider. It had never occurred to me before. The Union Jack has meant to me the symbol of my oppression, a personal slight and a constant reminder of wat was done to my family. But of course, in my country's flag, this is my country now after 165 years, it is indeed a racist statement.

The Cronulla riots demonstrated this graphically.

Throughout its history, the Australian flag has been used to promote an exclusive white Australian nationalism. Even while flying over multicultural Australia, its message is that Australia, fundamentally, remains a white, Anglo-Celtic outpost in South-East Asia and that refugees and many non-white immigrants need not apply for membership.

In this context, it's not surprising then that the initiative by the socialist youth organisation Resistance to sell flag-burning kits has taken off.

"Given the Howard government's attack on our right to speak out and to dissent,
burning the Australian flag is one way we have of dramatising our opposition to this", says Brianna Pike of Resistance, "The kit was inspired by Resistance member Azlan McLennan's artwork Proudly Un-Australian, which was censored by police".

The Australian flag is not a unifying flag. It does not represent the majority of working people's aspirations for decent working conditions and wages as, for instance, the Eureka flag does, and nor does it acknowledge the original inhabitants as the Aboriginal flag does.

It is a flag for the ruling elite - it is a symbol of racist nationalism. It
symbolises Australia's slavish willingness to follow the US into imperial wars and to
play deputy cop in the Asia-Pacific region. Is this why people are proud to burn
it?