">My Big World Of Crap

The campaign to seek mercy from Singapore in the case of Nguyen Tuong Van, who is scheduled to be hanged on December 2nd, continues to build. The federal government continues to make representations to the Singapore government, but the latter is showing no inclination to budge from its decision to execute him.

The opposition has claimed the government is being too soft on Singapore and should make formal diplomatic protests. The Democrats are pressing for economic pressure to be applied.

Meanwhile the level of public support for his life to be spared has been pleasantly surprising - I guess I underestimated the level of compassion within Australia for him.

At the end of the day, I think all the pleas for compassion from the Singapore authorities will prove futile and he will be executed on December 2nd. Unfortunately for him, it is the inevitable consequence of trafficking narcotic drugs through Singapore (and lets not forget the amount he was carrying was not insignificant - 396 grams is supposedly enough for 26,000 doses at street strength). Its a tragedy for him and his family … but he took a huge gamble and lost.

Our local government here in Canberra is contemplating spending around $150m on a dedicated busway from Belconnen to Civic. This has been a pipedream of city planners and public transport lobbyists here for many years.

One of the claims being made about the benefits of this busway is the time saving. Apparently the government has been claiming it will save 15 minutes per trip. The Liberal opposition has now pointed out that the scheduled time for a trip is now only 17 mins so that the buses will be doing the trip in future in only 2 minutes …this for a 10km journey, so that requires buses doing 300 km/h. Wow, amazing! Obviously those red roads make a difference.

Here is a picture of a Canberra superbus ….operated by the government public transport operator, ACTION.

Obviously, once the busway is up and running, we won’t be able to see these buses properly, just a green and white streak racing past.

Not unreasonably, questions are being raised about the wisdom of spending $150m or thereabouts, and the priority of a busway vis-a-vis other things the money could be spent on. Of course, chief proponent, Planning Minister Simon Corbell, says the business council was taking a narrow, economic rationalist view of improving the city and did not consider the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the quality of the environment. (in a city like Canberra, I wonder how significant these impacts are - and whether anything we do here is a drop in the ocean compared to the benefits that could be gained in a major city which did actually have congestion and pollution …maybe the most rational use of the busway money is to donate it to NSW for public transport improvements in Sydney - I’m sure that would get better bang for the bucks!).

What would APEC be without the funny photo opportunity with all the leaders in fancy costumes of the host country, in this case, South Korea.

In particular, here’s one of our Johnny Howard with his buddy, George W Bush (right).

At this year’s conference, the leaders came up with this declaration, which featured among other things a whole lot of nice talk about the desire for free trade plus commitments around bird flu.

Australia is hosting APEC 2007 - interesting to see what the national costume chosen for the official photo will be. I suggest something along the lines of blue singlet, stubbies and thongs.

The other thing notable about Koreans is how wild their protesters are. APEC couldn’t pass without the fun and games of a protest on the verge of a riot.

New Zealand actor, Russell Crowe walked free from a New York court after getting a slap on the wrist over his phone throwing temper tantrum in June this year.

It was an expensive tantrum he chucked, by normal people’s standards anyway - he settled with the hotel clerk who had offended him for $US100k. (I suppose when you’re making the money he’s making from movies, thats petty cash).

What attracted my attention to this article was the very unflattering photo that went with it. In particular I found Danielle Spencer’s appearance strange …something doesn’t look right if you ask me?

Michelle Leslie found guilty of ecstacy possession in Bali, is being deported to Singapore tonight, after being released from gaol. She was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment yesterday, which meant her immediate release as she had already served the time between her arrest and conviction.

Interesting to see her choice of clothing on release - Leslie, 24, who began wearing Muslim garb after her arrest and claimed she had converted to Islam 18 months ago, emerged from the prison heavily made-up and dressed in skin-tight jeans, a tight tank-top, thongs and designer sunglasses. This suggests the Islam thing was just a sham to garner some sympathy in Indonesia …. notwithstanding that Bali is predominantly Hindu. Wonder how long before she’ll be back modelling in swimsuits and underwear (kind of inconsistent with her devout Islam beliefs isn’t it?).

I wonder what the truth is in Leslie’s case …certainly it didn’t come out in the trial. The story changed every second day ….she was addicted to ecstacy, no she wasn’t, she was addicted to ritalin, no she wasn’t, etc, her friend Mia gave them to her, but no-one can find Mia, she can’t remember who the guys in the car with her were, and so on.

It helps that she was better connected than Schapelle Corby, or the Bali Nine (admittedly her crime was much less than either of theirs) - but rich boyfriend and the potential embarassment of well placed Indonesians leading to a desire no doubt to have it all go away helped.

No doubt she’ll come back to Australia, partake of paid interviews on some of our higher quality media outlets (ha!ha!), tell them the version of events that paints her in the best light and keeps the secrets that will embarass her and her associates secret.

While in the process of being deported through Singapore, I trust she’ll stay clean - after all we know what happens to drug tainted people there.

Footnote: loved the sting in the tail of her sentence - 1000 rupiah (15 cents) in court costs and her seized handbag will not be returned.

The availability or otherwise of the abortion pill, RU 486 (mifepristone), in Australia, was the subject of much debate in Australia this week.

RU 486 has been not been approved for use in Australia. Since 1996 it has had a unique condition placed on it - to gain approval, like any other drug, requires clearance from the Therapeutic Drugs Administration (TGA), but then, on TGA approval, RU-486 requires a formal all-clear from the health minister. No other drug is subject to this regime. This requirement was introduced by former Tasmanian independent senator Brian Harradine - presumably tied to some deal or other with the Howard government which at that time needed his support to get its legislative agenda through the Senate.

With Harradine around there was no prospect of RU-486 being considered an alternative to the surgical procedure. Without Senate control, the Howard Government needed an open line to the wily Tasmanian. Harradine was implacably opposed to RU-486. Drug companies remotely inclined to seek approval knew it would be a futile exercise.

With Harradine retired from the Senate, Liberal MP Sharman Stone started making noises about lifting the ban - she wondered why must women and girls in rural areas travel long distances for a termination when, potentially, there was a more convenient, less intrusive and less traumatic alternative?

Health Minister Tony Abbott, a fervent oponent of abortion, this week declared RU-486 unsafe, citing compelling evidence from Chief Medical Officer John Horvath, who had found the drug required strict supervision and could prove dangerous for women in remote and rural areas.

Obviously, Abbott went seeking advice to suit his own views. Backing away at 100 km/h, Horvath revealed Abbott had not asked for a general overview of RU-486; he had sought only specific advice about its use by women without access to medical supervision. It’s true a handful of the millions of women who have used mifepristone have died after using it without adequate supervision. But as critics have pointed out, this can be said of almost every drug. Why not let the TGA decide?

Sharman Stone’s response: “The issue of adequate supervision can in no way be seen as a hindrance to the reintroduction of this drug. It would seem to be a smokescreen for those trying to disguise a religious response.”

The Prime Minster is under pressure from Liberal MPs to allow a conscience vote on the issue. Sharman Stone and Liberal MP Mal Washer are leading the effort to ask the government to call for the vote.

“I would hope we had a conscience vote because I’m quite sure there would be people … who felt so strongly about it that they would cross the floor,” Stone said.

It seems that they might get their way, with such a vote being called for also by Deputy Liberal Leader, Peter Costello, who says, very reasonably:

“We need a clear statement from the medical experts as to whether or not this is safe,” he said.

“If it is, then a moral judgment arises as to whether this should be available.

“The moral judgment in my view, is a matter of conscience and should be the subject of a conscience vote.”

Prime Minister John Howard says he is considering allowing a conscience vote on the issue and will discuss the matter with his colleagues when he returns to Australia.

I’m not sure where I stand on abortion. Its not something I’ve ever had to face up to in my own life. Conceptually, I don’t have a problem with early terminations, where the foetus is not substantially formed …but the later in the pregnancy it gets the harder I find it to accept (this is getting to the point where a viable human life is being destroyed). I also have problems with the number of abortions performed - in Australia its said to be around 100,000 a year.

The leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, has said in an Internet audiotape the group had not meant to blow up Muslims in their deadly bomb attacks in Jordan.

Suicide bombings killed 54 people in Amman hotels last week, provoking outrage in Jordan despite the high level of support in the country for the activities of the Jordanian-born Zarqawi in Iraq.

Most victims were Muslim Jordanians at wedding parties.

Isn’t that the problem with bombs you dumb prick? That they are indiscriminate in who they kill. So its a bit rich to be apologising for killing random, innocent people - since thats your normal day to day business!

I’m now a blonde, for the first time in my life.

Thought it was time for a change. Been brown most of my life, got streaks a month or so ago, and tonight took the plunge and went fully blonde (all this courtesy of my daughter).

Hopefully the change in hair colour doesn’t mean half my brain shuts down. 

…according to Swedish researchers.

“You should avoid having oral sex,” dentist and researcher Kerstin Rosenquist, who headed the study, told Swedish news agency TT.

By the way, its mouth cancer that is the problem, not some weird form of genital cancer.

Update: But in the absence of the blow jobs that risk your health, we can drown our sorrows in the knowledge that its good for you.

Defence Minister Robert Hill today indicated that Australian troops in Iraq who were due to return home in May 2006 may need to stay longer.

I would think that our government will keep troops in Iraq until such time as George W Bush and Donald Rumsfeld give John Howard permission to leave.