Posted by Ian on
February 18, 2006
Canberra Capitals - WNBL champions
The Canberra Capitals won the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) grand final this afternoon, beating the Dandenong Rangers 68-55. Starring for the Caps was Lauren Jackson, with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Basically the Caps had too much size inside for Dandenong, with Jackson and Jenny Whittle just dominant. Congratulations to the Capitals - good to see a Canberra team winning something! (The Brumbies might do something in the Super 14 this year, they’ve had a good start, but the Raiders look like they’re in for a long, hard season.)
Unfortunately, this might be the end of a good few years for the Capitals, who have won 4 championships in the last 7 years. Basically this has coincided with Lauren Jackson joining the team from the AIS (who won in her final year there), and if she’s been fit at the business end of the season, they’ve won. Jackson is expected to not play in the WNBL for the foreseeable future, preferring to concentrate her efforts with the Seattle Storm in the WNBA in the US, and perhaps to chase the cash in the offseason by playing in Europe rather than Australia. With at least one player, captain Eleanor Sharp, retiring and others apparently considering their futures, and coach Carrie Graf contemplating her options, I suspect that this might be the last success in the WNBL we are going to see in Canberra for some time to come.
Posted by Ian on
February 17, 2006
F**cking stupid American laws
I’m talking about the case of Australian woman, Pauline Clayton, who was fined for assault following an incident in a cinema in Webster, Texas. Her crime was to tap a woman on the shoulder and “shush” her, for answering her mobile phone and talking on it during the movie “Brokeback Mountain”. This of course caused the woman on the phone to go nuts and start abusing Ms Clayton and then calling the police, accusing her of assault.
The police then arrested Ms Clayton and charged her with assault. She was later fined $176.
The woman with the phone has been charged with disorderly conduct. Personally I reckon those who talk on the phone during movies should face a firing squad.
Posted by Ian on
February 17, 2006
Can I have the $4 I’ve paid to Saddam back, please?
Given that AWB obtained about $90m in tax savings from the $300m in kickbacks paid to the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, each and every Australian has effectively contributed about $4 to Saddam’s cause.
Can I have my share back, please? I do not want my taxes to pay for any of the dodgy dealings that have gone on between AWB and Iraq.
Can I have my share back, please? I do not want my taxes to pay for any of the dodgy dealings that have gone on between AWB and Iraq.
Posted by Ian on
February 16, 2006
Abu Ghraib - shooting the messenger
The US Defense Department has criticised SBS television for airing more photos of the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Naturally, John Howard has leapt to the defence of the Americans, saying the Bush Administration had already dealt with the abuse at the prison. Sure they have …. only some low to mid-level scapegoats have taken the fall for it to date!
These photos have been the subject of court action in the US, with the Government trying to keep them secret in a case with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Now, I think its completely wrong to make the publication of the photos of the torture the focus here - surely the main point is that it is wrong to torture prisoners in the first place. I accept that the US is fighting against an insurgency, many of who are barbarians, but I don’t accept that excuses Americans, and by association as a member of the “coalition of the willing”, us, descending to their depths of depravity.
The simple message is don’t torture people. If you don’t do that, you have no pictures of it to try to cover up.
Posted by Ian on
February 16, 2006
RU486 no longer Tony Abbott’s choice
The House of Representatives today passed legislation removing the Health Minister’s power of veto over the approval of the abortion drug, RU486. This means that RU486 will be subject to the same controls as any other drug, that is, approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
Opponents of abortion used the debate as a debate on abortion. What really surprised me was the Senate margin last week, and in particular the overwhelming vote of women senators, 21 to 3 I think it was. The surprise to me was in thinking the Senate would be more conservatively minded than it showed itself to be in this vote. I believe the overwhelming vote of the women in favour of the Ministerial veto being removed (effectively lifting a ban on availability of the drug) says it all.
As for it being a vote about choice, the choice to have an abortion already exists in Australia. RU486 gives women an alternative to surgical abortion. It remains for most a difficult and traumatic decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. RU486 does not remove this trauma.
Opponents of abortion used the debate as a debate on abortion. What really surprised me was the Senate margin last week, and in particular the overwhelming vote of women senators, 21 to 3 I think it was. The surprise to me was in thinking the Senate would be more conservatively minded than it showed itself to be in this vote. I believe the overwhelming vote of the women in favour of the Ministerial veto being removed (effectively lifting a ban on availability of the drug) says it all.
As for it being a vote about choice, the choice to have an abortion already exists in Australia. RU486 gives women an alternative to surgical abortion. It remains for most a difficult and traumatic decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. RU486 does not remove this trauma.
Posted by Ian on
February 14, 2006
Danna Vale misses the point …..again
In an interesting twist of logic, Liberal MP Danna Vale tied the Ru486 debate to concerns about Moslem people in Australia. She claimed Australians (meaning us white ones obviously) were aborting ourselves out of existence, and at the rate of 100,000 per year, we would be overtaken by Moslems, who obviously breed like rabbits, in about 50 years. She was referring to some comments made by an imam in Sydney that Australia would be a Moslem state in that timeframe.
To their credit, her Liberal colleagues seem to have deserted her on this one, Amanda Vanstone and Jackie Kelly among others.
Danna, you will remember (if you’re in Australia reading this), was the proponent for a replica of the Gallipoli battlefield site in Turkey to be constructed on the Mornington Peninsula, to save veterans and other Australians commemorating our war sacrifices having to go all the way to the real Gallipoli. This was widely derided as the “Gallipoli theme park”. Her colleagues dumped her like a hot potato on this, too.
Prior to that, she was Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, a position from which she was dumped at the first opportunity.
Actually, I sort of think she has a point about population changes over time. I’ve said for a while that many social problems, crime etc are likely to grow over time, because when you think about it, who are the biggest breeders? Not well-to-do middle class professionals, thats for sure. Educated professionals are having maybe a couple of kids. Bogans are breeding faster, with all sorts of family variations, having more kids than most of us. Many of these children will be raised in troubled environments by parents with poor parenting skills, and lack of resources. You already see families with multiple generations of welfare dependency - and continuing to breed more of their own. I think the sort of environments, attitudes etc that led to things like the Macquarie Fields and Cronulla disturbances in Sydney over the last year or so are the fastest growing parts of our community. Thats a bit scary, if you ask me.
Danna, you will remember (if you’re in Australia reading this), was the proponent for a replica of the Gallipoli battlefield site in Turkey to be constructed on the Mornington Peninsula, to save veterans and other Australians commemorating our war sacrifices having to go all the way to the real Gallipoli. This was widely derided as the “Gallipoli theme park”. Her colleagues dumped her like a hot potato on this, too.
Prior to that, she was Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, a position from which she was dumped at the first opportunity.
Actually, I sort of think she has a point about population changes over time. I’ve said for a while that many social problems, crime etc are likely to grow over time, because when you think about it, who are the biggest breeders? Not well-to-do middle class professionals, thats for sure. Educated professionals are having maybe a couple of kids. Bogans are breeding faster, with all sorts of family variations, having more kids than most of us. Many of these children will be raised in troubled environments by parents with poor parenting skills, and lack of resources. You already see families with multiple generations of welfare dependency - and continuing to breed more of their own. I think the sort of environments, attitudes etc that led to things like the Macquarie Fields and Cronulla disturbances in Sydney over the last year or so are the fastest growing parts of our community. Thats a bit scary, if you ask me.
Posted by Ian on
February 13, 2006
I’m feeling like crap today and tonight
Ever since my wife rang me at work just before lunch to tell me one of her aunts had been killed in a car accident earlier this morning. She was particularly close to this aunt and so was shattered when she found out and when she called me, although she’s held things together pretty well since then, by keeping busy … I think it’ll hit harder when she stops. I’ve felt numb, sick in the guts, and my throat has felt all dry and scratchy all afternoon.
Until today, I’d never known anyone who’d died in a car crash. In fact my experience of people dying has been very limited - 3 out of 4 grandparents had died before I was born and the last grandmother passed away when I was a small child. My parents are still alive, and the only relatives to have died have been a few old and reasonably distant ones. Prior to now the hardest hit I’ve felt is years ago at the funeral of a friend’s younger brother who had taken his own life. Sudden death I think is harder to deal with, younger people even more so. Its scary thinking how someone’s life can be snuffed out in an instant, and the lives of their family and friends turned on its head just like that.
Until today, I’d never known anyone who’d died in a car crash. In fact my experience of people dying has been very limited - 3 out of 4 grandparents had died before I was born and the last grandmother passed away when I was a small child. My parents are still alive, and the only relatives to have died have been a few old and reasonably distant ones. Prior to now the hardest hit I’ve felt is years ago at the funeral of a friend’s younger brother who had taken his own life. Sudden death I think is harder to deal with, younger people even more so. Its scary thinking how someone’s life can be snuffed out in an instant, and the lives of their family and friends turned on its head just like that.
Posted by Ian on
February 12, 2006
Fish Sticks and Chicken Nuggets
I’ve never liked either, but for anyone who does, this might put you off. Love those “emulsified fish scales and flash frozen offal slurry” …. mmmm, yummy!
Chicken nuggets - also yummy. Love the taste of chicken feet, beaks, eyeballs etc. In my family we’ve wondered ever since McDonalds starting advertising their new McNuggets, with real breast meat …. what the hell was in them before?
Chicken nuggets - also yummy. Love the taste of chicken feet, beaks, eyeballs etc. In my family we’ve wondered ever since McDonalds starting advertising their new McNuggets, with real breast meat …. what the hell was in them before?
Posted by Ian on
February 12, 2006
Australian troops to stay in Iraq
John Howard is saying that Australian soldiers could remain in Iraq when their current role is supposed to finish. Mr Howard has refused to set an exit date for our soldiers to be out of Iraq.
The main reason for this of course is that George hasn’t told him when Australia is going to be given permission to take our personnel out.
The main reason for this of course is that George hasn’t told him when Australia is going to be given permission to take our personnel out.
Posted by Ian on
February 12, 2006
Desperation
This story about a man who hanged himself in an airplane toilet grabbed my attention for two reasons.
First of all, a guy who gets so mad about getting a bad deal on his new car that he crashes it into the car dealership and sets it on fire clearly has some major anger management issues.
Second, and even more fascinating, how the fuck did he manage to hang himself in the toilet of an airplane?
How could you do anything in there? Even using it for its intended purpose is sometimes a struggle. My experiences have involved standing there, usually with piss all over the floor, one arm bracing against the wall in front, trying to aim straight into the toilet. As for number twos, the struggle there is having my knees crammed up against the door. (Although thats not the most cramped toilet experience I’ve had …. that goes to one in Seoul, Korea, where there just wasn’t enough room between bowl and door, and I was too desperate to wait, so it proved an interesting balancing act.) I’m also fascinated by the slot for razor blade disposal airplane toilets have - who’s going to shave in there?
As for rooting in the loo, yuk, not in a sea of piss and with a queue waiting outside the door. Although, I suppose if you’re horny enough, anywhere’s good enough!
First of all, a guy who gets so mad about getting a bad deal on his new car that he crashes it into the car dealership and sets it on fire clearly has some major anger management issues.
Second, and even more fascinating, how the fuck did he manage to hang himself in the toilet of an airplane?
How could you do anything in there? Even using it for its intended purpose is sometimes a struggle. My experiences have involved standing there, usually with piss all over the floor, one arm bracing against the wall in front, trying to aim straight into the toilet. As for number twos, the struggle there is having my knees crammed up against the door. (Although thats not the most cramped toilet experience I’ve had …. that goes to one in Seoul, Korea, where there just wasn’t enough room between bowl and door, and I was too desperate to wait, so it proved an interesting balancing act.) I’m also fascinated by the slot for razor blade disposal airplane toilets have - who’s going to shave in there?
As for rooting in the loo, yuk, not in a sea of piss and with a queue waiting outside the door. Although, I suppose if you’re horny enough, anywhere’s good enough!
