From correspondents in Auckland, New Zealand From:AAP August 21, 2009 2:19PM
NEW Zealanders have spoken and their call is controversial: bring back smacking. Two years after the nation grabbed headlines worldwide by making it illegal to hit children, early results from a national referendum suggest Kiwis are pro-smacking after all.
As many as 80 per cent of New Zealanders are believed to have voted to repeal 2007 legislation that bans parents from using force to discipline their kids.
The law was an attempt to lower the country’s shameful maltreatment statistics which put New Zealand in third place for child deaths among 27 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
It was brought in following the 2006 deaths of twin boys, aged three months old, who were beaten by a family member. Just this week another child, three-year-old Cash Meshetti McKinnon, was killed in her North Island home and her 21-year-old father questioned over her death.
New Zealand is revisiting the issue with a multi-million-dollar referendum initiated by a 300,000-strong petition put together by those who felt the new law challenged the rights of parents.
But the question’s wording, “Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?”, has been controversial, with many saying it leads people to vote against the law. Kiwi Prime Minister John Key has called the question “pretty weird” and a case of “yes means no and no means yes”. “It could have been written by Dr Seuss,” the bemused leader said.
Linguists are calling it “twisted confusion” and one of the country’s leading child psychologists, Nigel Latta, says it’s a “total political mess”. Even the orange stick figure in television advertisements to market the poll gives a very confused “umm… ah” when considering his answer.
Preliminary results from the $NZ9 million ($7.35 million) poll are due tonight but there’s already strong agreement from both sides that the vote will be a majority No by as much as 80 per cent.
You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved. But when the Rapture comes what’s to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.
We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you’ve received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.
edit: Oh and thanks for the “Take your pants off for God” example Kevin ;)
AFTER years spent hunting for the buried remains of prehistoric animals, a Canadian palaeontologist now plans to manipulate chicken embryos to show he can create a dinosaur.
Hans Larsson, a researcher in macro-evolution at Montreal’s McGill University, said he aims to develop dinosaur traits that disappeared millions of years ago in birds.
Mr Larsson believes by flipping certain genetic levers during a chicken embryo’s development, he can reproduce the dinosaur anatomy, he said.
Although still in its infancy, the research could eventually lead to hatching live prehistoric animals, but Mr Larsson said there are no plans for that now, for ethical and practical reasons - a dinosaur hatchery is “too large an enterprise”.
“It’s a demonstration of evolution,” said Mr Larsson, who has studied bird evolution for the past 10 years.
“If I can demonstrate clearly that the potential for dinosaur anatomical development exists in birds, then it again proves that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs.”
The research is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs program and National Geographic.
The idea for the project, Mr Larsson said, came about during discussions with renowned American palaeontologist Jack Horner, who served as technical adviser for the Jurassic Park films.
Horner recently wrote a book titled How to Build A Dinosaur, in which he refers to the embryo experiment as part of a quest to create a “chickenosaurus”.
Mr Larsson’s team has previously worked to uncover prehistoric animal remains, including eight unknown species of dinosaurs and five new types of crocodile in Niger. He also recently uncovered the remains of a new carnivorous dinosaur in Argentina.
If they succeed, can I please have the drumstick ?
TRANSPORT bureaucrats shelved the successful Pinkie road safety ad campaign for more than two years and sacked the ad agency that created it because the ad was considered too risque for the state’s road users.
The revelations came as the Roads and Traffic Authority ad campaign, which suggests men who speed had small penises, picked up the country’s most prestigious advertising award.
’‘Speeding. No one thinks big of you’’ took out the top prize for the most effective ad in Australia at a gala event at Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Thursday night.
It was praised for saving lives as well as $264 million in accident-related hospital costs.
But the agency behind the campaign, Clemenger BBDO Sydney, pitched the idea to the RTA back in 2004 - only for it to languish in the bottom of a bureaucrat’s drawer.
Two years later an RTA official revived the idea and presented it to the then roads minister, Eric Roozendaal, who approved it - but not before the agency had been dropped from the RTA’s list of preferred suppliers.
The RTA was then forced to reinstate Clemenger on a ‘‘special project’’ in order to make the ad, which was launched in June 2007.
The $2 million Pinkie campaign broke new ground in social marketing because instead of lecturing young drivers on the perils of speeding, it aimed to enlist their help. It has led to the widespread adoption of the practice of people wagging their little finger at speeding male drivers.
In its submission for the award, known as an Effie, Clemenger said: ‘‘Its return on investment is the return to the community in the form of the young people who can now speak up in a speeding car, the parents who know their kids are now more reluctant to speed and, most importantly, the 56 or more young people who are still alive.’‘
The RTA said it was not unusual for agencies to pitch ideas that might not be used immediately. ‘‘The Pinkie campaign went through extensive market research. It was an innovative campaign which the RTA recognised would be controversial, therefore timing was critical,’’ a spokeswoman said. ‘‘The idea was further developed and refined when the road toll began to reflect a rise in young driver deaths.’‘
PETROPAVLOVKA, Russia — The crowd shivered in breathless anticipation as dramatic music heralded his approach. “The Teacher is coming!” they whispered.
They parted in a human tunnel to allow the approach of the man they know as “Vissarion, the Teacher.” His long brown hair and white robes flowing and face fixed in a beatific smile, Vissarion outstretched his arms in blessing.
Women sobbed in ecstasy and clung to each other as he passed. “It feels like eternity,” one woman gushed. Close by, one man sighed in wonder: “It’s love on earth! Can’t you feel it?”
For thousands of followers, Vissarion is no less than the second coming of Jesus of Nazareth, reincarnated 2,000 years after his crucifixion, deep in the Siberian wilderness.
It’s not all beer and skittles though:
In the 1990s, some of Vissarion’s devotees died either by suicide or due to the harsh living conditions and lack of medical care. Ticks and other biting insects are a major problem, and a large number of Vissarion’s adherents have been infected with Lyme disease.
Not all his followers have such positive stories to tell and onetime acolyte Maria Kaprinskaya, who now works as a journalist in Moscow, spoke bitterly of her former guru.
“I was romantic,” she said by telephone. “But there was a lot of death there at the start. Many of my friends, talented people… were in a bad way there, like fish on land.”
“His attempt to become God was not crowned with success. Now he is like a feudal lord, and his followers are his peasants.”
But Vissarion’s cult has since ditched their most radical laws, said Rashid Rafikov, the local government official in charge of ties with religious groups, including the Vissarionites.
When they first formed, he said, members refused childhood immunizations, modern medicine and shirked education.
“They have also relented on strict veganism. Now women and children are allowed dairy products,” Rafikov said. “Of course, there are still a lot of problems. They live in an area that’s too remote.
“It’s not enough to live off of nuts, berries and mushrooms,” he said. “The cult has a real problem feeding themselves from their kitchen gardens.”
By staff writers From:NEWS.com.au September 09, 2009
A FIGHT over a $US20 ($23) debt and a washing machine has ended with one man’s 14-month old daughter being killed with a baseball bat while attending a church service.
David Collins, 56, is accused of attempting to hit Claude Hankins with a baseball bat while Mr Hankins and his daughter were sitting in a prayer meeting at Thy Kingdom Come Church in Wheaton, Minnesota.
Police say Mr Collins missed Mr Hankins and struck his 14-month-old daughter Audrey instead, who died in hospital a few hours later.
Mr Collins and Mr Hankins had allegedly argued over a washing machine and a dryer lent to Mr Collins and a debt of $US20.
Mr Collins was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of second-degree assault.
A man who accompanied him to the church, Darryl Kennedy, was also charged with one count of second-degree assault.
Hijack priest had vision of ‘great danger, earthquake’
From correspondents in Mexico City From:AFP September 10, 2009
A BOLIVIAN priest said he was acting on a divine revelation when he hijacked a Mexican plane mid-air with 104 people on board triggering a brief airport drama, officials said.
Mexican police said bible-carrying Jose Flores Mar Pereira hijacked the Aeromexico plane after it left the popular tourist resort of Cancun on a flight to Mexico City.
He told authorities after his arrest that he had “had a revelation that Mexico was facing a great danger and was threatened by an earthquake,’’ public security official, Genaro Garcia Luna, said. The alleged hijacker was said to be a former prisoner and drug addict, who has lived in Mexico for 17 years. But it was not immediately cear if he was helped by others amid reports that up to six people had been arrested.
All the people onboard the flight were safely evacuated at Mexico City, officials said, as security forces swarmed the capital’s international airport within minutes of the plane landing.
Unconfirmed media reports claimed the hijackers, initially said to be three Bolivians, were carrying explosives.
But Transport Secretary Juan Francisco Molinar Horcasitas told local television there was no bomb on board. None of the hijackers had been able to enter the plane’s cockpit during the flight, neither “were they able to compromise the aircraft’s safety,’’ he added.
Aeromexico Flight 576 carrying 104 people was hijacked after leaving Cancun on the Caribbean coast, popular with American tourists.
“We only learned about it when we landed and we informed by the crew over the radio that we had been hijacked,’’ passenger Rodrigo Padilla said. “Everything was very quiet, there were no guns, no shots were fired.’‘
Freed passenger Daniel Fernandez told local television that one of those arrested had carried a Bible. The US State Department said it was checking to see if any Americans were on board the hijacked flight and was seeking to obtain the manifest.
Marcos Ramirez, another passenger, said they were told “the hijackers had demanded to speak’’ with President Felipe Calderon, but gave no further details. Mr Calderon canceled his afternoon meetings to head to the sprawling airport, which acts as a regional hub for flights around the world.
Television images showed chaotic scenes as the passengers, most dressed in shorts and T-shirts, descended from the plane, some carrying young children and clutching bags.
They were briefly made to sit on the tarmac by security forces, before being led away. The last to leave the plane was the captain. Bomb experts then moved in and were seen on the television carefully carrying out checks on the plane.
It was the first time the airline had suffered a hijacking since 1972, when leftist guerrillas seized one of its planes demanding the release of some of their fellow rebels. The release of the passengers was negotiated.
The child mortality rate has declined by more than a quarter in the last two decades — to 65 per 1,000 live births last year from 90 in 1990 — in large part because of the widening distribution of relatively inexpensive technologies, like measles vaccines and anti-malaria mosquito nets.
Other simple practices have helped, public health experts say, including a rise in breast-feeding alone for the first six months of life, which protects children from diarrhea caused by dirty water.
Wealthy nations, international agencies and philanthropists like Bill and Melinda Gates have committed billions of dollars to the effort. Schoolchildren and church groups have also pitched in, paying for mosquito nets and feeding programs.
Taken together, they have helped cut the number of children under 5 who died last year to 8.8 million — the lowest since records were first kept in 1960, Unicef said — from 12.5 million in 1990.
“That’s 10,000 less children dying per day,” said Unicef’s executive director, Ann M. Veneman.
Bit of a glass half full/glass half empty thing I guess, but at least it’s heading in the right direction!
One in every 33 women who attend worship services regularly has been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader, a survey released Wednesday says.
The study, by Baylor University researchers, found that the problem is so pervasive that it almost certainly involves a wide range of denominations, religious traditions and leaders.
“It certainly is prevalent, and clearly the problem is more than simply a few charismatic leaders preying on vulnerable followers,” said Diana Garland, dean of Baylor’s School of Social Work, who co-authored the study.
It found that more than two-thirds of the offenders were married to someone else at the time of the advance.
Romell Broom gets extra week after execution fails
By staff writers From:NEWS.com.au September 16, 2009
A US inmate was left waiting in the worst possible case of limbo today after executioners spent more than two hours trying to find a vein in which to inject a lethal dose.
Romell Broom was sentenced to death in an Ohio jail for the rape and murder of a 14-year old girl in 1984.
The state of Ohio reintroduced the death penalty in 1999, and Broom today became the first inmate since that date to have his execution stayed by the governor. Another attempt to take Broom’s life will be made in a week.
Onlookers claim Broom appeared to be sobbing after one of many attempts by the execution team to access his veins. At one stage, he even tried to help them himself.
After more than two hours of injections, Broom’s lawyer wrote to the Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice to ask for a reprieve for his client, saying any further attempts to kill Broom “would be cruel and unusual punishment”.
Ohio’s execution laws have statutory requirements that lethal injections were to be “quick and painless”.
By Jennifer Eliot From:News Limited newspapers September 22, 2009 10:27AM
A MAN who rolled his vehicle near Kuranda in Queensland is alleged to have fired shots at a person who came to his aid before spending eight hours on the run from police in bushland yesterday.
The Cairns Post reports the drama began at 1pm when a 33-year-old man was involved in a single vehicle traffic accident on Oak Forest Rd, 10km from Kuranda.
It ended when he was caught near a family member’s home at 8.20pm. No one was injured.
Police began a full-scale search following a report from local residents that shots had been fired and two men, one of them armed, had fled from the scene.
The Cairns Post understands the alleged gunman, who is a double amputee with two prosthetic legs, is also wanted in relation to an alleged stabbing in Farmer St, Edmonton, on Sunday.
It is alleged a man was stabbed in the stomach with a kitchen knife.
Police initially cordoned off access to Oak Forest Rd at the Myola traffic lights but later moved the cordon back to the Kowrowa Store, 750m up the road from where residents reported hearing shots.
A police spokesman said last night the man had been taken to the Cairns watch-house and police would question him.
Bottles and slabs of beer, Alcopops and Bundy Rum, 100’s of wine labels plus Coca Cola, Pepsi and Solo are obviously okay to consume - BUT don’t you dare ask for bottled WATER in ( backwater ) Bundanoon :
Bundanoon becomes first town in world to ban bottled water
From:AAP September 26, 2009 5:07PM
THE very last bottle of still water has been run out of Bundanoon in the New South Wales Southern Highlands, as the sleepy hamlet officially became the world’s first town to boycott bottled H2O.
The residents of Bundanoon in July voted 355 to one to ban commercially bottled water, in an effort to reduce the town’s carbon footprint.
Bundanoon launched the Bundy-on-Tap initiative at a parade and an official switchover today, attended by 400 locals and visitors. Free water stations on the main street and school were turned on for the first time, while Bundy-on-Tap reusable bottles went on sale across the town.
The four water stations will be open 24 hours a day.
Free chilled water will also be available in the town’s stores.
Bundy-on-Tap organiser and local businessman Huw Kingston said it was a proud day for Bundanoon, a couple of hours south-west of Sydney.
“From something to go from an idea to reality, I think there is a lot of pride in the town today,” he told AAP.
Mr Kingston said the ban had put Bundanoon “on the map”, and he was confident it would inspire other towns to adopt similar boycotts.
“It is catching on - there are a lot of towns worldwide that have been in touch about this, and obviously we’re happy to help as a small community,” he said.
Doesn’t it make you feel all mushy and touchie-feelie inside ?
[ Edited: 26 September 2009 06:03 PM by Kevin Goddard]
From correspondents in London From: AFP Fri Oct 02
FORMER British prime minister Tony Blair is in line to become Europe’s first president within weeks if voters pass an EU reform treaty.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is supporting Mr Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has softened her opposition, according to The Times.
Mr Blair could be ushered into the European Union’s top post at a summit on October 29 if the Lisbon Treaty passes, the London-based newspaper said.
Ireland heads to the polls on Friday in a referendum on the European Union’s reforming treaty which sets out the new job. Opinion polls suggest Ireland will pass the treaty after rejecting it at a vote last year.
Nations currently preside over the EU, holding a rotating presidency for six months at a time, but under the Lisbon Treaty, a single president will be chosen.
The treaty has been ratified by 24 of the 27 member states, with the signatures of the Polish and Czech presidents needed for full ratification.
Ms Merkel has been opposed to Blair because she believed the post should go to a country that had adopted the euro, but she could reconsider if Germany and France get plum posts in the new European Commission, The Times said.
Since stepping down as prime minister in June 2007, Blair has been the envoy for the Middle East Quartet - comprising the EU, Russia, the United Nations and the United States - which aims to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Conservative Bible Project, a creation of the same group that developed Conservapedia (a counterweight to putatively liberal Wikipedia), is aiming to clean-up the entire King James Bible, cutting out “liberal passages” and beefing up “free market parables.” As Newsbusters’ Ken Shepherd reminds readers, this is far from the first time the Bible has been re-translated to fit a certain sociopolitical worldview, but that didn’t stop the deluge of criticism from across the spectrum. Here are the basic patterns of attack…
Two dyed donkeys stand at Marah Land zoo in Gaza City October 8, 2009. Two white donkeys dyed with black stripes delighted Palestinian kids at a small Gaza zoo on Friday who had never seen a zebra in the flesh. A genuine zebra would have been too expensive to bring into Israel-blockaded Gaza via the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, said zoo owner Mohammed Bargouthi.
From correspondents in Chicago From: news.com.au Sat Oct 10 2009
MARGE Simpson has posed for a Playboy magazine cover, reports said today.
It is the first time the magazine has given the spot to a cartoon character after more than 50 years of women including Marilyn Monroe and Cindy Crawford, the Associated Press reports.
The magazine is giving the Simpsons character the star treatment, complete with a data sheet, an interview and a two-page centrefold.
The November edition hits newsstands on October 16 and the magazine’s editorial director, James Jellinek told AP: “It’s very, very racy.
“She is a stunning example of the cartoon form.”
Mr Jellinek said Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was a “huge Simpsons fan”
ps Just to make it clear, I meant the Simpsons - not the magazine ;)
Archbishop of Canterbury: ‘go green to save your soul’
Going green is good for the soul, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has called on church-goers to make “small changes” to save the world like recycling more, flying less and growing your own fruit and vegetables…........
From:AFP Thu Oct 15 2009
IT was already widely assumed, but German experts provided confirmation today: women cry more often than men, for longer - and in a more dramatic fashion.
According to the German Society of Ophthalmology, which has collated different scientific studies on the phenomenon, women shed tears on average between 30 and 64 times a year and men six to 17 times.
Men tend to cry for between two and four minutes, but for females sessions last around six minutes.
And weeping turns into full-blown sobbing for women in 65 per cent of cases, compared to just six per cent for males.
Until adolescence, however, there is no difference.
Up until 13, boys and girls turn on the waterworks the same amount, “showing that blubbing because of joy, sadness or anger is something that is learned’‘, researchers said.
The reasons for bawling differ too, the paper found.
Women cry when they feel inadequate, when they are confronted by situations that are difficult to resolve or when they remember past events.
Men, meanwhile, tend to cry from empathy or when a relationship fails.
The function of weeping remains something of a mystery, however, the research found, with doubts over its cathartic or relaxing effects.
Man fined for ‘one finger’ steering on EastLink, while using two mobile phones
Herald Sun’s Shannon Deery, Oct 19 2009 7:35AM - 82 comments [at this stage - ed]
A MAN caught driving while using two mobile phones has told police it was ok because he had one finger on the wheel at all times.
The one-fingered hoon was seen holding a mobile phone in each hand and driving his car with his knees while travelling through the Eastlink tunnel about 3.15pm Saturday.
The 30-year-old Fitzroy man was pulled over by Chelsea Traffic Management Unit acting sergeant Rob Atkinson who had noticed the car swerving.
The driver explained he needed to transfer information from one phone to another and that he had been driving with one finger.
Acting Sergeant Atkinson said it was one of the worst cases of careless driving he had seen in 10 years of policing.
“I reinforced the danger of this type of driving, especially within the tunnel and issued the man with two penalty notices, one for careless driving and one for use hand held mobile phone while driving,’’ he said.
The driver was issued with more than $500 fines and six demerit points.
A 30 year old hoon? I thought that the term was normally used in the context of under-21s!
KEVIN Rudd may be about to enhance his street cred by appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, but he’s clueless about the music.
Courier-Mail National Affairs editor and Party Games columnist Dennis Atkins tells how a few years ago he was in “a lazy afternoon conversation with Mr Rudd and a few others at a Sunshine Coast beach”.
As Atkins relates in his column today, “During some music banter, the cultural icon and guitar-playing Hendrix was mentioned, which drew a complete blank from a 33-year-old Rudd: ‘Who’s he?’
“It’s only rock’n'roll but he has no clue whatsoever,” Atkins writes.
As Atkins writes: During his 2007 election campaign, Rudd was asked to name his rock’n'roll hero, an inquiry which caused the then putative prime minister to admit he wasn’t an aficionado of the genre.
“I like Simon and Garfunkel. And of course classical music. Vivaldi. I am a big fan of baroque. And early 20th-century piano music. Satie. Debussy,” he chirped.
A giant seagull did its best to ruffle the feathers of Channel Nine newsreader Peter Hitchener last night, but the veteran did not even bat an eyelid.
The unscheduled intrusion happened a few minutes into the 6pm news in Melbourne as Hitchener was reading a story about an underworld murder committed in 1982.
The image of an oversized seagull suddenly appeared behind Hitchener’s head, caused by the bird walking in front of the camera Nine has positioned to capture the cityscape.
But Hitchener did not even flinch as the seagull rolled up, paused next to his head, and exited quickly left of screen.
“I was reading away, and it was a serious story, and I suddenly thought, ‘Oh my gosh that seagull’s back again’, because we had bit of a problem last night,’’ he told Melbourne radio after the bulletin.
“About 50 seconds to six o’clock this seagull arrived and started pecking at the camera and it had the beadiest huge eyes you’ve ever seen in your life.’‘
Hitchener said the cameramen in the studio had to duck for cover to hide their laughter.
Earlier this week ABC news presenter Virginia Trioli apologised after being caught on-air pulling a face at a Coalition senator Barnaby Joyce while twirling a finger around her ear.
Trioli made the gesture on the News Breakfast program, just moments after Joyce finished talking about the federal government’s climate change plans.
[null]Obama vs. Catholics, Catholics vs. ObamaNew York Times (blog)[{}]This would frame the issue as yet another intra-Catholic dispute over sexuality and abortion, rather than an external assault on Catholic religious liberty. Seen in this light, Georgetown University's decision to invite Kathleen Sebelius, ...
[null]Rally fights for abortion law changeThe West Australian[{}]Liberal MP Peter Abetz has spoken out against WA's abortion laws, warning "the womb is most dangerous place for children to be in this State" at a rally last night attended by hundreds of right-to-life campaigners. Addressing the 750-strong rally at ...
[null]As Obama Seeks the Votes of WomenNew York Times[{}]Ms. Brown seems to scorn Mr. Obama's support for women's efforts to get a “seat at the table,” but I found it more disturbing that a number of her friends and family members “all laughed” over whether contraception or abortion rights were key in their ...
[null]Pastor wants gays held in electric penThe West Australian[{}]And, in reference to President Obama's same-sex marriage and pro-choice abortion stance , when asked who he'll vote for in the Presidential election, Mr Worley said: "I'm not going to vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover.and more»
Pastor wants gays held in electric pen The West Australian And, in reference to President Obama's same-sex marriage and pro-choice abortion stance , when asked who he'll vote for in the Presidential election, Mr Worley said: "I'm not going to vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover.
[null]Bird's eye view of how we go tweet, tweet, tweetThe Australian[{}]BEER lovers, fans of Justin Bieber, evangelical groups and Adelaide foodies are among the most isolated groups on Twitter. But discussions about politics, the internet and the price of gas bills were some of the most connected topics, according to a ...
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