Showing posts with label violence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label violence. Show all posts

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Destroy the Joint is counting dead women - Part Five


Destroy The Joint

Since 1 January 2015 thirty-three women have died in violent incidents. That equates to two women killed each week so far this year.

Destroy The Joint keeps a register of these deaths here.


This is the latest death.

NSW Police media release 26 April 2015:

Man charged following alleged domestic-violence related murder - Brewarrina

Sunday, 26 April 2015 01:19:56 PM

A man has been charged with murder following an alleged domestic violence incident in Brewarrina yesterday afternoon.
About 5.45pm (Saturday 25 April 2015), police from Darling River Local Area Command were called to a Byron Street home where they found a woman suffering serious injuries.
Additional emergency services were called to assist but the woman, aged 18, died at the scene.
A crime scene was established and investigated by specialist forensic officers
A 22-year-old man was arrested at the scene and taken to Brewarrina Police Station where he was charged with murder and three outstanding warrants.
He was refused bail and is due to appear at Bourke Local Court tomorrow (Monday 27 April 2015).
Police from Darling River Local Area Command, with the assistance of neighbouring commands have established Strike Force Goninan to investigate the matter.
Initial investigations suggest the incident was domestic violence related.
                                         

Thursday 23 April 2015

In NSW last year domestic violence was still trending upwards according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research


Reported domestic violence related assaults in New South Wales numbered 29,070 incidents for the year ending December 2014.

A 2.7%  increase according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research’s New South Wales Recorded Crime Statistics 2014, making this category of assault the fifth highest trending crime across local government areas and the crime category with the highest percentage of legal proceedings commenced last year.

Conversely non-domestic violence assaults were down 5.7% across NSW in 2014, making this category of assault the ninth highest trending crime across local government areas and the crime category with the eighth highest percentage of legal proceedings commenced last year.

Clarence Valley Local Government Area's reported domestic violence related assaults numbered 192 in 2014, a ratio of 1.0 (per 100,000 persons) which had it on par with the state average.

One hundred and ninety-two domestic violence related assault reports in the Clarence Valley represented an 11.5% fall since 2013 or a reduction of 25 incidents.

Reported domestic violence related assaults in other Northern Rivers local government areas in 2014 were:

Ballina – 164 incidents (up 28 on the previous year)
Byron – 135 incidents (up 17 on the previous year)
Kyogle – 33 incidents (up 2 on the previous year)
Lismore – 215 incidents (up 26 on the previous year)
Richmond Valley – 120 incidents (up 15 on the previous year)
Tweed – 407 incidents (up 70 on the previous year).

Alcohol is involved in a significant proportion of reported domestic violence incidents:

[Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, Policy options paper: Preventing alcohol-related family and domestic violence, February 2015]

Saturday 18 April 2015

Destroy the Joint is counting dead women - Part Four




Since 1 January 2015 thirty-one women have died in violent incidents. That equates to two women killed each week so far this year.

Destroy The Joint keeps a register of these deaths here.

Saturday 4 April 2015

Destroy The Joint is counting dead women - Part Three

      

Since 1 January 2015 twenty-eight women have died in violent incidents. That equates to two women killed each week so far this year.

Destroy The Joint keeps a register of these deaths here.

Saturday 28 February 2015

Tony Abbott fails to understand the nature of violence against women according to campaigner


Excerpt from The Age article Tony Abbott fundamentally misunderstands the violence against women epidemic by Phil Cleary on 16 February 2014:

Political life might look profoundly different for Tony Abbott had he not stood smiling in front of those misogynist banners "Ditch the Witch" and "Julia – Bob Browns (sic) Bitch" during his push to become Australia's 28th prime minister. Imagine if he'd shown genuine leadership and courage and torn asunder the hatred of women that bristled in those banners. Instead, he and Bronwyn Bishop revelled in the attention while campaigners against the epidemic of violence wondered how he could not grasp the deeper significance of his complicity in the banners.
Had Abbott not lent his name to words that mimicked the tawdry courtroom depictions of murdered wives as bitches and witches, maybe his creation of an advisory panel on family violence would have looked like the actions of a genuine prime minister. Instead, in the absence of a documented passion for the anti-violence cause, his announcement of such a panel reeks of opportunism in the face of the opprobrium that flowed from his knighting of Prince Philip. Without as much as talking to the campaigners, the Prime Minister created a panel then offered not an original thought about the extent of the violence against women, its origins, or how we as a society might begin to deal with it.
Don't get me wrong. The former Victoria chief commissioner of police, Ken Lay, is a passionate and admired campaigner against the violence. And the symbolism of Rosie Batty's appointment, along with her experience with the institutions entrusted with the task of protecting women and children, will be invaluable.
But what's the point of an advisory panel if you're up to your neck in cuts to the funding of frontline services crucial to the safety of women? If only Abbott had committed funds to fortify and extend those services, rather than promise an unpopular, hugely expensive paid parental leave policy (now thankfully shelved). If only he'd promised to sweep away the platitudes and address the inconvenient truth that it is violence against women by men that is our problem, and that the murder of Luke Batty was an act of male revenge against a woman, as was Robert Farquharson driving his three sons into a dam in 2005 and Arthur Freeman throwing his 4-year-old daughter, Darcey, off the Westgate Bridge in 2009……
The sad truth is that we don't regard the life of a murdered wife as being as valuable as that of a child. When a child is murdered by their father, it is invariably described as an inexplicable act and the source of unimaginable pain, as if the loss of a woman to a man who claims to love her isn't equally as painful for her parents. Children are always innocent, whereas too often a murdered wife must run the gauntlet of guilt.
Faced with the opportunity to expose these contradictions and the hypocrisy, and to stare down the attitudes that have fostered the killing of women, Tony Abbott has failed to deliver the appropriate leadership. After 25 years of campaigning, I'm not interested – nor are the campaigners I speak with – in politicians or commentators who camouflage the origins of the violence, disregard the lessons of the campaign, or won't say that the problem is men. Rather than inspiring me, Abbott's decision to create an advisory panel on family violence left me believing he didn't understand the nature of the violence stalking modern women. It is just one more reason his leadership of the country is under threat.
We've come a long way since the days when violence against women was regarded as secret men's business. So far have we come that it is now politically acceptable to select the mother of a boy killed by his father as Australian of the Year. Unfortunately, like so many times in his recent political career, Tony Abbott did not seize the moment. How different it might have looked had he said he would not and could not entertain those who blame the Family Court, or mothers, for the violence of a vengeful father. If only he'd stated that it is "un-Australian" to kill your wife. If only he'd posed for a photo with the parents or siblings of women murdered by an estranged man, especially those devastated by the misogynist provocation law or the failed defensive homicide law in Victoria.
Like so many campaigners, I long for the day when the murder of 60 women a year by intimate partners, estranged or current, produces the same sorrow and outrage from a prime minister and his opposition counterpart as does the killing of a child – and inspires a condolence motion in Parliament of the kind moved for the victims in the Martin Place siege. For that day will truly mark the beginning of the end for the wife killers and bashers.

Thursday 5 February 2015

Australian of the Year 2015 politely calls out the 'Prime Minister for Women' on his hypocrisy with regard to domestic violence


On or about 17 September 2013 then Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott announced that he would hold portfolio responsibility for policies and programs targeting women.

He was sworn in as Prime Minister on 18 September that year.

Sixteen months later and his ongoing poor record in this area is there for all to see.

Women’s Agenda 2 February 2015:

Australian of the Year Rosie Batty has criticised Tony Abbott for promising to take real action to tackle family violence while at the same time slashing funding to family violence services.

After Batty was appointed Australian of the Year last Sunday, the prime minister announced he would be implementing new measures to fight domestic and family violence. 


On Tuesday he announced he would create a new national advisory panel on domestic violence and appointed Batty and retiring Victorian Police Commissioner Ken Lay as its founding members.

He also announced he would elevate domestic and family violence to an urgent agenda item for the Council of Australian Governments. He said he would urge the Council to agree on a framework for a national domestic violence scheme. 


But Batty has said that these announcements are meaningless unless Abbott takes action to reverse the cuts he has already made to crucial domestic violence services. 

She said it is hypocritical for him to make announcements about new frameworks and approaches when the cuts already in place are so damaging to domestic violence victims.

She said when compared with Abbott’s newfound public stance on family violence, the existing cuts are “contradictory”.

"It is a double standard, it is contradictory and totally undervaluing the part that these workers play in our front line services," she said to the Prime Minister’s office on Friday.

The cuts she refers to are to family violence services as well as homelessness and crisis accommodation services across the country. Altogether, the cuts are worth $300 million. Several services across the country will be forced to close after having their federal funding slashed or even removed in its entirety.

Saturday 17 January 2015

So what changes so drastically between the child and the man?




Last year ABC News reported that in Australia domestic violence is the leading cause of death and injury in women under 45, with more than one woman murdered by her current or former partner every week. There are young victims too, with more than one million children affected by domestic violence. Accounting for 40 per cent of police time, the cost to the economy is $13.6 billion per year.

It further reported that there were at least 1,625 domestic violence related incidents on the NSW North Coast in 2013.

So what changes so dramatically between the attitude of male children to domestic violence and the attitude of so many adult men?

Saturday 5 July 2014

It's Your Choice; Drink Smart says Clarence Valley Council


On 27 June 2014 The Daily Examiner reported that; The NSW Department of Police and Justice has awarded Clarence Valley Council $49,000 for a campaign to reduce alcohol-related violence in and around licenced premises.

Most Clarence Valley residents do not experience alcohol-related violence. Nevertheless the valley has a rate for this sort of violence which exceeds the state rate, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research (BOCSAR).

So this is a worthwhile local government initiative.

January 2004 to December 2013:


Although it is by no means the only offender on the NSW North Coast:



Wednesday 23 October 2013

Sometimes NSW Police make me cringe in shame


The Sydney Morning Herald 11 September 2013:

Six northern NSW police officers are facing possible criminal charges and dismissal from the force after the Police Integrity Commission found they used excessive force against a young Aboriginal man at Ballina police station and then falsely claimed he had assaulted them.
In scathing findings tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the commission criticised the officers involved in the January 2011 incident, finding them guilty of serious police misconduct and recommending a range of charges including assault, perjury and giving false evidence.
The incident began when Aboriginal man, Corey Barker, then 21, was arrested on Tamar Street, Ballina, for trying to obstruct police, and taken to the local police station.
The police officers involved claimed that when they attempted to move Mr Barker to a different cell he assaulted Senior Constable David Hill, punching him in the face.
However, the commission found that CCTV footage revealed there was no assault.
Rather, the commission found, the footage showed Mr Barker being slammed into a wall and a large metal object in the station's charge room by the officers, before they dragged him backwards by the arms along the ground into a cell.
Six of the officers who were either involved in the altercation or witnessed it, subsequently signed sworn statements accusing Mr Barker of assaulting police, statements which they then backed up with sworn evidence in court.
The case was thrown out by Ballina Local Court Magistrate David Heilpern, who referred the police's actions to the commission......
The commissioner found that Senior Constable Hill was a witness "of little credibility", and he and the other five officers had lied in their statements and in court.
The commission recommended Senior Constable Hill, Constable Walmsley, Constable Mewing, Senior Constable Mark Woolvern, and Constable Eckersley be considered for charges of assault, and that all but Constable Eckersley also be considered for charges of perjury....

Friday 6 September 2013

The violent face of things to come under an Abbott government?


The campaign worker wearing a Liberal Party t-shirt carries a Stanley knife. Source: Supplied

POLICE are investigating allegations that a Liberal campaign worker threatened the sister of western Sydney Labor MP Ed Husic with a Stanley knife last night.
It is the second incident involving police and Liberal staff in the past two days.
The Daily Telegraph has learned that on Thursday, a group of Liberal Party campaign workers rushed Mr Husic's sister, Sabina Husic, with the knife yelling "you f..king dog".
The alleged incident occurred when Ms Husic and colleague were patrolling Labor posters in Mt Druitt, in the seat of Chifley on Thursday night, after reports they had been vandalised, when they were set upon by three cars.
A witness said four men, including the local Liberal campaign manager Jeremy Greenwood, the campaign director for Liberal candidate Isobel White, approached Ms Husic yelling abuse. One of them was holding a Stanley knife.

A complaint was made to Mt Druitt police and the NSW Liberal Party campaign head office.
It is believed Mr Greenwood has since been removed from the campaign, after photographic evidence - obtained by The Daily Telegraph on-line - was supplied to the Liberal HQ.
Ms Husic declined to comment claiming the matter was under police investigation.......
Read the rest of the 6 September 2013 Daily Telegraph article here.


Friday 28 June 2013

Portrait of a man you don't want your daughter, sister, aunt, mother to meet



Kickstarter’s full public apology and take down notice of 21 June 2013 here.

Excerpt:

Let us be 100% clear: Content promoting or glorifying violence against women or anyone else has always been prohibited from Kickstarter. If a project page contains hateful or abusive material we don’t approve it in the first place. If we had seen this material when the project was submitted to Kickstarter (we didn’t), it never would have been approved. Kickstarter is committed to a culture of respect.
Second, the project page has been removed from Kickstarter. The project has no place on our site. For transparency’s sake, a record of the page is cached here.
Third, we are prohibiting “seduction guides,” or anything similar, effective immediately. This material encourages misogynistic behavior and is inconsistent with our mission of funding creative works. These things do not belong on Kickstarter.
Fourth, today Kickstarter will donate $25,000 to an anti-sexual violence organization called RAINN. It’s an excellent organization that combats exactly the sort of problems our inaction may have encouraged.

Thursday 28 February 2013

Did the Government of Japan condone what appears to be the deliberate ramming of Sea Shepherd ships?

 
Excerpt from an Institute of Cetacean Research media release dated 20 February 2013:
 
On February 20 around 1100JST until about 1200JST during refueling operations, the Antarctic whale research (JARPAII) mother ship Nisshin Maru (NM) and her supply tanker were subject to sabotage by the Sea Shepherd (SS) ships Steve Irwin (SI), Bob Barker (BB) and Sam Simon (SmS). The SI and BB are sailing under the flag of the Netherlands while the SmS has Australian registry.
1. As the NM was about to come alongside her supply tanker for refueling, SS vessels, SI, BB and SmS, in foolhardy obstruction attempts, repeatedly came at close-quarter distance with the NM and the supply tanker. During their obstruction to refueling operations the SS vessels provoked several collisions (at the least: SI once; BB twice, SmS once) with the NM. The BB collided with the supply tanker too.
2. There were no injuries to the crews of research vessels including NM and the supply tanker. However, the NM suffered denting damage and broken hand railing on her bow section while the supply tanker port side hull was dented and her hand railing was damaged. Both vessels’ ability for navigation was not affected by these damages.
3. During the attack, the NM used her water pump as a preventive measure to make SS vessels refrain from further approaching and repeatedly broadcasted a warning message to stop them. However, the NM decided to interrupt her refueling operations attempts judging from difficulty due to the extremely dangerous behavior of the SS vessels.....
 
Full media release here.
 
The Institute offers no video evidence of these collisions as they were occurring but does have one short clip showing the Nissin Maru bearing down on the SS Bob Barker. It has published some selective photographs of the collisons.
 
However, the Sea Shepherd organisation does have film and its videos call into doubt the Japanese version of events.
 
It is hard not to conclude that the Nissan Maru did not collide with, but instead deliberately rammed, Sea Shepherd vessels.
 
A conclusion made all the more disturbing by the fact that this ramming appears to have been sanctioned by the Government of Japan, as there is no evidence that the Japanese Coast Guard officer/s on board the Nissan Maru attempted to intervene with that ship’s captain when he embarked on this reckless course of action.
 
 

 
 

 
 

http://youtu.be/ssw3xG1wH1s

Another ramming incident on 25 February 2013

Sunday 31 July 2011

When is a Christian not a Christian? When he embarrasses the flock of course!


The disconnected Labelling Debate score stands at
Breivik 'the Christian': 1 O'Reilly 'the Christian': 0.


This is Breivik writing in his manifesto:

Q: Do I have to believe in God or Jesus in order to become a Justiciar Knight?
A: As this is a cultural war, our definition of being a Christian does not necessarily constitute that you are required to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus. Being a Christian can mean many things;
- That you believe in and want to protect Europe’s Christian cultural heritage.
The European cultural heritage, our norms (moral codes and social structures included), our traditions and our modern political systems are based on Christianity - Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and the legacy of the European enlightenment (reason is the primary source and legitimacy for authority).
It is not required that you have a personal relationship with God or Jesus in order to fight for our Christian cultural heritage and the European way. In many ways, our modern societies and European secularism is a result of European Christendom and the
enlightenment. It is therefore essential to understand the difference between a “Christian fundamentalist theocracy” (everything we do not want) and a secular European society based on our Christian cultural heritage (what we do want).
So no, you don’t need to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus to fight for our Christian cultural heritage. It is enough that you are a Christian-agnostic or a Christian-atheist(an atheist who wants to preserve at least the basics of the European Christian cultural legacy (Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter)).
The PCCTS, Knights Templar is therefore not a religious organisation but rather a Christian “culturalist” military order.

Religion: Christian, Protestant but I support a reformation of Protestantism leading to it being absorbed by Catholisism. The typical “Protestant Labour Church” has to be deconstructed as its creation was an attempt to abolish the Church Religious: I went from moderately to agnostic to moderately religious

My parents, being rather secular wanted to give me the choice in regards to religion.
At the age of 15 I chose to be baptised and confirmed in the Norwegian State Church. I consider myself to be 100% Christian.

Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I’m not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic. However, I am a supporter of a monocultural Christian Europe.


This is FoxNews Impact host Bill O’Reilly in runaway denial:


Now, on Sunday, the "New York Times" headlined "As Horrors Emerged, Norway Charges Christian extremist". A number of other news organizations like the "LA Times" and Reuters also played up the Christian angle. But Breivik is not a Christian. That's impossible. No one believing in Jesus commits mass murder. The man might have called himself a Christian on the net, but he is certainly not of that faith.

Also Breivik is not attached to any church, and in fact has criticized the Protestant belief system in general. The Christian angle came from a Norwegian policeman not from any fact finding. Once again, we can find no evidence, none, that this killer practiced Christianity in any way.
So why is the angle being played up? Two reasons: First, the liberal media wants to make an equivalency between the actions of Breivik and the Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh and al Qaeda. The left wants you to believe that fundamentalists Christians are a threat just like crazy jihadists are.


http://youtu.be/Z3_DEp--J8c

Extended YouTube compilation of O'Reilly commentary:

http://youtu.be/mAxf3aL1WmU

The Young Turks response to O'Reilly:

http://youtu.be/dl6lOP_BfLg

Wednesday 27 July 2011

In which Rupert Murdoch, John Howard, Peter Costello, Ross Cameron, Keith Windschuttle & Cardinal Pell are used as building blocks for terrorism

It hardly comes as a surprise that members of Australia’s right-wing are directly quoted (or in Phillip Ruddock’s case mentioned by reference link) in a manifesto* openly inciting racial hatred and violence nor that Rupert Murdoch’s desire to dominate media ownership is mentioned as one contributing reason for action, but it was a surprise to find a very brief quote from writings of the late academic Alex Carey mentioned:

In 1998, Rupert Murdoch owned 34% of the daily newspapers and 37% of the Sunday newspapers in the UK. Successive UK governments have allowed his empire to grow in return for his media's support. 53% of UK newspaper and magazine distribution is controlled by just two companies, WH Smith and John Menzies. Cross-media ownership and the fact that a small number of people own so many of our means of obtaining information is a threat as it institutionalises globalism and multiculturalism....

Luckily, not all Christian leaders are appeasers of Islam. One of the intelligent ones comes from Australia, a country that has been fairly resistant to Political Correctness. They have taken serious steps towards actually enforcing their own borders, despite the predictable outcries from various NGOs and anti-racists, and Prime Minister John Howard has repeatedly proven to be one of the most sensible leaders in the Western world....

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello [28] said Australian Muslim leaders need to stand up and publicly denounce terrorism in all its forms. Mr. Costello has also backed calls by Prime Minister John Howard for Islamic migrants to adopt Australian values. Mr. Howard caused outrage in Australia’s Islamic community when he said Muslims needed to speak English and show respect to women....

All over the developed world, the same pattern is apparent. Russia, Britain, Ireland, Australia, Spain, Italy and dozens of other countries are contending with fertility rates well below replacement levels....
A study from the United States [13] identified the main barriers to men tying the knot. Heading the list was their ability to get sex without marriage more easily than in the past. The second was that they can enjoy the benefits of having a wife by cohabiting rather than marrying.
The report lends weight to remarks by Ross Cameron, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Family and Community Services, who chided Australian men, blaming Australia’s looming fertility crisis on men’s commitment phobia.
“The principal reason young women say they don’t get around to having children is they can’t find a bloke they like who is willing to commit,” he said. “This commitment aversion in the Australian male is a real problem.”....

Australian writer Keith Windschuttle [22], a former Marxist, is tired of that anti-Western slant that permeates academia: “For the past three decades and more, many of the leading opinion makers in our universities, the media and the arts have regarded Western culture as, at best, something to be ashamed of, or at worst, something to be opposed. The scientific knowledge that the West has produced is simply one of many “ways of knowing.”
“Cultural relativism claims there are no absolute standards for assessing human culture. Hence all cultures should be regarded as equal, though different.” “The plea for acceptance and open-mindedness does not extend to Western culture itself, whose history is regarded as little more than a crime against the rest of humanity. The West cannot judge other cultures but must condemn its own.”
He urges us to remember how unique some elements of our culture are: “The concepts of free enquiry and free expression and the right to criticise entrenched beliefs are things we take so much for granted they are almost part of the air we breathe. We need to recognise them as distinctly Western phenomena. They were never produced by Confucian or Hindu culture.” “But without this concept, the world would not be as it is today. There would have been no Copernicus, Galileo, Newton or Darwin.”....

George Cardinal Pell [30], Archbishop of Sydney, tells of how September 11 was a wakeup call for him personally [31]:
“I recognised that I had to know more about Islam.” “In my own reading of the Koran, I began to note down invocations to violence. There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages.” “The predominant grammatical form in which jihad is used in the Koran carries the sense of fighting or waging war.” “Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion and its capacity for fear-reaching renovation is severely limited.” “I’d also say that Islam is a much more war-like culture than Christianity.” “I’ve had it asserted to me is that in the relationship between the Islamic and non-Islamic world, the normal thing is a situation of tension if not war, or outright hostility.”....
Our traditional Judeo-Christian religions have proven this capability. Islam never has, and probably never will. As Australia's Cardinal George Pell [13] says, "some seculars are so deeply anti-Christian, that anyone opposed to Christianity is seen as their ally. That could be one of the most spectacularly disastrous miscalculations in history." ....

"The 20th century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance. The growth of democracy; the growth of corporate power; and the growth of corporate propaganda against democracy." Alex Carey, Australian social scientist.

[ Berwick, Andrew (believed to be Anders Breivik) 2083: A Europen Declartion of Independence, 2011]

* The complete manifesto is not linked for download due to the nature of its contents.

Friday 10 December 2010

Something for New Sou' Welshies to think about as the year ends.....


I’m told that once-upon-a-time in regional New South Wales you could find yourself locked up in a secure mental health facility just on the say so of a family member backed up by the word of a GP who hadn’t actually seen or talked to you.
The only hope you had of getting out from under this form of domestic violence (if the trick cyclist on duty didn’t believe you) was to speak with the visiting magistrate.
Now it seems the bad old days are returning:
“You, or anyone in NSW, could be picked up by the police and held in detention for up to one month without any form of judicial review. This could happen at any time, even though you have committed no crime. These are not the latest draconian anti-terror laws nor are they laws targeting asylum seekers. This is a legal framework that is directed at you and me, or it will be if we are unlucky enough to occasionally suffer a severe mental illness…. The act places restrictions on psychiatrists' power. It says that "as soon as practicable" after someone is admitted involuntarily to hospital, their case must be heard by an independent umpire. Until June, the umpire was a magistrate who came to the hospital every week. The magistrate saw every patient who had been detained and psychiatrists had to justify that deprivation of liberty to the magistrate. In June though, the umpire became a lawyer from the Mental Health Review Tribunal and, instead of visiting the hospital, he or she started appearing by audiovisual link. Whereas patients detained in hospital would previously have an automatic review within a week or so, now that would not happen until they had been locked up three or four weeks. The words "as soon as practicable" were suddenly interpreted to mean "within about a month" and many patients would now be involuntarily admitted and eventually released without ever having their detention independently checked.”
Shame, Premier Keneally, Shame!

Thursday 25 November 2010

Swearing on National White Ribbon Day 2010


Today is National White Ribbon Day 2010 when all Aussie men are encouraged to think about the following:

In Australia, one in three women will be assaulted or abused in her lifetime. These women are our mothers, our girlfriends, our wives, our daughters, our colleagues and our friends. How have we allowed this to occur?

Not only is it unacceptable for this violence to take place, it is unacceptable that we allow certain behaviours and attitudes to go unchallenged.

Some of us experience violence first hand. Others hear stories of violence against women. Others observe it or look on from afar. The worst part? We remain silent.

If we are to move our society forward and prevent violence against women from occurring, we must speak out. We must take action to challenge attitudes and behaviours. We must not remain silent.

And make this commitment.......

I swear:
never to commit violence against women,
never to excuse violence against women, and
never to remain silent about violence against women.
This is my oath.
Swear now
Help spread the word

Friday 14 May 2010

Round the online traps....


Unflattering pic of Tony Abbott alongside ABC News article about his
Budget Reply 13th May 2010

IanLoveridge: Missed the budget reply on purpose. I like my new TV and I didn't want to harm it!
Orcisano: Tony Abbot spent at least 35 minute of his budget reply attacking the government and praising the Howard government.
{Twitter 13th May 2010}

"Accused war criminal "Captain Dragan" Vasiljkovic spent the night in police custody last night in a Coffs Harbour police station after 43 days on the run."
{The Australian 13th May 2010}

"Electronic Frontiers Australia and Australian Privacy Foundation asking the company [Google] to clarify its reasons for collecting personal Wi-Fi network data from Australian homes."
{The Sydney Morning Herald 13th May 2010}

"For Australia's sake, we need to ban the bikini"
{En Passant 11th May 2010}

"Health authorities are warning of the dangers of eating slugs as a Sydney man battles a rare form of meningitis."
{ABC News 13th May 2010}

"Freud signed, but added in his own writing, "I can heartily recommend the Gestapo to anyone."
{Jonathon Glover "Bits and Pieces"}

"THERE is good reason why the North Coast Area Health Service (NCAHS) doesn't want the public to read a report by an emergency medicine expert about the state of the Grafton and Maclean emergency departments (EDs).
Alleged shoddy clinical practices by certain GPs, bullying of nursing staff by senior Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs), bad relations with Coffs Harbour hospital's ED and a culture of overspending on unnecessary pathological tests are just a few of many inflammatory findings of the report."
{The Daily Examiner 7th May 2010}

"Six Things You Need to Know About Facebook Connections"
{Electronic Frontier Foundation 4th May 2010}

Google receives takedown request for multiple Blogspots offering "direct links to files containing soundrecordings for other users to download"
{Internet Anti-Piracy 14th April 2010}

"How Many Bad Assumptions Can You Make In A Single Article About Content Creation And Copyright?"
{Techdirt May 2010}

"A MAN has pleaded guilty over an armed siege at a Port Macquarie McDonald's restaurant last year."
{Port Macquarie News 14th April 2010}

A genetic test will be offered Friday at Walgreens drug stores, but the FDA warns that "consumers are putting themselves at risk if they use a test not approved" by the federal agency. The test, offered by Pathway Genomics, already is offered online. So are similar tests from other companies. The FDA has not previously intervened.
{WebMD 12th May 2010}

{ABC News 13th May 2010}

{Slate 7th May 2010}

Saturday 25 April 2009

Why war is hell

Paul Mitchell bravely lifts the curtain on a timely reminder of why war is really hell for everyone.

Drinking to their deaths on Anzac Day

Crikey reader Paul Mitchell writes:

World War II veteran Keith sits on the beach in the TV ad and reflects on the death of his mate Jack. I think of my late grandfather, but Keith's stubby and the empty chair beside him don't remind me of Bill's war deeds.

I'm proud of Bill, who fought in the Middle East and Crete. He arrived back in Australia with a wounded knee and arm, but played and umpired 500 games of football. He should never have been at war -- he signed up at 16 -- but he's one of the many we remember every Anzac Day...........

As well as physical wounds, my grandfather received deep psychological damage. Post-traumatic stress disorder was unknown in the '40s, and there were no counselling services. So he did what many of his mates did: numbed the pain with grog.

Bill drank solidly for 52 years and his liver, kidneys and spleen were shot when he died. But the alcohol didn't just affect his body: he was a violent alcoholic who created a warzone. He physically and psychologically abused his wife and kids, and the effects continue: his four children have had psychological problems; two of his sons have been alcoholics (with four marriages between them) and one of their daughters suicided.......

Keith's trembling voice as he talks about his mate reminds me of my grandfather's on the rare occasions he allowed the terrified boy inside himself to remember the war. I want to raise a glass to Keith, Bill and all the men and women like them. But respect for those who have lived through domestic warzones means I won't.

Friday 10 April 2009

It's almost mid-2009 and they're still fighting in.............


It's almost mid-2009 and they're still fighting in.............

Iraq - the War on Terror still leaving a bloody fallout Bomb near Iraq Shi'ite shrine kills 7

Afghanistan - despite the propaganda NATO-led occupation forces are losing hearts and minds Obama seeks extra funds for wars

Sri Lanka - Tamil Tigers versus Sri Lankan Government forces 'Civilians die' in Sri Lanka zone

Democratic Republic of Congo - civil war still unresolved DR Congo army fights off rebel attack in east

Pakistan - Protestors versus police Two Killed in Protests in Pakistan`s Baluchistan

India - KCP rebels killed in exchange of gunfire with police 3 rebels killed in Manipur

Somalia - civil war leads to lawlessness Aid Workers Quit Somalia

Ethiopia - rebel group still active Ogaden Rebels Counter 'Crisis' Claims by Ethiopia

Sudan - Israel versus whoever they please Report: Naval commando forces involved in Sudan strike

Columbia - FARC rebels take on Columbian Army Colombian Army and FARC Rebels Battle Near Venezuelan Border

England - British establishment against one lone man Policeman suspended over G20 protest death Video of police assault

......and various other places around the globe.