Bill Henson is owed an apology

At Live News yesterday Tim Brunero asked:

Will Miranda Devine apologise to Bill Henson?

After the furore created by journalist Miranda Devine and Braveheart's Hetty Johnson, it would appear that an apology is in order to artist, Bill Henson. Though I imagine that none of us will live long enough to see this happen.

Bill Henson's profile from the art gallery also caught up in these failed allegations of wrongdoing.

Synchronous views of Obama

With the US Republicans now busy searching for that cache of Kryptonite, this flight of fancy tickled my rather juvenile sense of humour this week.

The allusion to Superman is something Senator Obama also appears to fancy himself.

Images from Us versus Them and Democracy in Action.

Helicopter? Which helicopter? Whose helicopter?

Grafton's Daily Examiner reports that Mr Billabong, Gordon (aka Greasy) Merchant, is believed to be involved in a wrangle with Clarence Valley Council over the use of his helicopter.

A development application (DA) has been made by Yamba surveyors Harrison Shepherd with Clarence Valley Council requesting its client Kahuna Pty Ltd be allowed to continue making helicopterflights in the Yamba area.

A number of local residents have made complaints to Clarence Valley Council about the helicopter's noise

The Examiner reports that the application states that only two flights have been made so far this year.

Some residents dispute this claim.

NSW Most Unwanted: Frank Sartor

Most Unwanted

Unwanted and dangerous NSW Labor Minister for Planning, Hon. Frank Ernest Sartor, MP.
Suffers from a Napoleonic complex and sometimes tries to pass himself off as a reincarnation of the late and unlamented Liberal Premier Robert Askin.
Has committed crimes against the environment, urban areas and regional communities.
Currently rampaging through the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act wielding a development industry scalpel.
Known to go berserk when faced with a democratic process and exhibits an irrational rage towards local government.
Do not approach. May be rabid. Call dog catcher if sighted.

National Goanna Pulling Championships, Wooli Sunday 8 June 2008

This Sunday, Wooli on the NSW North Coast will be holding the National Goanna Pulling Championships at the Wooli Sports Ground.
This annual event kicks off at 9am through to 4pm. Entry is free.
Winner in the heavyweight division takes home a cash prize of $500.
Day also includes kids fun events, foot races, market stalls, beer garden and mobile farm nursery.

This hilarious and intensely competitive sport is something like a tug-o-war match between two competitors pulling from a strap attached around their necks. The belly-down position up on two legs and the backward-scuttle motion required to gain ground is reminiscent of a goanna's gait.

Contact Details:
Australian National Goanna Pulling Competition
Wooli Sports Ground
Wooli, NSW 2462
Telephone: 02 - 6649 7540

Totally underwhelmed by the latest Bright Idea, Prime Minister

Everyone's noticing. It's almost as though the Prime Minister can't stand one moment of media time passing without an announcement of one of his Bright Ideas.
Yesterday it was teh vision for South-East Asia.
Something to rival the European Union and presumably the UN (after all our Kev doesn't think small).
To be smooched into place by veteran diplomat Richard Wilcox in time for, you guessed it, 2020.
Anti-terrorism, defence, free trade, regional politics, energy and resource security - all would be resolved through harmonious cooperation.
Yeah, Rudd wants it all and he wants America in the mix. I'm sure adding an imperial barracuda like the US would seal everyone's fate and possibly destroy the region.
Oi, Kev! Hold the horses, mate. Did you even run any of this by the Australian electorate in the lead up to last November's federal election?
Any mention you might have had slipped in during a workshop at the unrepresentative, undemocratic and elitist Australia 2020 summit earlier this year doesn't count.
Fer gawd's sake! Will the Deputy PM gather a few sane Labor souls and have them bundle Rudd into a quiet, dark room for a week until his hyperactive imagination subsides.
At the very least - don't let him on Sunday's flight to Japan unless he is sufficiently medicated.

US 08 and the media: change we can believe in?

It seems that some American online media and I suspect the Obama for America campaign team have a desire to manipulate impressions of the obvious crowd-drawing strength of the Democratic candidate for the 2008 US presidential election.
It is all image, image, image.

The Washington Post online edition yesterday ran what looks suspiciously like an undeclared montage or digital enhancement.
Although this is not the first manipulated image of the senator, it is perhaps the most clumsy.
It also highlights how easily media slips into grey areas surrounding ethics and partisanship.

There is a little Mugabe in every world leader

No-one should wonder at an UN conference on world food security which allows the attendance of a despot like Robert Mugabe who has reduced his own country to abject poverty and food shortages.
The fact that neither the UN or any other international organisation have found an answer to chronic food shortages or cyclical famine lies in the nature of modern societies and their leaders.
Each and every one is willing to make symbolic and one-off gestures to assist the world's poor and starving, but none are willing to abandon their single-minded pursuit of political power and economic dominance.
Like any despot they all only look to their own personal interests and that of their immediate entourage and ignore all else.
Like Mugabe they each point a finger of blame when they should be remedying their own failings.
So when Ban Ki-Moon calls for a 50% increase in world food production to help feed the 100 million food poor, you know it will only happen if major food exporting nations are able to reap substantial profits.
That many Western nations would prefer to write a cheque like Great Britain, rather than seriously look at how to increase the agricultural self-reliance of the poorest nations and reduce the world's reliance on energy intensive farming and the associated costs of water, fuel, fertilisers and copyrighted seed.

The shortsighted view relying on successive foreign aid fixes has resulted in above world map found at BBC News yesterday.

Link to International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations, website and debate on who pays the price.

Don't vote - it only encourages them

I seem to remember that during the 2007 Australian federal election campaign, both sides of politics promised us a civilised parliament this time round.
Polite and respectful.
Listening to Question Time this session and it seems that everyone is determined to keep ignoring this election 'promise'.
I had been hoping that (after it's initial cardboard cut out nonsense) the Coalition would have learnt something and altered its approach.
Instead, behaviour in the House of Reps is just as counterproductive to the passage of business as it always was and, Wee Brennie Nelson and his mates now have the hypocritical hide to accuse the Rudd Government of ramming bills through the House and cutting off full debate.
Tactics used by themselves when they were part of the former Howard Government.
However, Rudders and his gang do not get off free here. After all they appear to be using many of the very tactics they strenuously objected to when in opposition. The Australian Parliament is just as its always been - a place where political point scoring outranks any consideration of good governance.
A nest of snakes operating on basic species loyalty.