Monthly Archives: September 2003

“Arrogant, secretive and a denial of justice”

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The International Federation of Journalists has issued a strong condemnation of the US miilitary “investigation” into the killing of Mazen Dana, the Palestinian Reuters cameraman who was shot by American troops in August while filming at the Abu Ghraib prison, on the western outskirts of Baghdad.

“This is the arrogant and secretive style of power exercised without any responsibility,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “It is a scandalous denial of justice that will only reinforce demands for changes to international rules to provide more protection for journalists and media staff in conflict areas.”

“First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” says Dick the Butcher in Henry VI, Part II, as Shakespeare’s anarchists try to engender a state of lawlessness and chaos. The US Army seems to prefer killing journalists, perhaps in the same cause, not that they would have to do much to create lawlessness and chaos in today’s world.

The Guardian has a good report of the Mazen Dana murder, including eyewitness accounts that give some sense of the horrific scene:

Stephan Breitner, of France 2 television, added: “We were all there for at least half an hour. They knew we were journalists. After they shot Mazen, they aimed their guns at us. I don’t think it was an accident. They are very tense. They are crazy.”

The Guardian story also includes links to other stories about “Journalists under attack”.

Wine, women and song

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Brent & Mieko in the Hunter

It’s been a few years since I’ve been up to the wine country, but having houseguests gives you the excuse to see the world at your doorstep, so Brent, Mieko and I spent the day yesterday touring the wineries of the Upper Hunter.

We didn’t buy a lot of wine, just a few bottles of the 1996 Tulloch Hector Shiraz and an amazing Tulloch Liqueur Muscat … but we had a delicious day tasting wine and cheese and enjoying the rolling hills covered with vineyards.

It’s amazing how one’s ability to describe the complex flavours in each sip improves with each passing hour. At first the most any of us could mention was “that’s nice” or “I don’t care for that” … by the end of the day the words “buttery”, “peppery”, “freshly-mown grass” and “tannin” we tripping off our well-lubricated tongues like we never spoke of anything more mundane than the oenological craft. Brent, as designated driver, no doubt observed this phenomenon even more closely than those of us who had the luxury of swallowing everything we tasted.

Today we’re off to the Honeysuckle Markets and goodness-knows where else. I need to find some time today to work but it’ll be tough, as the sun is shining and the breeze is cool on my face.

“Humanity has lost its eminent genius”

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Edward Said is dead.

The eminent Palestinian-American intellectual, one of the most outspoken and respected advocates for the Palestinian cause, died in New York on Thursday.

He will be missed, not only by supporters of the Palestinian people, but by everyone who craves, respects and appreciates wisdom and insight in the face of chauvinism.

Great moments in Science, part 2

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Patricia Lewis (grade 8 ) did an experiment to see if life can evolve from non-life. Patricia placed all the non-living ingredients of life – carbon (a charcoal briquet), purified water, and assorted minerals (a multi-vitamin) – into a sealed glass jar. The jar was left undisturbed, being exposed only to sunlight, for three weeks. (Patricia also prayed to God not to do anything miraculous during the course of the experiment, so as not to disqualify the findings.) No life evolved. This shows that life cannot come from non-life through natural processes.

All this and more at the Fellowship Baptist Creation Science Fair.

Australia is so gay

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Gay Australian flagIt’s official! Australia is the world’s gayest country!

In a scrupulously rigorous study based on the respected academic field of internet polling, a condom manufacturer has found that Australia, along with the US, has the highest number of same-sex relationships, a hefty 17 percent.

This may come as a surprise to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which conducts the national census. The 2001 census records only 19,596 Australians were in same-sex relationships — that’s about 0.1 percent of the population, folks.

Maybe someone at the ABS forgot to carry the 1.

Apparently these people have “style”

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QEFTSG cast

The Australian version of* Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which I posted about earlier this month, will premiere on Monday. Given the flood of email which followed my previous post, I guess I better watch it, although it is bingo night (don’t ask).

In any case, it’s hard to have any hope for a world in which the alleged “gurus of style” dress like the men in this picture.

Meanwhile, courtesy of The Onion: “Black Eye For The White Guy Cable’s Newest Hit”

*Update, 0844: I actually looked at the Channel Ten QEFTSG website. Obviously we’re getting the US version of the show first…

“the now-infamous Wolfowitz riots”

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“Is it rude to yell at a dictarorship? Is it still appropriate to talk about threats to the exercise of free speech if we are talking about a regime which has been imposed upon a great people, and when that regime has rewritten the rules which govern democracy and civil rights?”

James‘s posts (1, 2, 3) about “a miserable three hours” spent attending “an obviously rehearsed Q & A session between Jeffrey Goldberg and Paul Wolfowitz” is recommended.

Too darn hot

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spider on my bookcase

Up early after a tough night, trying to sleep despite the heat. The whole country is sweltering – Newcastle yesterday was 35C but a few inland places got up over 40C. At 5:30 this morning, when I gave up trying to sleep, it was 26C, so it looks like we’re in for another warm day.

We have two visitors. Visitor one can be seen in the photo of my desk at right. Visitor two is arriving from Edmonton via Tokyo this morning. Mieko will be sharing her room with the spider, who I’ll call Boris. Mieko doesn’t know this yet, and I don’t know if Mieko likes spiders, but I’m sure they’ll get along.

Boris is not the first spider we’ve had in this house. Henrietta Huntsman shared our bedroom for more than a week before moving on, and Brent found a redback, which we didn’t name but enjoyed the sight of for a while before she was sent packing. Redbacks are glorious creatures but a wee bit too deadly to have in the house.

Current temperature: 27.7C and rising. Expect more heat-addled blaterings from your friendly neighborhood spiderman throughout the day.

Church and State

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Our elected state representatives have been hard at work debating the big issues, such as whether it is appropriate that every day’s session of Parliament begin with the Lord’s Prayer.

It seems absurd to me that anyone persists in the thought that mandating a Christian prayer as part of our legislative process is anything other than offensive to the one-third of the population who aren’t Christian. It flies in the face of the separation of church and state, it seems inconsistent with s.116 of the Australian Constitution and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it provides fuel to the fire of anti-Australian terrorist groups.

But at the commencement of every day’s session of Parliament, just before the President acknowledges that the Parliament meets on Eora land, the NSW upper house affirms that Our Father art in heaven, that His name is hallowed, and that His will be done. If that’s not enough, the Parliament declares the “kingdom, the power and the glory” to belong to the Christian God, “for ever and ever.” Continue reading →

Reunited and it feels so good

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Paul gets in touch with his rural roots on the banks of the creek at Nymboida

The family reunion last weekend was good fun and well worth the 1100km of driving it took to get us there and back. It was great to see my extended family, many of whom I haven’t laid eyes on for twenty years, and to discover how little they’ve changed.

Highlights of the weekend include getting connected with my Newcastle cousins Kathy and Vicky and their families, walking with Brent and the dogs along the creek, spending time with my Mum, reminding my Aunties Kay and Norma that they are my godmothers (first they’d heard of it, apparently) and therefore responsible for my spiritual wellbeing, noticing the disturbing similarities between my Uncle Rupert and Brent’s Uncle Fat, and generally relaxing and having a good time in the harsh bushland setting from whence we all sprang.

Brent loves being in the outdoors so much and we have such beautifully relaxed times when we get there together. It’s a pity we don’t get more opportunities to get out there but there are always competing demands on our time. We are getting more accomplished at getting our gear together and on the road, so hopefully we will get at least one more camp in before the big one at new years’.

There was a lot of crazy talk among the McLennans/Corbens/Kidds/Bennetts about making the reunion an annual event. Not sure if it will happen but I’m sure I can be coaxed into returning from time to time.

The dutiful son

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We’re off this morning to exotic Nymboida, about seven hours’ drive north of here, for my mother’s family reunion. My mum was born just near here, at romantically-named Kangaroo Creek.

By all accounts there will be several hundred members of my extended family up there for the weekend shindig.

It should be entertaining in several ways. Because I’ve not been close to my cousins and uncles and aunts since we were kids, I’m keen to see how they all (there are a lot of them) turned out. And I’ve never come out as gay to this lot, so hopefully they’re not all members of One Nation/Christian Democrats/National Party…

Will be back on Monday, hopefully with pictures, although my digi cam seems to be playing up, so they might be fuzzy pictures.

Wish me luck.

Protester Suicide in Cancun

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Cancun

A Korean farmer identified as Lee Kyung-hae has died after stabbing himself during a protest against the World Trade Organization in Cancun. Holding a sign that read “WTO Kills Farmers”, Lee stabbed himself at a barricade blocking the road to Cancun’s hotel district where the WTO ministerial meeting is being held.

[Full report from Reuters]

H is for Homoerotic

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Ljundberg ad

The London Sun continues to break the big news. Sweden and Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljundberg is the latest Calvin Klein spokesmodel, apparently. The paper reports this fact in a fine work of journalism headlined “The H List (that stands for Hung)“, a searing investigative report on the donger dimensions of various male celebrities.

Celebrity wangers and underwear models aren’t the sort of thing I usually comment on, but any barely credible excuse for using this picture is alright by me … fwoargh!

Bewdiful one day, Perforated the next

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In a development sure to displease the promoters of Schoolies’ Week, under-age foreskin piercing is to be outlawed in BrisVegas:

“An early election is clearly on the cards in Queensland, with an announcement by Police Minister Tony McGrady that the Government intends to introduce a ban on nipple and genital piercing for people under 18 — along with tough penalties for practitioners who breach the new laws. The Sunday Mail, in language that’s normally not found in a family newspaper, reported on the weekend that Queenslanders as young as 13 are having piercings carried out on the penis, the foreskin, the scrotum, the clitoris, the labia and the nipples. We presume that they were talking about several people and not just one individual.” [Hillary Bray on crikey.com.au]

I guess there won’t be a BabyInk franchise opening in the Valley then…

Redemption Song to stay

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Jamaica’s controversial Redemption Song statue, commemorating the emancipation of African slaves, is to stay at the entrance to Kingston’s Emancipation Park, despite the controversy that has raged since it was installed last month.

Redemption Song statue

The Guardian has a good summary of the issues for those of us who haven’t been following the story closely.

As Mark Wignall, a columnist in Jamaica’s Daily Observer, noted: “Just because Europe’s classical statues had small penises does not mean Jamaica must follow suit.”

Indeed.

War drums beating in the age of terror

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“For the second anniversary and beyond, we basically have two choices. We can march forward with confidence that the global enforcer will drive evil from the world, much as the president’s speech writers declare, plagiarising ancient epics and children’s tales. Or we can subject the doctrines of the proclaimed grand new era to scrutiny, drawing rational conclusions, perhaps gaining some sense of the emerging reality.”

Noam Chomsky, on today’s Sydney Morning Herald op-ed page. Recommended.

Posted in war

Dead people, wrapped in flags

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samudra_flag.jpg

Today marks two years of the “war on terror” and, like many of us suspected at the outset, neither the good guys or the bad guys (assuming you can tell the difference) seems to be getting the upper hand.

The coming day will be a sad one for the people of New York and especially for those individuals who lost friends and family members in the WTC tragedy. The datastream will be littered with teary-eyed wives and children clutching photographs and buches of flowers. And we’ll all be forced to witness the Bruckheimeresque spectacle over and over again from every angle. Continue reading →

Great Moments in Science

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Being diagnosed with HIV is a badge of recognition of being truly gay,” she said. “There is a sizeable number of young gay men new to the gay scene, exploring their sexuality but wanting to belong. HIV is seen as a bonus.

—Melissa Parker of London’s Brunel University, in this 365gay.com report.

I’m surrounded by idiots.

Weapons of mass (cultural) destruction

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Sports Eye (comic)

ucomics.com

In entertainment news (or is that ‘news entertainment’?), Australia is to be subjected to the very pinnacle of American bourgeois decadance, a television reality program called “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy”, according to CNN.

The show, which features five gay men who “transform the wardrobe, home and overall style of a straight guy” is set to do more for the stereotype generation business than anything before.

I can hardly wait.

Unfortunately, Leni Reifenstahl, who would have been the ideal person to direct the Aussie QEFTSG, is dead.