RUDD THE DUD - TIME TO SCORE POLITICIANS LIKE THE "MYSCHOOL" LISTINGS

The debacle which has occurred over the Mossad murder of a Palestinian in Dubai is beginning to have international repercussions, with Israel being somewhat more exposed and criticised than ever before.

The Australian involvement via forged Australian passports is unlikely to cause any ripples to the Netanyahu government, but may start to cause its own ripple effect in Australia, where Rudd and his government are looking increasingly incompetent with blunder after blunder gradually coming out into the open.

Ministers in the firing line are now Garrett, Conroy, Gillard - the zionist buddy, with Rudd, of Israel, right or wrong - over her handling of education and the "Myschool" tables, and Rudd himself who utters sounds but nothing of substance emerges.

What emerges in all of this is that they are just party apparatchiks and the replacement of Garrett is just another unionist who got promoted to cabinet while still wet behind the ears. Greg Combet will in the end follow a long line, from Hawke and Ferguson and Crean into a right-wing religious dominated ALP which grew out of the Howard years, something else our reactionary politicians have in common in 2010.

It is difficult to know where to start in grading our politicians, but starting with Rudd the Dud, I would say he probably should get something like 1 out of 10 for general incompetence.

The rest will be scored as their assessments come up for review!

SENATE REJECTS GAY MARRIAGE BILL - HOMOPHOBIA AND HYPOCRISY LIVE ON IN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT

The Age carried the following report on 26 February 2010. The religious right continues to dominate federal politics and those in the parliament who want it to be otherwise are too intimidated, it would seem, to stick their necks out and oppose their party platforms. All the more disgraceful, then, that Penny Wong was in a cabinet meeting and was not prepared, yet again, to break ranks with her wretched colleagues and be present in the senate.


Senate rejects gay marriage bill


THE Senate has comprehensively defeated a bid to legalise gay marriage, although a third of the senators did not turn up for the vote.

Before the gay pride Mardi Gras in Sydney this weekend, the bill was rejected by 45 votes to five, with only the Greens voting to liberalise the marriage laws.

But some of the senators who were absent from the chamber are uncomfortable with their party's official policies opposing a move to let gay couples marry.

Among the notable absentees were WA Labor senator Louise Pratt, and South Australian Liberal Simon Birmingham, who was at a meeting in the opposition leader's office.

All the senior ministers including Climate Change Minister Penny Wong were at a cabinet meeting.

Because it was what the major parties term a ''Mickey'' - as in Mouse - where they vote together, senators who had a conscientious objection were not required to seek leave to miss the vote.

Senator Hanson-Young seized on the absentee rate to declare the major parties split.

''There may have been a group of senators voting to keep discrimination against same-sex couples being able to marry the one they love, but well over one-third of all senators were absent for the final vote, presumably the only form of protest open to them,'' she said.

The Greens have pledged to reintroduce the bill after the election.

MISHA SCHUBERT

CATERPILLER - AND FOLLOW THE TRAIL THROUGH AUSTRALIA TO ISRAEL!

BOYCOTT,DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS - BDS - there is an interesting trail connecting Caterpiller, the big US manufacturing conglomerate which sells bulldozers and other heavy earth-moving equipment to Israel to destroy Palestinans' homes and lives and create general destruction, and then Australia and all the way back to Israel.

Let's see how we can make sense of this line of thought and then end up with Rudd and Smith rebuking Israel for its use of forged Australian passports for Mossad's murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai.

Basically of course, Israel is not interested in anything any country says or threatens, as long as the United States of America backs it to the hilt without any criticism, and as long as the dollars continue to flow.

However, there is an indication that the tide is turning, and countries around the world, but specifically those whose citizens have had their passport identities stolen by the Israelis, have had enough of Israel getting away with murder as it has done for so long.

But back to the original thread.

Kerry Stokes, owner of Australia's commercial television station channel 7, has just bought an interest in the Caterpiller organisation.

Kerry Stokes recently met Stephen Conroy, federal minister for communications and internet censorship on a ski holiday. Senator Conroy, who says they did not talk about certain issues - of course - is part of the government of prime minister Kevin Rudd and deputy prime minister Julia Gillard, both zionists and Israel government lovers.

Now we have the interesting situation where Rudd has called in the Israeli ambassador over the Dubai murder and the use of forged Australian passports.

What do you think Israel's response will be to this pathetic gesture?

Quite right - laughing all the way back to Jerusalem!

GAY, LESBIAN, TRANSGENDER, HIV/AIDS AGED CARE CRISIS

AGED CARE CRISIS
It seems the US government can grant SAGE, the country’s oldest and largest GLBT aged care advocacy organisation $900 million to establish a National Centre for Information on GLBT Ageing, in partnership with several organisations across the country, but here we have yet to see one lousy dollar go to any organisation, gay or not, to work with GLBTI elders.
We have a federal government nearing its first term of office, yet still it has chosen not to recognise that GLBTI elders are the most seriously neglected, invisible and afraid in our aged care system, and do something as a matter of urgency.
One wonders how long it will take before our PM makes an announcement similar to President Obama and Secretary Sibelius about GLBT aged care.
As people continue to live in hiding in nursing homes, go back into the closet when home carers are coming around, and threaten suicide rather than have to rely on homophobic staff in institutions, we continue to claim that gay marriage is the issue of the day. Not for me and not for elders in nursing homes.
I live in hope that our federal government will finally recognise our elders for the special needs group that they are, and support our organisations to provide advocacy and meet needs as a matter of urgency. We have no time to waste; ACT-UP showed us what to do in such a crisis.
— Dr Jo Harrison

ALL ANIMALS ARE CREATED EQUAL-------

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: All animals are created equal--------
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:28:53 +1100

To: senator.brandis@aph.gov.au


Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne
PO Box 1675,
Preston South,
Vic 3072

George Orwell stated that all animals are created equal, but some are
more equal than others!
So, all senators are created equal, only some are more equal than
others. Check this out with Senator Penny Wong, who doesn't know which
side of the senate chamber she should really be on. Hypocrisy on a grand
scale!

Then of course there was Shylock who asked, "If you prick me, do I not
bleed?"

One day, Senator, you will find out the definition of human rights and
the fact that some of your favourite friends and family are gay,
lesbian, transgender and/or HIV positive.

Discrimination is alive and well and operating in the Australian federal
parliament.

All Australians are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Just tell the religious right to pay taxes the same as gay, lesbian,
transgender and HIV/AIDS people have to do and we will have an equitable
society.

Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne

EDDIE MCGUIRE - HOMOPHOBE EXTRAORDINARE - LOVER OF THE WORLD'S MOST HOMOEROTIC SPORT - FOOTY!!

Eddie McGuire has excelled himself in Vancouver with his coverage for Channel Nine.

This report was in The Age on 19 February 2010:

Eddie's pub humour fails to find funny bones



American ice skater Johnny Weir performs at the Vancouver Games.



CHANNEL Nine’s Vancouver Games coverage has become the Winter Olympics of discontent with some viewers angered over the commentary style of host Eddie McGuire.

--------------------------------------------------------

Video:Johnny Weir Eddie's jokes called 'homophobic'

--------------------------------------------------------

A Facebook group established this week by a disgruntled ice hockey player in Sydney has struck a nerve. On Wednesday night, it had just three members. By 7 o’clock last night it was at 300 and growing.

IT worker Rowan Lean, 28, insists he had no particular feelings towards McGuire before the Games. But that all changed when he tuned in to McGuire’s interview with Australia’s silver medallist in the moguls, Dale Begg-Smith.

‘‘I couldn’t stop cringing,’’ said Mr Lean. ‘‘He was just baiting him, trying to get a rise. I literally had to change the channel, and I never do that with sport.’’

Next came McGuire’s interview with former ice-skater Katarina Witt, in which he referred to her 1988 Playboy shoot. ‘‘I thought I was watching a 15-year-old drooling. He might have been saying things that maybe would come up at the pub, but it’s the Olympics, a noble sporting event, and he’s making it really painful.’’

So, on Wednesday evening, he decided to lodge his protest by starting a Facebook group under the banner ‘‘Eddie Mcguire is ruining the 2010 Winter Olympics coverage’’.

It started as a joke between Mr Lean and two friends, but began picking up momentum yesterday in the wake of McGuire and Mick Molloy’s commentary on the ice-skating.



As 24-year-old American skater Johnny Weir (pictured) performed his routine, McGuire and Molloy went into bar-room mode, with sly allusions to Weir’s sexuality. Though undeniably flamboyant, the three-time American national champion steadfastly refuses, US military style, to either confirm or deny which way he pivots.

The commentary pair made reference to the film Brokeback Mountain and Molloy joked that the lightly built, heavily made-up Weir was a builder by day.

‘‘They don’t leave anything in the locker room, those blokes,’’ said Molloy.

‘‘They don’t leave anything in the closet either, do they?’’ McGuire said, laughing.

‘‘Careful,’’ Molloy replied. ‘‘You’ll get yourself into trouble.’’

As the Facebook group picked up pace, over on Twitter the anti-Eddie sentiment went into overdrive. ‘‘Oh ha ha ... let’s make jokes about the male figure skaters being gay ... groundbreaking televisual wit right there Eddie McGuire,’’ was one of the few we could republish.

Channel Nine declined to comment

Then read the following in the context of what is above, and an interesting picture starts to emerge:


GOING GAY THE RUGBY WAY
PROFESSOR FINDS STRANGE OVERTONES IN THE UP-AND-UNDER
Football seen as an all boys homoerotic rite
Article from the WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN 18-19 November 1978
From DON ANDERSON of our NEW YORK BUREAU
The homoerotic impulses of a rugby league forward may not seem to be the meat of a typical anthropological thesis. But, as of today, scrum locks everywhere might think twice before packing down.

And should their oldest friends seem to begin whispering in far corners of a room, they can blame Professor Alan Dundes of the University of California at Berkeley.

Professor Dundes, after several years in research, has produced a work which holds unequivocally that all football is a thinly veiled excuse for homosexual ritual.

“The sexual symbolism of the game makes it clear that football is a homosexual ceremony,” he pronounced this week. And some heavyweight psychologists around the country immediately support him.



While Professor Dundes talks of the game of gridiron, the symbolism he sees therein is no less present in rugby league and union.. It may be more so.

The uniforms, for example, are only the giveaway tip of the iceberg. “They are sexual – enlarged shoulder, narrow waist, tight pants (or shorts). The consistency of the imagery is nothing short of amazing.”

And the jargon. Pure erotica, he says. Words like “score” are equally related to the backseats of cars at drive-ins.

He sees the tackling or knocking down of an opposing player as attempts to “put them in the supine, feminine position.” It is all plunder, rape and reeks of deflowering.

In fact, “football is a ritualized form of homosexual rape. The winners feminize the losers by getting into their end zone.” (Rugby, to its credit and relief, has no such expression as “end zone.”)

What, though, would Professor Dundes make of our “hookers’? What bizarre sensual significance might he read into that strange orgiastic merging of bodies, the scrum itself? Already he sees pathological implications in the legs-apart, head-down stance of American footballers.

The stance, he says, is a form of sexual presentation derived from the animal world. Just as apes raise their bottoms and present their genitals as a sign of submission to stronger males, gridiron linemen (forwards) present their bottoms to their more prestigious teammates in the backfield.

Transporting the same situation to Sydney Cricket Ground on a Saturday afternoon, Professor Dundes’ disciples might well wonder what thoughts were running through the minds of five-eighths, centers and full-backs.

Here, as there, the professor’s theory finds such tell-tale expressions as “putting the ball between the uprights.”

Even the excited gesticulations of a try-scorer are a form of “confirming to all assembled that the enemy’s end zone (try line) has been penetrated.”

The whole ceremony, he believes is merely a sanctioned form of theatre where players and fans can safely discharge their homoerotic impulses.



The coach who asks his players to refrain from sex before a game intuitively understands that football is a temporary substitute for heterosexuality. And so, he adds, do “football widows” understand that their husbands are “dead to them sexually” while a game is on television.

“Football is a health outlet for male-to-male affections,” adds Professor Dundes, “just as spin the bottle and post office are healthy outlets for adolescent heterosexual needs.”

The one man no self-respecting American football fan wanted to hear corroboration from in all this is a former running back football hero, David Kopay.

He is the subject of a book, The David Kopay Story, and the reason the book was worth writing is that Mr Kopay admits he is, was and will be homosexual. His gaiety – if that be the noun – is militant.

And his view of Professor Dundes’ theory is: “I think his ideas are very profound. My hunch is that it’s right on.” Furthermore, he says, that if homosexuality is not overt on the football field, “it sure as hell is covert.” And he’s backed by San Francisco female psychologist Jane Jacobs.

The unanswered question in Professor Dundes’ theory must now be the status of the referee. If footy be a gay rite, what sort of devious pleasure does the man with the whistle take in all this? What exactly would the professor read in his thoughts as he ordered some husky second-rower to “play the ball”?

And what of the broadcasters? Is there a nefarious thrill in describing a conversion as “right between the uprights”? Professor Dundes believes it all bears further investigation.

Does the stiff-arm have a deeper connotation? The spear tackle? The pile-driver?



What about the up-and-under?

If Professor Dundes is even half-right, it may be safer to buy our sons dolls this Christmas.

Crikey.com had this gem on 18 February 2010, the day before The Age published the story:

5. Eddie and Mick feel the heat in Vancouver gay row

Andrew Crook writes:

EDDIE MCGUIRE, MICK MOLLOY, NINE NETWORK

Channel Nine has been hit with a blizzard of complaints over its Winter Olympics coverage, with host Eddie McGuire and Melbourne comedian Mick Molloy in the firing line this morning over "h-mophobic" comments targeting figure skating champion Johnny Weir.

johnny

Last night, during Nine's primetime "highlights package", Eddie and sidekick Mick decided to whip out the schoolboy sniggering as they gave their considered assessments of Weir's Vancouver routine. The graceful Weir, who has not formally "outed" himself, appeared to be too much for the duo to bear. Let's go to the transcript. (We'd go to the tape, but copyright issues mean we'd be stuck in the courts for decades. You can see footage of Weir skating to Lady Gaga here).

EDDIE MCGUIRE: ...what about the fashion at the ice skating?
...
MICK MOLLOY: They don't leave anything in the locker room those blokes.
EDDIE: They leave nothing...
MICK: When they get out there...
EDDIE: They don't leave anything in the closet either do they? [Laughs].
MICK: They [laughs], well they -- careful you'll get yourself into trouble there...
EDDIE: Sorry mate.

But the daring duo weren't finished.

MICK: Look at this guy, it was like one of those fake tuxedos that you -- even Prince saw that and went, oh hang on, you can't go out wearing that. Oh look out, the hay seed look's in this year. What is that?
EDDIE: A bit of broke back?
MICK: A bit of Brokeback Mountain exercise. You can't wear it. They're very flamboyant, they love a bit of colour as we said.

In the minutes after the exchange, Twitter lit up in anger, with a torrent of criticism demanding McGuire be booted, alongside a number of other general gripes over the Footy Show-style jocularity and gratuitous repeats that have dominated Nine's coverage.

* @Shhhannon Just saw Eddie McGuire step in it with an inappropriate comment about a male ice-skater. Watch this space for controversy!
* @henrys_creek If Eddie McGuire wasn't enough of a w-nker, now makes quite a h-mophobic quip with Johnny Weir. Bastard.
* @bottled_love: Oh haha.... let's make jokes about the male figure skaters being gay... groundbreaking televisual wit right there Eddie McGuire
* @linclefevre Go on Eddie McGuire. Make some more gay jokes. Dick.
* @nilesedge Ugggh who let Eddie mcguire near the winter olympics?? He's a f-cking football yob and that's it
* @dominiquelam Eddie McGuire you are such a douche bag. One rich douche bag.
* @abbiemc OMG Eddie McGuire. "they don't leave much in the closet" "brokeback mountain" SHUT UP. I hope there are complaints. Many.
* @Selenadover OMG, did Eddie McGuire just suggest Johnny Weir is less than manly?
* @chicachow Can't decide what he finds more offensive: channel nine's vaguely ho-ophobic figure skating commentating or Eddie mcguire's face.
* @ozreedgal: eddie mcguire has made a number of little digs about competitors' s-xuality since I've been watching 2night. He's obsessed #olympics.

The anger promptly spread to Facebook, with a group "Eddie Mcguire is ruining the 2010 Winter Olympics coverage" bursting this morning with anti-Eddie vitriol. The Facebook page has said that it has submitted several formal complaint letters to the relevent department at Channel Nine.

Twitterers also pointed to "patronising" interviews McGuire has conducted with Winter Olympics superstars, including female figure skater Katarina Witt, where Witt's 1998 Playboy front cover was dredged up again to her visible dismay.

Nine paid about $100 million alongside broadcast partners Foxtel for the TV rights to the 2010 and 2012 games. But the ratings have been disappointing, with the network coming in third last night behind Seven's Gangs of Oz and Ten's So You Think You Can Dance Australia.

There is also talk that the games themselves are also in trouble: this Reuters article ("Vancouver's Games in danger of sinking into meltwater") wraps the bad news so far, with the opening-day death of Nodar Kumaritashvili snowballing into problems over spectator safety concerns, a lack of the white stuff and protests over the millions wasted while Vancouver struggles with the social problems of its Downtown Eastside slum area.

McGuire has continued with his Triple M breakfast radio slot from Vancouver, phoning in the banter each North American afternoon.

Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or submit them anonymously here.

And then this letter in The Age on 19 February 2010:

Homophobic slurs

OVER the first five minutes of Vancouver coverage that I saw on Wednesday night, I listened to Eddie McGuire and Mick Molloy make numerous offensive comments, most of which linked male ice-skaters and homosexuality, but also covered matters such as the ''redneck'' sport of curling. This disgusting display of ''Olympic coverage'' culminated in a comment about male ice-skaters bringing their own pillows, which, to my amazement, was delivered immediately after an apology made by Mr Molloy about an offensive comment he'd made on a previous night.

This was not relevant coverage of the winter Olympics, it wasn't even funny; it was a dialogue between two men lacking intelligence, professionalism and understanding. If these TV personalities can only offer poor journalism littered with homophobia and superiority, then perhaps we need to find new commentators. Perhaps someone who knows a thing or two about winter sports.

Fontaine Dunstan, Ripponlea

WHAT DO PACIFIC INTERNET, TELSTRA AND HEWLETT PACKARD HAVE IN COMMON?

Ever had troubles with your broadband service supplied by your internet service provider and the fixed-wire phone system? Ever had trouble with a computer from one of the so-called most reputable computer firms around the world?

Ever tried to get any feedback from organisations when you have registered problems with them over their products?

Pacific Internet - Pacnet, Telstra and Hewlett Packard are all guilty as charged.

Since the beginning of 2010 we have been having trouble with our internet connections and with our new notebook computer, Hewlett Packard model HP Mini 110. We contacted the organisations involved and had the greatest difficulty getting responses and feedback.

Hewlett Packard have ignored us completely and we now feel that, however good their products may be, we will not be happy to buy any of their products again.

Pacific Internet - Pacnet - did spend some phone time trying to sort out the problems, but didn't really get down to the basics until they realised there may also have been a Telstra problem, and even then several days passed before there were some positive results.

It seems to us that there was some sudden movement when we phoned a new service provider to get quotations, and later on that same day we were on line again having been informed that the fault was Telstra's all the time, from the cable connection outside our house.

One can believe it or not, one way and another, but finally we believe that we have been let down by organisations which have become so large that they are no longer interested in their small customers who don't pay them a great deal of money.

However, word of mouth amongst one's friends and acquaintances goes a long way, and we will certainly not remain silent about the organisations which have ignored our problems. Hewlett Packard remains the main pariah in this sorry saga,and as our product is still under warranty for the next 9 months we will make as much use of this as possible!

COLIN RUBENSTEIN LIKES PORKIES

The Age newspaper published the news item on 4 February 2010, and it was followed by the letters underneath, one from David Langsam and one from Colin Rubenstein.

Rubenstein accuses Langsam of making false statements and then goes on to make one of his own, one of the most glaring, when he states "Similarly, AIJAC and the State Zionist Council have no formal links beyond both being organisations serving the Australian Jewish community."

Rubenstein believes there is such a body as the Australian Jewish Community which is served by AIJAC and the VZC.

In fact these two organisations are two self-serving bodies serving only the interests of the Israeli government and have no other purpose. When the "Australian Jewish Community" is clearly defined and demarcated, Rubenstein may be justified in his claim. Otherwise he is telling porkies for his own ends.



Welcome mat pulled from Israeli academic
JASON KOUTSOUKIS
February 4, 2010


A MELBOURNE Jewish group has cancelled an invitation to an Israeli academic to speak in Melbourne because she heads an organisation that aided a United Nations report critical of the country's conduct during last year's war in Gaza.

Professor Naomi Chazan, who was a member of the Israeli parliament from 1992 to 2003, was to address a fund-raiser at the Beth Weizmann Community Centre next weekend.

But her invitation by the Union of Progressive Judaism was withdrawn after it emerged that the New Israel Fund, of which she is president, had given millions of dollars in grants to Israeli non-government organisations that had spoken to a UN investigation team, led by Justice Richard Goldstone. The Goldstone report said there was strong evidence that Israel had committed war crimes.

The President of the Zionist Council of Victoria, Dr Danny Lamm, told The Age that the invitation to Professor Chazan had been extended by an affiliate member of his organisation.

But he said her association with the New Israel Fund was "intolerable".

"When I became aware of the New Israel Fund's activities with regard to the Goldstone report, I withdrew our participation," he said.

"Organisations that they have funded have done damage to Israel and as a consequence we don't want to have anything to with the New Israel Fund."



Shooting messenger
IT IS ironic that Victoria's State Zionist Council has achieved that which the Australian Friends of Palestine could not (''Welcome mat pulled from Israeli academic'', The Age, 4/2).

The AFP failed to win support for its proposed boycott of Israeli academics, artists and a female tennis player, but a few inflammatory remarks from the State Zionist Council has forced the cancellation of a visit by Israeli academic and former Knesset member, Naomi Chazan, hosted by the Union for Progressive Judaism.

This "victory" of being the first organisation to successfully impose a boycott of an Israeli academic - coming here to raise funds for Israel - ranks on par with its sister-organisation the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council's May 2009 victory in preventing Jewish actor Miriam Margolyes providing free entertainment for elderly Jewish citizens because she had also performed in the critical play Seven Jewish Children.

The council says the reason for undermining Chazan's visit is that her New Israel Fund funded bodies that spoke to the UN's judge Richard Goldstone and his staff for its report on Israel. They clearly don't understand the dictum of not shooting the messenger.

David Langsam, Flemington



Set record straight
DAVID Langsam's claim (Letters, 5/2) that the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council ''prevent[ed] Jewish actor Miriam Margolyes providing free entertainment for elderly Jewish citizens because she had also performed in the critical play Seven Jewish Children'' is false.

The fact that Margolyes had an appearance cancelled at an aged care facility was the responsibility of the organisers of the event. AIJAC had no role in, or influence on, their decision-making.

Similarly, AIJAC and the State Zionist Council have no formal links beyond both being organisations serving the Australian Jewish community.

Colin Rubenstein, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, South Melbourne