Subject: It's now a crime to insult "Turkishness" Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:14 am
- The government now signals it will move to change article 301 of the penal code on Jan. 7 after numerous promises to do so. Article 301 makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness" and has been used by prosecutors against writers and academics.
Hey turks!!! Go fuck yourselves with or without your motherfucking "Turkishness!"
RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
Subject: Re: Idiot of the Week Award Nominees Are... Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:30 pm
Spare the Bali bombers, church urges
EXECUTING the Bali bombers would be wrong, as hanging Saddam Hussein was wrong, the Catholic Church says.
As it steps up pressure on the Rudd Government to take a consistent stand on the issue, it has written to the new Federal Government, urging it to oppose capital punishment in all circumstances, including for terrorists.
The Government has sent mixed messages on its policy. Just before Christmas it voted at the United Nations for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, but last night a spokesman for the Prime Minister said his statement during the election campaign that he would never intervene to support a terrorist's life remained true.
That statement on October 9 followed a comment by the foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland, in line with longstanding Labor opposition to the death penalty, that the bombers should not be executed. He was swiftly rebuked by Mr Rudd.
The social justice head of the Australian church, Bishop Christopher Saunders, said yesterday: "Life is sacred. No matter whose life it is, humans don't have a right to take it, apart from self-defence, whether it's the Bali bombers or Australian drug runners. Two wrongs don't make a right."
It was important for Australia's integrity as a nation to be seen as life preservers and life conservationists, he said. "Even with people like Saddam, it's not our right to take life any more than it was his right."
The Australian Catholic Social Justice Commission, which Bishop Saunders heads, launched a new booklet, Confronting The Death Penalty, last month. It has chapters by the academics Michael Costigan and Andrew Byrnes, Brian Deegan, whose son Josh died in the 2002 Bali bombing, and the Richmond parish priest Peter Norden, the former Pentridge Prison chaplain who was deeply involved in the fight to save Van Nguyen, hanged in Singapore in 2005 for trafficking heroin.
Father Norden said yesterday the position a nation took on capital punishment was a litmus test for a sense of its own humanity.
"It's not a matter of self-interest or interfering in other countries' jurisdictions. It's not to do with guilt or innocence, but society's recognition of the value of human life - and the principle is tested in the most difficult cases, such as the Bali bombers."
Father Norden said at the book launch - in the presence of the parents of Scott Rush, one of the Bali nine facing the death penalty in Indonesia on drugs charges - that the strongest thing Mr Rudd could do to save the lives of the Bali nine was to oppose the death penalty for the Bali bombers.
Yesterday he said capital punishment prolonged and extended punishment to people who were innocent victims, such as Kim Nguyen (Van's mother).
He criticised Singapore and the United States, countries with the death penalty, saying they were "over-preoccupied with material success" and underplayed the value of human life.
Mr Deegan said he felt little sympathy for his son's murderer, but added: "I do not wish for the death of those convicted, for I oppose the death penalty under any circumstances. But … while I have understood the murderers' motives, I have yet to find forgiveness and therefore cannot pray for their lives."
Last edited by on Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:46 pm; edited 1 time in total
RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
Subject: Re: Idiot of the Week Award Nominees Are... Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:32 pm
CovOps wrote:
- The government now signals it will move to change article 301 of the penal code on Jan. 7 after numerous promises to do so. Article 301 makes it a crime to insult "Turkishness" and has been used by prosecutors against writers and academics.
Subject: Re: Idiot of the Week Award Nominees Are... Wed Jan 02, 2008 7:16 pm
FORGIVING DR. MENGELE???
...
The insanity continues...
RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
Subject: Re: Idiot of the Week Award Nominees Are... Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:46 pm
Nonimee: Ozschwitz Federal Government
Future of citizenship test in doubt
THE Federal Government will review the operation of the citizenship test after the release of figures that show more than a fifth of those sitting it are failing.
Since the test was introduced in October 10,636 citizenship tests have been sat around the country, and 2311 were failed.
Under laws introduced by the previous government anybody wanting to become an Australian citizen must now pass a 20-question, computer-based quiz on Australian history, "values" and way of life and demonstrate an adequate knowledge of English. Only residents who have lived here for four years can apply for citizenship.
Those who fail to meet the 60 per cent pass mark can resit the test as often as they want until they get it right.
While in opposition, Kevin Rudd gave his backing to the scheme, as well as to plans to make new arrivals to the country sign a so-called values statement saying they agreed to abide by the Australian way of life.
However, the new Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, confirmed yesterday that the Government would review the citizenship test in light of the poor test result returns and could make wholesale changes.
The Government would assess the process to see whether improvements could be made, Senator Evans said. "The citizenship test should be about increasing awareness of citizen's responsibilities and of the Australian way of life," he said.
Regardless of the problems, the minister encouraged people to continue sitting the test.
The former prime minister John Howard was directly involved in crafting the themes covered in the test. Despite the high failure rate, the test questions, which are drawn from a pool of 200, are comparatively simple and only need be answered in multiple-choice format.
A sample question asks the applicant to say which one of three given values is important in modern Australia: that everyone has the same religion; that everyone has equality of opportunity; or that everyone belongs to the same political party.
Another asks which Australian was most famous for playing cricket: Rod Laver, Sir Donald Bradman or Sir Hubert Opperman. Others questions include the colours of the Aboriginal flag; the number of states and territories in Australia; and where the 1956 Olympics were held.
All the answers are contained in a 46-page booklet that applicants can obtain free over the phone or the internet.
When the test was introduced the immigration minister Kevin Andrews denied it was racist or an election stunt, and said new immigrants needed to better integrate into the community.
The test was opposed by the Liberal backbencher Petro Georgiou, who warned it would create unreasonable barriers for some people wanting to become citizens, especially those who could not speak English or read and write properly.
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
Subject: Here's Lunch Fella's...! Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:35 pm
Lions devour man at SA game lodge
A South African man has been killed and eaten by lions at a game lodge where he worked 150km (90 miles) west of Johannesburg, police say.
Samuel Boosen, 36, was attacked after entering the enclosure on Tuesday where an estimated nine lions were kept.
"Only his spine and skull remained," police spokesman Lesego Metsi told the South Africa Press Association.
The mauling to death of a nine-year-old boy by 10 lions on a North West Province farm caused anger last year.
There were calls for the farm's lions to be put down, but in the end they were taken away from the farm owner, SABC News reports.
Mr Metsi said the latest incident, at Aloe Ridge Lodge, happened in view of two witnesses.
He said it was unclear why Mr Boosen, who had worked at the lodge for four years, had gone into the enclosure, as he usually fed the lions by putting meat through the fence.
Subject: U.S. sets duties on Chinese steel Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:09 pm
U.S. sets duties on Chinese steel
WASHINGTON: The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday that it had set preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 51.34 percent on certain steel pipes from China that it said were being sold in the United States at below-market prices.
"Price discrimination hurts American manufacturers," David Spooner, the assistant Commerce secretary for import administration, said in a statement. "The administration is committed to aggressively enforcing America's trade remedy laws in order to achieve strong and fair relationships with our trading partners."
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
Subject: Re: Idiot of the Week Award Nominees Are... Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:22 pm
CovOps wrote:
WASHINGTON: The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday that it had set preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 51.34 percent on certain steel pipes from China that it said were being sold in the United States at below-market prices.
"Price discrimination hurts American manufacturers," David Spooner, the assistant Commerce secretary for import administration, said in a statement. "The administration is committed to aggressively enforcing America's trade remedy laws in order to achieve strong and fair relationships with our trading partners."
IDIOTS!!!!!!! They are NOT sold "below"-market prices!!! They cause the market price to drop!!! Which benefits consumers!!!!
Subject: Idiot of the Week Award Nominees Are... 
Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:43 pm
