Australian Muslims on US Terror List

Melanie Brown, ex Australian soldier, wife of Willie Brigitte

WikiLeaks has published the names of 23 Australian-based citizens who are on a US "terror list". The secret cable lists 11 individuals for the NO-FLY list and twelve for the SELECTEE list. Attorney General Robert McClelland is furious and has called the release of the cable "incredibly irresponsible" and that it compromises ASIO investigations into terror suspects. I don't agree, we need to know who these people are and now we know their names.

Rabiah Hutchinson is an Australian woman who was once married to a confidant of bin Laden and lived in Afghanistan under the strict rule of the Taliban on September 11, 2001. She has been tracked by ASIO for twenty years. Now 58 years old, her daughter Rahmah Wisudo 28, and her two sons are not only on the "no-fly" list but mentioned in some detail.

Hutchinson was born in Mudgee and converted to Islam while travelling to Indonesia as a 19 year backpacker and became a supporter of Islamic clerics Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sunkar who later formed the group Jemaah Islamiah and were responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings. She was brought back to Australia from Iran by ASIO in 2003 and has lived in Lakemba ever since. It's alleged that she has links to radical Yemini cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi who has ties to al-Qaeda. Ms Hutchinson has never faced terrorism charges and says she is innocent but the Americans aren't convinced and are concerned that she could be involved in recruiting females for future terror attacks. The cable reads "While we have every confidence Australian authorities can and will monitor her activities, her past history and association with al-Aulaqi, merits her being on our no-fly status." Her two sons, Abdullah and Illias were arrested in 2006 in Yemen along with Sydney man Marek Samulski and accused of being part of an al-Qaeda cell running guns to Somalia. They were held in a Yemini jail for eight weeks until they were cleared and deported back to Australia. Marek Samulski is also on the list.

French authorities have warned that Lakemba cleric Sheik Abdel Salam Zoud is an important contact to French terrorist Willie Brigette but the Sheik says he has never had any connection to terrorism and only met Brigette once. Nevertheless, he's on the list. Brigitte, another Islamic convert, tried to get information from his new Australian wife Melanie Brown who was an ex soldier. He wanted to know about the transmission systems and low frequency electronic transmitting antennae the US installed in Pine Gap. He also forgot to tell her that he had two wives and three children back in France.

I notice there have been quite a few "Engish-sounding" surnames involved in making unsavory headlines lately, people who have a burning desire to convert to Islam. David Hick for one, Carnita Matthews another, the mother of six who falsely accused a policeman of trying to rip off her veil. Only recently, a man broke into a convert's house and flogged him because he had a few drinks with his mates and we can go back even further to Jill Courtney, Shane Kent and Joseph Terence Thomas. All these people are converts to Islam.

Why is it so?

Wind Farms Banned in Victoria

Robin and Glenn Brew

Blind Freddy could see it coming - wind farms are a good idea as long as you don't live near one. Yesterday Victoria’s tough new guidelines on wind farms came into effect - they give residents the right to veto the turbines if they are within 2 kms of their home and are banned within 5 kms of major regional towns and some scenic areas.

At least three proposed wind farms that have taken years to develop have now been dumped and others are in limbo. I’m happy for the people of Victoria, they are now safe from these ugly monsters but what about the rest of us - that investment will be redirected to other states, like mine. Before they went ahead with these multi-million dollar projects, they should have asked us what we thought about them and the answer is clear - we don’t want a bar of them – not now, not ever!

Last week, Moyne Shire Council, in Victoria’s westwest, voted to block wind giant Fenosa from receiving permit extensions for two wind farms and Hawkesdale and Ryan Corner developments are now in serious doubt. Spanish company Acciona Energy announced in May that it would drop its plan to develop a wind farm with up to 40 turbines near Evansford, 158km northwest of Melbourne. It cited unspecified environmental reasons and lack of wind as making the project unviable, but local opponent Robyn Brew said it would have been impossible under the new laws anyway.

In June this year, Ruth Corrigan who lives near Capital Wind Farm near Bungendore, just outside of Canberra, says wind farms are bad for your health. Experts have recently discovered something they call “lower frequency vibration.” She can’t sleep and it’s slowly driving her crazy. Further turbines are being erected every week and she has had no help from Infigen Energy who are very proud of their Capital Wind Farm.

Robin and Glenn Brew, organic farmers who live near the Waubra wind farm in Victoria were originally in favour of wind energy until they reported similar health problems. The 128 turbine development triggered a Senate inquiry that recommended firmer noise limits and urgent research into damaging health effects on nearby residents.

Clean Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren said yesterday the new policy signaled future wind development was "closed for business" in Victoria.

Gypsy Caravans of Crime

from UK TV's My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding

Gypsies have branched out from Britain and Europe to North America and Australia and according to police, these people are due back from overseas holidays any minute, ready to cause havoc with another spate of cheating elderly people out of their life savings.

They are the modern gypsies, described by the NSW government as organised criminals about to be targeted. The “gypsy season” is about to start in NSW, they operate from September to April every year. Thirty families with 1000 members have been under scrutiny by police as they carried out multi-million dollar scams picking on the most vulnerable – the elderly – promising to fix their roof, concrete their driveway or exterminate pests around their home. They insist on being paid in cash and drive their elderly victim to their bank to get it.

They pay cash for everything, including their custom-built, triple axle caravans and Range Rovers. Because their caravans are so big, they can only go to certain caravan parks and police know most of them. They use parks as a base in country or coastal towns and work a perimeter of about four weeks. They know how long they can stay before complaints start filtering in and in the dead of night, they suddenly vanish.

Investigators have records of 770 vehicles and 450 mobile phones they can link to the gypsies. They know who their family members are, where they live and how they operate. They use false names and addresses, swapping these names among themselves. And money is no object. English gypsies have incredible wealth and spend holidays in Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast and travel to weddings and holidays around the world. They enjoy the Calgary Stampede in Canada and when our investigators told Canadian border police about three gypsies going from Sydney to the Stampede festival, they were stopped and had $55,000 in cash seized and denied entry.

Many are now Australian citizens and growing numbers are applying for permanent status. Officials say the gypsies they know about would earn at least $30 million a year from their Australian operations and this is a very conservative estimate.

Alex Johan, 69, a self-confessed thief and gypsy, appeared in a Sydney court last week to plead guilty to stealing from a number of old women after scamming his way into their homes with a female accomplice. Johan uses the name Sterio which is a member of a gypsy clan well known around Sydney. "They prey on the vulnerable and are cunning thieves," said Detective-Sergeant Trent Atkins, who arrested him. "They may be illiterate but they are rat cunning and it gets handed down from generation to generation."

The UK TV show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding gives us an insight into Gypsy life. Although the women and young girls dress rather provocatively, because the women are very religious, their daughters are virgins when they get married, usually very young. The boys know very well that the only way to get into bed with their favorite girl, is to put a wedding ring on her finger.

But something here doesn't add up, surely scams involving elderly people alone didn't produce wealth such as this, there has to be something else we don't know about. Whatever it is, it's working very well.

Kathy Jackson not afraid of union threats

Placing a dirt-covered shovel on whistle-blower Kathy Jackson’s front door at 3.30 am in the morning gives us an insight into union mentality - it means ‘We are going to bury you”. But Kathy Jackson is talking tough and has vowed to take on the “scumbags” who left it there.

If a female union boss is being offered police protection from her own union, it says a lot about that union. They are obviously unhappy with her decision to refer allegations that Craig Thomson spent $150,000 plus of union funds on prostitutes and other personal items to police.

But she has refused police protection and said she won’t lock herself away. “If they think this is going to stop us, then they have picked the wrong girl.”

.

Kathy Jackson deserves a medal

Kathy Jackson, National Secretary HWU

The Craig Thomson scandal continues to torture the Labor party and now the union he once represented is tearing itself apart. The last thing National President of the Health Workers Union, Michael Williamson wanted was to refer this sordid matter to Police but when he was away in Newcastle last Wednesday, National Secretary Kathy Jackson got together with a few other rebels and successfully pushed the motion through. Mr Williamson, a former ALP President, had no plan to get the police involved and intended to reiterate what Labor spokespeople have been saying all week - that the matter is before Fair Work Australia, and leave it at that.

I wouldn’t like to be in Ms Jackson’s shoes right now, and hope she is up to the job of coping with Mr Williamson’s wrath. He is a major figure in the dominant NSW right faction of the Labor Party and rumour has it that crucial ALP members thought he had the Thomson matter “in hand”. On the other hand Ms Jackson is a junior figure who is now viewed by the heavyweights of her party, as a person who gave ammunition to the Opposition. Yesterday she was still standing and said “I am responsible and have a fiduciary duty to each and every member of this union in ensuring that their funds are used correctly.”

It sounds so simple, it’s obviously the right thing to do, yet the Gillard government is hell bent on trying to cover it up. Their only logical way out of this mess is to bite the bullet and throw him to the wolves. If they don’t, with every day that passes, the Labor Party and the union movement’s reputation only gets worse. Hang in there Kathy Jackson and hold your nerve, don’t let Mr Williamson bully you, the workers you represent need you now, like never before.

Craig Thomson Must Resign

It doesn't seen right that the Prime Minister be allowed to close down question time to avoid answering tricky questions. But that's what happened yesterday - rather than face the music and deal with questions about Craig Thomson, Julia Gillard walked out. Now that the Health Services Union have dobbed him in and given everything they have on him to police, things will only get worse and the Prime Minister can't keep running away forever. This is a scandal of mammoth proportions.

The media won't let this one go, they will pursue him to the bitter end. There is nothing more newsworthy that a member of parliament behaving badly and this one takes the cake - a member of Parliament who spent thousands of dollars to maintain a lifestyle he had grown accustomed to, using his union credit card, it was just so easy.

But is he arrogant or just plain dumb? He used his own name and phone number for the services of prostitutes and left a trail behind him a mile wide. What was the Labor Party thinking when they nominated this man to represent their party? I hope the media will pursue this angle and find out how he ever got to Canberra in the first place.

I hope the Honourable Member isn't planning a trip to hospital any time soon, I'm sure the nurses he represented would make his stay a very pleasant one.

Norfolk Island

Residents of Norfolk Island are not represented in the Commonwealth Parliament, the Australian government maintains authority over the territory through an Administrator who is appointed by the Governor General. The brochure says they "enjoy a large degree of self-governance", but after spending a week there, all I can say is that it's not working very well. On the 6th November 2010, the Chief Minister of Norfolk, David Buffett said that the island would voluntarily surrender its self-governing status in return for a financial bailout from the Federal Government to cover significant debts. And it shows. The roads are a disgrace but there's no money to fix them. They don't pay tax but the wages are pitiful. A few locals I spoke to are frustrated by the island's lack of progress, no one wants to do anything, people seem resigned to survive on tourism.

Norfolk Island was colonised by the British as part of the first settlement in 1788 and became a vital source of food for the new colony back in Sydney who had not yet established areas for agriculture. As well as supplying food, they also ran sheep and sent their wool over to Sydney which was most welcome. Later Norfolk became a penal settlement for the worst convicts - a place to send re-offenders - stubborn men who refused to be rehabilitated. The cruelty and depravity that went on was beyond belief and tour guides won't tell you details of the treatment prisoners had to suffer, it's not fit for genteel ears. But at its worst, when there were no women on the island, the cruelty and inhuman punishments inflicted by the British justice system turned men into beasts and the island descended into a hellhole of homosexuality and bestiality where men longed for death. When word got back to England, they were appalled and closed it down.

When the Japanese were moving into the Pacific during World War II, American General MacArthur decided to build an airstrip on the island and it became a vital airbase for the allies. Today, that same airstrip is the life-blood of the island, bringing hundreds of tourists every week.

But for many Australian tourists, including myself, it's the romantic tale of Fletcher Christian and the wicked Captain Bligh in the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" that brings people to Norfolk. Only it's not a romantic tale at all, far from it. When Christian decided to look for an island on which to live for the rest of his life he asked the eighteen mutineers "Who is with me?" But only eight agreed to go with him, the rest wanted to stay in Tahiti. And according to Hollywood, the beautiful Tahitian women went willingly with the mutineers to embark on a new life, but in reality, they were kidnapped and heart-broken.

When Christian entered Bligh's cabin on that fateful day and forced him on deck in his nightshirt, Bligh pleaded with him to be reasonable to which he replied "I am in hell, I am in hell." Of the 42 men on board, aside from Bligh and Christian, 18 joined the mutiny, two were impassive, and 22 remained loyal to Bligh. But the question needs to be asked - could Christian have been a little "thin skinned" and over-reacted to Bligh's bullying? It's been documented that Bligh once called him a coward which in those days was extremely offensive, but was his treatment bad enough to warrant a mutiny?

Golf Club

When Captain Bligh and 18 loyal crew were set adrift in a 23ft boat with four cutlasses, food and water, a quadrant and a compass, but without charts, sextant or marine chronometer, he still managed to sail to Timor and eventually made his way back to England. This gives us an insight into his capabilities and resolve and it's not surprising that fifteen years later, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales with orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade of the NSW Corps which resulted in the Rum Rebellion.

The mutineers and the Tahitians eventually found and settled on the tiny island of Pitcairn but life was far from idyllic. Because there were more men than women, bitter feuds developed and the Polynesian men eventually killed Fletcher Christian and threw his body off a cliff. They also murdered Martin, Mills, Brown and Williams. After Christian's death, Young and Adams became the community leaders and separated the community from troublemakers Quintal and McCoy. When McCoy discovered how to make alcohol from a local plant, the situation worsened. While in a drunken stupor McCoy comitted suicide and when Quintal threatened to murder the entire community, Adams and Young had to kill him. Young taught Adams to read using the Bounty's bible and when he died in 1800, John Adams was the only mutineer left on Pitcairn. He became deeply religious and set up a school for the children in which the teaching of Christianity was an important part and he became known as "father" to everyone.

In the mid 1850's, the Pitcairn community was outgrowing their small island and they appealed to Queen Victoria for help. She offered them Norfolk and on the 8th June 1856, the entire community of 193 people landed on the island. But not everyone was happy and after 18 months, 17 returned to Pitcairn and five years later, another 27 went back and their descendants still live there today.

Norfolk Island is an interesting place to holiday with lots of history and only 2 hours flying time from Sydney. At this time of year, air fares are cheap and package deals are good value. We found the accommodation pretty good, you get a little car to run around in even though the island is only 8 kms x 5 kms, and the scenery is beautiful. If you get a chance, go on the progressive dinner put on by three families who live there and get to know the locals. Treat yourself to a special dinner at Norfolk Blue, an excellent restaurant who run their own cattle on 100 acres and serve steaks that melt in the mouth. Oh, and I didn't see Colleen MacCulloch, but I know where she lives.

Strauss-Kahn Walks Free

Strauss-Kahn's expensive lawyers have done a brilliant job of discrediting the maid involved in the alleged rape case, so much so that prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss all criminal charges against him.

Because the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, has been caught out telling lies in the past, she now has no credibility. To find her guilty, a jury must be persuaded beyond all reasonable doubt that her version of events is true but because evidence of her lies in the past can be proved, no one will believe her version of what happened on that day in the Sofitel hotel room.

But the forensic, medical and other evidence is overwhelming and her lawyer Kenneth Thompson is furious and says that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jnr has denied his client justice by dismissing it out of hand. He was convinced they had more than enough evidence to convict him.

So Strauss-Kahn gets to walk free, not that we are really surprised, just like the OJ Simpson case, we learn that in America, money and power speak much louder than words.

Australian Steel Exports to End

From now on Australia won’t be exporting any more steel, the high Aussie dollar, high iron ore and coking coal costs, low steel prices and more efficient Asian steel mills have virtually put us out of business. From now on, all steel produced in Australia will be for local use only, which includes the well-known Colorbond fencing and roofing.

BlueScope Steel will close its No 6 blast furnace at Port Kembla and the Western Port hot strip mill at Hastings east of Melbourne which will mean the loss of around 800 jobs in NSW and 200 in Victoria. Raw material prices have impacted heavily and BlueScope who have experienced a difficult year and a $1 billion loss. This puts an end to Australian steel exports and industry leaders are saying that we now have a major crisis in manufacturing.

The people of Wollongong, the home of BHP, have been suffering the decline of the manufacturing industry for years. Like Newcastle, the Illawarra has been dying a slow, painful death and its future looks grim. BlueScope exports about half of the five million tonnes of steel a year it produces at its two Port Kembla blast furnaces - No 5 and No 6. The other four furnaces were retired as newer models were built.

Australian companies have had to sack 7000 people since June, many of them in the manufacturing sector but Trade Minister Craig Emerson refused to say if the government was working on policies to support manufacturers.

When Union leaders start criticizing the Labor government, you know we’re in trouble. Dave Oliver from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said "We need government intervention to guarantee that we've got a viable manufacturing industry in this country". Union leader Paul Howes was critical of Treasury for allowing it to happen and said “I don’t accept that Australia can’t have a viable manufacturing industry, even with a high dollar.”

I wonder if John Howard should have seen this coming and somehow headed it off, it doesn't just suddenly happen out of the blue. It looks like both governments have fallen down badly on this one. The Germans, the Swiss and a few other clever countries haven't sat back and watched their manufacturing industry go down the drain, they were clever enough to develop things that people want and need. Looks like we haven't been that clever.

Craig Thomson Denies Everything

MP Craig Thomson is still denying everything. His claim that another union official repaid $15,000 for prostitute services is now in serious doubt because a former senior Health Services Union official has come forward and says the only person who paid back $15,000 to the union in recent years was former Victorian state secretary Jeff Jackson, and it had nothing to do with prostitutes.

Thomson told 2UE : "The union reached a settlement with another gentleman who paid back $15,000 in relation to the use of credit cards at an escort agency. I don't know whether he forged my signature or who did."

Now the opposition want the police to get involved, saying that if Thomson’s claims are true - that someone else used his credit card - then a crime has been committed by someone else.

This sordid affair is not going away and the Honourable Member of Parliament Craig Thomson could possibly go into the history books as the man who brought down the minority Labor government.

Craig Thomson Labor Backbencher

They say we get the government we deserve but should we tolerate a Member of Parliament authorizing credit card payments for prostitutes? Incredible as it may sound, it actually happened in 2005 when Labor backbencher Craig Thomson was secretary of the Health Services Union. He’s admitted he authorized the payments but denies it was him who visited the escort agency. He insists his signature had been forged on credit card receipts and that another man (who he refused to name) had repaid $15,000 to the union.

If that isn’t bad enough Mr Thomson decided to sue Fairfax newspapers for defamation after they published these shocking allegations against him but he needed $90,000 to save him from bankruptcy. As a bankrupt, he would automatically lose his central NSW seat of Dobell and if that happened, the Gillard government would fall. So the Labor Party paid the debt for him.

But his troubles don't end there, he’s also been accused of using the union credit card to bankroll his election campaign to the tune of $100,000. And finally, last weekend he was accused of being a bully and reducing a female charity worker to tears at a rally on the central coast. Tony Abbott surely got it right when he said “This has got trouble written all over it.”

But the Opposition Leader refused to agree that Thomson should be sacked when asked if he would sack a Liberal MP facing similar allegations. Asked why the issue was even being tolerated, Mr Abbott said it was a question for the Prime Minister who has said on two occasions that he has her full confidence. It seems that even this disgraceful behaviour will be tolerated simply because she needs him to survive.

Qantas Loses Its Mind

Airline unions are getting ready to fight Qantas after they announced that they will have to sack 1,000 employees because they intend to launch a new airline based in Asia and a new budget airline in Japan.

It’s the same old story, more and more jobs going off shore where labour is cheap, just like Telstra. How can Qantas possibly keep it’s Australian theme if the pilots and cabin crew aren’t Australian? You won’t hear that familiar Aussie accent anymore and that ‘Spirit of Australia’ will be gone forever.

The Pilots Association says somewhere between 100 and 200 pilots will be sacked and safety excellence will be “flushed down the toilet”. Management and admin jobs will also be cut and the aircraft engineers union is seriously thinking of taking Qantas to the Federal court. This interference of an airline that we consider our very own is a terrible shock and airline unions are so upset they have accused Qantas of “betraying” the nation.

The Pilot’s Association Captain Richard Woodward said a shift of operations into Asia will mean employing people working to Asian conditions and standards. "The key strength of the Qantas brand is the safety culture, training and experience of Australian-based Qantas pilots, any reduction in standards in these areas would prove fatal to the airline. After all, what is Qantas selling to Asia if not the world-leading reputation of its pilots and crew?"

But there’s another side to the story - the market likes the idea and after the announcement, Qantas shares have started to go up. So what about the shareholders, should they feel a twinge of guilt that our national airline has sacrificed 1,000 Aussie jobs to make them more money? In your dreams, I hear you say. Peter Allen will be turning in his grave.

No Fracking Way

Last week, Tony Abbott came out strongly against mining companies who come on privately owned farming land to mine for coal seam gas without permission of the owner. He had been talking to Sydney broadcaster and good friend Alan Jones, who brought the matter to the attention of the public. Somewhere along the line, a law was passed which gave the mining companies all the rights and the farmer virtually none.

So it seemed like a worthy policy and Tony decided to run with it but is wasn't a good idea - it was met with furious opposition from all sides. Realizing his mistake, he back-tracked by saying the mining industry was very important and should be "broadly supported" and rounded off the subject with "land use decisions were fundamentally a matter for the states."

Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce said "The nation should be allowed to say no, when it destroys an aquifer, there should be an immediate no." He went on "If it's going to damage the aquifer, and if it's going to destroy the use of prime agricultural land, then that is something not only the landholder should have an interest in, but our nation should have an interest in."

But here's the bottom line - the farmers want more powers to negotiate a better deal with the miners. Senator Joyce said "What they are getting at the moment is less than 75 cents for every $1,000 that the coal seam gas company operates and I think that is representative of the complete inequity in the dealing negotiations going on at the moment."

So if the farmers were given a bigger slice of the action, I wonder if the problem would disappear.

Mark Standen - Crooked Cop

Mark Standen was one of Australia's most senior drug investigators and rotten to the core. His official title was Assistant Director of Investigations for the NSW Crime Commission. He was paid $200,000 for information from Customs about drug seizures on the docks. On Wednesday, the 54 year old father of four was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and guilty of plotting to import 300 kilograms of pseudoephedrine, used to make speed and ice, worth $120 million.

Standen hatched the daring plan with his business partner and friend Bakhos "Bill" Jalalaty and British-born James Kinch and agreed to help import the drugs for a big slice of the profits. But because of his senior position, he was over-confident and never expected Kinch to turn police informant and was stunned when under-cover cops told him he was under arrest and asked "Is this a wind up?"

The trial was expected to last about three months but it dragged on for nearly five. The jury almost mutinied and wrote a stern letter to the judge and lawyers on both sides about how the lengthy trial had impacted badly on their lives.

Standen has been in protective custody for three years and will be sentenced on September 1.

Criminal Justice System in UK Broken

11 year old boy in court

David Cameron is making all the right noises, talking tough about how the law will come down hard on those involved in the riots but everyone knows it won't happen - there will be no real punishment for the under-aged youth who caused millions of pounds worth of damage. Winston Smith is a Youth Worker and says that the criminal justice system in Britain is broken and from his experience, little, if anything will happen to them and they know it only too well.

"They can't touch me, I'm only a kid, what's the worst they can do to me, give me a caution or a curfew I won't obey" one small rioter said yesterday.

The juvenile detention centres are full and the authorities can't handle any more so the system is geared to keeping them out. Only serious offenders of extreme violence or sexual assault will be given custodial sentences and this leaves the majority to do as they please. And an indication of just how ridiculous things have become, youth workers are not allowed to use the word "cell" anymore because it infringes their human rights.

After custodial sentencing, the most rigorous non-custodial punishment for young offenders is called Intensive Surveillance and Supervision Programme (ISSP). These children will spend the majority of their 'sentence' escorted by youth workers to gyms, adventure centre, rock climbing facilities, DJ courses - anything to keep them amused and entertained.

I think I can see the good intentions behind all of this soft treatment of undisciplined kids, they are hoping they will eventually grow up to be productive members of society. But it just doesn't seem to be working so what do they do now?

London Rioters Rob Restaurant Patrons

Hackney

Patrons were sitting in a restaurant in an upmarket hotel in Notting Hill on Monday night when suddenly a group of young thugs kicked down the front door, burst into the dining room screaming abuse and demanded that terrified women give up their jewelery, took wallets from the men and everyone's mobile phone.

Head chef of Ledbury restaurant Brett Graham said "It was quite horrific actually, there were 20 or 30 blokes, young kids, breaking into the restaurant and kicking the door with such force, it took them quite some time to break it - a big thick glass door about three metres high and a metre and a half wide" he said. "Eventually it shattered and they all went in and stole things off the customers." They took engagement rings, wedding rings, phones and wallets - anything of value.

When the kitchen staff heard what was happening outside, chefs came running wielding kitchen utensils and an Australian bartender grabbed a cricket bat as looters trashed the restaurant and bar area. They managed to chase them off and hid the patrons in the cellar just in time as the mob returned for a second time but left soon after. Luckily, no one was injured.

Meanwhile, Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond is blowing his own trumpet saying that he's offended by the newspaper headline "UK Riots". He doesn't like the idea of Scotland being included as part of the UK and says that Scottish society is not like that in England and riots are far less likely to occur. The man is obviously short on brains to say such a stupid thing, you have plenty of undisciplined, unemployed youth in Scotland just ready to run amok Mr Salmond.

David Cameron is probably loathe to bring the Army in, it's an admission of defeat, but now people have actually been killed, something more needs to be done.

London Riots

The youngsters who went on a rampage in the UK, destroying everything in their path, setting fire to buildings and cars and smashing shop windows and stealing everything they could carry, won’t feel any guilt or shame about what they have done. Life is so boring with no job to go to or exams to pass, any form of excitement is welcome.

Most are illiterate and have no chance of ever getting a job, not that they want one, but they are out there - a website has 2,228 apprenticeship vacancies listed in London. These feral children are a product of generations of families caught in the poverty trap of welfare - they have no skills, morals, education, ambition or patriotism.

In times past, when the poor were starving and stole a loaf of bread, they would be put on ships and sent to Australia but with the best of intentions, the welfare state has eliminated real want – everyone now has enough money to survive and some would argue that this is the result.

But it's not a happy life, they are the have-nots, stuck in the limited world of people on welfare benefits. Some are saying its a reaction to the government’s austerity measures, then there’s the acceptable lifestyle of single mothers who are encouraged to bring up their children on benefits – having a husband who works to support the family is no longer necessary.

The law definitely isn't helping, they make laws that seem to protect the rights of the perpetrator and not the victim. Police actually arrest householders who have taken appropriate action and belted some lout as they were breaking into his house - surely this is an insane way to treat law-abiding, good people. And forget about schools, they gave up on discipline ages ago because they know they can never win.

But all this is very familiar, it happens here too - we have our own underclass of undisciplined children. We too are reaping the rewards of living in a country that provides us with enough money to survive quite well without ever having to work a single day in our lives.

Asylum Seeker Swap in Crisis

As we shake our heads in disbelief at the incompetence of this Labor government, yet another one of their policies goes belly up. High Court Justice Kenneth Hayne said yesterday that the government's efforts regarding the Malaysian solution were "half baked" with documents supplied late and out of order.

They have been working on this deal for months but couldn't get it right. Surely they must have known there would be objections about unaccompanied children and lack of legal protection once the asylum seekers arrived in Malaysia - we expected them to sort that out before they signed the deal. But it seems they didn't. Now everything is on hold for at least two more weeks to find out the High Court's decision.

When the government's Solicitor-General Stephen Gaegler SC asked for an earlier hearing because the people smugglers would be encouraged by the latest fiasco, he was refused. Why? Justice Hayne said that the late filing of an affidavit "didn't give me any confidence that the government would be ready." Good work Mr Gaegler, don't expect a promotion any time soon.

Chris Bowen was red faced last night as he struggled to answer questions. He said the government "would respect the letter and spirit" of the court's decision and would not be sending anyone to Malaysia before the court hearing. Meanwhile, the first 4,000 refugees from Malaysia will arrive this week.

Asylum Seeker Swap on U Tube

To make sure that the government's message gets out to the people smugglers, the Immigration Department will film the first group of asylum seekers as they are moved from Christmas Island, onto a plane and then into accommodation in Malaysia. The PM has given authority to police to use force if necessary and said "Obeying instructions here is not a question of volunteering." The first group of 16 people were scheduled to depart at 11.30 am today.

But they forgot about the lawyers and the High Court. In a special hearing last night, Justice Kenneth Hayne ordered a temporary injunction to stop their removal until at least 4.15 pm. Refugee lawyer David Manne says it gives them time to make a case that sending them to Malaysia is unlawful because they fear religious persecution.

His team of lawyers represent 40 asylum seekers, including six children but the injunction only affects the 16 men who were leaving today. According to the law, they say that Chris Bowen is the legal guardian of these children who are extremely fearful and distressed, and sending them to Malaysia would not be in their best interests.

A spokesman for Mr Bowen said the government is not surprised at the legal challenge. "No one should doubt our resolve on this" he said.

Madeleine Pulver - Sydney Collar Bomb Victim

Madeleine Pulver was home alone studying for her HSC exams when she was confronted by a man in a balaclava who used a bicycle chain to clamp a home-made bomb around her neck. He then pinned a note to her chest warning her not to call police or tamper with the bomb in any way, or it would explode. The intruder signed the note "Dirk Straun", a character in James Clavell's 1996 action novel Tai-Pan. Terrified, she had to endure 10 agonizing hours before police were finally able to remove the device, which proved to be harmless. The reason it took so long is because the police and the bomb squad had never seen anything like it before - they even rang UK bomb experts to get more information.

What a cruel joke to play on a young girl who will live with the trauma for the rest of her life. Police are treating the case as a "very serious attempted extortion" but no demands for money were made. So why was the daughter of a wealthy man targeted if not for money? One expert thinks it was done by an amateur who had seen the collar bomb on a CSI episode and thought it was a good way to become famous, but nobody knows for sure.

The father is rich and holds an important position in a large company - could he have offended someone enough for them to do this to his daughter? And what about Madeleine's friends and acquaintances, she's a very attractive young girl and is bound to have admirers. But one long-time school friend said she's popular with everyone at school and there hasn't been any falling out with other students that would make her the centre of such an attack.

The note also included instructions on how police could contact the intruder through the Internet. A memory stick containing a copy of the note was found inside the hoax bomb when it was finally removed. So it's a bizarre mystery and possibly one of the strangest cases Australia has ever seen.

Edit:  Today, 20th November 2012, hoax collar bomber Paul Douglas Peters was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years jail.  Judge Peter Zahra said the terror the teenager would have suffered for many hours "cannot be described."

Muslim Family Suffers Honour Retribution

A family of albino Muslims living in Coventry in the UK are being terrorized because their daughter married a Christian. Shameem and Aslam Pavez have had their windows smashed, their cars vandalized and death threats made because their daughter 'dishonoured' their family by marrying outside their faith. It's called 'honour retribution'.

The abuse started about five months ago when a magazine published an article which featured their daughter Naseem, who no longer lives in Coventry and has little contact with her family. It showed how she is now a Christian who attends church with her husband and is expecting their second child. Copies of the article quickly spread throughout the Muslim community and were posted on walls near their home. Mr Pavez has now stopped going to the Mosque and thinks that he and his family may have to leave town for their own safety.

Naseem

Police have been informed and are investigating. Mr Pavez said they are good people and are being punished for their daughter's decision. He was born in Pakistan and moved to Coventry at the age of 10. He later met and married Shameem, also an albino. Their six children have also inherited their parents condition. The family has been used to a life of ridicule but say that recent events of retribution have made life unbearable. "We've dealt with discrimination all our lives but this is ten times worse" Mr Pavez said.

Two and a Half Men with Ashton Kutcher

Two and a Half Men is the most popular comedy on television, not only here but all around the world. CBS were faced with a huge problem when they sacked Charlie Sheen, how could they resurrect this popular show and keep people watching without the charisma of bad boy Charlie.

CBS's entertainment president Nina Tassler said she was very happy with Ashton Kutcher who replaced Charlie earlier this year when he fell out with creator Chuck Lorre. She said he's a very professional and talented actor with great commitment and enthusiasm. He'll play Walden Schmidt, an Internet billionaire with a broken heart.

Keeping viewers in the dark is an important part of getting them to tune in to see how Charlie leaves the show. It seems they have killed him off - a brilliant idea from CBS's point of view because there's no chance of him ever coming back.

The season premier will feature Charlie's funeral, his house will be put on the market and popular personalities will pose as prospective buyers. Kutcher will buy Charlie's house and move in with Alan and Jake who still live there. Why Charlie's brother and son would still live in the house after his death must have posed quite a problem for the writers.

Pentecostal Churches Religious Extremists?

The Australian Christian Churches, formerly known as Assemblies of God, is Australia's oldest and largest Pentecostal group and have more than 1,000 churches around the country. They focus on rock music, divine healing, speaking in tongues and they embrace exorcism. And they are young - the average age is 25. That's great I hear you say, it's fantastic that our kids are praising God instead of getting hooked on drugs and alcohol - some parents can't believe their good luck - their child is now drug free and attending church every Sunday.

But what goes on in these churches? Sam Hey from Christian Heritage College has written a PhD on charismatic churches and said "With the rise of the youth generation and many of the changes that came about, people seem to be looking for different religious experiences and Pentecostalism stepped in" he said. "Many traditional churches found it hard to attract the younger generation and .... they filled a gap of young people and families seeking a more experimental form of religion."

Pattie Close 35, had never been to a Pentecostal church before. "I found the movement quite frightening at the start .... loud music, bright lights, I was freaked out because I was conservative and church had very strict rules for me. She joined the church in 2008 and has fallen in love with it. Hanh Ayoko, a 27 year old lawyer attends church with her engineer husband every week. "I would consider them family, not my immediately family, but they are close to me and we care about each other, so that's what keeps me coming back, it's the connection and the relationship" she said.

Speaking in tongues is difficult to understand. It's when a person seems to babble in a language that makes no sense and nobody understands. Pattie Close said "The holy spirit we believe is a person.... there are times in your life when you can't spit out a word, so when you pray, He is interceding on your behalf, saying how you can get through this and find wisdom and take the next step." I understand this "gift" is unusual and not shared by everyone and wonder about those who don't have it - do they think it's their fault for not believing enough?

But now it gets dangerous. Some Pentecostal churches run "supernatural schools" designed to teach members how to perform miracles. This is where common sense goes out the window and members actually believe that God can, and will heal them - no matter how serious their condition may be. Sadly, some people don't get any better and actually die because they refused traditional medical treatment. And this is the tragedy of the church - the person can't blame God for not getting better, so they blame themselves for not believing enough.

Another dangerous area is exorcism - when a bad temper is interpreted as an evil spirit that must be driven out of you. Again, this puts enormous pressure on the person seeking release, if they only believe enough, God will surely heal them. We can all recall horror stories of people dying in the throws of exorcism conducted by a group of people who were convinced they were right.

There is no denying that Pentecostal churches have done good work in the community and have changed the lives of many troubled young people, but there's a down side. When medical advice is deliberately discouraged, imagined "demons" need to be exorcised and there is talk about the devil and how he works in our everyday lives, alarm bells should start to ring. Surely this is religious extremism, and if I were a parent of a child involved in this church, I would be sitting in the audience next Sunday.

Fracking in Sydney - are they insane?

Polluted stream in Pennyslvania

There was a heated row at Leichhardt Town Hall last night. Dart Energy own the exploration licence to drill for coal seam gas in Sydney and their Chief Executive Officer, Robbert de Weijer, faced the angry crowd and said he believed coal seam gas mining could co-exist with communities. He must be insane to think we are that stupid. He kept saying that the company would not use fracking “unless it is deemed acceptable and approved by the authorities and there has been adequate community dialogue”.

Hey Mr CEO, we already know all about fracking, we've seen it on the television, we know about the nasty chemicals you use, how it poisons underground water and how it poisons the land. You would have to be mentally deficient to want a bar of this – where’s Greenpeace when you need them?

There were calls of “bullshit” as his words fell on deaf ears. Moira Williams from Sydney Residents against Coal Seam Gas told him the community held him personally responsible for the decision to mine in Sydney. “How long do we have to shout ‘no’ to make sure you listen?” Ms Williams said to roars of approval.

The idea is an abomination and it’s shonky. The water needs extensive treatment before it can be released back into the environment but there are no formal requirements in place in NSW to ensure this will happen. And I can’t believe I’m siding with a Green - Jeremy Buckingham has introduced a bill that puts it on hold for 12 months while the whole thing is investigated properly.

To be fair, Ross Dunn of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, said there was a lot of misinformation about the chemicals used in coal seam gas mining. "These are chemicals that are found in food, in cosmetics, in your swimming pool, in your laundry cupboard," he said. Pull the other one.

In America, one of Chesapeake’s wells blew out and thousands of gallons of salt water, mixed with quantities of chemicals spilled out into a stream near Canton, Pennsylvania. The suspected cause of the incident was a cracked well casing. Seven families were evacuated and a farmer was urged to prevent his cows from drinking the water in the creek. Oh yes, fracking is safe alright.

Heroes of Norway's Massacre

Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen.

Marcel Gleffe

Some people are natural born heroes but don't realize it until something terrible happens. They call it 'fight or flight'. Most of us don't know how we would react if our lives are threatened and hope we never get to find out. On 22nd July when the madman in Norway went on a shooting spree, some brave people stepped forward.

Marcel Gleffe, a 32 year old German roofer was camping with his parents directly across from Utoya Island when he heard shooting and people shouting for help. He jumped in his boat and risked his life several times by returning to the scene of the massacre and picked up terrified teenagers from the water and took them back to the safety of the mainland.

There were other heroes there on that terrible day, including two married lesbian women, Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen. They were eating at their campsite when they heard the shooting and people screaming. But instead of running away and hiding, they immediately jumped in their boat and rushed to the scene, pulling people on board, all the while under fire from the gunman, whose bullets shot through their vessel. After four trips, they saved forty people.

There were others with boats who helped out but didn’t get any recognition at all but they have the satisfaction of knowing who they are and that what they did on that terrible day was courageous and wonderful. Bravehearts every one.