Russia and Ukraine talk at D-Day Anniversary

If looks could kill, Putin would be a dead duck

French President Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel brought together two men who hold the destiny of the world in the palm of their hands - Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's president elect Petro Poroshenko.

The French have been plotting for weeks to get these two men together at the D-Day 70th Anniversary and it worked.  After speaking to Poroshenko, Putin called for an immediate cease-fire in eastern Ukraine before any further talks and said he expected Poroshenko to show "state wisdom" and "goodwill."  Poroshenko said talks would begin in earnest on his first full day in office.

"All the questions were difficult" Poroshenko said before he left for Ukraine, "but we will make every effort to achieve the goals we have set ourselves and begin negotiations on Sunday."

Putin said he welcomes Poroshenko's call for an end to the bloodshed and liked his approach to settling the crisis but wanted to wait until he could deliver it in detail to the nation.  "If it continues like that, then conditions will be created for developing our relations in other areas, including the economy" he said.

Putin also said that he is ready to lower the gas price for Ukraine if it pays off its debt for previous supplies.  Hopefully, this could mean that the threat of a gas shutdown to Europe which depends on gas pipelines that cross Ukraine, has now eased.

Surely Putin must have been furious and embarrassed when the west ganged up on him and froze him out of the G7 talks held in Brussels on Thursday and his behavour at the D-Day Anniversary has to be commended and says a lot about the man. 

Putin is also sending Russia's recalled diplomat back to Ukraine for Poroshenko's inauguration which could be Moscow's way of officially recognizing Ukraine's election.

Fingers crossed.

Kathy Jackson in trouble

Documents from the Commonwealth Bank prepared for the Royal Commission into Unions allege that Kathy Jackson used $1 million of union money to pay off two personal credit cards between 2000 and 2011.   They also have evidence to prove that between 2007 and 2010, Ms Jackson withdrew a further $220,000 in "cash" using HSU cheques.  

Ms Jackson did not respond to questions about why she did not use her union-issued credit card for work expenses.


A leaked police statement and other documents allege Ms Jackson and her ex-husband Jeff Jackson used a private company as a slush fund and for charging the union for "industrial consulting" fees in the late 1990s.

Jeff Jackson

Kathy Jackson was lauded as a hero when she blew the whistle on HWU heavyweights Williamson, now in prison, and Thomson, on appeal, especially after a dirt-covered shovel was left at her frond door at 3 am in the morning.  It had only one meaning - we are going to bury you.

Ms Jackson is currently serving as National Secretary of the Hospital Services Union and so far, has not responded to the allegations.

Tiananmen Square Massacre Anniverary 2014

The Chinese people haven't forgotten about what happened in Tiananmen Square 25 years ago, every year the candlelight vigil gets bigger.  This year there were around 100,000 people who came to Victoria Park in Hong Kong to remember.

Incredibly, there was a small group of pro-Communist Party supporters near Victoria Park who played a video denying the deaths ever happened and asking the people to "let go of the burden" and forget the past.

Amnesty International says there were at least 66 people arrested in mainland China in connection to the anniversary and because of this, the regime thought that people would think twice before going to Hong Kong for fear of reprisals when they returned home, but it didn't work.

The Beijing government is pretending the pro-democracy massacre of 1989 didn't happen.  Citizens are not even allowed to discuss it and the state-run media blacked out television screens showing CNN and BBC footage of the event.  They actually believe that over time, people will forget it ever happened.

The only response from the Chinese government about what happened on that day remains the same - because they chose the path of "socialism with Chinese characteristics", a large proportion of their people have been lifted out of poverty and into the middle class.  And it's true, they have, and it would be so easy to admit their mistake, and move on.

At Tiananmen Square, permanent giant screens display party slogans and images of a prosperous, strong motherland.  A massive security network controls the internet.  The protest is not taught in schools and most Chinese are unaware of the sensitive anniversary date of June 4.

Beside the square, a single photograph is displayed which shows an elderly party leader Deng Xiaoping congratulating the troops who slaughtered the protesters and bystanders on the day that all hope of freedom died.

Marijuana chocolate bar packs a punch

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote an article today about eating a candy bar containing legal marijuana.  It was not a pleasant experience.  Here is her story.

The caramel-chocolate flavored candy bar looked so innocent, like the Sky Bars I used to love as a child.  Sitting in my hotel room in Denver, I nibbled off the end and then, when nothing happened, nibbled some more. I figured if I was reporting on the social revolution rocking Colorado in January, the giddy culmination of pot Prohibition, I should try a taste of legal, edible pot from a local shop. What could go wrong with a bite or two?  Everything, as it turned out.

Not at first. For an hour, I felt nothing. I figured I’d order dinner from room service and return to my more mundane drugs of choice, chardonnay and mediocre-movies-on-demand.

But then I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn’t move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the room-service waiter knocked and I didn’t answer, he’d call the police and have me arrested for being unable to handle my candy.

I strained to remember where I was or even what I was wearing, touching my green corduroy jeans and staring at the exposed-brick wall. As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me.

It took all night before it began to wear off, distressingly slowly. The next day, a medical consultant at an edibles plant where I was conducting an interview mentioned that candy bars like that are supposed to be cut into 16 pieces for novices; but that recommendation hadn’t been on the label.

I reckoned that the fact that I was not a regular marijuana smoker made me more vulnerable, and that I should have known better. But it turns out, five months in, that some kinks need to be ironed out with the intoxicating open bar at the Mile High Club.

Colorado raked in about $12.6 million the first three months after pot was legalized for adults 21 and over. Pot party planners are dreaming up classy events: the Colorado Symphony just had its first “Classically Cannabis” fund-raiser with joints and Debussy. But the state is also coming to grips with the darker side of unleashing a drug as potent as marijuana on a horde of tourists of all ages and tolerance levels seeking a mellow buzz.

In March, a 19-year-old Wyoming college student jumped off a Denver hotel balcony after eating a pot cookie with 65 milligrams of THC. In April, a Denver man ate pot-infused Karma Kandy and began talking like it was the end of the world, scaring his wife and three kids. Then he retrieved a handgun from a safe and killed his wife while she was on the phone with an emergency dispatcher.

As Jack Healy reported in The Times on Sunday, Colorado hospital officials “are treating growing numbers of children and adults sickened by potent doses of edible marijuana” and neighboring states are seeing more stoned drivers.

“We realized there was a problem because we’re watching everything with the urgency of the first people to regulate in this area,” said Andrew Freedman, the state’s director of marijuana coordination. “There are way too many stories of people not understanding how much they’re eating. With liquor, people understand what they’re getting themselves into. But that doesn’t exist right now for edibles for new users in the market. It would behoove the industry to create a more pleasant experience for people.

“The whole industry was set up for people who smoked frequently. It needs to learn how to educate new users in the market. We have to create a culture of responsibility around edibles, so people know what to expect to feel.”

That sounds like an extremely unpleasant experience. What you're describing is essentially a level of poisoning. The stuff is not a toy.

Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Legislature recently created a task force to come up with packaging that clearly differentiates pot cookies and candy and gummy bears from normal sweets — with an eye toward protecting children — and directed the Department of Revenue to restrict the amount of edibles that can be sold at one time to one person. The governor also signed legislation mandating that there be a stamp on edibles, possibly a marijuana leaf. (Or maybe a stoned skull and bones?)

The state plans to start testing to make sure the weed is spread evenly throughout the product. The task force is discussing having budtenders give better warnings to customers and moving toward demarcating a single-serving size of 10 milligrams. (Industry representatives objected to the expense of wrapping bites of candy individually.) 

“My kids put rocks and batteries in their mouths,” said Bob Eschino, the owner of Incredibles, which makes candy and serves up chocolate and strawberry fountains. “If I put a marijuana leaf on a piece of chocolate, they’ll still put it in their mouths.” He argues that, since pot goodies leave the dispensary in childproof packages, it is the parents’ responsibility to make sure their kids don’t get hold of it.  “Somebody suggested we just make everything look like a gray square so it doesn’t look appealing. Why should the whole industry suffer just because less than 5 percent of people are having problems with the correct dosing?”

Does he sound a little paranoid?

Clive Palmer, the Canberra buffoon

Clive Palmer, the Queensland millionaire who started his own party, the Palmer United Party (PUP) holds the balance of power in the Senate. He's been showing off by arriving at Parliament House every day in one of his many vintage cars.  Because he's so rich, he says, he's saving taxpayers money by using his own transport instead of a Commonwealth car.

Rolls Royce

In Parliament on Monday, Clive made a bizarre attack on Tony Abbott's Chief-of-Staff Peta Credlin.  He put his foot in his mouth when he said the government had designed the paid parental leave scheme "just so the PM's Chief-of-Staff can receive a massive benefit when she gets pregnant."

He told reporters later what has been said in the corridors of Parliament House by disgrunted LNP MPs for months - that Credlin has "undue influence" over the PM and called her the "top dog" before correcting his remark to "top person."

Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull

He told reporters "I believe as Chief of Staff, regardless of whether she is a woman or a man, she exercises undue influence on government policy to the detriment of many of the elected members of Parliament....I think policies should be formulated from the party room, it shouldn't come down from Tony Abbott's office telling elected members of Parliament what they will do."

What Palmer didn't know (and should have), was that as a public servant, Credlin already qualifies for a generous paid parental leave scheme. What Abbott is attempting to do is extend that privilege to other Australian women in the private sector.

The other thing Palmer didn't know about Credlin is that she and her husband have been trying unsuccessfully to have a baby using the IVF program.

Malcolm Turnbull - who recently had a friendly dinner with Palmer - and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop were so angry with Palmer for his comments, they have both pulled out of a scheduled event with him, a brave move indeed because the Coalition needs his vote to get important policies through the Senate.

Peta Credlin

So how did Tony Abbott respond to Clive's swipe at his valued employee?  "Well" he said "Blokes around this place have learned to underestimate women at their peril, I'll just make that general observation."

Mr Palmer said he was unaware of Ms Credlin's personal struggles with IVF but has refused to apologise to anyone, for anything. 

Oh the joy of not having to abide by the party rule. I can see a time coming when MPs will all be independents, unable to agree on anything, and chaos will reign supreme. 

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl free at last

In the eyes of President Obama's political opponents, the US has just negotiated a deal that will cost them dearly - the release of five of the most important Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for one American soldier.

But it won't be a happy homecoming for Bowe Bergdahl because there is speculation that he deserted.

Bergdahl was captured on 30 June 2009 in Afghanistan's Paktika Province where he was deployed with the 25th Infantry Division. He disappeared after finishing a guard shift at a combat outpost.  It was about 4.30am when he was first reported missing and by 7am, his comrades began an all-out search to find him, according to WikiLeaks, but there was no sign of him.  One report said he walked off the post while another said he was grabbed from a latrine.

The White House said they had to act quickly as his health was rapidly deteriorating. "The United States of America does not leave our men or women in uniform behind" President Obama said yesterday.

Two Republican lawmakers said Obama violated US law when he approved the exchange without notifying Congress 30 days in advance. In response, the White House said that had they waited the mandatory 30 days, the opportunity to bring him home safely would have been lost.

Late on Saturday afternoon in Afghanistan, Bergdahl was led to a meeting point where US commandos were waiting.  In the air above, helicopter gunships circled.  Slowly Bergdahl walked toward the commandos who quickly searched him for explosives and within minutes he was airborne.  The helicopter rotors were so loud, he couldn't communicate clearly so he grabbed a paper plate and wrote "SF?"  When he heard "Yes, we've been looking for you for a long time" he wept for joy.

And now his story is about to be heard.

Jordan Rice bravery award

Jordan Rice

In January 2011, during a deadly flash Queensland flood in Toowoomba, Donna Rice and her two sons were stranded on the roof of their car in a raging torrent of muddy water.  When a rescuer finally reached them, Jordan Rice is reported to have said "take my brother first" even though he couldn't swim.  A moment later, Jordan and his mother were washed away and drowned.

For a while, Jordan's courage was recognized and applauded by everyone including Prime Minister Julia Gillard.  Now Jordan's father John Tyson wants his son's bravery to be recognized by Australia's highest civilian award for bravery - the Cross of Valour.

But I'm confused.  Was it Jordan who told his rescuer to take his young brother first or was it his mother Donna?

Blake with PM Julia Gillard

Jordan's father John Tyson has written to Tony Abbott, asking for his help.

The award was established in 1975 to replace the British George Cross, previously awarded to Australians, and has so far only been awarded to five men.

A spokesman from Mr Abbott's office said "Nominations for bravery awards in the Australian Honours system are considered by the Australian Bravery Decorations Council which makes recommendations to the Governor-General.  The Prime Minister has approached the Governor-General to ask for his support in ensuring proper consideration is given to any nominations for bravery awards relating to this tragic incident."

At the inquiry in 2011, the court heard the frantic 000 call Donna Rice made as she and her sons clung desperately to their car roof. She is heard screaming in the background as Jordan begs rescuers to "hurry up, we're nearly drowning."  Donna asks 000 operator Constable Wheeler to call her a tow truck.  After first asking her the make and model of her car, Constable Wheeler said "Well you shouldn't have driven through in the first place."

The inquiry heard Constable Wheeler, a police officer of 19 years experience, had not asked Rice if there were other people with her or how high the water was before assigning the job as low priority. He said Donna's even vocal tone and her request for a tow truck gave him the impression that she was not in extreme danger. "There wasn't time for anything that day", he told the commission, "it was mayhem in there."

The weather bureau was also in trouble for not giving people fair warning of what was about to happen, but it happened so fast, there wasn't time for warnings.

A shattered Chris Skehan and his wife

Business owner Chris Skehan said that on January 10, he checked the weather bureau radar before heading out for a job about 2pm. "I just remember seeing lots of yellow on the radar, huge amounts of yellow over Toowoomba" he said.

He stopped his ute when he saw water rising quickly in parts of Kitchener Street.  He took off his boots and socks and waded across to an elderly female who was stuck and starting to panic and helped her to reverse out safely.

Then he saw Donna and her two boys and a man attached to a rope struggling to reach them.  He asked the man with the rope to give him a go and he eventually reached the car and tied a rope to the hinge of the rear driver's door.  He said the lady shouted "take Blake first" so he piggy-backed him to safety and went back for the others. Then the rope snapped and Donna and Jordan were thrown into the muddy water. They managed to grab hold of a light pole for a few seconds, but the force of the water was too great and they were both swept away.

There were many other heroes that day who risked their lives to save others who never got a mention, but they know who they are. And what about Donna's bravery of insisting that her children's safety came before her own.  

The Bravery Decorations Council will have a difficult job trying to decide who is more deserving of a bravery award, when it was just a terrible tragic event.