Triple J is an Australian government-owned – i.e.taxpayer funded – national radio network which is part of the ABC.
It’s main focus is new music. It’s broadcast nationally and its signal can reach 95% of Australians. The show, Restoring the Balance, is supposed to be a send-up of the Conservative Right. The show’s humorous intro begins like this:
Thanks to the intervention of the ABC board, Triple J reluctantly presents two hours of unbiased, fair and balanced coverage of the week’s topical issues
The main presenter, “Sterling Addison” (not his real name) – who pretends to be a supporter of conservative, old-world, Liberal Party type ideals – and his faithful side-kick, “Spencer” – who pretends to be from the “Christian values” based Family First party – are very funny mock jocks.
Sterling presents himself asa proud,rich, privileged, lazy, narrow-minded, bigoted, pompous, “right wing” (whatever that means) conservative ass. Spencer portrays a righteous Bible-basher. Their interview with me centered on talking about International Capitalism Day.
The show opened with a short excerpt from my song “Privatize The ABC” (my lyrics, but the melody is based loosely on Irving Berlin’s song, Alexander’s Ragtime Band).
Because Spencer claimed that the Bible and Capitalism go hand-in-hand, I mentioned in the show that my studies of Christianity indicate that Christianity and Capitalism do seem to be compatible.
Barboo aka Sydney Kendall aka Barbara Marinakis aka Tallulahdahling and supervillain Lex Luthor. No resemblance.
Lana Gordon Rast over at Spoonflower interviews my wife ( … blog …. facebook … interview …) about her fabric designs and exposes her sinister plan to develop a supermind. When she was 3 years old. Is that normal???
For its 65th anniversary, Honda released this fabulous commercial showcasing all there achievement from the 24th of September 1948 till today.
A bolt reaching the hands of that Honda engineer (I guess) is transformed from motorcycles to cars, to people movers, supercars, boats and even four-wheel farm bikes and jets.
It is a very clever way of showing, in a 1:56 minutes video, all the industries that those Honda engineers were able to tackle so far.
The ad is done by Wieden + Kennedy London the company responsible for the 2003 Honda “Cog” commercial that has been named the best car commercials of all time by AutoExpress. This all-new spot called Hands is even more entertaining and might aswell dethrone the old one. The two commercials are linked below. Enjoy!
If you want to see some more magnificent advertisements — cinematic and commercial masterpieces — created by Wieden + Kennedy CLICK HERE.
Try the “Best Job” video made for Proctor & Gamble for starters.
Mark Finkelstein at NewsBusters briefly explains (emphasis added):
Appearing on MSNBC this morning, Jesse Jackson condemned the Zimmerman verdict as a “tremendous miscarriage of justice.”
It is a mark of Jackson’s misconception of just what constitutes justice that chief among his complaints was that Trayvon Martin was denied a jury of his peers because there were no African-Americans or men on it.
But — as Jackson is apparently unaware — the Constitution provides that it is the accused, not the possible victim, who is entitled to an impartial jury (in fact the Constitution nowhere speaks of a jury of peers).
Jury of one’s peers
Putting aside Jesse Jackson’s error, here’s a summary of what “a jury of one’s peers” actually means:
jury of one’s peers n. a guaranteed right of criminal defendants, in which “peer” means an “equal.”
This has been interpreted by courts to mean that the available jurors include a broad spectrum of the population, particularly of race, national origin and gender.
Jury selection may include no process which excludes those of a particular race or intentionally narrows the spectrum of possible jurors.
It does not mean that women are to be tried by women, Asians by Asians, or African Americans by African Americans.
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court held that juries need not represent a cross section of a community, but merely must be drawn from a pool that is representative of the community(Holland v. Illinois, 493 U.S. 474, 110 S. Ct. 803, 107 L. Ed. 2d 905).
In 1991, it forbade prosecutors to use their peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors on the basis of race (Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 111 S. Ct. 1364, 113 L. Ed. 2d 411).
The 6th Amendment guarantees the accused the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury.
The phrase “jury of one’s peers” is not included in the Amendment, however, the courts interpret peer to mean equal, i.e., the jury pool must include a cross section of the population of the community in terms of gender, race, and national origin.
The jury selection process must not exclude or intentionally narrow any particular group of people.
A jury of one’s peers does not mean a black defendant must be tried by an all black jury or a female defendant must be tried by an all woman panel.
The objective is to select an impartial jury from a randomly selected juror pool who will be fair, listen to the facts of the case, and render a just verdict based on the evidence
The six jurors
In case you’re interested in knowing about the jurors in the George Zimmerman trial, here is a list and brief description of each from the FoxNews website:
B-51 is retired, not married and doesn’t have kids. She has lived in Seminole County for nine years. She has worked in real estate and run a call center where she said she had experience resolving conflicts. When asked if Zimmerman did something wrong by following Martin instead of waiting for police, she said: “Yeah, I guess he did do something wrong.”
___
B-29 recently moved to central Florida from Chicago. She enjoys watching the “Real Housewives” on television and works as a nurse on an Alzheimer’s section of a nursing home. She said she hadn’t paid much attention to the shooting. She said she has been arrested, but her case was disposed of. It’s not clear why she was arrested or exactly what happened to her case, though she said she was treated fairly. She is married and has several children. A prosecutor described her as “black or Hispanic” during jury selection.
___
B-76 is a white woman who has lived in central Florida for 18 years. She manages rental properties with her husband of 30 years. She has two adult children, including one who is an attorney. She is involved with rescuing animals in her free time. During jury selection, she said she had been the victim of a nonviolent crime. “Everyone deserves a fair trial,” she said.
___
B-37 is a white woman who volunteers rescuing animals. She is married to an attorney and has two adult children. She said she and her husband used to have concealed weapons permits. During the last round of questioning, she said she had an issue with the type of weapons people are allowed to carry. She also thought weapons’ training was inadequate for people seeking permits. “It should become harder,” she said.
___
E-6 is a white woman who is married and has two children. She has worked in financial services and has lived in Seminole County for two years. She is active in her church and involved with her children’s school. During jury selection, she said she didn’t know the facts of the case well.
___
E-40 is a white woman who works as a safety officer and recently moved to Seminole County from Iowa. She describes herself as a football fan. During jury selection, she said she had been the victim of a nonviolent crime.
George Zimmerman has been acquitted of all charges in the February 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla.
The jury of six women informed Judge Debra Nelson shortly before 10 p.m. local time Saturday that they had reached a verdict after deliberating for approximately 15 hours over two days.
After hearing the verdict, Judge Nelson told Zimmerman he was free to go.
Daryl Parks & Ben Crumps Martin family’s attorneys:
Accept the jury’s verdict. Family is heartbroken.
Thanking those who protested and petitioned, urging the trial, and expressed support for Trayvon Martin.
Dr Bernice King (Martin Luther’s daughter) tweeted the attorneys, quoting her father:
“We must conducted ourselves on the higher plane of dignity and discipline“.
Trayvon Martin as a symbol.
“For Travyon to rest in peace we must all be peaceful.”
Should acknowledge “racial undertones”.
Reporter asks, what if the races were the other way around? Ben Crumps sidesteps.
Lady attorney notes that a number of changes have now been made that may save the life of another child in the future. If, in the future, someone with a gun follows another, they’ll be more careful in the future.
… According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 31 percent of blacks think that most blacks are racists, while 24 percent of blacks think that most whites are racist.
… The time is long overdue to stop looking for progress through racial or ethnic leaders.
Such leaders have too many incentives to promote polarizing attitudes and actions that are counterproductive for minorities and disastrous for the country.
The Rasmussen Report which provided the date is HERE
Of course when Obama says things like: "If I had a son he'd LOOK like Trayvon" that can't possibly be helpful (or fair or just).
… there is no theological system in Islam, there is no sect, there is no group within Islam that has formulated a comeback, an understanding, a construction of Islamic theology based on the Koran that makes a case to reject violence and supremacism and the subjugation of unbelievers. It doesn’t exist.
I too have searched far and wide — as well as reading the views of many “moderate” Muslims — many of them good people — to find such a theological rebuttal. But without success.
Video below starts a minute before the above statement is made.
I’m not against a global pact to reduce CO2 emissions.
Indeed, I favor it.
Did I read that right?
I had naively assumed that Charles Krauthammer — so thoughtful on so many issues — would at least be sceptical about anthropogenic global warming/climate change.
Or better still, that he would have studied the matter and found that it has not been established that human released CO2 is driving climate change, let alone dangerous global warming.
Do your homework Charles.
He does state that “Global temperatures have been flat for 16 years”. Right.
And he is correct in adding that this fact alone “doesn’t mean there is no global warming”. True.
Then why does he “favor” a “global pact” to reduce CO2 — if only it could be done?
This is the sort of tangled nonsense only the most “sophisticated” experts of the Establishment Right in America (and Australia) are capable of tying themselves up in.
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