Sunday, December 26, 2010

Navigating by the stars caught on



Whether you're a believer or not, Christmas time generally brings people together (no wonder his suit's red) with a common belief in spirituality, family ties, or, in rest and relaxation.
It's also a slow news time. The usual mainstream names are on holiday, the B teams are on the job, and most news that runs is spin.


The news content varies between extremes, from the spectacularly mundane to the sickeningly surreal, as busy journos use horrifying bombing reports from overseas news wires, interstate and country police reports of tragic road accidents, and non-labour intensive sundry benign material gathered locally, such as flower shows and the first babies born on Christmas Day.


Overseas today, authorities in Palestine told the AFP record numbers of people have flocked from all over the world to Bethlehem to observe the traditional Christian Christmas beliefs.


AFP reported early this morning that bombers had targeted Christians in several cities worldwide and the Pope, who looks unnervingly like Darth Sidious, has tried to explain that Holy Land should be left whole, not holey.

Friday, December 10, 2010

CCC inquiry into the mistreatment of Kevin Spratt

Today the Corruption and Crime Commission's inquiry into the repeated mistreatment of Ngoongar father of five, Kevin Spratt, by Western Australian police and prison transport officers began.

The link to the first hearing transcript plays CCTV footage of his now notorious "reception" at East Perth Lock-up and his "extraction," by half a dozen prison transport officers geared up with face masks and weapons.

WARNING - Some readers may find this footage and the audio very upsetting. 
Mr Spratt, naked, unarmed and lying face-down on the corridor floor in the WatchHouse, is seen in the footage to make a number of guttural and gurgling cries while he was tasered, and prays to God - clearly, when he thought/knew death was on the way to take him.

The Lord may well have watched over Kevin Spratt that day as he survived in Royal Perth Hospital from a punctured lung, three broken ribs and repeated tasering. His cause has been taken up by the Shadow Attorney General, John Quigley, a devout Christian and one of those responsible for freeing wrongly-convicted, Andrew Mallard.

If, while reading the transcript, you would like to choose not to see and hear the trauma that Mr Spratt went through, you will need to immediately scroll to the clips at the middle and end of the webpage and hit pause because they will load and start playing without warning. This is the link to the transcript and clip. **UPDATE** CCC has remedied the situation with the footage and so it doesn't load automatically.

###UPDATE### Days 1 - 6 transcripts of the CCC hearings into the tasering and mistreatment of Kevin Spratt can be found here...

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Greeks protest death in custody

Trouble seems to always be simmering in Greece, which has erupted in violence again in memory of the death in custody of a 15 year old boy, shot by police two years ago today.

Fighting has broken out on the streets in the heart of Athens, alongside memorial rallies intended to mark the second anniversary of Alexandros Grigoripoulis' death. Unions arranged 3-hour work stoppages and 5000 extra police were deployed to the area yesterday, in anticipation of unrest.

The days of rioting after his death caused hundreds of millions of euros damage, and prompted a change in government.

Two months ago the two police involved were convicted on charges of murder, and being an accessory to homicide.
The young man's death has become a focal point for dissatisfaction with the Greek government among a number of dissenting groups.