lifeasdaddy

Dr. Mohammad Khatami interviewed by Father Dave

My friend Father Dave Smith somehow managed to interview Dr. Mohammad Khatami, the former President of Iran during the latter's recent Australian visit.

There is plenty of content, but one of the things Mr. Khatani says (in English translation) is "Judaism is a great religion" in the context of an ecumenical question from Father Dave.

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Tommy Dodgen, age 4, standing by the largest lamp in the world: Tampa, Florida

Tommy Dodgen, age 4, standing by the largest lamp in the world: Tampa, Florida, originally uploaded by State Archives of Florida.

I saw this on Flickr, and thought it would be a leaven some of the heavier articleson this blog of recent times.

USS Franklin - 19 March, 1945. The ship is 50 miles off the coast of Japan.

Read more here about what happened when the aircraft carrier was hit by two bombs from a Japanese aircraft.

803 men died.  710 others remained to save the ship.  Two men displayed such bravery they were awarded the Medal of Honor.

Australian Federal Police response to Sydney Airport Incident.

As I mentioned, official excuses and blame shifting is going on over the bikie brawl which left one dead at Sydney Airport last Sunday.

I've just come across  yesterday's national media release from the Australian Federal Police about the incident.  It is so funny, so slippery, and so  evasively bureaucratic that for your amusement and amazement I reprint it in full here:

AFP response to Sydney Airport incident

Monday, 23 March 2009

The Australian Federal Police is working closely with the New South Wales police in response to the alleged murder which occurred at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport on the afternoon of Sunday 22 March.

The AFP then undertook the secondary role of assisting New South Wales Policing by providing cordon and containment support at multiple crime scenes.

The Unified Policing Model staffing numbers deployed at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport are to the agreed level and New South Wales Police has provided the agreed complement of officers within this arrangement.

Policing numbers at airports are determined after negotiation between the AFP and all State and Territory Police that are appropriate for policing needs within the aviation environment.

These numbers are agreed numbers through COAG.

The AFP had a full complement of staff rostered on shift at the time of the incident and all AFP members were subsequently deployed in response to this incident.

At the time of the incident there were 22 AFP members on duty.

The policing response from AFP and New South Wales Police was commensurate with, or better than, a policing response that would have occurred in the wider community.

A comprehensive police response was on the scene within minutes of notification.

The investigation is being conducted by the New South Wales Police pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) governing the operation of the Unified Policing Model at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.

Under those arrangements, the AFP's role is to provide an initial response followed by assistance to the New South Wales Police which has lead responsibility for the investigation of alleged offences of this type.

This is a matter now before the courts.

The AFP presence at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport is one of several layers of security including closed circuit television cameras. Although not the responsibility for monitoring the closed circuit television camera network, the AFP responded swiftly when alerted to the incidents which were occurring.

Despite the comprehensive AFP response, the AFP is reviewing the incident in conjunction with law enforcement and aviation industry partners.

Media enquiries:
AFP Media (Canberra): (02) 6275 7100

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An easy, strightforward and enforceable legislative solution to the bikie gang problem.

Last Sunday afternoon there was a brawl between members of two rival bikie gangs at Sydney Airport. One of them was bashed to death on the land side of the security gates.

Amongst officials there has been much attempting to shift the blame and denial of the seriousness of the implications of the event (here, here, here and here).  There have also been calls for legislation to make such gangs illegal if they are found to be criminal enterprises or groups, much the same as legislation to that end in South Australia.

My solution is much simpler.

Ban the sale and possession of any motorbike with an engine capacity larger than 250 cubic centimetres within the borders of the State of New South Wales.

The NSW State government can institute a fair buy back policy to compensate owners of craft larger than that.  The State Government can offset some of the cost by reselling the craft thus acquired interstate and overseas.

The result will be that no bikie gang member will ride a motorcycle on the roads of New South Wales because it would be too shameful to be seen riding a small motorcycle.  So they will go elsewhere if they want to remain a member of a bikie gang.

The Unknown Sailor of Christmas Island - Part Seven

See previous parts in this feature series here under my blog category "The Unknown Sailor".

The body of the Unknown Sailor of Christmas Island was retrieved from a life raft near Christmas Island on 7 February 1942.  The Sailor is thought to be the only known body anywhere from the 645 crew who perished with the ship HMAS Sydney (II) during World War II.

The body was buried shortly after that in the cemetery on Christmas Island, and was retrieved by a Royal Australian Navy led expedition in 2006.

Since then a number of means of trying to identify the body have been followed, finally centering around DNA testing of surviving relatives. 

As I have said before, the identification team, based upon supposed testing at the Australian War Memorial which suggested that the Sailor was wearing a WHITE boiler suit seems to have ignored eyewitness acounts from the time which stated the sailor was wearing a BLUE boilersuit.  Thus, I proprosed that the identification team concentrated their efforts in gaining DNA matches from survising relatives on the wrong group within the crew.

The fate of the HMAS Sydney (II) and her crew, which was Australia's greatest wartime loss is presently the topic of investigation by the Australian Government through a Commission of Inquiry, led by The Honourable Terence Cole, AO, RFD, QC

Well, guess what?

Turns out I was right.

Further testing by the Australian Federal Police has indicated that the press studs found with the corpse contained BLUE material, not WHITE material.

This, from the transcript of testimony before the Commission of Inquiry today, on page 32:

THE PRESIDENT: CMDR Rush, there is one other matter that

I should have asked Mr Bailey about. My understanding is

that the most recent investigation of the press studs

indicated that they had fragments of material attached to

them, and that whilst in the past it was thought that the

textiles were white and may have been dyed, the view of the

Federal Police was that it was likely that the textiles

were in fact blue, and not white. That may affect

Ms Challenor's evidence. I don't know.

CMDR RUSH: I might start with Ms Challenor and see if we

can deal with it through her, and, if not, I will recall

Mr Bailey, sir.

Q. Ms Challenor, you heard the comment of the

Commissioner as to an understanding that has been given to

the Commission of Inquiry as to the actual colour of the

overalls as a consequence of the further testing that has

been done. What is the position in relation to whether

they were white originally, or blue and have faded?

A. In my original report, I said that there were

definitely fragments of the cloth that appeared to be

undyed; however, I could not positively say that it had

been dyed or undyed. The evidence that I had in front of

me at the time, which came from the - when we broke open

one of the press studs, two layers of material came out,

and in that sample - and this is in my report - there were

bands of colour, possibly from corrosion, and I think

I indicated that it may have been dyed at one time, but

there was no very obvious evidence of that.

However, since writing that report two years ago, we

have broken open another stud to take more layers of fabric

out, and those fragments actually revealed a definite blue

colouration. At this stage, it is too early to say that it

is definitely a dye, but it is definitely a blue colour.

Obviously, we've taken images, and the AFP are now

following on from that to see if they can identify dye from

that.

THE PRESIDENT: Q. That means that the investigation

which has been progressing on the basis that it may have

been undyed or white, and thus may have been the boilersuit

of an officer, may have been misconceived, if this material

is blue.

A. Yes.

[ Department of Defence photograph, copyright expired ]

Joe Galloway, UPI correspondent, Vietnam.

Awarded Bronze Star, with "V" device.

[ Not safe for children ]