Wednesday, July 20, 2016

In the news . . .


Some items from yesterday's newspapers . . .
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Who can’t Lindy Chamberlain forgive?


Back in 1980, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappeared from her tent on a family camping trip to Uluru. Her body was never found and mum Lindy said that she had seen a dingo emerge from the tent with something in its mouth. She maintained that the dingo had taken Azaria. Not so, said the police, we maintain that you cut the baby’s throat, hid the body in a camera bag and then, with the assistance of hubby Pastor Michael Chamberlain, disposed of the body whilst everyone was searching for the baby. A succession of inquests and trials followed, culminating in Lindy being found guilty of murder and Michael guilty of being an accessory after the fact. She got life, he got 18 months. In 1986, three years after Lindy going inside, a piece of Azaria’ clothing was found near a dingo lair, which supported the defence case. She was released and both were later exonerated, being granted $1.3m by the NT government, an amount that was less than one third of their legal expenses.


Lindy was a guest speaker at the National Christian Family Conference in Sydney on Monday. She told the audience that she had fought not to “get stuck on bitterness and resentment” but, despite that, there had been one person she has struggled to forgive. The detective who pursued the conviction, believing her guilty? The public that vilified her? The questionable forensic expert? Nope, it’s hubby Michael Chamberlain, who she divorced in 1991. Why does she find it difficult to forgive him? Lindy won’t say, “It’s private.”


Larson’s comment, The Far Side:

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What was he thinking??

In response to recent police shootings of young black men in the US there have been rallies, protests and marches under the slogan “Black Lives Matter”. The situation escalated with the death by sniper of 5 police officers in Dallas and 3 more in Baton Rouge.

It is surprising, therefore, that one Italian restaurant proprietor in Albuquerque, New Mexico chose to have a little “fun” with the marquee at the front of his establishment. To promote his new dish, ahi tuna with tapenade, he put up the following prominent sign:


Owner Rick Camuglia also posted a pic of the sign on his Facebook page, proud of his wit and handiwork, then reeled from the backlash.

Although he removed the offending item, he remained unrepentant, stating “I think if that offends some people, a statement about black olives, that somebody needs to re-evaluate their politically correct metre.” 

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Another iconic image . . .

Whilst on the topic of black lives matter, a photo of a woman standing in front of riot squad police is being hailed as a new iconic image symbolising peaceful protest, one that ranks with the following:




Here is the new image:


Ieshia Evans, the person in the above Baton Rouge photograph, was arrested but subsequently released.


According to art critic Jonathon Jones:
. . . in their hi-tech riot gear, they unfortunately resemble futuristic insectoid robots, at once prosthetically dehumanised and squatly, massively, menacingly masculine. 
Evans, by contrast, shows her calm, composed face and bold, straight body, protected by nothing more than a dress fluttering in the summer breeze. She is a Botticelli nymph attacked by Star Wars baddies. And yet they seem to stop, to yield, held back by something that radiates from her inner composure, her possession of the truth. In the instant that Bachman has caught for ever, the two officers appear confused, paralysed, even defeated by her decorous protest. Their bodies arch backwards, away from her, recoiling in recognition of her power. The officer nearest to the camera looks truly nonplussed, out of his depth, his meaty white hands flailing.

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Crocodiles rock . . .


The world’s most terrifying tourist attraction has been shut down after frightening photos emerged of tourists balanced on a raft feeding meat to crocodiles. The young holiday-makers clambered aboard a makeshift cage kept afloat with plastic barrels just inches from the 10ft long killer reptiles. They used flimsy canes to dangle lumps of beef over the jaws of the reptiles, which then leapt from the water to snatch their lunch.

Police, soldiers and government officials raced to the crocodile farm last on Friday hours after pictures went viral. It has since been closed down for 90 days while safety checks are carried out. Said one representative for the crocodile farm where the activity was being carried out: “We don’t put more than 15 people in a cage at a time. But they can hold more than this. There have never been any problems and visitors are very happy. We always watch everything very closely.”

There were also protests by people posting messages that it was cruel to the crocodiles to tease them by having them jump for the meat, then pulling it away.



And to show what can happen, here is a pic of Brutus, a saltwater croc that lives on the Adelaide River, just over 100km south of Darwin. Brutus is missing a front leg, thanks to a shark.




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