SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT OF "VILIFICATION" LAWS

The State of Victoria has "anti-vilification" laws designed to punish "offensive" speech about other races and religions. The best-known application of them was a prosecution of two Christian pastors who dared to quote some of the more ludicrous passges from the Koran. That conviction was just recently thrown out by a higher court, however -- as the implication of saying that you could vilify Muslims simply by quoting their holy book was thought-provoking, to say the least.

Recently, however, a case came up where a Jew was most clearly subjected to racial abuse. This should have been an open and shut case for a vilification prosecution. But what has happened? No mention by the police or any other authority of a vilification prosecution. Only a prosecution for the assault that happened at the same time is being mentioned. The vilification laws must only be for protecting Muslims!

The latest details of the case below:

A senior officer investigating the attack last October on Melbourne resident Menachem Vorchheimer said police are close to pressing charges over the incident. Detective Superintendent Rod Wilson, who is heading the Ethical Standards Department's (ESD's) investigation into the conduct of an off-duty officer who was present during the alleged antisemitic assault, told the AJN he was "pretty confident" that criminal charges would be laid against at least two men over the October 14 attack.

Vorchheimer was walking on Balaclava Road, St Kilda East, on Simchat Torah with his two children, when at least one man on a minibus carrying 20 players from Ocean Grove Football Club shouted antisemitic taunts at him through an open window. Vorchheimer then approached the bus for an apology, but instead had his hat and kippa taken from his head by another player. Both men have admitted their part in the incident. However, a third man, who allegedly struck Vorchheimer across the face, has not come forward.

Detective Superintendent Wilson said that in the event that a suspect is not identified, the three men who witnesses have placed at the window at the time of the attack could be charged with aiding and abetting the assault. He said both the criminal and internal investigations into the matter were complete and awaiting review by the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) and the Office of Police Integrity (OPI), respectively. Detective Superintendent Wilson told the AJN he also planned to contact both the OPP and OPI this week to "expedite the matter". "It's in the public's interest for this matter to go before the courts," he said.

Earlier this week, Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Anton Block called on the police to resolve the matter as soon as possible. "Our collective patience will run out at some point in time," he said. But Block stressed the need for the community to allow the police to carry out a thorough investigation. "The worst thing that could happen is a prosecution where the accused are found not guilty [because the case was rushed through]. I'd rather they work [longer] to build an infallible case."

Detective Superintendent Wilson said he hopes to have a preliminary result by January 17, at least in the internal investigation, when he is due to meet with Vorchheimer and Jewish community officials.

The off-duty officer, who was driving the minibus at the time of the assault, told the ESD he tried to silence the football players who were shouting racial taunts at Vorchheimer, a claim that has been corroborated by witness statements. However, the ESD is investigating whether his attempts to move the bus from the scene, despite it being cut off by another vehicle, constituted responsible conduct. Detective Superintendent Wilson said the conduct of the off-duty officer could lead to suspension, retraining or some other disciplinary action, but that it was unlikely to result in criminal charges.

Vorchheimer told the AJN via email this week that a conviction in his case was the only way the Jewish community could be assured of feeling "safe and secure in our own streets". Liberal Member for Caulfield Helen Shardey this week criticised the government's handling of the case, accusing it of not adequately enforcing its Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.

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Leftist gobbledegook about an old, old and perfectly simple story

That both men and the media pay a lot of attention to attractive women is too simple a summary for the wiseheads below



She burst into the public arena last year as the face of Australian tourism's cheeky, laid-back "So Where the Bloody Hell are You?" campaign, but in less than a year Lara Bingle has morphed into a combination of Cleopatra, Mata Hari and Paris Hilton, all wrapped up in one voluptuous, man-eating, wife-terrifying, 19-year-old package. Worst of all, she has preyed on the nation's most helpless, hopeless fools for love - footballers and cricketers. While the discussion in coffee shops and at barbecues all over the country this week has been about Bingle, the question left hanging is where the bloody hell are the men in all this? ....

Bingle, who has been keeping a very low profile of late, may well not be an innocent waif, but is she really the devil incarnate? "It goes back to an ancient kind of stereotype surrounding beautiful women," says Associate Professor Catharine Lumby from the University of Sydney. "They have a magical, evil power over men. There's a deep fear of the power of women's bodies, and Bingle has been turned into a media stereotype, like a siren from Greek mythology, luring helpless men to disaster and then heartlessly moving on. "It's concerning to see how an individual can be so stereotyped, and the coverage has been quite mean-spirited. We often see this kind of treatment of attractive female celebrities."

Profound misogyny and class-based resentment underpin the way Bingle has been presented, says Dr Anna Hickey-Moody, from Monash University's faculty of education. "The coverage reflects a variety of anxieties. Lara is the young woman from Cronulla, an area that has been grossly stigmatised in the media, represented as an abject place, and she's seen as a vagabond female who is ruled by her sexuality. Whenever something threatening happens, it's easy to construct an old story to explain it, but in this case the story doesn't seem to have much to do with her. What gets left out is that the men she's involved with are responsible for their own actions."

Women's rights have come a long way in the past few decades, but some attitudes towards sexuality remain profoundly conservative, says Professor Joy Damousi from the University of Melbourne, who is co-writing a book on football spectatorship. "The femme fatale is such an easy target in the media. You think of other targeted women like Kate Moss. The media really do like scapegoating, and women are better scapegoats than men, I think, because women's sexuality is still so feared," she says.

By being associated with footballers and cricketers, Bingle has entered a domain where men can virtually do no wrong, Professor Damousi says. "Male sportsmen are so iconic in our culture that they're elevated to a status almost beyond reproach. In a place like Melbourne they're bigger than pop stars. When they get in trouble they're seen as young blokes who need to sow their seeds. The justifications just keep coming.

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Man dead for 10 months given surgery date

It's getting as bad as Canada!

A man who has been dead for almost a year was scheduled for surgery today at Queensland's biggest hospital. The blunder has stunned grieving mother Ann Heath, 66, who says her son Michael Trindall, 45, should never have been on a public waiting list.

Mrs Heath was bracing herself for the first anniversary of her son's death when the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital sent a letter in December to advise the date of his surgery. "What can anyone else to do me? I have lost my son and I have to put up with this garbage," Mrs Heath said.

The revelation comes just weeks after Premier Peter Beattie announced the Government would tender for a broker to manage its public hospital elective surgery waiting lists and a short time before the latest waiting list surgery data is released. It's also nine months since Mr Beattie claimed the state's health system had "turned a corner".

Mrs Heath, who received the letter four days before Christmas, said she was overcome by anger. She said it was ironic that as thousands of people wait for public surgery, Queensland Health booked a time for her dead son, who died at the Gold Coast's John Flynn Private Hospital last February.

A spokesman for Health Minister Stephen Robertson said Mr Trindall was due for his annual check-up with a urologist. But Mrs Heath said her son had private health insurance and although he received chemotherapy for his pancreatic cancer at the RBWH, all other procedures were done at private hospitals. "And besides, he had pancreatic cancer, he didn't have anything wrong (for which he would need to see a urologist), and he was already dead. There's no excuse," Mrs Heath said.

In a statement to The Courier-Mail, a Queensland Health spokeswoman said: "This is an extremely regrettable but unavoidable situation. "(The) RBWH was not notified of the patient's death (and) it is simply not possible to track all patients, including those treated in private facilities. "In this instance, Queensland Health had no way of knowing of the patient's death. "A letter of apology and an explanation will be sent to Mrs Heath."

Mrs Heath has accused the Government of incompetence and insensitivity and has asked her local Liberal MP Jan Stuckey to get some answers. Mrs Stuckey, a former nurse and wife of a GP, said the case highlighted how shambolic the public system still was. "She wants to know why Michael's name appeared on the waiting list when he had passed away 10 months prior," Mrs Stuckey said. "Mismanagement and incompetency of our public health system is both legendary and shameful. "Patients hope they live long enough to get on to the waiting list, and then it could easily be the wrong patient."

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Cancer patients warned off soy-rich foods

This will upset the Tofu brigade

Cancer patients are being warned to avoid foods rich in soy because they can accelerate the growth of tumours. The Cancer Council NSW will issue guidelines today, warning about the dangers of high-soy diets and soy supplements for cancer patients and those people in remission from cancer. At particular risk are people suffering from hormone-dependent cancers, including breast and prostate cancer - the two most common types of cancer in Australia. Cancer survivors are also being urged to avoid high doses of soy, as they may be more vulnerable to a relapse.

Research has found high consumption of soy products can also limit the effectiveness of conventional medicines used to treat the disease. "There is evidence to suggest that women with existing breast cancer or past breast cancer should be cautious in consuming large quantities of soy foods or phyto-oestrogen supplements," a position statement from the Cancer Council says. "Women with current or past breast cancer should be aware of the risks of potential tumour growth when taking soy products. "The Cancer Council does not support the use of health claims on food labels that suggest soy foods or phyto-oestrogens protect against the development of cancer."

Health experts are particularly concerned that breast-cancer sufferers who take soy or phyto-oestrogen supplements could feed the disease and reduce the effectiveness of their treatment. Soy, which is present in soy beans, soy milk, tofu, tempeh and some breads, contains phyto-oestrogens that mimic the actions of hormones in the body. This means it may interfere with cancer drugs such as Tamoxifen, which works by suppressing the female hormone oestrogen.

Men with prostate cancer are also being warned against high soy consumption, as phyto-oestrogens may imitate the male hormone androgen. Although the Cancer Council has warned against soy supplements, it believes an occasional intake of soy food is still safe for cancer patients. Cancer Council nutritionist Kathy Chapman said soy supplements could contain dangerously high doses of phyto-oestrogens. "If you were a woman with breast cancer and thought, 'I'm going to radically change my diet and have very large portions of soy at every meal', it could be a problem," Ms Chapman said. "For someone who has tofu once or twice a week and drinks a bit of soya milk, it's not so much of a problem."

Soy has earned a reputation as a natural "superfood" that cuts the risk of breast or prostate cancer, and is commonly included in women's health supplements. This claim was based on findings that cancer rates were lower in Asia, where soy consumption is high. But soy would lower the risk of contracting cancer "only a little", according to the Cancer Council. "While they may have a protective effect, there is also some evidence that phyto-oestrogens may stimulate the growth of existing hormone-dependent cancers," the council's statement said. The risk of contracting other non-hormone-dependent cancers, including bowel cancer, would be unaffected by soy intake.

The Cancer Council was prompted to investigate the issue after being inundated with questions about the role of soy in cancer patients' diets. "We felt we were getting a lot of calls on our hotline about this topic," Ms Chapman said.

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