from Ted Mack ..... 

"People forget that these three are probably three of the most experienced Members of Parliament," he said.

"They didn't come down in the last shower and they certainly don't need any advice from me.

"What I suspect that they will do however, I think they will back the Gillard Government."

He [Ted Mack] says it may sound unusual, but it makes sense.

"The point is, if there is a Liberal-National government formed, then that government will do its best to get those three out of office because they think that those seats belong to them.

John Prescott tonight demanded the Metropolitan police reopen its investigation into the News of the World phone-hacking scandal as the Observer revealed that Scotland Yard holds News International documents suggesting that he was a target when deputy prime minister.

A decision on who forms government could be delayed with a squabble breaking out over parliamentary reform.

Labor and the coalition have previously indicated they would support changing parliament's rules, but today the opposition declared some of the reforms could strengthen the hand of future governments.

Rob Oakeshott wants both sides of politics to sign off on the reforms before he and fellow independents Tony Windsor and Bob Katter announce whether they'll back Prime Minister Julia Gillard or Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Israeli scientists believe they have identified why Arabic is particularly hard to learn to read.

The University of Haifa team say people use both sides of their brain when they begin reading a language - but when learning Arabic this is wasting effort.

The detail of Arabic characters means students should use only the left side of their brain because that side is better at distinguishing detail.

The findings from the study of 40 people are reported in Neuropsychology.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11181457

Before that election, Mr Rudd made use of the friendship. He appeared with Mr Katter at a rally in Townsville to oppose council amalgamations, a position John Howard had already adopted.

Mr Katter laughs as he recalls how Mr Rudd asked to be thanked publicly for his support, a gesture that would have helped Labor's election chances.

''I tried to step around that dingo trap,'' said Mr Katter. ''I told him, 'I'd have to thank John Howard first'.'' At the rally, Mr Rudd introduced Mr Katter as ''my good friend''.

Mr Katter laughs: ''I got trapped, I had to thank him. That's politics.''

The Australian Jewish News (AJN) was outraged. Its editorial in late July condemned the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) for a resolution calling on Australians to boycott Israeli goods made in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The AJN wrote that the move contributed to a global campaign to 'delegitimise' Israel and lent 'credence to the perception of an apartheid state.'

from Crikey .....

Keane essay: the myth of governmental competence

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

It was all revival meeting, no political fireworks. The news reports accurately likened the atmosphere to that of a church picnic -- and no reporter wants to write about a church picnic.

But then I realized: The abundance of religiosity was the news. Beck is offering -- and whatever the precise crowd count on Saturday, a whole lot of people seemed to be buying -- a new form of fusion politics, melding the anti-government, anti-spending, anti-tax fervor of the Tea Party with the faith-based agenda of the religious right.

Doctors should stop giving newborn babies sugar to relieve the pain of minor medical procedures because it does not work and may damage their brains, new research in The Lancet warns today.

The study says that small doses of oral sucrose do not reduce the pain which a baby feels when its heel is pricked to yield a blood sample or it has a drip put in to receive antibiotics.

from Crikey .....

A key element of Bob Katter's regional development wish-list presented to the major parties will directly benefit companies owned or controlled by Katter's brother-in-law, and was spruiked by the Member for Kennedy for months in 2009 before Katter acknowledged the conflict of interest.

from Crikey .....

Much of the Coalition's enormous success in becoming not merely electorally competitive but to reach the verge of forming government lies in its successful selling of the idea of competence - Labor is incompetent, we are competent. Simple.

An Iranian newspaper has called Carla Bruni, France's first lady, a "prostitute" after she attacked Iran's plan to stone a woman to death.

The president's wife is part of a campaign to save the life of 43-year-old mother of two, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

Ashtiani is accused of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him.

She is now facing capital punishment for her crimes.

France has urged the European Union to threaten new sanctions over the case.

'Lived and loved'

Conservative NSW MP Fred Nile has denied that he has been accessing pornographic websites on his parliamentary computer, saying someone else must have used his log-on.

Mr Nile, from the Christian Democrat party, says reports in today's Daily Telegraph that porn websites have been accessed from his office 200,000 times are impossible.

Mr Nile is well known in NSW for his conservative stance on social issues, having been a long-time opponent of things such as the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

In what would have to rank as one of the most obscene public statements made by any US President, Barack Obama announced the end of America's combat mission in Iraq, notwithstanding the fact that 50,000 American troops & countless "contractors" will continue to occupy the country.

Obama acknowledged that the war had cost America in blood & treasure: 4,400 members of its armed forces killed, 34,000 wounded & maimed: all at a cost in excess of US$1.12 trillion.

"Ending the war was not only in Iraq's best interests but also in America's", he said. "We have met our responsibility; now is the time to turn the page."

Turn the page indeed.