news

7 Thursday news bites (29 Sep)

 

 

 

 

1. 

News Limited columnist Andrew Bolt has been found guilty in the federal court of breaching racial discrimination laws. According to the Herald Sun, Justice Mordy Bromberg found Bolt and the Herald and Weekly Times contravened the Racial Discrimination Act by publishing two articles on racial identity which contained “errors in fact, distortions of the truth and inflammatory and provocative language.”  Bolt  claimed some fair-skinned aborigines traded on their indigenous heritage for their own gain.  Outside court, Bolt said it was a “terrible day for free speech in this country.”

2. Third baby dies in driveway tragedy

A three-year-old boy was killed yesterday when his mother accidentally reversed into him in her 4WD  in their driveway.  This is the third tragic ‘driveway’ death of a child in the space of a week. On Monday a mother hit the accelerator instead of reverse and ran over her son and injured her father. Last week a two-year-old girl was also killed in the driveway of her home.


3. New social networking site gives Facebook reason to worry

Facebook? Google + is coming for you. Just a week after the mainstream launch of the new Google + site,  web trafficking firm Experian Hitwise revealed that traffic to the new site grew by 1269 per cent.   The site leapt from 54th to 8th place in the Social Networking and Forums category.

4. Toddler found chewing used condom in McDonalds

A father in Geraldton, Western Australia was horrified to find his two-year-old daughter chewing on a used condom she’d picked up in a McDonald’s restaurant playground.  According to The Age, when the father showed the condom to a junior manager at the restaurant, he was told that it was the second one found in the playground that day.


Ellen DeGeneres was taken to hospital yesterday for chest pains.

5.  Ellen DeGeneres treated for chest pains

It has been revealed that staff on the Ellen show had to call 911 earlier this week, when host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres began to suffer chest pains during a producers’ meeting.  The fifty-three-year-old star was taken by ambulance to hospital but was back on set just hours later insisting to fans she was fine.

There’s a new dog in town and boy, is he living the high life.  Prime Minister Julia Gillard turns 50 today and to celebrate her partner, Tim Mathieson, bought her a cavoodle puppy.  The ‘First Dog’ who is yet to be named is a  cross between a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and a miniature poodle, the dogs can sell for $1500.
And finally, in today’s I-wish-this-was-made-up news item, there’s now an app for mothers to tell if their son is gay. The app asks a series of questions like “Does he like musicals?” and the more insightful “Does he remain in the bathroom for too long?”  before determining an answer. To date, there’s no app for How-to-spot-a-lesbian-in-the-family … can’t wait for that one.

 

 
Today’s news was brought to you by Bec.

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Top Comments

Rob Spencer 13 years ago

I find it strange and unsettling that Andrew Bolt gets indicted for right wing views, but others on the "left" spectrum are absolved. The current witch hunt on the media is a classical example of sanitizing opinion. The media review appears to be aimed at Murdoch-owned units, yet absolves other newspapers such as "The Age" and "Australian" which are very much the opposite. Where is the balance? We are in great danger of losing the opportunity of free speech.


Flutterby 13 years ago

Andrew Bolt: we don't have free speech in this country - we are not America.

Driveway accidents: always have kids and adults stand to the side of cars - that way no one can get run over, forward or backward.

Google +: lets hope Google, as a commercial enterprise, has more respect for people's security and privacy than failbook.

Do you want fries with that?: I can't believe how little respect people have any more. Time and place people!

PM's dog: so many people have felt sorry for the PM and the disrespect shown because she is a woman, but I can't think of any male PM using his parents and a cutesy birthday present to soften their image.

Is your son gay?: I would hope I've created the environment where I wouldn't need an app - my child could just tell me.