An election with more than one candidate? What an outrageous idea. No really, anywhere except Israel and now Iraq, it really is an outrageous idea, a dangerous and destabilising one that those in power are deathly afraid of. And they're right to be.

that he was prepared to rein in the Howard Government's enhanced mandate.

We cannot or afford such cruel differences.

A WOMAN forced her husband to have sex with a 13-year-old girl, threatening both with a spear, because of bad spirits, a Darwin court heard today.
Savonne Scrubby, 33, has pleaded guilty to a charge of rape in the Northern Territory Supreme Court, saying she was the principal offender.
With her plea, the prosecution dropped a charge or rape against the man.

Tankers carrying gas, petrol and chemicals each have separate routes across Melbourne.
"It's to avoid a chemical tanker coming into contact with a petrol tanker," Mr Martin said.

From: Vivien Oint
Subject: You can metamorphose to the foremost person for her.

Our specific is used to remedy cavernous breakdown,
likewise far-famed as impotence. This is when a man can't acquire, or save,
a firm tumid phallus apt for intimate activity.
This medicine is :

• appropriate to be used as a fulfilment foil
• has key advantages over other drugs
• can function for 3 days
• can erect up in the organic structure

JASON Akermanis was happy yesterday to be on the receiving end of one of the greatest deliveries of his life when he took possession of his first child.

94. SCHICK ELECTRIC RAZOR, 1931
Jacob Schick believed that men could live to the age of 120 by shaving the right way, every day. To further than end, Schick invented the electric razor in 1928 and released the first commercial one three years later ... before dying in 1937 at the age of 49. Today, 30 percent of men use electric shavers.

each time Bush nominates an official for a post, he picks the worst of all, and together, they make up the worst, gloomiest, cruelest and most messianic administration of all

His dossier is as sordid as his role in Iraq.

Department of Health figures released yesterday show 72.4 per cent of visits to GPs incurred no out-of-pocket cost for the patient during the three months to December.
This is up from 71.8 per cent for the September quarter and 66.5 per cent from December 2003.
In further good news for patients - not to mention the Government - the average out-of-pocket cost to patients who are not bulk-billed has dropped to $14.69, the lowest for a year.
These figures are likely to improve further as the Government's election promises kick in, particularly the lift in the Medicare rebate from just over $25 to about $30.

"For all of minister Abbott's shameless self-aggrandisement, the truth of the matter is that people around the country are still struggling to find a doctor at all, struggling to find a doctor who bulk-bills and facing soaring out of pocket costs when they do see the doctor. There is nothing here of which minister Abbott should be proud," she said.

... Bill Glasson said the rise in bulk-billing was levelling off as the incentives introduced last year for GPs started to lose their value. "The Government got all the bang out of its bulk-billing buck in the first six months of last year," Dr Glasson said. He acknowledged further Government measures would spark rises this year.

South Australia's public advocate, for instance, huffed on the ABC how he'd nagged the Immigration Department for two months to get help for Rau, but had "never dealt with such arrogant public servants". Only two days later did he confess he'd never personally contacted the department, because it was "pointless".

The federal inquiry now prodding this case will – and should – find the faults that need fixing, although the chances of a second person turning up at a detention centre with a fake ID and demanding in a foreign voice to be treated as an illegal immigrant seem beyond remote.

Police said Geoff had a history of mental problems.

The State Government has admitted many Victorian parents are unaware DNA samples taken from their child at birth were to be stored in the gene bank.
The DNA samples -- called Guthrie Cards -- are held by privately-owned company Genetic Health Services.
The cards have been collected with parental consent via a heel prick from every Victorian aged under 42 years.

Since population-wide testing began in the 1960s, hospital staff have been required to obtain verbal consent from parents and guardians before performing the procedure.

A child's birth is a special moment - the labour, the joy, the chaos. And about 48 hours into a new life, each baby has a medical test that has saved countless children's lives.
Blood from the baby's heel is soaked into an absorbent card and then tested for a range of rare, usually treatable conditions. Most parents hear nothing more and life goes on.
But what becomes of the cards? In Victoria, they are tested and stored by Genetic Health Services Victoria, a company set up 16 years ago. It is paid by the State Government to do the tests, yet believes it owns the cards, which date from 1965. All Victorian babies were tested from about 1970.
The Parkville company ultimately controls who can get access to the blood, and DNA, of more than 2 million people born in Victoria. Its collection is the largest in Australia and the only one not in government hands.

Rachel Hitchcock e-mails: "Being a student of linguistics, I'm really amused by ambiguous sentences. I'm on AOL and they have news headlines that appear on the welcome screen. One such heading today (January 26th) read, 'Iran: U.S. threatens world peace' and the corresponding news story had a headline that said, 'U.S. Tops List for Threatening World Peace: Iran'." Your political standpoint will determine whether you see ambiguity here ...

Lipstick

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem.
A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.
Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.
He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.
There are teachers, and then there are educators.

The turkey was made of plastic, the soldier was made of plastic, nightly news anchors look like they are made of plastic, plastic, plastic, plastic. . . and WHERE does plastic come from? That’s right: petroleum!!! See, it WAS Haliburton all along!

CHASER NEWSPAPER CLOSES
The Chaser team to pursue forms of media that post-date the invention of electricity

Wal-Mart now consumes 10% of China's exports to the U.S. and 1% of China's GDP.