Canberra fun and fitness

Who said Senate Estimates was boring - the age newspaper reported today that the federal Education Department has banned the Latin American fitness craze Zumba from its Canberra headquarters after a dance class caused the new building to shake so violently some staff feared for their safety.

Officials told a Senate hearing yesterday that the department called in the building's owners and the firm that constructed the offices after a Zumba class held on the 12th floor in October caused the building to vibrate.

Tests confirmed exercise classes were causing the building to shake. While all buildings are designed to move in response to factors such as wind, the high impact movements of Zumba caused a build-up of ''harmonic vibrations'', despite the floor on which the exercise class was held exceeding Australian standards for gymnasiums, officials said.

The secretary of the department, Lisa Paul, said she felt safe in the building.


However the reports do not shed light on the scurrulous rumours that Ms Paul was leading the exercise class!!!

Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it,” Mark Twain once quipped.

Its raining again in Canberra - not that that's a bad thing, or is it too much now - I can't tell any more!

UN commissioner for human rights to visit Australia, following criticism of human rights record

according to abc news  Navi Pillay is scheduled to visit at the end of May, at the invitation of the Federal Government, to raise a number of issues.  Last month a regular review of human rights by about 50 UN member nations - including allies like the United States and the UK - recommended Australia end mandatory immigration detention and improve the lives of Indigenous people.

Though it is a review that all UN members are subjected to, the office of the high commissioner has received numerous complaints about Australia in recent years.  Rachel Ball from the Human Rights Law Resource Centre says there are obvious issues that need to be discussed, like:

In Geneva last year, a group of Indigenous people also raised the Northern Territory intervention with the high commissioner.

Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition says Christmas Island and plans for a detention centre in East Timor should also be discussed.

Not for the faint hearted

The number of Americans without health insurance rose to 46.3 million last year as people began losing jobs and coverage in the current recession. The poverty rate hit 13.2 percent, an 11-year high.

read more if you don't have a weak constitution

Who is Bradley Manning?

He has entered his ninth month in military detention and continues to be held in maximum security conditions that are in violation of his human rights,  according to the Guardian.

Manning spends 23 hours of every day in his windowless 6.7 square metre cell, which contains nothing but a bed and blanket, sink and toilet.  He is allowed no personal objects other than one book or magazine at a time and is prevented from taking any exercise other than in the one hour a day allocated to it, when he is taken to an empty room and allowed to walk around it in a figure of eight.


But what's this all about?

What has Bradley Manning done to make him public enemy no 1 in the USA?

Who is Bradley Manning and what has he done?

He has entered his ninth month in military detention and continues to be held in maximum security conditions that are in violation of his human rights,  according to the Guardian.


Manning spends 23 hours of every day in his windowless 6.7 square metre cell, which contains nothing but a bed and blanket, sink and toilet.  He is allowed no personal objects other than one book or magazine at a time and is prevented from taking any exercise other than in the one hour a day allocated to it, when he is taken to an empty room and allowed to walk around it in a figure of eight.

despite the shakeup Hosni Mubarak remains president

 When you've got no friends left, its time  to face facts, they're not protesting with you they're protesting at you.  Mubarak still doesn't get it as far as regional newspapers report

Judicial Activism?

The legislation was duly enacted by both the House and Senate, the elected representatives of the people and signed into law by the President of the United States, who was elected by a substantial majority of the American people.

Judge Sarokin's article on Huffpost

The absence of conservative criticism regarding the decisions declaring the ACA unconstitutional demonstrates that judicial activism is in the eyes of the beholder. It is not judicial activism to the right because they agree with the decision. Whether or not the statute is or is not constitutional is a profound and difficult question of law. Judges will disagree -- as they have. Neither outcome should be viewed as judicial activism.