Serbia.
This is great. Tadic (presidential candidate in second round against Radical candidate Tomislav Nikolic) and Kostunica (current Serb PM) have apparently been bitter political foes since they differed on sending war criminals to the International Court in the Hague or trying them in Serbia. I said earlier how Tadic was likely to win the second round if the votes of other democratic candidates came his way. All other parties had expressed the desire for their supporters to vote for Tadic in the second round, except Kostunica, who hadn’t endorsed either candidate until now.

In this article, Nikolic challenges Tadic to debate, Nikolic tried to woo Kostunica’s endorsement and votes by saying, “Kostunica is an honest man and I’m proposing that we honest people get together on one side and let the criminals be on the other.”

But no, Kostunica party supports Tadic. Seems Kostunica decided not to side with the criminals after all.

General. everybody likes the general.
I played rugby for a chiropractic school in the US for three months, and flatted (’roomed’ for Americans) with a final year chiropractic student for four or five. Chiropractic adjustments before rugby, after rugby, at the college 2-3 days a week, at home…. free, on-demand chiropractic care.

I haven’t been to a chiropracter since I left the US to return to Australia. That’s 19 months. My back is a mess and my neck is out, but, give ‘em a good twist and crack, ahhhhhh, endorphin release. I know Nottger and Schwartz are wincing just thinking of that… but who will fix me for free?

wait…. *crack* ohhhhhh *crack* yeahhhhh

General.
Oh yes, and going to watch Shrek2 with some journo student friends, sometime after my meeting with Centrelink tomorrow… hopefully it’s uproariously funny and escapist, because I’m thinking by then I’m going to be in definite need of a good laugh and no significant use of the squishy gray stuff contained within my skull. (3pm -probably, or 3.45 – at BCC Indooroopilly if my stalker, you know who you are, or someone else I know reading this wants to turn up)

Yahoo! mail got freaked out by Gmail’s 1gB of space methinks? They’ve gone mental and increased from 6mB to 100mB of storage space. Which reminds me, I think I can ‘give away’ or invite people to have…two gmail accounts. Let me know if you can’t get, but want one. If it turns out I can’t actually give it to you, I take no responsibility for your suicidal depression on being informed of this. You are hereby warned.

Iraq.
Yahoo! News – Iraqi Cleric Signals End to Shi’ite Revolt

Moqtada al Sadr has told his Mehdi Army to “go home”. Nice gesture if he means it, but even if he does, will they listen to him? If they really are “ragtag fighters, mostly from the slums of Baghdad and impoverished southern villages”, they may have nothing to go home too, or even a home. Sadr seems genuine enough now that he thinks he may have won himself some political clout in a future government. But I read a good quote (that will be used in the assignment I should be writing-yes, this is the height of procrastination)…

ahhhhh, typical. I can’t find it. bodes well for my assignment. Anyway, the quote was something along the lines of, ‘in ensuring future democratic society, it does not help to hold up obviously undemocratic leaders in the present because they can hold the status quo for the time being.’ or some such. Now I must sleep, tomorrow is a big day.

Soccer. Premier League.
Rafael Benitez confirmed as new Liverpool manager
Good news. Looking forward to see how he handles Liverpool next season. Hopefully a little more solid than the last three years with Houllier. And Claudio Ranieri has replaced Benitez at Valencia. I would love to see Valencia v Chelsea….

Queensland won! 22-18. What did I say, I didn’t care? I’m not particularly ecstatic we won, but I was loudly armchair-coaching and yelling throughout. It was a great atmosphere on the big screen with a bunch of friends and a few New South Welshmen to trade insults with… nothing like the atmosphere of Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium) though.

If anyone is feeling charitable, feel free to help me find a precedent case in Australia where a university student has successfully challenged the government in court about switching from Youth Allowance to Austudy (student welfare for Americans). That’s what I’m looking for right now.