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NEW VIDEO: Meet Uncle Sam
George Negus speaks exclusively with Uncle Sam about his campaign to become the next major of Camden, or “Islamden” as he likes to call it.

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Uncle Sam

 

When is a Terrorist not a Terrorist?

Last week, Nelson Mandela was officially a terrorist. Today he isn't. Despite the fact that his party, the African National Congress, has been in government in South Africa for 14 years, Mandela had remained on the United States' Terror Watch List, as had his party, since the 1980s.

But finally, the US government has removed them from this hall of infamy.

 

It's Not What You Said...

Comedy is all about delivery. It's relatively common that a funny line is delivered in such a way that it loses its humour.

The flip side is that if you get the delivery of a serious statement wrong enough, it can become unintentionally funny. And there have been two examples of this that emerged from the US election doing the rounds online.

Smart Traveller?

Australia's fearless leader Kevin Rudd seems to love Asia. Obviously, the fact that he speaks fluent Mandarin has been well documented (and much discussed). He has worked as a diplomat in the region. And it seems Asian nations are a little keener on him than they were on his predecessor, though Japan has been worried that he is a little too China-friendly. And he seems to have lots of big ideas for Asia, even if no one's quite sure what they really mean.

So I guess it's not surprising that Saint Kevin has spent a lot of his early Premiership travelling in Asia. But he had a tiny skirmish on his recent trip to Indonesia when he was told that Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had asked Australia to drop its travel warning to Indonesia. Australia currently advises its citizens to "reconsider" travel to Indonesia because of the risk of terrorist attack.

 

Italians: Muslims in Disguise

I've always loved Italy and Italians. I felt a strange affinity with their approach to life, their love of family, their warmth, their general passion.

Now I think I've discovered why. I think that deep down, Italians are Muslims. They'll never tell you that, of course. But every now and then it gives itself away.
 

Can You Contain Your Indifference?

In the end, I guess it was pretty symbolic.  US President George W Bush has just completed a farewell tour of Europe.  And unlke hte various John Farnham versions, this really is likely to be his last.

If you missed most of it, that's because fewer and fewer people seem to care.  A few thousand people turned up to protest in Britain.  That's a slap in the face really for the man in the White House.  Surely, you'd want a respectable number of protestors - just to make you feel important.

Muslim's Got Talent

Here's a young (presumably) Muslim guy on Britain's Got Talent with one of the most remarkable acts I've ever seen.

To say any more would be to spoil the surprise, so I'll just leave you to it.  You simply have to check this out!

Get out of my country!

If I had to nominate something that I would never expect a President to say, it would surely have to be for him to encourage all his citizens to migrate and desert his country.  That's an unusual policy platform, to say the least.  I've heard of ethnic cleansing.  But that would be national cleansing.  And who wants to be the President of nothing?

Yet this is precisely what, Anote Tong, the President of the tiny island nation of Kiribati was doing last week.  And he's not joking.  True, Kiribati has always been a unique country - it straddles both the equator and international date line (and you thought Australia had time zone problems!).  But there's nothing quirky about this development.

Here comes the Obaminator!

Barack Obama - he's our man.  If he can't do it - the Democrats are stuffed.

That's right.  The good senator has just clinched the Democrat nomination for President of the United States of America.  At last, after months and months of brutally slugging it out with Billary, the charisma, the charm, and the soaring rhetoric has clearly paid off.

Clearly, a lot of people think this is fantastic.  And I'd have to say it's hard for me to disagree - especially when Obama is clearly a Muslim.  Don't believe me?  Think about it.  Millions of far right loonies can't be wrong.  Besides, 10 per cent of American voters are apparently wise to the truth.

Warning: Avoid US Government Websites

In the age of terror, we're getting used to security frenzies.  You have to be careful who you know, where you go and to whom you lend your sim card.  Innocence doesn't always matter.  Sometimes you have to be careful about what your name is.

And especially, you have to be careful about what you read.  You're probably aware that the Australian government last year banned films and literature that advocate terrorism.  Of course, that doesn't really stop anyone who's seriously interested in carrying out an attack from accessing that sort of material.  The government can ban what it likes.  People can still download it on the web.  It seems that the people this most disadvantages end up being academics and researchers trying to study terrorism.

Islamden A-Hoy!

So it's official.  Camden council has voted unanimously to reject the Islamic school proposed to be built there.

Of course, viewers of Salam Cafe will be more than familiar with the Islamic school issue - and more particularly - everyone's favourite Uncle Sam's campaign to become the Mayor of Camden.  His platform is pretty simple: he'll build 10 Islamic schools, 10 halal butchers, 10 taxi ranks and close down all the pubs to replace them with playgrounds.

Oh, and he wants to change the name of Camden to Islamden.  Should be popular.