I had to wonder whether I'd woken up in the right country. SBS had the Iranian 'Anti-Zionism' conference as its lead item, and there wasn't a 'but' in sight. This morning, ABC Radio National was running hard with the final report of the UN Oil-for-food scam, though, predictably, they concentrate on the involvement of the Australian Wheat Board.

Australian coverage of the Iranian calls to obliterate Israel tended to take a line that this was somehow a startling new development. Not really, in a country whose 'parliament' regularly erupts into chants of 'Death to America, death to Israel'. On Radio National this morning, one piece led into this with a bit of audio background - the one bit of Farsi I understand, the chant of 'Down, down America'. Funnily, this was being used to illustrate a piece on 'Death to Israel'. Well, who the hell speaks Farsi, anyway?

I also have to be careful, because I'm usually shaving while listening to Radio National, and I nearly cut myself this morning when Teddy Kennedy came on, apropos the Harriet Miers withdrawal. The mere sound of this man's voice makes me break out laughing, especially when, as today, he is calling for Bush to select a new High Court justice more in the "mainstream". Ah yes, the Democrat 'mainstream' (I'll refrain from any body-of-water jokes here).