Get Well Soon Jai!

Our dear friend Jai Normosone, owner of The Spanish Redneck blog has done himself an injury of a sporting nature and has broken his wrist as well as wrenched other body parts.

We'll miss his wit and wisdom while he recovers (unless he can type one handed).

Get well soon ole chap!

-- Nora

Questions Asked

Investors Business Daily has some questions of ask of the 'religion of peace'.

They are questions we should all be asking.

-- Nora

The White Streak

The redoubtable James Lileks finds a World War II comic book hero just for lefties.

Hilarious.

-- Nora

Reading, Writing, Remonstrating

Those who spend a bit of time with Nick and I know what we take a keen interest in the state of the education industry.

While I've been rather remiss in my own posting, I have been contributing to a lively debate on The Courier Mail's news blogs.

-- Nora

UPDATE:

This post from the CM blog has left me askance.

A Drink Too Fargus

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Joanna Fargus has withdrawn her allegation that her drink was spiked at a post-Games party:

Fellow swimmer Leisel Jones described the incident, which occurred during Games celebrations, as "appalling". "It's very scary and that's probably the reason why I haven't really gone out," she said on Southern Cross Radio today. "It is something that's very scary and I think it's very invasive and it makes you so vulnerable.

"It is appalling and I'd just hate to be in her shoes but I know all the girls in the swimming team have supported her, they all looked after her and got her home, got her in to bed and have really, really looked after her."

Australian Games team chef de mission John Devitt today said Fargus, the 200m backstroke champion, felt "dizzy and nauseous" while out at a Melbourne club with teammates late on Saturday night.

"Joanna was assisted immediately by ambulance officers and the management of the swimming team was notified," Devitt said.

"Joanna and her teammates returned to the village where she was examined by the team's medical staff. It is believed her drink may have been spiked."

Maybe she was just pissed:

...(of) 97 study subjects presenting to hospital for suspected spiking, most were females under 25 and the average BAC was 0.2, four times the legal driving limit in Australia.

Fargus is an elite athlete who is likely not used to alcohol. Games over, she and her mates have hit the booze but, when she gets drunk, what's the first thing she and her mates reckon? No wonder, it's an epidemic - the government says so and high profile cases don't help.

But maybe it's time to get the problem into proportion and stop trying to blame everyone else when you drink too much.

-- Nick

Age Of Reason

Stephanie Grabe, 17, and her fiance, Owen Gillbee, 25, want to do the right thing:

"(they have) applied to the Hobart Magistrates Court for permission to marry on religious grounds... (they) are Jehovah's Witnesses and are not allowed to live together before they are married."

Under Australian Federal law, to do so they need:

"...parental or guardian consent and an order from a judge or magistrate." (my emphasis)

Plus:

"Any two persons under the age of 18 years may not marry each other."

Of course, if they just want to shack up, bonk each other's brains out and spit out a couple of sprogs, they're welcome to in all States from the age of 16, apart from Tasmania and South Australia where they'd have to wait until they were 17.

Which is, in fact, what Stephanie and Owen did in part until they re-embraced their religion. In fact, the timeline is such that they may even have lived together while Stephanie was 15:

"Owen had "faded out" of his religion and they began living together... They lived together for two years and in that time Stephanie joined a Bible study group and became a Jehovah's Witness. That led to their living arrangements having to change because of the religion's views on living together before marriage."

It beggars belief. Two youngsters want to do the moral thing but they have to grovel to a court to get permission, while if they only want to do the wild thing, well... go for it kids, who cares?

Ridiculous.

-- Nick

Postscript: The irony of pulling a Google search for the Australian age of consent and finding a handy table from the Australian Institute of Sport on the first page of results does not go unnoticed. Of course our country's sports coaches need to have it spelled out to them what age they can start hitting on their students.

They're Just Wild About Larry

Cyclone Larry, believed to be the most powerful cyclone ever to hit a Queensland population centre, has left tremendous damage but at this point there appears to be no loss of life, nor serious injuries.

Sadly, the primary producers in the region have had their crops almost completely devastated.

On top of everything else, the people of Far North Queensland also bracing themselves for another cyclone which is on its way from Fiji.

Our thoughts and prayers go to those in Far North Queensland who have lost homes, but we're thankful that so many people are safe.

If you wish to assist in any way, The Queensland Government has set up a disaster relief fund.

Also the Australian Red Cross is on its way to help and is taking donations.

-- Nora

Call For The Cops, Call For A Pizza...

Queensland Police, complaining that cops themselves had to wait 12 minutes for back-up while taking a beating, have broken their own record for failing to show for a member of the public who was under attack:

A young teacher has revealed how police took an hour to respond to her desperate pleas for help as up to three men tried to break into her home to attack her.

Chris Carlile, 24, said a police emergency phone operator told her to barricade herself in her Brisbane bayside home because there was no available car and crew.

After being trailed home in her car by a group of men, the woman first rang Triple-0 - and it rang out. She had to phone a police station direct. Worse than that, when the cops finally showed, the perps were gone - only to return:

"When the police left, I was having a coffee and looked at the front window. He (the same man) was standing there again, exposing himself."

She called the police again and this time it took them 30 minutes to turn up. She said they apologised for the delay, claiming 'the whole area is incredibly under-staffed'.

One must admit there are certain aspects of the Sunday Mail story which don't hang together for me - my spidey senses suggest the tale is not quite what it seems. Nonetheless, even if the case isn't kosher, the response time is:

A Queensland police spokeswoman confirmed Ms Carlile's phone call at 10.47pm on February 11 and that officers arrived at her home at 11.45pm. She said the complaint was taken "very seriously", but a lack of police cars in the area meant they could not respond any quicker.

And, after last week's report of a Brisbane Eastside family besieged in their home after offering refuge to a bashed teenager, it's just another example of how one of the most basic public services is falling apart under government mismanagement of Queensland.

-- Nick

Justy Ducky

All this talk about ducks is making Nicky and I thirsty.

Fluffy Duck
1 part advocaat liqueur
1 part creme de cacao
Lemonade

Pour the creme de cacao into a chilled margarita glass one-quarter filled with crushed ice. Add the advocaat, and slowly fill with lemonade. Stir, and serve.

-- Nora

Crime Attracts Crime

A mother and daughter were raped and a man struck with a machete, cutting his arm to the bone, during a violent Sydney home invasion:

A man, his wife, their 16-year-old daughter, 13-year-old son and another man were sleeping in the home at the time.

Perhaps the adults shouldn't have been criminals:

Getting in through an unlocked door, the men dragged the adults out of bed and demanded to know where cannabis plants and money were kept. As other offenders moved cannabis plants from the cellar, Martin sexually assaulted the mother and girl, badly injuring the teenager.

-- Nick

What's My Line Again?

Actress Jessica Simpson has accepted then turned down a chance to attend a Republican fundraiser to meet US President Bush and spruik her plastic surgery charity for deformed kids.

"It just feels wrong," one Simpson insider said today, adding that the actress keeps her political views private.

"She would love to meet the President and talk about Operation Smile ... but she can't do it at a fund-raiser for the Republican Party."

NRCC spokesman Carl Forti expressed surprise; the Republican group had even arranged for Simpson to dine at one of the head tables with US House of Representatives Majority Leader John Boehner:

"It's never been a problem for Bono," (Forti) said, referring to the U2 rock star, who has met regularly with political leaders of all stripes to promote various causes, including Third World debt relief.

"I find it hard to believe she would pass up an opportunity to lobby the president on behalf of Operation Smile."

But then Bono is capable of sitting down for a couple of hours with a group of educated people and sustaining an authoritatve and informed conversation about complex issues while Simpson is:

...currently starring in a US TV pizza ad wearing cowboy boots and hot pants.

-- Nick

Reckless

... don't like that kind of behaviour

A FOUNDING member of Australian Crawl has told a court of his struggle to "make it" after the band's split in the mid-1980s.

Simon Binks, 49, is suing North Sydney Council for negligence over a 1995 car crash which he claims left him brain damaged and unable to make a normal living.

Despite having his blood-alcohol level recorded at 0.133 shortly after the accident, Mr Binks claims the council was liable for the crash because roadworks in the vicinity were not properly lit or signposted.
He is seeking more than $750,000 in damages.

-- Nora

Law And Disorder 2

Various players tried to deal the racism card when an unconscious Aboriginal woman went unassisted for five hours, slumped in a pool of her own vomit, after suffering a stroke at a university bus stop.

In breaking the already week-old story last Tuesday, the Brisbane Courier-Mail reported breathlessly:

With fresh tears sprouting, Aunty Delmae said she didn't like to suggest it, but she feared that she was a victim of racist stereotyping.

"Everyone was treating me as a freak, like I was a drunk or something," she said.

"But I was wearing good clothes. I've never drunk or smoked in my life and I've always been a peacemaker."

The Gumurri Centre's director, Boni Robertson, could scarcely contain her emotion.

After helping Aunty Delmae with a delivery of flowers from the Queensland Orchestra she said the elderly woman's treatment was "an indictment on the type of society that we're becoming".

"It's a shameful situation that we should all look at and learn from," she said.

"It's also something that I think clearly highlights the need for us all to think about where we stand with our racist sentiments in this country."

"They keep saying we're reconciled, but we're far from it.

"This is a clear example that reconciliation has not even touched the common person.

"What she (Aunty Delmae) kept saying to me was 'I wasn't even dirty'.

"It's terrible that she has to be placed in a situation that she thought she had to justify her appearance to work out why somebody wouldn't help her."

Robertson is welcome to stick her elitist outrage - 'reconciliation has not even touched the common person' indeed - where the sun don't shine.

Delmae Barton herself unintentionally nails the issue: "Everyone was treating me... like I was a drunk or something."

The fact is that the hundreds of people who ignored her did so because they are so used to seeing drunks and derelicts lying about the streets of Brisbane. The students using the campus bus stop especially are used to witnessing others lying passed out in the gutter - or being there themselves - each and every weekend as they nightclub crawl around the Brisbane CBD and lurch drunkenly around the streets.

Meanwhile, ordinary commuters are used to sharing train station benches with 'chroming' Aboriginal kids and seeing bus shelters housing unconscious - and even occasionally dead - 'street people'.

The Brisbane City Council once even moved a bus stop 50 metres and built a flimsy open bus shelter for passengers to use so that a substantial old shelter at the original stop could become a more permanent home for a dozen derelict overnighters.

In the end of Delmae Barton's sorry tale, Japanese students stepped up and offered assistance. No wonder they believed something was wrong about an unconscious person lying on the street. Where they come from, standards of public behaviour are a little higher.

-- Nick

Law and Disorder

More Cronulla rioters shamed by having their photos published widely by the media have given themselves up to police. One was given up by his father. (Hat tip: Tim Blair)

However:

Police have also released footage showing youths of Middle Eastern appearance attacking cars at Cronulla on December 12, but have not received a single phone call to nominate those involved in the revenge attacks.

Perhaps it's because they and their families have no shame.

Or perhaps it's because the media is not using the means at its disposal to distribute the video of rioting Muslims as widely as it has distributed the pictures of the Anglo-Australians.

Tim Blair also highlights more links in the chain of events with the tale of Mahmoud Eid

Meanwhile, New South Wales continues creating trouble hotspots:

Families are scared to walk the main street (of Sydney suburb Liverpool), fearing it is now "the new Cabramatta". Shopkeepers say the dealing and anti-social behaviour now rife in the suburb is ruining their livelihoods.

Residents blame senior NSW police, saying they sat on their hands for years and let the problem develop.

They've done that kind of thing before.

And in Queensland, senior police and the Beattie Government move street cops around the Gold Coast like outnumbered pawns in the endplay of a chess game, trying unsuccessfully to hose down after-dark crime in Surfers Paradise and Palm Beach while neglecting everywhere else.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reports that two cops took a 12-minute beating waiting for back-up at Labrador. At least they did better than the Brisbane Eastside residents who waited more than half an hour for police to turn up to:

A gang of youths (who) held a family prisoner in their own home... as they tried to break in and bash a teenager who had sought safety there.

The youths smashed windows and tried to kick in the back door...

One Gold Coast cop highlighted the politics involved:

"At the moment for the Southern Alliance operation targeting kids in Palm Beach (rioting teen gangs), they're using everybody and anybody in that area because it's politically driven. (Queensland Premier Peter) Beattie is being briefed weekly," said an officer.

"When the nightclub lock-outs were introduced and there was media attention on Surfers, the local bosses made a political promise that they would supply 20 staff per shift to Surfers.

"When they didn't have the numbers to do that, they started pulling people in from everywhere else.

"They all fudge the figures to make it look like there are plenty of people, but there isn't."

The full Gold Coast Bulletin story is reproduced below. (When is Rupert Murdoch's biggest money-making paper going to archive its stories like everyone else?)

As for the question posed in the Bulletin's headline - Can the thin blue line hold ground? - no, it can't.

But increasing police numbers is only part of the answer. The rioting 'kids' at Palm Beach need hosing down with water cannon and giving a slap upside of their heads with no recourse to legal action against the police. And - anaethema to the Bulletin which has a party animal policy - Surfers Paradise nightclubs need shutting down at 2am like nightclubs in Los Angeles.

-- Nick

Can the thin blue line hold ground?
Gold Coast Bulletin 11Mar06
ROUTINE patrols for two police officers this week turned into a 12-minute beating while they waited for back-up delayed because of a lack of police.

The Bulletin was told the officers were left to fend for themselves for nearly a quarter of an hour when set upon in Labrador because the closest back-up was in Mudgeeraba.

Officers were sent to an incident in the northern Gold Coast suburb, but found themselves without the numbers necessary to deal with it.

The Bulletin understands they placed a call requesting back-up, unable to ensure their own safety.

The closest unit was in Mudgeeraba, which apparently responded, exceeding speed limits with lights and sirens flashing to reach their mates as quickly as possible.

Even so, it took nearly a quarter of an hour, which officers have told The Bulletin is an eternity when 'you are fighting for your life'.

Sources told The Bulletin one man, not a police officer, was taken to Gold Coast Hospital under arrest needing treatment for a deep cut to his arm as a result of the ruckus.

Senior police and police media last night said that based on the information provided to The Bulletin they could find no record of the incident, but several other sources confirmed the report to the paper.

One officer said such trouble and assaults on police were common.

Officers say the incident highlights 'chronic understaffing' that means police cannot safely look after their own, let alone the public, because of a lack of resources.

They are now on the verge of revolt, threatening to walk off the job over fears their safety and that of the public is severely compromised.

"Gold Coast police just can't cope," said one officer. "The Gold Coast is critically shortstaffed across the board at the moment and things are worse than ever.

"They are flat out maintaining the numbers, let alone increasing them.

"The city is growing at an incredible rate, but the number of police has stayed the same.

"The cops who are on the street, not stuck behind a desk, know how dangerous it is and they have had enough.

"There is talk of a strike. That's how serious it's become.

"Surfers Paradise is short so they drag police officers from across the Coast to cover, so we're short absolutely everywhere.

"It's beyond a joke. It's not just a whinge, we are talking about safety of the officers on the street and the general public.

"There is a really bad feeling in the ranks we're so stretched that it's only a matter of time until someone is seriously hurt.

"The crooks know we don't have the numbers to protect this city we are hanging on by a thread.

"Look at Nerang. The division goes from Westfield Helensvale, includes Pacific Pines, Nerang, half of Worongary and Carrara and at night, they have one crew on the road. One crew to cover such a massive area.

"If they need back-up, it takes 15 minutes for the closet crews to get there. That's a long time if you're fighting for your life.

"That is ridiculous. They (the bosses) won't do a thing about it until it is too late.

"More often than not, they get called in to Surfers to help out so the back areas are left unprotected.

"It's not a good feeling. Too right I'm bloody scared. We all are.

"It's also had a bad effect on the general public.

"People just aren't ringing any more. They aren't reporting the little things because they know we don't have the manpower to do anything about it.

"We take at least a day to even get to a break and enter if you're lucky.

"That means they learn to live with the problem, or they deal with it themselves."

Another officer also told of how senior police were 'gap filling' positions across the city by robbing suburban stations of staff, trying to fulfil political promises to have more officers in hot spots like Surfers and Palm Beach than are available.

"The city is chronically understaffed," he said.

"Nerang is half-staffed, they're struggling. Runaway Bay is half-staffed. It's chronically bad everywhere.

"On any day, a quarter of staff over a shift will call in sick.

"In the old days, you just didn't go sick. Now they don't care, they just call in. There's no support (from bosses), we've just had a gutful.

"If, say, two people call in sick at the watchhouse, two have to go there so they take them from somewhere else, like Southport, Broadbeach or Surfers.

"But if two also go sick from those other stations, there's another six off, so they'll take a crew from Mudgeeraba.

"When there's no one left at those stations, they'll pull officers from places like the Tactical Crime Squad, Traffic Branch or CIB."

Extra pressure is being put on staff resources as senior police try to fulfil obligations to the Government to hose down trouble spots highlighted in the media.

"At the moment for the Southern Alliance operation targeting kids in Palm Beach, they're using everybody and anybody in that area because it's politically driven. Beattie is being briefed weekly," said an officer.

"When the nightclub lock-outs were introduced and there was media attention on Surfers, the local bosses made a political promise that they would supply 20 staff per shift to Surfers.

"When they didn't have the numbers to do that, they started pulling people in from everywhere else.

"They all fudge the figures to make it look like there are plenty of people, but there isn't."

The nature of covering Surfers Paradise was creating a drain on the entire city, said officers.

Police there do more nightwork than any other station in Queensland and a report in the most recent Queensland Police Union Journal said the amount of nightshifts there had increased 33 per cent.

It also says Surfers is down an entire team, requiring an extra 40 officers and the Surfers Beat station in the Cavill Mall is often manned by four officers instead of 15.

Officers say no one but young inexperienced officers looking for a quick promotion want to work at Surfers.

"Even sergeants on the beat are going sick because they don't want to do it. There's no rest, they're going flat-stick all the time," said an officer about Surfers. "People only go there because they can get promoted.

"You get young sergeants there who've never really seen an angry man in their life and then you've got young officers looking at young sergeants for advice. Older guys won't go there because it's shit work."

Officers say claims that stations are fully staffed refer only to what's on paper and don't tell the real story, where numbers are depleted through sickness, holidays and secondments to other stations.

Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek said the police service was suffering because of a government culture of secrecy preventing senior officers speaking out.

"Police never want to talk about staffing," he said.

Goodna Times Two

Also in Goodna (cf. below) and in the Brisbane Sunday Mail this morning, the case of the murder of 12 year old Leanne Holland raises its ugly head.

As if the matter of the savage killing of a child were not distasteful enough, the Queensland Government has now:

...blocked a prisoner from speaking publicly about information he claims identifies the "real killer" of schoolgirl Leanne.

The newspaper made a request to interview a Wolston Correctional Centre inmate who:

...once shared a cell with a violent sex offender who allegedly boasted of his involvement in the 1991 murder of the 12-year-old.

The offender knew details only the killer could have known and claimed he had photographs of Leanne's body, dumped in bush at Redbank Plains (a neighbouring suburb to Goodna)...

The mother (of the Wolston inmate) was prompted to contact The Sunday Mail after reading a report in October about sensational new claims in the book, Who Killed Leanne?, by former police officer Graeme Crowley and criminologist Paul Wilson.

In the preface to their book, the authors note:

The savage murder of 12 year old Leanne Holland in Goodna in September 1991 was one of the most brutal child killings in Australia’s criminal history. Sadly, very few people remember it. Leanne was battered to death, and possibly tortured and sexually assaulted.

There were no witnesses to the crime and police were unable to establish a motive. Flimsy and since discredited forensic evidence plus a hasty police investigation led to Graham Stafford — the boyfriend of Leanne’s older sister — being convicted of the murder.

Despite two appeals, two High Court challenges, and an appeal to the Queensland Governor, Stafford’s conviction has been upheld, and he remains incarcerated in prison. Yet, by being the first person to have gone as far as the High Court twice for the same criminal matter, Stafford created Australian legal history.

Now, ten years of painstaking research by former police officer and private investigator Graeme Crowley and criminologist Paul Wilson reveals that it is highly unlikely that Stafford could have committed the murder. Crowley and Wilson believe their investigation and analysis of this case raises enormous doubt and provides evidence that, properly put before the trial jury, would have presented no alternative to a verdict of ‘not guilty’. And, they go further by providing clues that could lead to the real killer.

Corrective Services media chief Ross McSwain said, in refusing the Sunday Mail interview, that 'particular consideration was given to the potential impact of interviews on the victims of crime and their families'.

More likely they're concerned about the potential impact on the police, Corrective Services and the Government if they've stitched up an innocent man and let the real killer roam free.

Authors Crowley and Wilson have already drawn parallels with 'Australia’s famous baby-dingo case in which Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murdering her daughter Azaria':

...(so too) the police investigation into the murder of Leanne Holland shows the danger of obtaining convictions for murder based on inconclusive and questionable forensic science evidence.

Two things to think about: Graham Stafford has been in jail for 15 years. And the man who it is claimed boasted of killing Leanne Holland and taking pictures of her corpse has finished his sentence for unrelated sex crimes and was released from jail in 2003.

-- Nick

Between The Lines

Papers this morning are reporting the accidental deaths of three children after being struck by a train at Goodna, west of Brisbane. The children were playing on the tracks.

However, the Brisbane Sunday Mail also reports:

Police said that 20 minutes before the accident there had been a report of children throwing rocks at trains in the area. QR (Queensland Rail) confirmed the report.

I'd say odds are the deceased children - aged only five to 10 - were among the rock throwers. Hello, parents?

Meanwhile, Ipswich councillor for area and constant troublemaker Paul Tully:

...said a fence beside the rail line was in poor repair "with many gaps young people could get through".

Blaming Queensland Rail fits right in with the 'it's always someone else's fault' mindset but the fact is that the state rail authority, undoubtedly along with every other in Australia, fights a ludicrous on-going battle with trespassers in which the law most frequently sides with the law breakers.

Among the occasions on which QR has been sued for compensation have been the case of a teenager who fell from the 12-foot fence he was trying to scale so he could vandalise rolling stock with graffiti (he said there should have been more signs telling him not to) and that of a young man who was seriously burned while 'train surfing' (riding illegally on the roof on a carriage).

Tully would serve his constituents better and contribute to work already done to reduce problems in his high crime, high welfare electoral division by not saying QR should have done more to keep the kids out but by joining Ipswich Deputy Mayor Victor Attwood in his comment:

"...I would just urge parents to always be aware of where their children are and where they are playing."

Amen to that.

-- Nick

Update: The boys are now reported as 'Two brothers aged eight and ten and another nine-year-old boy'. Transport Minister Paul Lucas is questioning 'what three young boys, ten years and younger, were doing on a rail track at night time (6.45pm)'. Paul Tully is still trying to blame QR for holes in fences but Lucas has said, surprisingly sensibly: "If someone wants to gain access to a rail track hard enough they can do that."

Update II: Seven's TV news is reporting that the Duncan family whose sons were killed lost another boy in a police chase last year. The third boy killed on the rail tracks was their cousin. Tragedy strikes those who seek it out.

Update III: Victim vultures circle:

Boni Robertson from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board says she is disgusted by Peter Beattie's comments about parental responsibility after three boys were killed by a train at Goodna on Saturday night.

Associate Professor Robertson says she will visit the families today to lend support in their time of grief.

Importing Crime

Yahoo 7 is running an on-line poll asking whether criminal Robert Jovicic should be allowed to stay in Australia.

He is, of course, the non-Australian national 'deported to Serbia on character grounds following a string of crimes to support a heroin habit'.

The decision to allow him to return to Australia has prompted an outcry against (re)importing criminals and also highlights how difficult our liberal immigration laws make it to take action against undesirable aliens.

Vote to make your point here. The poll can be found under the main picture. It's been running since March 9 so one doesn't know how much longer it'll be open.

-- Nick

Justice Geoffrey Chettle, Sex Crime Enabler

Victorian Judge Geoffrey Chettle talks tough:

"(He) said female sex offenders could no longer expect to receive lenient sentences.

"The days of soft sentences are over," Judge Chettle said. "I should treat her the same way I should treat a male in the same situation."

He was talking about Cheryl Whittle, a serial criminal mother of 10 who raped a 14-year-old boy then, when she gave birth to his baby, demanded child support payments.

But when it came to the crunch, Justice Chettle proved there's one law for men and a different law for women:

Judge Geoffrey Chettle sentenced Whittle to 15 months' jail, wholly suspended for three years.

then felt moved to claim he was not biased:

Justice Chettle said that had genders in the case been reversed he would have imposed the same punishment. "Lest anyone be of the view that you have been treated in a more lenient fashion because you are female and because I suffer some unconscious sexual bias, I can say that I would impose an identical sentence if the genders of your victim and you were reversed and a similar delay of 14 years occurred." He said he was satisfied the "foolish lapse" was an isolated incident and out of character.

Bullshit. In summing up, Justice Chettle stated of Whittle's crime against her victim: "You stole his innocence." That theft was in perfect character with Cheryl Whittle's criminal history of multiple prior convictions for theft, burglary and attempted burglary including serving jail time for robbing a milk bar.

But according to Justice Chettle, she deserves a break because:

Whittle had been "a battler" for most of her life. Four of her 10 children from five fathers currently live with her, and one of her children died from a drug overdose. Her current partner, and father of three of the children, is in jail and due to be released later this year.

Meanwhile, her victim was so sickened by the assault he feigned sleeping so he didn't have to see what was happening to him and went outside afterwards and vomited. Later, he had to leave school because of taunting by schoolfriends who knew of Whittle's pregnancy before he did and was harassed for child-care payments at the age of 15. Now 27, he did not report the abuse until December 2004 because:

"I felt disgusted and betrayed at the time of the sexual assault and shocked, stressed and horrified by the prospect of becoming a father," he told police.

Remarkably, the victim now has custody of his son and one can only presume that part of what has driven him to do so is a desire to protect his child from the depravity and criminal life Whittle's surviving offspring are doomed to enter.

Yet there is a final insult in Justice Chettle's soft go for female sex offenders:

Whittle's lawyer, Jamie Singh, previously told the court his client planned to fight to win back custody of the child.

It's a sick world.

-- Nick

Normal Service Has Now Resumed

Thank you for baring with Nicky and I while we put an end to a rather tedious piece of business regarding an earlier post.

Unfortunately Blogger doesn't seem to allow the user to close off a single thread which would have been our preferred method of putting an end to a subject.

We have now lifted comment moderation.

-- Nora

Worth A Mint

You might think after a week of scoffing school fund raiser boxes of 'crispy mint M&Ms' that we might be sick of that particularly exquisit blend of piquant mint and silky chocolate.

You would be wrong.

So join us in a cocktail equivalent. You know you want to.

Chocolate Mint Cocktail Martini Recipe
2 oz. Light rum
½ oz. White creme de menthe
½ oz. Godiva Liqueur
Mint sprig for garnish
Combine rum and liqueurs in mixing glass. Add ice and stir to chill. Strain into your Swank Martini Glass and garnish.

-- Nora

RIP Harry Seidler

The man who defined post-modern architecture in Australia, Harry Seidler has died at the age of 82.

Fleeing to Australia to escape the Nazis, Seidler quickly established himself in Australia as a man with strong views on the use of space in the built environment.

His influence is amply evident today.

-- Nora

I Am Not An Animal!

Scientists discover that humans aren't evolved apes:

Why are humans and apes so different if their genomes are so similar?

Less than 4 per cent of the chimpanzee's genetic code is different from humans - a tally so tiny that some speculate the distinction between primates may lie in just a handful of key genes - perhaps as few as 50 out of 20,000 or so in the human genome.

But a study published on Thursday in Nature, the British science weekly, suggests the truth lies elsewhere.

Put simply, the researchers say it is not the number of genes that counts but the way they operate.

Well, duh.

-- Nora

Aged Paedophile Issues Fatwa

No, it's not the usual suspect.

It's feminist hack Germaine Greer, calling for an army of outraged women to smash the windows of car dealerships:

"Why haven't plate glass windows in Holden showrooms been exploding all over Australia?"

What has GMH done to deserve the wrath of The Female Eunuch?

Professor Greer has taken aim at the company over an ad which shows a woman asking her partner about his fantasies before he drifts off on a daydream about "doing daring things in a four-wheel drive" with another woman by his side.

Having lowered the standards of her gender, the professorial paedophile would probably have approved if the fantasy-querying wife was anticipating an invitation to a threesome with the anonymous other woman.

-- Nick

Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible

Nicky and I have taken the step of enabling comment moderation for a short time.

This is to allow us to close off comments on the post below and the earlier post to which it refers.

The debate associated with these posts and a particular commenter was becoming simply too tiresome.

-- Nora

You Can't Argue With A Muslim

Not that Islam offers an unassailable truth.

It's just that its adherrants won't answer questions straight.

Read through all the comments.

-- Nora

UPDATE: Nora fisks Mohammed!

No Bravery? You're Damn Right.

A British soldier serving in Kosovo writes a song about the heartbreak of those who survived oppression and mass murder by Slobodan Milosovic.

After he leaves the Army, he becomes a successful singer-songwriter and his song is a hit.

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
Tears drying on their face.
He has been here.
Brothers lie in shallow graves.
Fathers lost without a trace.
A nation blind to their disgrace,
Since he's been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

-- No Bravery, (c) James Blunt.

Some years later, a group of people see parallels between the song and events in Iraq.

Do they equate the 'shallow graves' to the Baathist murders and the 'he' of the song to Saddam Hussein?

No. The Democratic Underground steals the artist's intellectual property and perverts its message by creating a film clip decrying George Bush and accusing American soldiers of murder and rape.

Then they have the gall to post to a James Blunt fan message board seeking his approval.

-- Nick

Rain Drops Keep Falling...

And now for the weather:

Wild weather in south-east Queensland has again closed beaches on the Gold and Sunshine coasts.

Surf Lifesavers say conditions are too dangerous for swimmers but that did not stop up to 300 surfboard riders taking to the water at Noosa yesterday.

But the 'professionals' were not as keen.

The World Tour Championship on the Gold Coast was postponed yesterday - with conditions no better this morning.

Hmmm sounds like a good opportunity for Nicky and I to enjoy some indoor pursuits.

I think we'll start with a:

Dark And Stormy
2 oz dark rum
4 oz ginger beer

Mix ingredients together in an old-fashioned glass over cracked ice, and serve.

But not before breakfast.

-- Nora

Reason #582 Why Islam Hates Us

THE 28th annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras will be held tonight in Sydney.

Spectators can look forward to whip-cracking, chaps-wearing Brokeback Mormans who'll bootscoot alongside circus performers and marching girls.

Brokeback Mormans, eh. As Google would say, did you mean 'mormons'?

They'll all be part of the six thousand participants and 120 floats taking part.

Hmm. Wonder if the lesbian nuns will be there again this year? Maybe parodies of Fred Nile? How about a gay Christ?

Somehow I doubt there'll be any Imams in drag though. Pussies.

-- Nick

Update: 50,000 people went to the zoo and it was mostly predictable enough:

The cowboys from the bush were there. So were the Desperate Fishwives. And there was no mistaking the Friends of Trigger-Happy Dick Cheney.

But, lo:

"For all its glitz and glamour, you'll see people taking a stand against discrimination," (New Mardi Gras chairman Marcus Bourget) said. As always, there was a strong political edge, with John Howard, George Bush and Dick Cheney lookalikes highlighting issues such as gay marriage and the Iraq war.

The usual soft targets. What about issues of vital importance?

Wait a second:

On a more serious note, "Love Between the Flags" highlighted the need for racial harmony and cultural acceptance following last year's Cronulla riots.

Like I said - pussies. 'Can't we all just get along?' No. You accept their culture and they'll accept yours.

The narcissistic self-interest and blind-eye turning of Western homosexuals to the tribulations of their 'brothers and sisters' under Islam is equal only to that of Western feminists.

Bang, Crash, Whallop

How's this for a piece of anti-terrorist technology? And best of all it's Australian-made:

The TruckStopper has been successfully tested for impacts, including stopping a 7.5 tonne truck at 82.3kph.

This, Nicky and I thought, we had to see for ourselves.

Nicky especially likes watching cars crash into things (this is the only reason he watches Formula One) and reckons this ranks right up with the Smart Car* and lamp post crash tests from British car show Fifth Gear.

-- Nora

*Please note, the Smart Car crash test is on a web site which is not workplace friendly.