">My Big World Of Crap

Well, I thought they’d fold under pressure, but South Africa did exceedingly well on the final day of the First Test against Australia in Perth, batting all day to hang on for a draw. The mainstay of the effort was Jacques Rudolph who batted for over 7 hours in scoring 102 not out.

Having more or less ignored the series against the West Indies on the TV anyway, I did catch a bit of this game …. love games in Perth, great to watch in the evening after work. Channel 9’s commentary team is as bad as ever - please get rid of Tony Greig, Bill Lawry and Mark Taylor for starters. Compared to the commentary from the Ashes tour and others I’ve seen from overseas, Channel 9 does not serve us well. The commentator I think is surprisingly good, from what I’ve heard on radio and seen on TV, is Michael Slater …. I always thought he was a bit of a tool, but he’s actually very insightful.

Interesting also to see the 9 commentators have their favourites - Brad Hodge was obviously not one, they were really talking him down in the early part of his innings. Probably because they’d prefer golden boy Michael Clarke in the team. Brett Lee is anointed by 9 - probably got a job lined up for him already when he finishes playing - he can’t do wrong at all. Andrew Symonds is also “in” - even though he’s not test class and would never make the team except for the selectors’ current fixation with having an all rounder in the team. “All rounder” = batting average 12, bowling average 85 (the other one Australia has been playing recently, Shane Watson, is averaging 20 and 61 respectively), ie neither good enough to bat or bowl at Test level (one would think they should be good enough at either batting or bowling, eg Shaun Pollock (bats 31, bowls 22), or going back through Australian allrounders, Alan Davidson 25/20, Richie Benaud 24/27, Keith Miller 37/23, even Gary Gilmour 23/26).

The other thing I noticed was the relative scarcity of the continual flogging of memorabilia compared to previous years - maybe they’ve taken note of the bagging they get for this. More likely I suspect is that they are saving themselves for the bigger games, the Boxing Day test and the one dayers.

Peter Costello has been caught out fudging the facts about Treasury advice on the workplace relations legislation just passed by Parliament.

The Treasurer last month denied in Parliament claims by Labor that he had asked Treasury to prepare advice on the economic impacts of the workplace changes. The Australian newspaper today published details of a document, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, which showed the Treasury secretly told Mr Costello the Government’s workplace changes would deliver smaller wage rises to up to 1.6 million low income earners. The paper said the document, dated October, called into question claims by the Treasurer and Prime Minister John Howard that the workplace changes passed this month would boost wages, jobs and productivity.

Costello denied misleading Parliament - but he’s really splitting hairs to weasle his way out of it.
Last month, Mr Costello rejected Labor’s allegation there was a secret Treasury document advising of negative effects of the new IR legislation. But Mr Costello insists his statement to Parliament referred to modelling undertaken by his department, while what has been published today is a Treasury minute. The Treasury document says the minute was prepared in response to a request from Mr Costello, who wanted the department to note the major parts of IR policy changes, the effects on workers and the economic case for reform. (A quick read of the minute tells me its a bit of a “happy sheet” - a script of bullet points for the Treasurer mainly concentrating on good points and arguments and references in support of the legislation.) Costello’s other spin on it seems to be that by releasing the document, its not a “secret” Treasury document. Come off it Peter, you’ve been busted telling fibs to Parliament and the public.

Its also worrying that there has apparently been no economic modelling of the changes by Treasury. Surely this would have been demanded by Cabinet prior to leaping into such momentous changes? Maybe, knowing the accuracy of Treasury’s estimates, they decided it was a waste of time! Its also of concern that Treasury officials are desperate to help the Treasurer in his fudging of the facts - convenient that only today they came out with the news that there is a typo in the minute ….”wages will now fall” was apparently supposed to read “wages will not fall”.

Labor’s all too familiar call is to call for Costello’s resignation - now thats really going to happen.

Nevertheless, I get the feeling every time Costello opens his mouth, he’s getting further and further away from ever becoming Prime Minister. I think John Howard and many other Liberals are fully aware of this and its one reason Howard is not keen to retire, and I’m sure the party is happy to encourage him to stay.

I was just about to shut down for the night and head off to bed when “Closeup“, a NZ current affairs program was showing on Sky News on Foxtel. The story that has appalled me enough to post instantly is that in New Zealand there are lawyers who specialise in representing students in school disciplinary proceedings. Great, so parents are so unable to accept that little Johnny has been a little shit at school that they sick a lawyer onto the school when it tries to discipline said child!

Fucking amazing … can’t we keep lawyers out of anything? Does this also happen here in Australia - I’ve never heard of it before, but then my kids have never had any school discipline problems (of course, angels at school, can be absolute rats at home sometimes).

The Sydney suburb of Brighton-le-Sands has been locked down to all but residents after a five men were nabbed in a car equipped to function as a petrol bomb factory.

The men, understood to have links to a white supremacist group, were found in a car carrying a 25-litre drum of petrol and equipment to make molotov cocktails. Police also said the men had commando-style utility belts, helmets, police scanners and portable radios. Lovely, eh? Now, why wouldn’t these fuckwits be candidates for charges under anti-terrorism laws and looking forward to 20 years gaol or so? (Apparently too one of the men arrested had travelled from Melbourne to join in the fun and games! Also, some of those arrested this weekend for carrying offensive weapons had come from Canberra - so we are not exempt from having homegrown racist/thuggish morons. You can keep them Sydney - or better still a few years in Goulburn would be appropriate.)

Earlier today, two other men armed with molotov cocktails were arrested aboard a bus bound for Bondi Beach. The bus driver alerted police after smelling petrol. Great, the idiots are really out in force!

Update: This I found amusing. One of these dickheads claimed he was carrying the petrol (from Liverpool) to help a friend whose car had run out of petrol at Bondi - a mere 40 km away.

In other news on the fuckwit front, a man and a girl were today arrested trying to sell a live hand grenade in a Sydney park. Christopher John Totten, 20, of Menai, faced Parramatta Bail Court charged with possessing a prohibited weapon without a permit and unauthorised sale of a prohibited weapon. He was allegedly helped by a 17-year-old girl from Earlwood who appeared in Lidcombe Children’s Court accuse of possessing a prohibited weapon. Sounds more like they should be terrorism offences to me …. more severe penalties than more firearms offences.

I saw some of the weapons confiscated by police on the TV news tonight - scary stuff! One was a club of some sort with nails poking out all over the business end of it (saw a policeman with something similar in Beijing a few years ago), and there was the usual assortment of machetes, knives etc. Must wonder what sort of sick fucker even thinks of using such things on another person?

Now that Bradley Murdoch has been found guilty of the murder of Peter Falconio and sentenced to life imprisonment - with a non-parole period of 28 years, there has been much reporting on the case. Much of this is just publicity for some of the five books about to be released on the case, but nevertheless there is some interesting stuff - and the mystery of what happened to Falconio is still somewhat open.

Joanne Lees has clearly been through a lot - and it has changed her life seriously. Turns out that she was doped up on valium in the initial days after the 2001 disappearance of Falconio, apprently explaining why she came across as cold and unemotional. This and her attempts to cover up a fling she’d been having with Nick Reilly, led investigators to think she had something to hide.

Bradley Murdoch clearly was not a good man. His former associates in Broome and old schoolmates in Perth described him as a quiet loner and a “tough bastard”, an ex-Gypsy Jokers bikie who dealt in drugs, injected amphetamines, loved guns and hated Aborigines.

Another local who drank with Murdoch said people were reluctant to speak out because the mechanic had been a major player in Broome’s underworld.

“There’s a lot of people here who are twitching since his drug-running game has been exposed,” the man said.

“People don’t want to say anything in case it comes back to bite them. Let’s just say he had some associates who aren’t nice people.”

Now police are checking old crimes to see if Murdoch may have had any involvement in them. Police say they have been aware of Murdoch for some time. WA Police said Murdoch’s methodology and criminal profile were now being carefully scrutinised for possible links to several missing women across the state.

Murdoch himself remains very adamant about his innocence, and very resigned to his fate.

“But you do wonder how they can convict on all this f—ing bullshit,” he went on. “No body, no motive. They say I was after Miss Lees. I had a wad full of money. If I was that way inclined I could’ve called in to every whorehouse on the way. If I was that way inclined,”

Must admit, that having been across the Tanami Road from Alice Springs to Halls Creek then onto Broome (Murdoch’s route) I didn’t actually notice any such whorehouses.

“Jail time is only what you make it. The people who do it hard are already soft in the head. You keep your mind active, do a bit of reading, help the others with their paperwork - half these poor buggers can’t read or write, and everything in prison is paperwork. Requests for this or that all have to be in writing.

“If I do the time, I’ll be a 63-year-old fitness freak and eligible for a pension when I get out.”

Actually, 73. Another question, this to prison authorities. Why do we let prisoners have access to exercise equipment? What are we trying to achieve with prisons …. superfit, strong criminals or something? Society would be better served, I would think, if prisoners were left to wither physically, given menial sedentary jobs to fill their days ….not to turn into muscle bound athletes.

I must say I have some reservations about the verdict, but can’t really be sure, not having seen all the evidence, only that which has been reported in the press. There are lots of loose ends, open questions etc still remaining. However, the DNA evidence is pretty damning - Murdoch’s DNA having been found on Lees’ clothing, and on the gearstick of the Kombi Lees and Falconio had been travelling in. According to Murdoch:

“If it exists, it was planted,” he replied earnestly. “Hepi [Murdoch’s business partner, James Hepi] must have given them some of my clothes with blood on them, where I’d cut myself. A lot of my clothes had my blood on them. I was always injuring myself in my work, and my cat was very playful as a kitten and often scratched me.”

Oh yes, one more thing, does anyone have nude photos of Joanne Lees? This is for the benefit of those googling “joanne lees naked” to get to my blog. It seems to be a popular query, so if there’s anyone who can oblige ….

In Auckland yesterday a pack of drunken Santas went on a rampage, robbing stores, tagging buildings and assaulting security guards.

The group of 40 men - mostly in their mid-20s and dressed in ill-fitting Santa costumes - began their “Santarchy” shortly after 2pm. Three of them ended up getting arrested. But the efforts of police have been questioned:

“with so many easily identifiable offenders, all of them were wearing Santa suits, it is fair to ask if the police really put the effort in.”

Maybe they’ll put in an appearance today at Cronulla, or Maroubra, or Bondi?

Saw “King Kong” at the movies today. Much better than I had expected. Peter Jackson has made a very good film. It starts a bit slowly, but once they hit Skull Island all hell breaks loose and it is full on for the rest of the film.

I particularly liked the fight between Kong and the T-Rexes. The overgrown bugs creeped me out.

Interesting casting with Jack Black playing a serious role - first one I can recall …he went ok. Adrien Brophy was excellent and Naomi Watts went pretty well.

One thing I find strange in connection to this movie is how much weight Peter Jackson has lost …. he just doesn’t look right now.

The before picture:

and the after:

….according to Sydney 2GB announcer Brian Wilshire. He made these remarks on his night time show last night:

“Many of them have parents who are first cousins whose parents were first cousins,”

“The result of this is inbreeding – the result of which is uneducationable (sic) people…and very low IQ.”

This of course caused a furore, and Wilshire was forced to apologise for his comments, which he did today:

“I understand that those comments may have caused offence to some members of the Lebanese community and I unreservedly retract those comments and I apologise for any offence that might have been caused,”

Note that he is apologising for the offence caused by his comments, not the comments themselves. Interesting too, that a minor radio personality like Wilshire gets hauled over the coals over this, while Alan Jones gets away scot free with all sorts of inflammatory remarks.

Now how does Alan Jones get away with his crap? It helps to be well connected with the Liberal Party of course. No-one else could get away with the things he manages to do and still be on the radio, eg cash for comment (and we won’t mention what allegedly happened in London).

I fail to understand why Jones is so popular on radio - I think I’ve listened to about 5 minutes of him in my life …. I refuse to listen to him on principle.

PS - anyway, Wilshire is mixing up places when talking about inbreds - he meant Tasmania.

PPS - just joking, Tasmanians.

The thugs have taken over from the normal people.

Police Commissioner Ken Moroney today urged people to stay away from beaches in Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and the Central Coast because of fears of a repeat of last Sunday’s violence at Cronulla.

“We have intelligence that people are intending to attend those areas to conduct themselves in a riotous manner armed with various weapons - baseball bats, sticks, poles and the like - and it is my intention to keep those communities safe,”

said Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Goodwin.

Now this is really a case of the inmates have taken over the asylum. Because of these idiots’ inability to act like civilised human beings, the vast majority of people’s safety is compromised. Now, I’m not sure the warning is really necessary, as I wouldn’t have chosen to hang out anywhere near where I thought problems might be likely. But, some people do need to be told the obvious.

More fun and games last night, with 19 people arrested, an elderly man bashed with a crowbar, a molotov cocktail thrown at police and one officer injured in a brawl. Two dickheads, Matthew Lalor, 24, and Mark Miller, 33 were refused bail in Sutherland local court today after being arrested by police, who allegedly found seven Molotov cocktails in a Cronulla apartment. Their lawyer told the court they admitted making the Molotov cocktails, but they didn’t intend to use them. Yeah, sure - wonder if they rubbed their collective two brain cells together to come up with that defence? I look forward to them getting five plus years in prison for their efforts.

Rather than the police get up close and personal in situations like last weekend at Cronulla, why don’t they get some of those water cannon trucks they use for riot control in many European and Asian countries. Hose the violent pricks down with high pressure water jets. Better still put dye in the water - then go and round up the thugs at leisure later on ….they’ll be easy to identify - the green (or purple or other colour of choice) people.

1. Marty and Jess have split up

Yes, that fascinating couple from Big Brother a few years back have split up after 15 months of marriage and about 3 years in total together. Their relationship and the leadup to their wedding was shown in that wonderful piece of televised crap, “Marty and Jess: An Outback Wedding.”

C’est la vie, I suppose. Actually I’m surprised they lasted that long - I would have given it a few months at best. Airhead+ dimwit yobbo does not make for a stable long term relationship.

2. The Dad did it

On Father’s Day this year 3 young boys were killed when their father’s car crashed into a dam on their way home from an access visit ….the father escaped, his sons all drowned. Surprise surprise, the father has now been charged with their murder. Rule #1 - in any case involving suspicious deaths within a family situation, always look first to the parents (most often the father). I remember discussing this “accident” with some work colleagues from Melbourne and someone mentioned that the police had within a day or so concluded it wasn’t an accident - among other things getting from the road to the dam involved missing some trees and also there were no skid marks in the paddock.

3. Bush admits errors over Iraq

President Bush took responsibility Wednesday for going to war in Iraq based on faulty weapons intelligence. “It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong,” Bush said of the CIA’s erroneous prewar assertions that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. “As president, I’m responsible for the decision to go into Iraq, and I’m also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities.”

However, he insisted that the war in Iraq was worthwhile in that deposing Saddam Hussein protected American security.

“Given Saddam’s history, and the lessons of September the 11th, my decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision,”.

4. Treasury gets it wrong again

The budget surplus is now forecast to be $11.5b - $2.6b more than Treasury was forecasting in the May budget. Why can’t the forecasters in Treasury get it remotely right?

5. Army to get shitloads more tax dollars

Not surprisingly, in the wake of our government’s continued commitment to Iraq, and the ever present threat of terrorism, the Army is being given shitloads more money for expansion and modernisation. Never mind the fact that Defence wastes more money than you can poke a stick at, and has longstanding problems that have been pointed out, reported on and supposedly addressed for years - it is obviously easier to pour more money in than weed out the wastage and spend what money they do get more wisely.