Yep, saw it tonight. We took advantage of “tightwad Tuesday” to see the Simpsons Movie at the local cinema. Very funny it is. Surprisingly good for a movie of a TV show, and a cartoon at that.
Look what you can do on the movie website. Make your own Simpsons character – just like I did.
Martin Bruce Gamman is still able to drive a truck after this road rage incident. I’d have thought it just proves he is unfit and will always be unfit to be in charge of a large vehicle on any public road. Yet, he was released on bail, presumably able to continue in his job as a truck driver.
Gamman allegedly told police the incident started on Thursday when he was forced to mount a roundabout curb in his sedan in Campbelltown to avoid an accident with 87-year-old Thomas Golden’s car. Gamman, who had been driving with his young son and girlfriend, allegedly told police that after another incident he snapped and chased Mr Golden along Appin Road. He stopped Golden by skidding in front of him “how police do it [on] the crazy police videos you see on TV”. He then allegedly went to the man’s car, opened his door and said: “What the f—ing hell do you think you’re doing?” He then proceeded to punch Golden in the face several times, admitting to police later:
“I was going to f—ing kill him but when I realised he was an old prick I gave him a couple and then I left.”
He told police that if witnesses hadn’t shouted out he would have continued the assault and “belted the shit” out of Mr Golden.
In granting bail, magistrate Kevin Maughan said Gamman had no criminal record and by not granting bail he would be making a judgment about the case, which was not the purpose of a bail hearing. Fair enough, but I’d think common sense, and duty of care to the rest of the road using public, would demand that Gamman be stopped from being behind the wheel of anything.
Sounds like Mr Golden should also be handing his license back given the description of how he was driving and what Gamman claims provoked his actions.
Well, the whole bullshit case against Mohamed Haneef has, as has seemed pretty obvious since about the day the charge was laid against him, and he has been released, and now flown back home to India. Some public officials, Damian Bugg, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, in particular, have taken their medicine and admitted they stuffed things up. The government ….nope, no way – hardly surprising, since for years they’ve seemed pathologically incapable of admitting error or apologising for anything.
Immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, has remained unable to come to terms with Haneef not actually being some sort of terrorist mastermind, refusing so far to revoke his decision to cancel Haneef’s residency visa.
“His visa’s been cancelled and unless there is some overturning of that by the Federal Court, it’s my indication that that visa will remain cancelled,”
“Nothing has changed in terms of the circumstances in which I had to make a decision concerning Dr Haneef.”
On the other hand, Dr Haneef’s solicitor, Peter Russo had this to say:
“The minister’s decision is beyond bizarre,” Mr Russo said.
“The minister’s decision will mystify the great majority of Australian people.”
I know where I think the balance of credibility lies.
Come on Kevin, suck it up, admit you and your government mates fucked things up, give the doctor his visa back, and maybe even find your way clear to actually apologise to him on behalf of the government.
PS: I think Dr Haneef damaged his own credibility by selling his story. I hate chequebook journalism, and the way people try to cash in when they experience some sort of misfortune, or somehow newsworthy life event.
I reckon the government’s feelings about the Mohamed Haneef case must be something like the aftermath of a regrettable one night stand.
Having got a boner over the excitement of having a real live international terrorist on their hands, they and the AFP took him home, and well and truly screwed him. But now, in the cold hard light of day, they’ve found all is not as it seems, and in fact when the initial excitement died down, the whole case is just not as attractive as it seemed on first appearances … in fact its turned pigdog ugly.
Now they’re trying to figure out how to get rid of him, without being totally humiliated, having their mates find out, and without giving him their phone number. All they want is for him to go away, and disappear out of their lives. I suspect they will do this by deporting him, hoping he never tracks them down and come back to haunt them.
Why is it news when public figures make a simple mistake?
Today we had John Howard trip over in Perth, and its the number one news story. Big fucking deal, so the PM fell over. What does that tell us? That he’s senile and not in control of his faculties?
John Howard may be many things, but I am absolutely confident he knows exactly what he’s up to.
Also, Kevin Rudd forgot some obscure candidate’s name down in Tasmania. Oh my god, he’s unfit to govern because he forgets people’s names! Again, big fucking deal!
Why does the media love to highlight simple errors and blow them out of proportion as if they somehow represent character flaws or something significant? It proves nothing, does nothing but embarass the politician or whoever it is, and really trivialises politics unnecessarily. And our politicians are very capable of embarassing themselves via their words, and also at trivialising political debate ….they really don’t need to be hounded over simple human foibles.
Update (25/7/2007): More stunning revelations … John Howard got a bit pissed once.
Not me. John Howard.
According to Labor Party focus group research, which suggests Mr Howard may be in terminal decline with “soft Liberal” voters: the blue-collar and mortgage-belt base on which the Liberals have built four consecutive election wins, and concludes:
“John Howard’s decline is continuing with soft voters. The trend away from Howard among soft, formerly Liberal voters is marked and has grown since the last round of focus groups”.
The research nominates four key findings by voters listed under the headings: “He should have retired”; “Past his use-by date”; “Desperate”; and “Not keeping up”. Or to paraphrase it: old, desperate and sneaky.
The problem for the Liberals is that potential replacements in the party can only address one of those issues. They may be a bit younger, but they are still desperate and sneaky.
Seems that Dick Cheney has taken over the reigns as acting President of the USA for the day. Does that mean the war on Iran will start tonight on his watch.
Actually, Cheney’s not the arsehole my post title refers to. The reason for him acting in George W Bush’s job as President is that Bush underwent surgery, in what was described as a “routine colonoscopy”. Wonder what they’re looking for up there … John Howard perhaps?
Sorry, just couldn’t resist a cheap shot!
The last Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows“, I mean. My daughter’s been hidden away since this morning reading it …about 2/3 through now she says. My turn comes when she’s finished.
It was on sale here at 9.01 this morning. My daughter was a little peeved that we didn’t get to the book store right on time … I mean, I think we were there by 9.05. As soon as we walked into the mall, every second person seemed to have a copy. First person I saw with one was a police woman, with 2 colleagues, in uniform, leaving the store …obviously snuck out of work to grab her copy. We missed the big queues for the book (knowing the book store owner helps), but walked past a decent lineup of people, lots of them in costume, waiting their turn. Coffee shops must have done good trade this morning – saw plenty of people sitting down reading their new book in them. And I noticed the odd person sneaking a look at the ending …naughty of them.
My kids have both seen the latest movie 3 times …so Harry Potter mania is alive and well here.
My daughter’s initial thoughts …its good, but its going to be hard to make a good movie out of it.
And in other Potter news, a young guy here in Canberra had to be fished out of Lake Burley Griffin after having jumped in after he dropped his pre-order receipt into the water.
Update (02/08/2007): I finished reading Deathly Hallows last night. I enjoyed it …. got to say its the best HP book since Prisoner of Azkaban.
Sakelarios “Charlie” Kambouris says so. Giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Dianne Brimble, he said, when asked his opinion about her death:
“I think there was a 40-year-old woman who had the option to leave, decided to stay.
“Partying with some younger men and had a misadventure that now has brought this – what could have been a happier time – into a chaotic time.”
While on the subject of blaming everyone else for his troubles, he also had a shot at the way the inquest has been conducted, saying he thought innocent families and taxpayers had been hurt because of her (the coroner’s) approach to the inquest.
Kambouris is the seventh of the eight persons of interest to give evidence at the inquest. The eighth, Mark Wilhelm, has indicated to the inquest that he will exercise his right to decline to give evidence on the grounds that he might incriminate himself.