Monthly Archives: August 2010

Guns don’t kill people?

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The often cited mantra of the pro-gun lobby.  Maybe guns don’t kill people in themselves, but they do make it a damn sight easier.

An Australian study reviewing 10 years of suicide data following the former Howard government’s gun buyback has found the rate of firearms suicides has fallen by 74 percent.  Mr Howard’s agreement with the states to ban and buy back more than 600,000 weapons after the massacre at Port Arthur in April 1996 cut the country’s stock of firearms by 20 per cent and roughly halved the number of households with access to guns.

A former Australian Treasury economist, Christine Neill said she found the research result so surprising she tried to redo her calculations on the off chance the total could have been smaller.  Dr Neill says that while it seems surprising that a 20 per cent cut in the number of firearms would have cut the number of suicides from firearms by 74 per cent, none of her academic colleagues have found fault with her finding.

The study also found no evidence of substitution of other methods of suicide.  That is, people weren’t going out in large numbers and hanging, overdosing etc themselves when they couldn’t get hold of a gun to do the job.

Another conclusion Dr Neill drew from the research:

“Before the buyback, Australia used to have a multiple shooting every year or two.

In the 13 years since, there have been none. I have calculated the probability of that happening by chance. It’s extraordinarily low.”

Explain that away, gun nuts.

Off in their own parallel universe …

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… there are a number of ALP functionaries claiming that Saturday’s election result was something other than a damning rejection of them.

NSW premier Kristina Keneally is one of them.  She blames the former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, for the federal ALP’s poor vote in her state – in particular its failure to invest in infrastructure in Sydney:

”One of the issues that would have been in the minds of voters as they went to the polls yesterday is that they had gone for three years without seeing the Rudd government invest in infrastructure in Sydney.”

Interesting perspective that.  For one thing, I’d have thought it is her own state government’s job to provide infrastructure rather than the federal government’s.  Secondly, she has her own election coming up early next year – I’ll guarantee that she’ll be singing the praises of the state government’s massive investments in such infrastructure then.  I would say that if people in Sydney were beating Labor up federally over infrastructure, it is going to be very ugly for Ms Keneally and her government come their election time – quite a bloodbath I foresee there actually.

As well as the premier, a number of party strategists were also looking to deflect blame for a state swing of almost 7 per cent against Labor.   The leaks about prime minister Julia Gillard’s role in Cabinet discussions about policy that she started running away from after removing Kevin Rudd from the job are getting a good run – Keneally backs ALP national secretary Karl Bitar in claiming they were a major factor damaging Labor’s campaign:

‘It really did make it difficult for Julia Gillard to speak about her positive plans, her vision, her message and her commitments,”

Well, maybe it would have – except that I wasn’t aware that she actually had any sort of vision or plans.  For that matter, neither did Opposition leader Tony Abbott.

Federal Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten, one of the architects of the coup against Mr Rudd, blamed it on the poorly performing ALP state governments in NSW and Queensland.  I think there is quite a bit of truth in that, but it certainly does not help the federal ALP distance itself from that when its own behaviour pretty much mirrors the despicable behaviour of the ALP backroom boys in Sydney.  It’s hardly surprising when voters then think Julia Gillard and co are more of the same.

NSW officials tried to put a positive spin on the NSW campaign by saying the target-seats strategy had been a success.  So, it could have been much worse – 7% swing against is a win compared to what it might have been.  Wait till the state election, then I think they’ll see the voters take out their baseball bats and really give it to NSW Labor. I tend to agree with the ABC’s election analyst Antony Green here, when he says:

”State Labor was not on the ballot at this election. The Keneally government should not be thinking about 7 per cent but about the 25 swing against it at the recent Penrith byelection.”

Can’t wait, and I’m not even a NSW voter, just an interested observer in seeing the truly shithouse NSW government get what it has deserved for a number of years.

When in Scotland

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Speaking of visiting Scotland to sample whisky – refer to my last post – you might want to avoid staying at the Rosebank Guest House in Perth *.

The owner apparently gets his jollies by secretly filming guests having sex and then watching it out in his shed in the backyard.  He allegedly used tiny cameras disguised as smoke detectors in the guest rooms. 

James Stratton, 67, has pleaded guilty to a range of offences between 2005 and 2009 including disorderly conduct, installing covert video cameras, recording devices and viewing monitors within bedrooms used by lodgers.

On one occasion in 2008 he allegedly kicked two male lodgers out the house after watching recordings of them engaged in homosexual activity.

Stratton had recorded around a dozen lodgers in a year and was caught in April last year when a female lodger became suspicious. The woman heard noises in the attic and discovered a covert camera. Three more devices were found by police when they searched the home.  Wiring from the cameras was found leading out of the house, through the garage and into a shed in the backyard where there was a large flat screen TV, a camera switcher and a large hard disk recording device.

But not only was he perving on his guests.  He reportedly had so much x-rated footage he had to hire a storage unit at an airport to stash it all. More than 8000 indecent images of children and 622 incident film of children were also found.

His wife was apparently not aware of what he got up to out in the shed.

 

* although by the looks of their web site it looks like the place is under new ownership.

Balls!

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I bet you didn’t know there was such a thing as a world testicle cooking championship.  It takes place in Ozrem, Serbia each year.  I bet that’s a damn exciting place – if that is the highlight of the year.

While it is open to cooks from all over the world, organisers admit that it so far hasn’t attracted many chefs from overseas.  That could just be because normal people in most countries don’t view animal balls as eating material.

Dishes, said to have aphrodisiac qualities, are made from the testicles of animals including bull, wild boar, horse, shark, ostrich, kangaroo, donkey, turkey, goat, reindeer and elk.

Serbian tourist officials are hoping that the competition will boost the tourism potential of the area.  Led by the balls. Festival organiser Ivo Mokovich said:

"The importance of a recognisable brand to sell a region cannot be underestimated,”

"Look at how many people go to Scotland because of the whisky or how many people know Switzerland because of their cheese and chocolate.”

"We are now hoping that the many famous and varied dishes that we have created in the region will become world-famous.”

Sure, I’ll go to Serbia to chow down on sheep’s balls as opposed to going to Scotland to sample scotch or Switzerland to eat cheese and chocolate.  Yummy!

Hey presto, rabbit out of a hat

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I must admit to being very cynical about the Government’s announcement today that the National Broadband Network (NBN) will deliver speeds much higher than the originally promised 100 mbps.  Talk about pulling rabbits out of hats.  How convenient, a week and a bit before the election when the government is desperately trying to differentiate itself from the much less ambitious and cheaper network the opposition proposes.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy revealed today that he’d only been made aware of the new turbo-charged capacity by NBN co-chief executive Mike Quigley yesterday.  Yeah, sure, I believe him.  The timing enabled the government to further mock the opposition’s $6 billion broadband plan which will deliver speeds of 12 megabits per second using a patchwork of technologies.

I find myself having a lot of sympathy for Tony Abbott’s view on this announcement:

“This idea that ‘hey presto’ we are suddenly going to get 10 times the speed from something that isn’t even built yet I find utterly implausible.”

Wonder when they’ve suddenly discovered the higher speeds?  Done a test from one side of a lab to the other?  Maybe over-designed the network all along and saved this news up for a rainy day when the government needed it?  The whole thing has the smell of vapourware about it – lets promise the world now and figure out how to deliver it when we have to.

Just a smidgeon of an over-reaction?

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You go down to the local hardware store to buy a few tools.  As you leave the store, one of the staff asks to see your receipt for the stuff you’re walking out with.  Fair enough, you show it to them and everyone’s happy and you’re on your way, right?

Well that’s not how it turned out at the Bunnings store at Bonnyrigg in western Sydney.  Staff there asked to see the receipt for some tools two men were leaving the store with.  That led to an argument.   But then it escalated.  Forty minutes later they came back with two other men and recommenced the argument.  Staff ordered the men out of the store but they allegedly only retreated as far as a side driveway less than 50m from the store’s main entrance, where a scuffle ensued.  It was then that one of the men pulled a handgun and began firing.

Fortunately no-one was hit.  A short time later, police arrested four Greenfield Park men – aged 60, 43, 34, and 16 – in a nearby street.  The 34-year-old was charged with numerous offences, including shooting with intent to murder. The 43-year-old and the 16-year-old were charged with being accessories before the fact. The 60-year-old was released pending further inquiries.

I can’t argue with what the police superintendent in charge of investigating the incident said:

"It’s a complete over-reaction,"

"I can’t comprehend how the dispute got to the point where it would trigger the response where a firearm was produced."As a policeman of 30 years it’s incomprehensible."

"It is disturbing that there was a gun being carried around,"

"But what is really disturbing is that someone would react to what would seem to most other people a minor incident – being asked for a receipt – by taking a firearm to the dispute. The response is completely disproportionate to the dispute itself."

Too right.  What would possess someone to react like that?  I’m betting illegal substances had something to do with it.  That plus someone desperately needs  anger management therapy.  Plus, to have reacted so badly to such a minor challenge, I’d be saying the 34 year old guy responsible has an incredibly small penis!

Things you should not facebook

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I think this is a no brainer, and I suspect that was the problem with the dumb turd of a criminal who did it, no brain!

He robs a store in Ipswich, Queensland, and makes his getaway with his girlfriend.  Then heads for Canberra.  But he was thoughtful to his friends, and updated his Facebook status to say that’s where he was heading and that he would be staying with a friend there.   Unfortunately for him, the police already read it and asked the ACT Police to look out for him, and he was duly arrested in a Canberra shopping mall last Friday.

Yesterday, he told the ACT Magistrates Court that he was in fact going back to Queensland when he was arrested, and wanted to organise his own transport.  Wonder what that involved – stealing a car?  He also told the court that he had had a drug problem ”in the past” but had been getting over it in the past week while on remand – wow, major lifestyle change there, 3 days off drugs because he was in jail during the time.

The magistrate refused him bail and ordered him to be extradited to Queensland to face armed robbery charges.

Shane Lewis Aitken, 26 and Ava Marie Dawson, 28 – criminal geniuses not.  God help us if they breed! (Wait 28 year old bogan woman, probably already has 5 kids with 4 different dads).

Was she worth it? part 2

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Not only did former David Jones CEO Mark McInnes behaviour cost him millions in forgone income, it now seems likely to cost him and David Jones much more in a lawsuit lodged today by the woman he allegedly sexually harassed.

Kristy Fraser-Kirk, 25, a junior publicist who is suing McInnes and the company for about $37 million, said the alleged harassment had been devastating.  In her own words:

"I’m a young woman standing here today simply because I said it wasn’t OK, because I said that this should never happen to me or to anyone,"

"I just wanted to be treated with respect."

In a landmark claim lodged today in the Federal Court, Ms Fraser-Kirk is seeking 5 per cent of the profits made by David Jones and 5 per cent of Mr McInnes’s salary while he worked for the company. If successful she will donate the money to a charity that helps victims of sexual harassment and bullying.

Kristy Fraser-Kirk-420x0

Ms Fraser-Kirk alleges she informed David Jones management about Mr McInnes’s unwelcome advances on several occasions, and on one occasion was told: "Next time that happens, you just need to be very clear and say ‘no Mark’ and he’ll back off."  She alleges that he made unwelcome comments of a sexual nature and unwelcome sexual advances towards her at a lunch function on May 23, including:

  • "McInnes urges Fraser-Kirk to try a dessert by saying the dessert was like a f— in the mouth,"
  • allegedly placed his hand under her clothes, touching her bra strap
  • repeatedly asked her to accompany him to his Bondi home "where the clear implication [was] that such as visit would be for the purpose of sexual intercourse"

She claims she made it clear his conduct was unwelcome and had attempted to use distracting banter to deflect the sexually suggestive conversation.

She claims that his behaviour happened in front of other David Jones employees, including senior managers.  He allegedly sent her several texts the next day repeating his request for her to accompany him home. 

On June 7, they attended another function at which Ms Fraser-Kirk alleges Mr McInnes repeated his desire for her to go home with him before trying to kiss her on the mouth while putting his arm around her. 

She claims she suffered offence, humiliation, distress and anxiety and damage to her personal and professional reputation.  Her statement of claim is very interesting, covering grounds such as false and misleading conduct by David Jones under the Trade Practices Act and Fair Trading Act, breach of her contract of employment, as well as under the sex discrimination, human rights and fair work legislation.  What seems to have pissed her off more than anything is the company’s attempts to downplay McInness’ behaviour, suggesting it was a one off, of a minor nature, that Fraser-Kirk had misread his signals, and that she was frivolously pursuing her claims to try to get some money out of it.  To counter these, her statement describes a series of instances involving McInness which she claims describe a pattern of misconduct which the company and its board would have been well aware of.

Good on her I say!