Monday, June 25, 2007

Stolen gen, again, no wonder he won't say sorry - he isn't. link courtesy of Perth Norg

Friday, June 22, 2007

Loose lips sink ships - tch tch tch

Just when you thought the Eagles had done enough to carve a fantastic reputation of footballers' communication skills...
Today, Fremantle Dockers' Chris Tarrant(who looks surprisingly like Josh Hartnett from The Wrong Man in this ABC photo) was fined $5000 for showing his his (undoubtedly absolutely hideous & unslightly) buttocks to a woman in a NT nightclub(?!), and for clocking a pollie(??!!). Tarrant received a 3 match ban from Freo for breaching their code of conduct, but there's no suggestion about whether it was the nudity(oo-wahh darling) or the violence that earned him the ban & fine.


Airport security whistleblower, 59 y/o Allan Kessing this afternoon received a 9 month suspended sentence for leaking cabinet documents, that prompted enough public pressure to prompt a $200 million upgrade of airport security. The Australian journalists' phone records were intercepted by the AFP who have been installing the cone of silence for Mr Howard. This was clearly designed to make an example of an airport whistleblower because clearly there have been way too many embarrassing moments for the government in relation to airport security from hi-voltage whistleblowers such as former AFP officer, Ray Cooper, and former ambo & APS officer, Gary Lee-Rogers.


It so happened today, that while 6PR's Simon Beaumont was putting the 'alternative prime minister,' Kevin Rudd, under some pressure about why he was throwing an ALP member out of the party for swearing(Heaven knows pollies don't do that terribly nasty sort of thing), Rudd admitted he'd started in politics as a public servant. With Merkel in Germany and Clark in NZ, and Hillary & Condee in the States, why is it the ALP would select Rudd over Gillard for the leadership?!


If Rudd isn't enough to spell a Latham-like demise for the Labor Party, the WA ALP is under the spotlight once again, with former-minister Bowler getting a big rap over the knuckles for contempt of parliament. He is not allowed to attend parliament for for a whole 6 weeks (on full pay - let's not be barbaric!) for leaking a cabinet document to a lobbyist(no 9 month suspended sentence for pollies).

Also in hot water in the state government this week was Neale Fong, the WA Director General of Health, who has been caught out by the CCC chatting with former premier & ex-con, lobbyist Brian Burke, & momentarily under the searing heat of the media spotlight today over speculation about his possible contact with Burke, was Minister for Health, Jim McGinty. Mr Bowler promised he'd spend the entire six weeks off, working very hard in his electorate ;}} Unlike the unsavoury commotion about pay rises from his federal buddies Carps & his ministers won't be going on a performance based contract any time soon.

Mining giants BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto & Woodside have started up free unsecured wifi access covering over half of Perth's CBD.

This week Queensland police officer Sergeant Chris Hurley was found not guilty of manslaughter in relation to the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee, whose liver was cleaved in two after a physical arrest, in which Hurley claimed to have fallen on the victim. A protest was held in Sydney to call for a Royal Commission into the death in custody and the Queensland Police Union did their best to support John Howard's move to abolish unionism in Australia. Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie must have felt left out, so he leaked the report on Doomadgee and is now all over the news like Fong and Bowler.

Just say no to Torchwood

So Torchwood was frightening for a whole lot of reasons, uhhhh. But in Perth we've been waiting for the new series of Dr Who for so long that it's like an accident you just can't divert your focus from.

For those of you that don't know, strangely, it features a wee curious sexy young thang, and a big capable immortal man (for those Who devotees, maybe you're seeing a pattern forming right about now...), with no David Tennant or Christopher Ecclestone to rescue the series from its sexist spewriffic self.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Strictly 'Spherical

Sadly, one of the few in the 'Sphere who will really appreciate Torchwood screening tomorrow night on free tv, is avid Dr Who fan, Anonymous Lefty. Devotees can access more Dr Who blathering here...and here... and can expect poor old Aunty to screen The Bride episode - which screened in the UK eons ago, soonish.

From Dr Who to Dr Washer - Cyclops Suki has an opinion on our sexist Liberal party federal government,
"Currently, Australian foreign aid money comes with a condition which prevents it from being spent on abortion advice."
and so does Libs backbencher, Mal Washer, who believes 1950's culturally patriarchal policies may not be a particularly equitable way to distribute aid to the 3rd world.

Daily, we watch news of bombings in the Middle East from the safety of our loungerooms, and we slowly become more and more conditioned to the shocking violence that not only tears the fabric of our humanity apart but tears innocent civilians limb from limb. Be complacent and oblivious no longer - read this on the spot report showing what blogs are for(Courtesy of MacDara, an Irishman in Lebanon).

Now for all you locals who thought WAPOL held the patent on brickings and wrongful imprisonment, Strange Justice, examines the case of a Canadian who served 12 years before the federal justice minister quashed his sentence due to the suppression of evidence.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

A news link about those escalating muster numbers...

Friday, June 08, 2007

Invisibility cloak

I've been missing in action in the 'Sphere over the last four weeks but much has been happening.

The mainstream media has finally found a satisfactory closure for the Chase for Skase in 'the capture of Mokbel.' They missed the first Australia's most wanted fugitive - but they have a death grip on this one and if the police lose this darn cash cow again, it's a sure thing that the mainstream media won't! (1 journo links the 2 and another improvises on a theme)

A train wreck in Victoria and powerful storms in Newcastle which grounded a cargo ship have both given those spectacular glimpses of that which we ever-fatigued & over-worked lumpen plebs often lose sight of - our own mortality and the existence of something bigger than our next Big Mac.

An aggressive upsurge in the number of anti-union articles heralds the forthcoming election campaign, and in an eerie sleight of hand, one mainstream media outlet manages to connect all three iconic bad guys - the unions, Australia's most wanted and the ALP!

Paul Keating, Mr Banana Republic himself showed why he isn't the PM and that he's missing the limelight - there should be a bingo club for ex-pms.

Perth's south-east metro continues its downward spiral,

According to The West, a specialist WAPOL unit set up a sting at a motel in Tha Bronx and inadvertently created a market for $300,000 worth of harry - (but there were more pats on the back all round via media puppetry).

Sunny Cloverdale finds another woman dead from multiple stab wounds, allegedly at the hand of her partner - 31 years her senior, but the silence on the abuse of women and children is still deafening.

Police think they've found a home invader(see previous post)... and the toecutters continue to target the big fish

WA crime stats went up, as the population and cost of accommodation in Perth continues to increase to unprecedented levels. But while Howard and Costello congratulate each other on what a bloody good job they've done on the economy, the emergent subculture of starving low income earners(casuals on AWAs) can still avoid becoming a part of escalating muster numbers by habitually collecting baby bonuses - more factory fodder for Costello's economy machine "mwa-haha-hahaha!" - but not for Howard.

Is Gotcha really a playground solely for police, former detectives and criminals?