Friday, August 31, 2007

A donation

George the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called "pullets", and ten roosters, whose job it was to fertilize the eggs (for you city folks).

The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That record keepin' took an awful lot of his time, so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters.

Each bell had a different tone so George could tell from a distance which rooster was performing.

Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.

The farmer's favourite rooster was old Butch, and a very fine specimen he was, too.

But on this particular morning George noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all!

George went to investigate.

The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover.

But to Farmer George's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring.

He would sneak up on a pullet, do his job and, walk on to the next one.

George was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and Butch became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result ... The judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

As the world turns...

Unfortunately there was a little too much conjecture about when the blood Eclipse would take place over here in the West, and I am sure I'm not the only person who missed it.

So for all of you who missed the moon turning blood red and the Sun, moon and Earth aligning, here's a fabulous geeky link which not only has webcam images but also has a whole collection of stories about how the eclipse differs from state to state.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Threatened species

Ah - so this is an option for the sexy gal about town, Steph from Much Ado...

Twenty is about up to his usual standard as the deadline for his book nears - one cannot be sure what he is insinuating in this post - maybe he was inspired by Much Ado.

Poor MacDara lost his clothes enroute to Ireland from Lebanon.

& Gary the Underworld-Watcher is still MIA

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Cmon Kevvy light my fire

So the news broke this morning about Bookish Kev breaking the monotony of being an ex-public servant turned promising 'alternative' prime minister, by visiting a strip club in the US.

Strip clubs, of course, are not only legal but also very thick on the ground in the States - which as a society, isn't too concerned about any ethical dilemma they could pose, whatsoever(no surprises there).

I thought I'd turn to BBC Bulgaria for balanced insight into the Kevin Rudd strip club debacle... for shame, what was the man thinking - who'd want to see him strip?!

If you want some unbalanced coverage see here.

Let's see Howard try to one-up this effort(urgh, shudders...)

Sadly, Kevin the Stud Rudd, even apologized for this pathetic revelation, and you've just got to love this line from the BBC's coverage,
"A bookish intellectual with a strong Christian faith, Kevin Rudd has a slightly dull, even nerdy public persona."

Says a lot about the foreign ministry though doesn't it - it's pretty tragic if the most memorable thing about a night at Hooters, is Kevin Rudd.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Known issues with blogger

It would appear that there are some problems with Blogger at the moment, two posts over the last 24 hours have just not published, but fyi, hey were about another death in WA Police custody in Fremantle 2 days ago and a police lawyer's boyfriend who got clocked (& admitted being on speed) doing twice the speed limit in his Beamer.

Hopefully the two posts will publish sometime in the near future or I will be able to extricate them from my archives.

Cheers.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Is Australia really saying no?

WAPOL seem determined to learn from the downfalls of past investigations in the investigation into the death of the beautiful and talented 44 y/o Perth mum & Supreme Court registrar, Corryn Rayney.

Scouring every square inch of dirt surrounding the shallow grave in Kings Park, WAPOL spokesperson, Detective Sergeant Jack Lee, said all WA police resources are being utilized to find the killer, and police are working through the night to gather evidence.

Jack Lee said Rayney's killer would now be becoming very nervous, with Rayney's car and grave discovered, and he made a direct promise to the killer, 'we're coming for you.'

Let's hope that this standard of investigation and community outrage is a sign of things to come, because it takes more than just an advertising campaign for 'Australia to say no to violence against women' and it shouldn't just be Dutch backpackers who offer resistance to Australia's ingrained post-colonial misogyny that permeates even the way essential resources are budgeted and allocated by the government.

Though a growing 'culture of the blade' was decried in the media in Perth recently, would women targeted whilst alone be quite so vulnerable if, like the USA, we had a culture which not only permitted, but promoted the need for women to be able to defend themselves?

For as long as legislation is inadequate and the application of it is even less adequate, how can the government really entertain the idea of eradicating the culture of violence against women and girls that it has fostered so diligently for over 200 years?

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Going places

What's the rush?

Another death in WA police custody

The most recent death in WA police custody which followed an arrest in which a tazar was used to subdue a man who was dazed and talking to himself in the middle of Alma St.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Ever-insightful former PM, Paul Keating, once described Australia as the arse end of the world. Help Swearing Lady find the arse end of Ireland.(courtesy of Macdara)

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Back again

In Perth, the police lamely lamented the 'ice epidemic' with another talk-fest (but no greater transparency), but two shocking assaults in the Perth area over the last week have really highlighted the mental disturbance drug users face, and the stark consequences for the general public.

An assault on two men in Mandurah resulted in the death of one, and a senior robbed in her own home suffered horrible injuries at the hands of a merciless assailant - all for $15. Premier Carpenter has offered $30,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the culprit, so get out your junior detective kits everyone - could (almost) earn you enough for a deposit on a house in WA where the cost of housing is spiralling completely out of sync with the reasons for being here.

Meantime, the federal human services minister, WA Senator Chris Ellison, got his vacation allowances outed in the media. Although Ellison does not appear to have done anything wrong, the examination of the widely accepted (but never publicly revealed) practice has really shown up the hypocrisy in the federal government, who can justify luxury holidays for the extended family of its ministers with one hand, but cuts a meagre austudy allowance to pensioners, the disabled and single mothers, with the other. Bring on the election.

And Perth prisoner, Otto Darcy Searle, having completed 5 years of his 11 year sentence for 104 child sex offences he committed as a junior soccer coach between 1978 & 1982, has been released back into the Perth community. The DPP and the Supreme Court's Justice Peter Blaxell, decided one year of supervision by Perth police would be adequate monitoring for the paedophile, who in 2005 was returned to a WA gaol in response to the public outcry after he was released to live with his family in Banora Point, NSW.

The West's editor is in hot water again, after the DPP decided to pursue him for contempt.

The troubled WA education dept has suffered another blow, as the former principal of Balga high school faces 15 corruption charges relating to misappropriation of $400,000 of school funds.

A man employed as an assistant coach at a private school in Padbury, has been charged with several counts of recording a child 13-16 y/o, after his mp3 player was turned over to the police by a student, who found it contained pornographic material.

The trial of Dante Arthurs, accused of sexually abusing and murdering an 8 y/o girl at the Canning Vale Shopping Centre, will be heard by a judge alone.
This decision follows the recent controversial decision by the appeal court in relation to the Philip Walsham case, when a decision by a jury was overturned after a judge said a judgement reached by a jury may not be as reliable as that of a judge.

A CCC inquiry into the police investigation of the Pamela Lawrence murder has commenced. Andrew Mallard's conviction for the murder was overturned last year, and the handling of the police investigation will be examined. The inquiry revealed that Simon Rochford(who mysteriously died in gaol before police could charge him with the already 'solved' Lawrence murder), was heard sharpening a knife(is that a readily identifiable sound in gaol???)by a corrections officer, who didn't bother checking on the source of the noise. The inquiry can be followed on Colleen Egan's blog.

Sausage search hits a snag

I would have thought that Vic correctional officers would have more to do with their time - clearly I'm mistaken.

Goulburn Valley goodness?

A Shepperton man has pleaded not guilty to 21 charges stemming from his alleged involvement in a violent extortion ring based in the Goulburn Valley area.

The man, 46 year old Vincent Latorre, rated a mention from Coroner Paresa Spanos at last year's inquest into the 1991 death of a young market garden worker, Rocco Iaria.

Police raided a number of properties and seized firearms, a crossbow and steroids last year.

The charges against Vincent Latorre include extortion, threatening to destroy property, and fraud and Latorre's 20 year old son, Daniel, was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Market competitors from the region allegedly had their water lines cut, their dogs were poisoned and fires were set on their properties.

The Iaria inquest took place 8 years after the discovery of his remains(15 years after the young man's disappearance) - what effect the delayed investigation will have on solving the case, only time will tell.

The inquest revealed Iaria died after a beating, with the most likely cause of death being a shotgun blast to the back and head.

An alleged murder weapon was handed into local police, but was misplaced and no charges were ever laid in relation to the death.