Alan Jones' cruel attacks on Julia Gillard

Alan Jones, the most popular and influential conservative radio commentator in the country, has damaged the Liberal Party so badly, it may never recover.  His hatred of Julia Gillard seems so intense, he used the recent death of her 83 year old father to get his point across and said "he died of shame."


He was addressing a $100-a-head Sydney University Liberal Club President's Dinner at The Rocks in Sydney last weekend and the club tweeted the next day "Brilliant speech by Alan Jones last night, it's no wonder he's the nation's most influential broadcaster."  The post has since been deleted.

A tape recording of the dinner revealed that Jones said "The old man recently died a few weeks ago of shame, to think that he has a daughter who told lies every time she stood for Parliament."  Laughter is then heard in the background.  He went on to suggest that the PM's tears of grief for her father were responsible for the sudden leap in her popularity.


His comments are beyond disgusting, they are sick and he needs to apologise.

Juanita Phillips and Greg Combet are an item

Juanita Phillips and Greg Combet are an item, spotted holding hands in Newcastle recently.  Although they have had lunch together a few times, a friend says it's still early days.

There's something soothing about the way Juanita Phillips reads the news every night on the ABC.  Unlike some female television personalities whose voices pierce the eardrums, Juanita comes across as a quiet, gentle soul who exudes a feeling of calm.


She's humble too.  She once said "I'd just never had any luck, never had boyfriends who wanted to marry and have kids with me, I was 38 and thinking it was all over."  

Then she met her future husband, Mario Milostic at a cafe and 6 weeks later, he proposed.  "We met, had a fantastic romantic time and I had no expectations whatever, I was expecting him to to turn around one day and say he wasn't the marrying kind."  They have two children but sadly the marriage broke down and Mario continues to have an ongoing battle with bowel cancer.

Greg Combet is a different kettle of fish, yet I find him somehow endearing too, probably because he's the epitome of the working class success story.  Descended from immigrants from the French city of Lyon, he grew up in Rooty Hill.  When he was a teenager, his father died and he took on the responsibility of the family.


There is an air of insecurity about him.  When he talks on television, he has a habit of constantly swallowing mid-sentence as though he's incredibly nervous, yet he still articulates what he wants to say quite well.  This hard core union man who was once Secretary of the ACTU is now Climate Change Minister and you either love him for bringing about a price on carbon, or hate him for it.


Five years ago Juanita interviewed Greg Combet for The Bulletin Magazine.  Apparently they liked each other but were both married at the time.  Not anymore.

Jill Meagher's body found

It was the man in the blue hoodie seen on the CCTV cameras.  But why did he have to kill her?

Adrian Ernest Bayley took police to where he partially buried the body of Jill Meagher after he raped and murdered her.  The 41 year old was unrestrained in the police car and was able to hide his face from the cameras.

Police found her body at the side of a road at Gisborne South, about 50 kms north-west of Melbourne.

This tragic event has struck deep into the heart of our social culture, after-work drinks with workmates on a Friday night will never be the same again.  Women everywhere will shudder as they remember making their way home alone after a night out with co-workers and just like Jill, they had no fear.


Ms Meagher's family in Ireland are devastated and her husband of 3 years is beside himself with grief.  ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said Jill was an important member of the Victorian radio team and a vibrant presence at 774 Melbourne.  "She was widely known, universally respected and much loved, with a great career ahead of her" he said.

The irony is that Jill twice refused an offer from a male work colleague for a lift home in a taxi - she said her home was only a five minute walk away.

We've seen how a life sentence works in Australia, murderers don't stay in prison for the rest of their lives, they get out because people with good intentions grant them parole.  Let's hope Adrian Ernest Bayley gets the justice he deserves - life without parole. 

Jill Meagher Missing

As Jill Meagher left Bar Etiquiette at 1.33 am last Saturday morning and started walking along Sydney Road towards her home, a short distance away, two things happened simultaneously - a man in a blue hoodie ran after her and a car nearby did a sudden U-turn.  Police now suspect she was abducted.


Comedy writer and stand-up comedian Catherine Deveny believes it's the same man who tried to drag her off her bike as she rode home along the same street one night in July.  She tweeted "Early 30s, sandy hair, jeans and a blue hoodie, I've just seen the footage now, it's the same guy."

Catherine Deveny

Yesterday detectives spent five hours in the home of Jill and her husband Tom, looking for clues and left the premises with several paper bags.  Her husband made a number of phone calls and sent text messages to his wife in the early hours of Saturday morning, before going out to look for her.

It has now been six days since she disappeared and Detective Inspector Potter said her husband Tom is not being treated as a suspect "in any way."

Homeland a winner at Emmys

British actor Damian Lewis took home the Best Actor Emmy for the excellent drama series Homeland on Sunday.  He beat Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston, Michael C Hall in Dexter, Hugh Bonneville in Downton Abbey, Steve Buscemi in Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men star Jon Hamm.  It is his first Emmy.


Accepting his award he said "I'm one of those pesky Brits, apologies, I don't really believe in judging art, but I thought I'd show up just in case."


His pregnant co-star Claire Danes won best actress for her role as CIA officer Mathison and showered praise on her husband Hugh Darcy in her acceptance speech.  "My husband, my love, my life, my baby daddy, I couldn't do anything without out, I love you so much and I am so grateful."  She also paid tribute to Lewis and said he did a magnificent job of turning a villain into someone very human.

The idea came from the Israeli television series Prisoners of War and several episodes were filmed there under strict security conditions. With Israel and Iran on the brink of war with each other, creator Alex Gansa admits they were often under threat of imminent danger. 

"There was a chaos and energy and a feeling that anything could happen at any moment which you don't get shooting in Charlotte (North Carolina).   We were just praying that Israel wouldn't hit Iran in the middle of filming" he said.

The second season of Homeland airs in the US this weekend.

Make blasphemy a crime, says UN's Ban Ki-Moon

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon suggested last week that there should be a limit put on free speech when it was "used to provoke or humiliate."  Surely he can't be serious, he's blatantly pandering to the easily offended Muslim world who once again rose up in fury because someone, somewhere, disrespected their prophet.


Western democracies have resisted such a law for years and thought they had convinced their UN colleagues that blasphemy laws were a tool used by repressive regimes and had no place in a free society.


But Muslim leaders are hell bent on voicing their disgust at the latest video and will urge the UN to do something about it, namely to introduce an international law that would make blasphemy a crime.


Last Wednesday a French magazine published cartoons of Muhammad as a naked, cowering man, deliberately making the point that even the most offensive expressions must be protected.  But the Turkish Prime Minister said he would raise the topic in New York this week.

Major General John Cantwell's Exit Wounds

Channel 7's Sunday Night programme featured Major General John Cantwell, a man who has served in three wars.  He was all set to get the top job of Chief-of-Army when he came home in 2011, but he had a nervous breakdown and ended up in a psychiatric hospital.


It was disturbing television, especially when he said that Australia shouldn't be in Afghanistan and we are wasting young soldier's lives on a lost cause.


He's written a book called Exit Wounds about his ordeal with the much maligned medical condition called post-traumatic stress disorder.  It's a destructive illness because it destroys not only the soldier, but the people who love him.  Medical experts estimate about 20 per cent of combat veterans will suffer some sort of emotional trauma and a few of those will be badly affected for the rest of their lives.


John Cantwell is hoping that through his book, veterans will stop feeling ashamed and put their hand up and say "I'm in trouble, I need help."


But here's the disturbing part and the bottom line - he doesn't believe the advances made in Afghanistan by allied forces justify the loss of Australian lives.  Something we suspected all along.

Lynette Pearce gives birth in Afghanistan

Two Marines were killed after a fierce Taliban attack 2 weeks ago at Camp Bastion in Southern Afghanistan and Prince Harry is deployed there. Then hours after a British soldier told medics she was suffering from severe stomach pains, Lance Bombardier Lynette Pearce gave birth to a baby boy, the first child to be born to a member of Britain's Armed Forces in combat.


But her father Maurice Wallace, a Fijian police officer is angry, in fact he's shocked and upset because his daughter didn't tell her parents about the baby and the Army 'couldn't be bothered' to let him know.


But the 28 year old soldier, originally from Fiji, had no idea she was pregnant and has spent months fighting the Taliban with the Royal Artillery.  She couldn't understand why she started to put on weight while undergoing a punishing physical exercise regime, including five mile runs, but nobody thought to give her a pregnancy test.


Mr Wallace said "She has shown great disrespect to the Army and the Army has shown great disrespect to me and my family by their silence over this affair."  He added "It's a total disgrace, I've got a thousand questions, who is the father, what does this mean for her future, will she have to leave the Army?


"I'm furious with her because she hasn't been in touch with us since she had the child and I'm livid with all those British officials who had a duty to contact me immediately.  Lynette has been doing her duty for the British, so isn't it right that the Army should have done their duty to her family and contacted us immediately about the birth?  My wife and I are that baby's grandparents, yet we've been the last to know what's going on, it's outrageous.


"I'm a proud Fijian and I know my daughter is a proud Fijian yet I feel totally humiliated by her silence and the silence of officials from the other side of the world.  My wife and I are in total despair.


"If she didn't know she was carrying the baby, well, we can't blame her for not telling us but since the birth, surely the Army could have arranged for her to have a phone at her bedside so she could call us and tell us the news personally.  No doubt there will be congratulations but I'm not in the mood for any of that.  The British Embassy in Fiji could have tracked me down but they just haven't bothered."

Miss Pearce uses her mother's maiden name as she was born before her parents married, her father said.  She was captain of the Fiji women's football team from 2007 to 2009 and took part in matches against Tonga and Australia.  


The UK does not allow female soldiers to deploy on operation if they are pregnant but as her child was conceived before her tour of duty began in March, she is unlikely to face censure.  Britain has sent female soldiers home from wars after they became pregnant (about 60 from Afghanistan), but hasn't previously had a servicewoman go into labour in a war zone.


Miss Pearce's baby boy was born five weeks premature in the 34th week of her pregnancy at Camp Bastion's field hospital.  Mother and baby are now at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Sri Lanken asylum seekers go home

Eighteen Sri Lanken men, masquerading as genuine refugees, flew home yesterday by chartered jet, courtesy of the Australian government.  When they arrived by boat on Christmas Island, they told authorities they were fleeing persecution in their homeland but when they discovered they were going to Nauru, they changed their minds.  It was better to go home rather than spend years on a hot, tiny island in the middle of nowhere, waiting for a visa that may not be granted.


It's the first break Chris Bowen has had since Kevin Rudd decided to scrap the Howard government's policy that stopped the boats because he thought it was too harsh.  The Minister is hoping that the new laws recently introduced will put the organized crime syndicate of people smugglers out of business.  As a further deterrent, he will ban all people arriving by boat from bringing out multiple family members on reunion visas without first proving that they too are eligible for refugee status.


"Until now, the offshore spouse, dependent children and in some cases parents of refugees in Australia could be granted a visa, solely on the basis of that relationship" the Minister said. "This created a situation where the head of the family would arrive here alone, apply for asylum and then bring out members of his family as humanitarian migrants."


With no room left at on-shore detention centres, asylum seekers are being housed in private homes and motels across the country.  With the situation now worse than dire, the Minister will offer 'go home grants' of cash or equipment to get others to leave voluntarily.


It was done before when John Howard was PM but this time, Chris Bowen will pay the International Organization for Migration to organize tailor-made packages including goods, training and cash grants up to $2500.  "If they are farmers we say, how about we give you farming equipment - we've bought people motorbikes so they can start a courier business."


Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said "Labor's announcement on family reunion is a con, all they're doing is asking them to fill out a different form, line up in a different queue and pay an application fee.  At the end of the day, as permanent visa holders, they'll still have access to family reunion.  It's another half-hearted response by Labor, rather than restore TPVs that deny completely any access to family reunion."

Melbourne prepares for another Cronulla

Police are trying to play down the threat of another Cronulla in Melbourne this weekend.  On Wednesday night, the ABC program 7.30 showed that messages circulating on Facebook and white-pride groups, were calling on Australian youths to rise up in retaliation to the Muslim riot last weekend.

Another Muslim protest against the offensive video insulting their prophet is planned for Sunday in Melbourne and the following message is typical of those circulating social media this week.

Let's show these bearded goat-herders that we run this country, not them and if they don't like it, they can f*ck off back to whatever sh**hole they came from or the leaky boat they showed up on.  Spread the word and come ready for a battle for our rights and our land.  They thought Cronulla riots were bad, we grew here, they flew here, Australians unite!

And this 

If these Muslims wanna riot and ruin our beautiful city over some stupid bullshit, we will give me a f***ing riot to remember.

It was the reference to the Cronulla riots that has Victorian police worried and Muslims are telling their people to stay away.

In Sydney, police are prepared for trouble although they are not aware of any "specific plans or threats."  The US consulate has issued a warning to their people to stay away from the central business districts of both Sydney and Melbourne this weekend.

Meanwhile, Australian-born hate preacher Sheikh Feiz Mohammad insists he has nothing to do with the riots and said they were "against every facet and tenor of the Islamic teachings."


But Jamal Daoud, a Muslim refugee advocate with political aspirations, said the majority of violent protests came from the mosques and mullahs of "extreme Wahabi sheikhs" like Sheikh Feiz and Sheikh Abdel Salam Zoud. 


Ahmed Elomar, one of the men arrested last weekend was a former student of Sheikh Feiz and messages urging people to attend the rally were posted on forums for the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah group that Sheikh Feiz leads.


Even though police are denying there is any confrontation planned in either city this weekend, they are prepared for trouble.

Muslim mother says "I didn't know what it meant"

This woman has provided police with the most incredulous excuse ever – she didn’t know what the word “behead” means, yet she is a university student.   The 28 year old from Jordan has outraged the entire country and reinforced the belief that Islam is a violent religion not welcome in Australia.  

It was clear from the images of Saturday’s riot that the angry young men involved are very unhappy in their adopted country and we can only wonder why they don’t return to their country of origin. 

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the image of the child calling for beheading of another person was "incomprehensible" and  Premier Barry O'Farrell ordered the woman to be investigated by child protection services.

A speech by controversial sheik Feiz Muhammad planned for yesterday at the Auburn bookshop was cancelled. 

Hate Sheik Feiz Mohammed

Despite Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd once telling Sheik Feiz Mohammed never to return to Australia, he's been back for some time and will deliver a speech tomorrow to hardline Muslims in the Sydney suburb of Auburn.  This is the same man who believes that women who are raped only have themselves to blame and refers to Jews as "pigs".


The Bukhari House bookshop will be the venue for Feiz and other sheiks to discuss their outrage at the amateur American video that mocks their revered prophet.

Followers of the Sheik were key players in Saturday's riot.  The Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah (ASWJ) and the Islamic Brotherhood Worldwide are believed to be behind a text message circulated late on Friday night.

Feiz, a former boxer and body-builder was born in Australia to Lebanese parents and was once a director of a kitchen cabinet company on the northern beaches.  He owns a rural retreat in the Southern Highlands.


We were delighted to learn that he had gone to Saudi Arabia to study the Islamic scholars for four years but he came home and is keeping the hate alive.  It's been reported that he is currently completing his Doctorate in Islamic Law in Malaysia.


Yesterday, a spokesman at the Bukhari House Islamic Bookshop said that Sheik Feiz was known to attend the centre "infrequently."  
So the Muslim community are aware of his presence yet still allow him to preach his powerful message of hatred to lonely young men desperate to find a reason to feel valued. 

Last Sunday in the Sydney suburb of Bankstown, an 8 year old girl addressed a meeting hosted by Hizb ut-Tahrir.  

The child spoke to 600 people "My dear brothers and sisters in Islam...children in Sydney would like to send their message of hope and support to the Muslims of Syria, especially to the children and mothers.  These uprisings have demonstrated that this umma (global Muslim community) is alive and well, her love is for jihad, she has unshackled herself from the fear which she held and she yearns to once again live under the banner of the Islamic state.  Children as young as myself can be seen on the streets joining the uprisings, risking their lives to bring food, water and medicine to their wounded family members, some of them never returning to their mothers..nobody is too young.

Muslims riot in Sydney

Al-Qaida sympathizers were among the mob who marched to the Sydney Town Hall last Saturday, outraged that their prophet was insulted in an amateur movie made in America.  They carried black flags adopted by the terror organizations and wore headbands which read "We are your soldiers O Mohammed."

Some are calling themselves The Sixth Pillar, a reference to some Islamic teaching that claims jihad, or holy war, is the sixth pillar of the Muslim faith.

Ahmed Elomar, a 29 year old champion boxer was arrested for throwing a bottle at police and appeared in court wearing a T-shirt with the words "Sixth Pillar" across the front.

After the violent attacks on US embassies in the Middle East, US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich admitted some of his family wanted him to head home to the US.  He thanked police for protecting him and his staff on Saturday and said "We have a well-developed plan for protecting our consulates and our mission, so it's business as usual."

But the young Muslim mother, probably born here and been through our education system, became the symbol of Islamic extremism that showed its ugly face in Sydney on Saturday, as she proudly took a photo of her little son holding a poster, teaching him how to hate.   

The picture has caused such public outrage that Premier Barry O'Farrell called on the Minister for Community Services Pru Goward to investigate.  "Clearly, the parents' actions on that day were not in the best interests of the child" she said.

But Muslim leaders deny they are protecting her identity.  "If we knew who she was, we would tell the authorities" one leader said.  "We aren't protecting her, we simply don't know who she is."  But police are confident the woman will soon be identified with the publication in the media of a new photograph showing her face.

What's going on Sydney?

Sam Bacile aka Nakoula Basseley Nakoula responsible for anti-Islam video

An anti-Islam movie is being blamed for the outrage that sparked the murder of Christopher Stevens, the American Ambassador to Libya and three of his staff on Tuesday. 

Sam Bacile has claimed responsibility for the film and told the Wall Street Journal that he is a 52 year old Israeli-American real estate developer from California and that Jewish donors financed the film.  But Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Palmor said "Anything he did or said has nothing to do whatsoever with Israel."

A 14 minute trailer of the movie was posted on YouTube, originally in English but was recently translated into Egyptian Arabic and depicts Muhammed as a madman, womanizer and child molester.

On September 12, 2012, Time reported that Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a Coptic Christian in Los Angeles, admitted being the manager for the film's production, but denied being Sam Bacile.  Associated Press interviewed Nakoula at his home after finding evidence connecting Nakoula to Bacile, including a shared phone number.  He has used many aliases in the past, including Nicola Bacily.

In 2010, Nakoula was charged with bank fraud, and was ordered to pay nearly $800,000 in restitution and sentenced to 21 months in prison. He was forbidden to use the internet for five years and released in 2011.  According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Leigh Williams, Nakoula opened bank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers, and deposited cheques from those accounts to withdraw money from ATM machines. 

He  went into hiding when news of the Ambassador’s murder was released and his video has created huge problems for President Obama.  

Hillary Clinton has denounced it and tried to explain that it has nothing to do with the American government.  “To me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible” she said “It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose – to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.” Notice the word “great” - she’s bending over backwards to placate these murdering maniacs and she shouldn’t have to.

The Arab Spring we got so excited about seems long forgotten as it becomes clear that much of the Muslim world still doesn’t understand the concept of ‘free speech’.  We have seen offensive material on the internet about Christianity and Christ worsen over the years, but nobody seems compelled to rush out and kill those responsible.  Yet if some hate-filled American idiot makes a video that insults their prophet, all hell breaks loose.  

But as these pictures show, hope springs eternal.

Sydney sheik charged over genital circumcision

It has been discovered that two sisters aged 6 and 7 have been subjected to the barbaric practice of genital circumcision.  Police claim that Sheik Shabbir Mohammedbhai Viziri told members of the Dawoodi Bohra community in the Sydney suburb of Auburn, to lie to police if questioned about the mutilations which occurred during the last 18 months at private homes in Sydney.


Sheik Viziri 56 of Auburn, Helen Magennis 68, a retired nurse of Campbelltown, and the children's parents have all been charged.  The children are still in the care of their parents.


Police set up Strike Force Longfield after an anonymous tip to DOCS several months ago.  Investigations are still continuing and police are appealing to anyone with information to come forward.


Viziri appeared in Burwood court yesterday on two counts of being an accessory after the fact to female genital mutilation and hindering the police investigation. 

Magistrate Chris Longley granted him bail, much to the disgust of police who believe he is a flight risk.  But the judge ordered Viziri to surrender his passport and he must report to Auburn police every day and will appear in Parramatta Court on September 26.  The parents will also appear on that day.  Magennis, the retired nurse who allegedly carried out the procedures, was also granted bail and will appear on October 3.

It's hard to believe that people living in the vibrant city of Sydney in 2012 continue to carry out this ancient, abhorrent custom that dates back to the dark ages.

Olympic swim team investigation

The Aussie Olympic swim team is in the news again.  Swimming Australia will meet today to discuss the team's worst Olympic performance in 30 years.  It's suggested they were suffering from low morale caused by events that occurred at their training camp in Manchester before the games began.


Brenton Rickard, Olympic medalist and president of the Australian Swimmers Association said he had personally spoken to 90 per cent of the 44 member London team and was "alarmed and disheartened by the feedback."


Today the board will hear that bullying, favouritism and disturbing behaviour damaged the team's morale so badly, it affected their overall disappointing performance.


It's alleged that senior members of the 4 x 100m freestyle relay team carried out a bonding "initiation ritual" that involved pranks and taking the banned sleeping pill Stilnox.  And when a younger member of the team was bullied so badly, some of the swimmers were pleased that the men's 4 x 100m relay team failed to win a medal.


Favouritism was rife, according to some.  When punishment was meted out for bad behaviour, many were punished but the elite swimmers were not.


An anonymous international swimmer said that the team spirit has been in decline since 2009, the result of poor leadership from the Swimming Australia board and head coach Leigh Nugent.

Leigh Nugent

Nauru and Manus Island full

The result of Labor's asylum seeker policy has descended into a state of sheer panic.  Manus and Nauru are already full and nowhere near ready.  The two centres have a capacity for 2100 refugees but in the four weeks since the government announced their new policy, 2180 people have arrived.


It's clear they have no idea of what to do.  Their only option is to keep some refugees and send others offshore, but nobody knows what the criterion might be.  Minister Chris Bowen says that children must be sent off shore to prove to people smugglers that they are not excluded from the new rules.


We now have some cost figures.  A $24.5 million contract has been awarded to Transfield to run the centre for six months and International Health and Medical Services have a $22 million contract to provide medical and psychological services, also for a period of six months.


Minister Bowen says work on Manus Island can't begin yet until "certain logistical issues" are sorted out.

Last night on ABC's 7.30, Tony Abbott said "When will the government admit that unless it also adopts Temporary Protection Visas and turning back the boats where it's safe to do so, the people smugglers will still have a product to sell and the boats will still keep coming?"

An Immigration spokesman said that extra Federal Police will be on hand to make sure refugees board the plane to Nauru later this week, without incident.

Ann Romney, the coalminer's grand-daughter

Ann Romney's father, Edward Davies, was baptized into the Mormon faith a year after he died. They have a controversial tradition of posthumously baptising non-Mormons into the Church of the Latter Day Saints.


The bizarre practice was discovered when they began baptising well known Catholics, including popes and Jewish people who died in the Holocaust.  They believe that the soul can accept or reject the baptism, even after death.


Trawling for dead souls to convert to the Mormon faith outraged Catholics and Jews alike.  The names of dead popes and Holocaust victims started turning up on Mormon baptism lists and in 1995, the church pledged to "discontinue any future baptisms of deceased Jews."


Ann met Mitt when she was 15 and converted to Mormonism when she was 17.  Being so young, she would have needed the consent of her father, who was reported to be anti organized religion.  Mitt was in France doing missionary work at the time so his father George Romney arranged Ann's initiation into the faith and her two brothers followed shortly after.


Whether or not it was to please her husband, Ann's mother didn't join her children in converting but when she was nearing the end of her life, she changed her mind and was baptised before she died. Edward Davies was now the only non-Mormon member of his family.  "I'm a scientist" he said "show me the proof."  But a year after he died, they went ahead and baptised him anyway.


Edward Davies was an engineer who eventually became mayor of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.  His baptism took place at a special family meeting 14 months after his death in 1993 and a year later, he was "sealed" to his wife for eternity.


Ann's father was born in Wales and her grandfather, David Davies, was a coalminer who went down the mine when he was 6 years old.  He contracted the coalminer's disease "black lung" and lost a kidney when a coal car crushed him.  With no jobs to be found at home, he decided to go to America and start a new life.  In 1929 he started work at the Ford factory in Detroit and when he had saved enough money, he sent for his family.

On one of their many visits to Wales, Ann and Mitt went down a mine with their sons and her brothers, to experience the hardship her ancestors had to face.  Her grandparents could only afford to send one child to college and they chose her father Edward and he went on to live the American immigrant success story.


"I am very proud of my Welsh roots and very tied to them" she said. "They are an extremely important part of who I am."


Despite her ongoing struggle with multiple sclerosis which was diagnosed in 1998, she has proved she has the physical energy to keep up with her husband on the campaign trail. 


This attractive 63 year old mother of five sons and grandmother to 18, is doing something very important - the story about her  grandfather slaving away in a coal mine when he was a small boy has somehow helped to make Mitt Romney appear more human.  And just look at her beautiful family.

Andy Muirhead pleads guilty to child pornography

Old Team

Andy Muirhead was an ABC radio broadcaster and television presenter on the popular antique show Collectors.  He was a young man full of promise and had the world at his feet when out of the blue, he was arrested for having images of child pornography on his computer.  He swore he was innocent.  He went on unpaid leave and production of Collectors was suspended and repeat episodes of him were pulled.

With evidence overwhelmingly against him, he recently pleaded guilty to three charges and has been remanded in custody after being out on bail since he was charged in 2010. 

His defence claims he had no sexual interest in children despite the fact that he downloaded 12,000 images and videos of children, some described as "sadistic."  Muirhead looked down when graphic examples of images were played to the court.

The court heard an apology from him in a letter read by his lawyer Kim Baumler.

I wish to express how sorry I am as I stand before the court, guilty of the charges of accessing and possessing child exploitation material.  Words can't describe how embarrassed and ashamed I am.  I would like the court to know that I take full responsibility for my actions and accept the consequences.  What I did was shameful, reckless and stupid.  I have spent the last two years going over it in my mind, night and day, and I doubt I will ever stop feeling ashamed."

Tell someone who cares.

A psychologist treating Muirhead, Janet Haines, provided a report to the court to be considered before sentencing.  In it, she maintains that he viewed the porn because of work stress and not for personal gratification and thinks there is no indication that he could be considered a paedophile.  She believes he fell into a small group of offenders, recognised by new studies, who viewed child pornography for other reasons and that Muirhead has no sexual interest in children. "He was exhausted and didn't have any balance in his life."  Is she really serious?


It's clear that Janet Haines has lost touch with reality if she expects anyone to believe drivel such as this.  This man likes to watch babies and toddlers being raped.  He's admitted his guilt, all that's left is to lock him up and throw away the key.

But the sad fact is that our legal system doesn't come down heavy enough on these rock spiders and he'll be back on line before you know it.  The judge in this case has the perfect opportunity to make an example of this man and send a message to others - if you peddle this filth, you will eventually be caught and outed.


There is also an important message for parents.  No matter how respectable your new friend appears to be, never leave him alone with your children.

New Team on Collectors

Update: Muirhead received a 10 months prison sentence

Keith Herring defies deportation order to UK

Herring and Julieta in 1989

Keith David Herring is a bad egg.  Born in the UK, he was convicted of at least 60 crimes, including assault and grievous bodily harm and bit the ear off a prison guard.  But surprise, surprise, our ever vigilant Immigration Dept let him in and granted him a migration visa.


One year later, he murdered his Philippine-born wife Julieta in the backyard pool of their Sydney home.  He said he was innocent but the bruises on her head suggested otherwise.


During his trial, Herring exposed himself, called the prosecutor a "fat slug" and leapt from the dock at the judge and tried to strangle him. Not surprisingly, he received another two and a half years on top of his 22 years for murder.  In prison he committed a string of offences, mainly assault and intimidation and Immigration cancelled his visa and ordered him to be deported on his release.


But Herring doesn't want to go back to the UK.  He's already wasted 10 airfares on commercial flights because he is a "threat to safety."  He deliberately causes trouble before take-off and so far, it's worked a treat because pilots refuse to take him.  He has attacked flight crew and urinated in the aisles and yesterday was kicked off a Thai Airway flight at Sydney airport for spitting at the crew, smashing a TV monitor, screaming abuse at passengers and attempting to urinate.


Government charter flight contractors think the best way to tackle the problem is to pay for a corporate jet that would cost taxpayers up to $1 million.  They must be joking.

Anyone who has seen Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs knows how easy it would be - shackles around both ankles and up around the waist, a straight-jacket or handcuffed hands, and a mask to stop the spitting.  Or as one man said on Sydney radio this morning, "Stick him in with the horses."   But of course human rights advocates would never allow it, they would say that a civilized country like Australia would never do such a terrible thing, he's a man, not a horse. 


"The department is continuing to examine options for the removal of this client at the earliest opportunity and in the most cost-effective way. Misbehaviour in no way deters the department" a spokesman said.

Update:  He's finally gone.  Keith Herring was restrained with flexi-cuffs on a commercial flight from Sydney to London and five Serco security guards.