There Aint no Sanity Clause

Top Melbourne school linked to Byron Bay schoolies brawl

Oh yes, acting principal John Hickey, your school’s education programs have so obviously imbued your students with such a fine sense of community values, social skills and self discipline that when they leave Xavier they leave as model citizens, so why should the school be burdened with any responsibility for their behavior?

April 14, 2007 – NEW footage of Xavier students being forced to fight as others watched and cheered has emerged.

It is believed one of the students bullied was the same one pushed and kicked in a wheelie bin.

The video shows the 15-year-old trying to back away from another student, inside a ring of others screaming at them to fight. It is believed the footage was taken in mid-2005.

Xavier principal Chris McCabe said there were incidents in 2005 and 2006, but the school had since addressed bullying “and by and large that has been successful. The incidents are not prevalent any more”.

Oct 21 2008 – Students of Xavier College in Kew are accused of jumping on cars and frightening residents in the prosperous inner-east suburb.

One woman, identified only as Chris, said she saw two students wearing Xavier socks jumping on her car roof and bonnet, while others cheered around them.

Police estimated damage to the car at $5,000 and said criminal damage charges could be laid if the culprits were found.

Oct 16, 2009 – Xavier College principal Chris Hayes told reporters nine students had been suspended for throwing water bombs and eggs from cars as part of an end of year prank.

Emerging Sydney Swans talent Dan Hannebery was confirmed as one of the suspended Xavier year 12 students.

The students have been banned from the school until the end of classes next week but will be able to sit their VCE exams.

Mon Jul 19, 2010 – The 16 boys from Xavier College at Kew in Melbourne’s east were in Queenstown as part of a school skiing trip.

It is alleged they stole ski clothing and souvenirs worth around $5,000 from at least seven different shops in Queenstown.

The boys, aged between 14 and 17, were let off with a warning by police, but their details have been passed on to immigration authorities.

Xavier College principal Dr Chris Hayes says the school has taken the matter very seriously. “We are very disappointed at this regrettable action by these boys, from our point of view and their parents’ point of view, we’re quite gutted by their actions,” he said. “We’re going to be discussing with them why this has taken place because from their parents’ point of view, from the college’s point of view, we’re just wondering what would have led to this sort of madness.”

October 20, 2010 – About 100 students were involved in the march at 8.30am (AEDT), most of them were from Xavier although at least two schools were involved.

Despite the police escort, twice during the march students illegally lit flares, on one occasion leaving it near parked cars, holding up traffic and putting pedestrians at risk, said Boroondara Police Leading Senior Constable Brett Phillips.

The students are unlikely to face charges but police have asked the school to investigate, he said.

Well done Xavier.

“They are not the kids you really expect it from,” the source said. “They pay big money to get educated at (the school). It’s more like a public school thing.”

Money well spent chaps. Pity the parents of those ruffians at public/government schools don’t have enough money spend on their children to produce fine upstanding Xavierian model citizens.

Magistrate rules 'n----r' not offensive to a reasonable person

Queensland - the state that brought us that other non cafe, non chardonnay and non socialist set member, Pauline Hanson. The state where some magistrates would seem to have a slippery grip on the term, "reasonable person".

... and let's go back to the sage words of John Hartigan (Chief Executive Officer of News Limited) telling us why we should believe publications like his own 'Herald Sun" rather than the inaccurate piffle on blogs.

"newspapers are not dead, and people will pay to read quality journalism that is "brilliantly written" and "professionally edited" : This is not the territory in which aggregator sites or amateur bloggers will do well. This is the natural terrain of the well-trained, professional, experienced, clever journalist."

Searched the Myki site for "seniors card". Clicked on the third page that came up in results, "How to use Myki" ...

... and this is the result.

Mmmm, seems the portents for a successful, smooth running, efficient Myki aren't exactly good if the people from planet Myki can't keep a pretty basic website updated.

"Was Polanski truly remorseful? He has plea-bargained and confessed guilt in an attempt to avoid imprisonment. The jury is out as to whether Polanski comprehends his crime; but there can be no doubt about his suffering."

HIS suffering!

"Greg Inglis still has a future in rugby league despite being suspended indefinitely by Melbourne Storm for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend last weekend, chief executive officer Brian Waldron said today."

"Kyle ("We have a very real live radio program and we deal with real situations") Sandilands and Jackie O suspended indefinitely. Sandilands and Henderson’s 2Day FM program, Kyle and Jackie O, was taken off air this month after a girl strapped to a lie detector revealed she’d been raped two years earlier.

Sandilands and Henderson are expected back on air on August 17."

Before Easter I received a grossly inaccurate estimated electricity account.

It was odd that it would an estimated a/c as I remember the meter being read. (The meter is inside and accessed by holding up the meter box door vertically which I did as the meter reader keyed in details.)

There are two sets of figures to be read and the estimates were as follows.

(1) Estimate. 92 Bill days. Current reading:- 100160 Previous reading:- 100160 Usage kWh = 0 (ZERO!!!??? I wish!)
(1) Estimate. 92 Bill days. Current reading:- 043802 Previous reading:- 042930 Usage kWh = 872 (roughly 5 times the average quarterly actual usage.)

I passed this information onto Rajiv at the AGL call centre in Mumbai and requested that an actual reading be done to rectify the stuffed up estimates. Rajiv informed me that, given the meter had actually been read and that estimate was so way out of whack, the Special Meter Read Fee would be waived.

Meter reader duly arrived on April 20th and as I held the meter box door aloft for him, he keyed in the digits from the meter. (Maybe? Maybe not?)

Revised bill arrived 4 days later replete with a $23.00 Special Meter Read Fee!

More perplexing is the first reading on the revised bill – “Reading type:- Estimate. Current reading 100160 – Previous reading 100160. Usage kWh = 0”

A halfways efficient meter reader would have seen (as I did on checking) that the actual reading is 100261 (it would have been slightly lower on the day it was allegedly read).

So I have received a revised bill for which I have been charged $23.00 (contrary to the advice given by my dear friend Rajiv in Mumbai) yet one of the readings still an estimate.

I still await a reply from AGL to my email. I was given an estimate of 2-3 working days, however given AGL's estimation history I am not holding my breath.

Perhaps AGL will suggest another meter reading be organised at no cost or for $23.00 or give me an estimated Special Meter Read Fee.

Some parents really do know how to set up a retirement fund.

Let's hope they sleep straight in bed at night ... but that's probably a big stretch.

Why am I thinking Jelena Dokic's father Damir? Why am I thinking the precocious, fallen and eventually redeemed Capriati? Why am I thinking Sharapova's relentlessly driving father? Why am I thinking the new kid on the block, Tomic's father? Why am thinking that kiddies of that age should be writing to pen pals, collecting stamps and getting their rocks off on the centrefolds in Enid Blyton books?

7.23pm UPDATE : BARELY holding back tears, the mother of a teen shot dead by police at a Northcote skate park has spoken for the first time of her anguish.

“As a mother giving birth to this child, my baby, this has destroyed me,’’ Tyler Cassidy’s mother Shani said at her Northcote home this afternoon.

More and more.

Guy Ritchie has been re-united with his sons for the first time in weeks, but the meeting reportedly came with a list of 12 strict rules from estranged wife Madonna.

The rules insist that Ritchie must allow the boys to only drink Kabbalah water – spring water that has been blessed by Kabbalah religious leaders.

They also forbid toys that are “spiritually unsound”.

* at bedtime, Ritchie must only read The English Roses, a series of children's books written by Madonna about "the five most fab young lasses in London".

Needless to say, I blame the parents.

... and when did Madonna start turning into a Bratz doll?.

The Los Angeles Times reported that internet entrepreneur David Boctor was a victim [of the online Olympics ticket scam], paying $11,500 for tickets to the opening ceremony, swimming and diving, but became suspicious after his credit card was used to charge for airline tickets he did not buy.

Mr Boctor told the Times: “If I failed to recognise this internet scam, very few other individuals with less of an e-commerce background would have had a chance, so I can empathise with others in the same position.”

Sorry Mr. Boctor but there were a few clues. Apart from the phony logo along with the wrong font (original here - for anyone to see) and the dodgy sentence construction, every man and his e-commerce internet entrepreneur knows that when you purchase online there is an up in there in lights 'https' protocol for secure sites and it wasn't there on the scam site.

Roberta Williams, the convicted drug trafficker and mother-of-four, has revealed a vampy new look.

Williams, 39, has stripped down to her bathers for Zoo Weekly magazine.

UPDATE.

Mr Rudd this morning said he did not believe the magazine's use of the picture was appropriate. "I don't think this is a step in the right direction at all."

Premier Morris Iemma immediately threatened to withdraw future funding after he was contacted about the images yesterday. Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell labelled the publication a "provocative publicity stunt".

NSW community services minister Kevin Greene said the images had been inappropriately hijacked for political mileage.

Everyone else is having their two bob's worth, so here's my farthing from the madding crowd

So everyone from Kevin Rudd (who hasn't seen the exhibition) to John Brumby (who hasn't seen the exhibition) reckon Henson's photos are beyond the pale, overstepping the mark or plain pornographic.

Well, I haven't seen Henson's exhibition, but I remember seeing the occasional episode of Johnny Young's "Young Talent Time" and if I had to make a judgment about which of the two bordered on teen pron, then it's a no brainer.

CLICK TO ENLARGE PIC.
Form guide.

US President George W Bush has mistaken the name of the conference he’s travelled halfway around the world to attend, in front of a summit of business leaders in Sydney.

Mr Bush, in Australia to attend the Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit of world leaders, took to the stage at the Sydney Opera House this morning and thanked Prime Minister John Howard for his introduction and for being such a “kind host” for the Opec (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) summit.

Mr Bush also stumbled over his pronunciation of Jemaah Islamiah, the regional terror network.

And in another miscue, he botched the host country’s name, referring to Mr Howard’s visit to Iraq in 2006 as a thank-you to “the Austrian troops there.”