My comments at the end of this piece stolen from the Aged.

Bridge death: man on murder charge ‘in acute psychiatric state’

• Kate Hagan
• January 29, 2009

A man charged with the murder of his daughter after she was allegedly thrown from the West Gate Bridge is in an “acute psychiatric state”, a court has heard.

Arthur Phillip Freeman, 35, of Hawthorn, did not appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court where he was charged over the death of his four-year-old daughter, Darcey Iris Freeman.

Freeman’s lawyer, Elanor Peattie, said she was unable to take “detailed instructions” from him, but he had indicated she should face the court in his absence.

Detective Acting Sergeant Damian Jackson of the homicide squad said police had sought medical assistance with Freeman and he was found to be unfit for interview.

Freeman was diagnosed as being in an “acute psychiatric state” by an assisting medical officer, Detective Acting Sergeant Jackson told the court.

He was remanded in custody to appear before the court on May 21.

His daughter Darcey died at 1.35 this afternoon in the Royal Children’s Hospital, where she was flown after being rescued from the river beneath West Gate Bridge about 9.15am.

She was pulled from the water close to the western bank of the river on the northern side of the bridge.

Paramedics spent about 50 minutes resuscitating her before she was airlifted to hospital, where she later died.

Ambulance Victoria paramedic team manager Trevor Weston, who was involved in the rescue, said it had not been easy.

“Anything that involves children takes its toll on paramedics,” he said.

“Fortunately it’s not a very regular occurrence but when it does (happen) it really does hit home.”

with Mex Cooper, Andrea Petrie and Erdem Koch.

For help or information call Lifeline on 131 114 or visit www.beyondblue.org.au

We don’t know what really cased this father to do this. It is a horrendous crime, and one he should pay dearly for. But of course the blame has been put on the government for not having anti suicide barriers on the bridge. That’s another issue, and one they will hopefully address. It wont stop people from committing suicide, it will just shift them to a different area. For example the Whitten Bridge in the west is actually higher than the West Gate, but that has less barriers on it.

But what really concerns me, is how this will be played out by vengeful mothers in the Family Court. I bet for the next week, every single mother who doesn’t want the father of their children having anything to do with the children will sight this horrific incident as something that the father is capable of.

Don’t believe me? Well I was in Court when that father drove his kids into the dam. That day every lawyer for a mother stated that was a possible action, and shouldn’t be ruled out. The judges agreed.

So why don’t you hear about these kind of things? Well it’s simple, the courts put a gag on anyone speaking out about a case involving the Family Court. They don’t give a stuff about how much a mother may break court orders, they just say “naughty you, please don’t do it again”, and nothing is done. But if a father spoke out about their case to the media, and how wrong the system is, they get slapped with a fine, or have their human rights concerning their children revoked.

No wonder some people get that mentally stressed they take actions into their own hands. As wrong as it might be, desperate people are driven to do desperate things.

Another advert proudly presented by farcebook.

So that’s fifteen ways to make one small change in your diet. Mmm, sounds complicated, I only know how to do one simple thing one way. To do it fifteen ways, well I may as well just go buy furniture from ikea, take a shitload of drugs, and put said funiture together while riding a rollercoaster at a rave party on the moon.

For those who can’t be bothered reading further, here is the tinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/bmkxmd

1500km’s in 45 hours, through three States, Victoria (enjoyable), New South Wales (relaxing) and the ACT (boring as all hell). Ok, so I know the ACT isn’t a State, but I had to say it was so I could get out that lame joke.

Cricket finished late on Saturday, and I didn’t get home until 1930. The large bruise on the inside of my right leg was painful enough to take away the sciatic nerve pain in my back. What the hell made me decide to quickly pack the bike and head off towards Mt Kosciuszko I will never know, but with two days off work ahead of me, I decided to go climb the highest mountain in Australia.

I eventually got away from home about 2100, and given I had been up since 0200, having already worked that morning, it was a bit crazy to head off already, but I figured if I didn’t go now, I would just wake up the next morning, sore from cricket, snug in my own bed, and end up spending the weekend on the couch eating pickled onions, so I had to head off.

I kept riding until about 2330, and decided then that I would stop at the next suitable location and set up camp for the night. Not far down the road, a bit past Euroa, I pulled into a Roadside Rest Stop, found a nice place to set the tent up, and had my head on the pillow before midnight.

I woke up the next morning about 0530, and felt quite refreshed. After getting up, and having a bit of a stretch and needs break, I set up the bbq, and made up a nice breakfast of bacon and sausages, checked my emails, before packing everything up, and getting back on the road by 0700.

It was slab all the way to Wodonga, before heading towards Tallangatta. A quick stop at the Big Hammer Store to fix the whistle that happens in my helmet between 90km/h and 100km/h, and I was back on the road. Through the Tallangatta hills you could see why they wanted to build a railway line though this part of the land. It is a real pity the line never made it through to Corryong and maybe beyond, there might have been a slim chance of it still being open today. If it was still open, I can assure you, I would be putting in a transfer to work this line back and forth every day until I was carried out of the loco in a box.

There wasn’t too many bikes around on the first lot of hills, as I got into the Tallangatta Valley I had seen half a dozen or so bikes, but when I got to Corryong, and it was bike city. There was every make and model you could find, a couple of Viffers (a Gen 4 and a Gen 6), and quite a few people having a mid morning break. Interesting to note the number of Ducati’s that were there. What is it with Ducati riders? I mean sure when women go to the toilet we go in pairs, but come on Ducati owners, surely you don’t need six other riders next to you before you can get on a bike. I had the worst pastie I had ever eaten from the bakery there, before I got going towards Thredbo.

Khancoban is the kind of town that has both kinds of music. I found this out when I stopped there for a toilet break, and was asked by one of the locals if I could spare a beer from my esky. When I told him I didn’t because I don’t drink alcohol, he replied with “No beer? What kind of a faggot are you then?”

I arrived at Thredbo about 1315, made a couple of vegemite sanga’s, and got my camelback full of ice cold water, before getting to the ticket booth for the chairlift about 1330. It as at this point I found out that the chairlift up the hill closes at 1700, and it is a 4-6 hour walk to Mt Kosciuszko. Given my complete lack of fitness, the heat of the day, and having just ridden for 6 hours, the thought of reaching the highest point in Australia (apart from Nimbin at festival time), seemed impossible.

So I bought my ticket for the lift, got to the top, and started power walking. Power walking is not an easy thing to do when you are trying to go up hill, and you are wearing crocs. It is a 6.5km walk to the top from the chairlift, and I basically had 3 hours to do the 13km return trip in. I managed to get to the highest toilet in Australia, which is 1.4km from the top in 50 minutes, and I was feeling stuffed. At this point I really wished I had packed my asthma pump, and something more to eat than four sesame seed snaps, but I had a mission. I had another 40 minutes to make it to the top, before I had to turn around and head back, so after a quick catch of my breath, I was off again.

The last section is the hardest. Well the first 800m of it is pretty easy, but then the last 600m you really have to push. Each step you take the top seems to get further away, and it actually does, as you wind your way around the mountain. But I managed to get to the top with 10 minutes to spare.

Yay, I had done it, I had made it too the top, I had conquered Mt Kosciuszko. Ok, so what if about another 1,000 people I had seen on the walk had also done it. So what if a heap of little kids who were yet to experience primary school had also done it. I had my few minutes where I was on the top. Now it was time to head back down.

I rushed back down the mountain as fast as I could walk. Having forgotten to pack my Skins, the chaffing was starting to get annoying. It is good to note that sunscreen works reasonably well as an anti-chaffing cream in an emergency. About 2km back down I had a break and checked my feet. On my left big toe there was a blister about the size of 10 cent coin. I went through the damned if you do, damned if you don’ts for a few seconds before popping it. With that done, I was off again.

By the half way point I was stuffed. My camelback was nearly empty, and my bladder was well beyond full, but I had to push on. Eventually I got back to the chairlift with 15 minutes to spare. Now I know it is not a world record or anything, but I was more than happy to have done the walk in under 3 hours. It meant an average speed of 4.72km/h, a good effort over the terrain.

Once back at Thredbo, a decision was made to spend the night in Canberra, where I was able to have dinner with a friend before she heads off to live in Perth. Canberra was hot and humid for the night, but the meal at a place called Sammy’s in the city was one of the best Chinese meals I had ever had. If for some god awful reason I am ever in the nation’s capital again, at least I know there is a decent place to eat. I got back to the caravan park about 2230, and after a quick check of emails, I had a very good night’s sleep.

I woke up the next morning about 0500, and I was feeling it. My body was starting to tighten up. I enjoyed another fine breakfast, and even shared it with my neighbours in the caravan park. They were a family out camping for the first time, and underprepared is the understatement of the century. I had hoped to get away by 0700, but this was not to be the case. As I did my final checks, a steady stream of people came up to me to ask about the bike and the set up. It took me two hours in the end to get out of the caravan park. It was at this point I got the seed of an idea to make up a website, and some flyers to hand out to people. I worked it out I spend about 20 minutes every time I stop going over everything with someone who wants to know. Sure mine is not the first bike with a trailer, but I guess most of them you see behind cruisers, usually ridden by someone big and hairy, who looks like they just got out of prison. Bad stereotype I know, but you can see that it would happen. A lot of people wonder why I have a trailer behind a sports bike. Well it is a Sports/Tourer, and unlike 99.9% who ride them as a Sports bike, I prefer to tour…, in style.

A petrol stop was made at Yass, before hitting the slab and heading back to Melbourne. Things were going well until Coolac, where the roadworks started. The reduced spped limit of 80km/h wasn’t an issue, it was the tool in the Britz Campervan at the front of the long line of traffic who insisted on sitting between 50 and 60 that pissed everyone off for the next 17km’s.

With the tool passed finally, I made a stop at Gundagai, in honour of all OzVFR riders in the past, the present and the future, by getting some KFC. Wicked Wings and coleslaw consumed it was back onto the slab, which by this stage of the day was really starting to heat up.

By Holbrook I was feeling pretty stuffed, but the sign on the main street saying “Miniature Train Rides Today” said to me it was time for a break. I paid my $2 (and plus, I just handed over all my coins, because they were running a charity day for the local cricket club) and did two laps of their track. It is an impressive little set up they have going. The track is about 700m in all, and does a loop around the creek, crossing it twice, and the whole track is set on concrete, which makes for a very smooth ride.

Refreshed, I got back onto the bike, and set off along the slab again. Apart from a couple of quick drink breaks, the next stop was Benalla for fuel and an icy pole, before back on the Hume and home. Having left Canberra at 0900, I had hoped to be home before 1800. I walked through my door at 1758, so I was happy. Sure I could have done the ride quicker, but I like to take a few breaks, at least every hour and a half, even if it is to just stretch my legs.

I did get a few photos along the way, but nowhere near as many as I would have liked to have taken. This happens when you don’t have a charged battery, but I will post those up later.

One thing of interest to note, I spent basically 600km of my trip in Victoria, and 900km in NSW/ACT. In NSW/ACT I went past 5 fixed speed cameras, and passed 2 marked police cars. All of the cameras had warning signs before them, and big speed limit signs. But in Victoria, I passed 21 cameras, 4 marked police cars, 2 police bikes, and one unmarked car that had already pulled someone over. I have no issue with the police out there doing their bit, but the cameras really are just there to revenue raise, especially given that most of them are hidden. How are people going to slow down when instead of a visual presence, they just get a piece of paper in the mail a month after something has happened. That is just money grabbing.

I’ve packed up the bike and headed off somewhere for the day. But where?

Details at Eleven.

Five years ago my life took a change for the better. Some of you will know what happened, some wont. Those who don’t know, well I have thought about putting it all up here for the world to see, but I have decided that’s a can of worms I don’t want to open up just yet.

But if you don’t know what I am going on about, then send me a message, and you might find out what I am talking about. Needless to say, it was the right thing to do.

Well after only a couple of days, things are looking pretty good in the skank stakes. Here are a couple of photos taken by a blind, Parkinson’s riddled photographer from the Spatula Publishing Conglomerate.

First up, a close up.

And to finish things off, here is the cheesy shot.

Every now and then I click across to the bane of many workplaces, the evil empire known as facebook.

Recently there were some changes made to the evil empire, and it mainly affected the advertising. Basically by rejigging their page a little, they found they could fit more ads onto each page.

I have managed to shield my frame of vision from these ads, except for one of them:

Now I don’t have a dirty mind, but out of the corner of my eye, every time I see this,  I would swear she is about to suck off that big wad of cash.

Yes, I now have a tattoo. I’m not one for tattoos in general, but I decided to get one to mark beating cancer. I made up a graphic of what one of the leuky cells looks like, and had that with 2007 put on my shoulder blade. So now it is all behind me, but I have a reminder.

The guy who did that tattoo was very happy with his work, and he said it was one of the weirdest designs he had ever done. He took a photo, and when it all heals, he wants me to come back in so he can get another shot.  He was very impressed with the design, and my thought process behind it too. He wondered if I had any other designs. He was also impressed with my skin too, he said putting the ink in was like a hot knife through butter. I kind of think he wants me to go back for more, but I doubt it.

While I was waiting, I went through the photos of previous work, and was quite surprised to see some guy had a tramp stamp done on his lower back, but it was of a CBR600.

Anyway, it is all done now, and the guy did get a chuckle when I said to him after it “So this is a temp job right?” but I am happy it is all done, and it really wasn’t that painful, it was just like someone scratching sunburn.

There is a couple of other things I would consider getting done, but I would have to chat to other people first and see if they agree to it being done.  I wouldn’t recommend getting it done to anyone, after all, it is for life, but I am glad it is now done.

[addit]

I forgot to mention, after getting it done, I headed down to the chemist to get some antiseptic cream. While waiting to be served, the woman behind me said “Your back is bleeding.” I looked over my shoulder and said “Meh, that’s ok, it’s only weeping a little, I’ll fix it up when I get home.”

As the words were leaving my mouth, the teenager behind her said “Did you just get a tattoo?” I said yes, then the other woman scoffed at me and huffed out “Pathetic.”

I wasn’t fazed by her obvious hatred of my new tattoo, and simply replied “Well I got it after having beat cancer, it’s my reminder that it is all behind me now.” I found it all quite funny given the tattoo was only a few minutes old, and here was someone already skanking me.

I’m only posting this so I can beat Andy B to it. I’ll think of something amusing and witty to comment on it later.

Masturbating driver fined for ‘bizarre’ pleasure cruise

ABC – January 7, 2009, 2:08 pm

A Darwin man has been fined $2,000 for filming himself masturbating while speeding along the Stuart Highway.

The man is already in jail until August after pleading guilty to carrying cannabis in the car boot and two plants on the back seat.

Brenton Alan Erhardt, 39, pleaded guilty in the Darwin Magistrates Court to dangerous driving.

He was pulled over by police on the Stuart Highway in July speeding at 147 kilometres per hour, south of Daly Waters.

He admitted to officers he filmed himself masturbating while driving from Adelaide to Darwin.

He also pleaded guilty to driving unlicensed, carrying two cannabis smoking pipes, administering the drug and carrying a loaded rifle.

Magistrate Sue Oliver says the driving was bizarre to say the least and conduct she expects of someone much younger.

The fuckers handed the baby back to these tools. For Fucks Sake! I really have to wonder about the laws in this country and how they are upheld. FUCK!

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Ecstasy baby accused walk free

• Staff reporters
• January 6, 2009 – 6:47PM

Two Victorians charged after their baby daughter allegedly swallowed ecstasy are free on bail after a court appearance in north Queensland this morning.

- Baby ’swallowed ecstasy’
- Cairns court bails parents
- Child emerges from coma

The couple, who cannot be identified under Queensland child protection laws, showed no emotion as they appeared in Cairns Magistrates Court charged with grievous bodily harm and possessing a dangerous drug.

The man, 24, had short, brown hair, a tattooed right wrist and wore jeans and a white buttoned shirt. The woman, 22, had dark, bobbed hair and wore three-quarter-length jeans, a loose green top and thongs.

Neither was required to plead and they said nothing as Magistrate Robert Spencer released them on bail and set a committal mention hearing for February 3, excusing them from appearing. They will be represented by a lawyer.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Mark White did not give the court details of the charges, including what drug the child allegedly ingested.

A Queensland Police spokesman said after the hearing police would allege the child had ingested the drug as a result of negligence.

“Police will allege it was a negligent act resulting in the child ingesting the ecstasy, not a deliberate act,” he said.

The spokesman said police believed the negligence arose from where the ecstacy was stored.

The couple, from the Gippsland area, emerged from court arm in arm and refused to answer media questions, running to a waiting taxi organised by another couple, who had a child in a stroller.

The accused man was seen through the taxi’s tinted windows comforting the accused woman.

Their 10-week-old daughter was discharged from Cairns Base Hospital about midday today.

The baby girl had emerged from an induced coma yesterday after initially being admitted to the intensive care unit.

Detectives from the Cairns child protection and investigation unit have said the couple was holidaying in Cairns over the Christmas and new year period.

This morning, a resident at the units where the couple was staying in Manunda, on the outskirts of Cairns, said the pair arrived about a month ago.

“They just got here, probably a month ago with a newborn baby and another young couple and another child with them,” the neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said.

“They’ve been really friendly every time I’ve seen them. I used to see them go fishing and go walking in the park. They just seemed like really quiet people.”