Friday, September 7

Officially over APEC now ...

... My friend Fiddles sent me this the other day, for a laugh (intertubies have been down at home and one does not post from the office!). For those of you who may be unaware, the US President, Mr G W Bush, arrived Australia on Tuesday night – throwing poor old Sydney into a bit of a spin. It’s been raining pretty much ever since (hehehehe).
He was NOT met at the airport by the Australian Prime Minister, Mr J Howard because Mr Howard was at some football awards.
The Kevin referred to is the leader of the Australian Labor Party, the Opposition, Mr Kevin Rudd – who was recently outed for visiting a strip club when he was in New York a few years ago (ho hum). The Kross W refers to is actually Kings Cross, Sydney’s red light district (such as it is) – geddit?
In other APEC-related news, a few of the Chaser boys were arrested and charged for playing a joke. They were arrested for breaching APEC security and charged with “entering a restricted area without justification”. The charge, newly legislated, was created especially for APEC. The top APEC police chap, Detective Superintendent Ken McKay, was not amused, griping that it may have been a joke but “the current APEC security environment isn’t the place to do it”.
For goodness sake, this is what the Chaser boys do for a living, only someone who lived in a hermitically sealed box would not know who they were, and yet this happens.
The only proper response would have been to laugh long and loud to the cameras, show people that “the authorities” still have a sense of humour and sent those cheeky boys on their way, with a friendly wave. You know, “you cheeky buggers, off you go now silly boys”, show the human face of the police & security. But no, they were officious bully boys, humourless grumps who went all arrest/charge/bail on the japesters, apparently determined go all the way to court.
I’ll just say this, you give special powers to the police, they will use them, the more power they have, the more dangerous they become to ordinary folks – you and me. Be careful out there.

8 comments:

cookiecrumb said...

Apologies to you for the visit.
I just wish somebody had... well, I can't say that.
Y'know. "Be careful out there."
Wah.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Having read your blog for quite a while now Cookie, YOU don't need to apologise for his visit :) He did it himself btw, apologised "for any inconvenience caused" - meh!

Pink Granite said...

Sigh...
Ever so sorry...
Live in a blue state. Didn't vote for him. Got stuck with him, like some sort of nightmare relative, you can't shake and he's all ours until January 20, 2009. Counting the days.
Sigh...
Ever so sorry...

Ms Brown Mouse said...

So know how you feel Ms Pink, Mr Brown & I feel exactly the same way about little Johny Howard - don't blame us, WE didn't vote for him ;)
We, on the other hand, are eagerly awaiting the declaration of an election, any time soon!

e said...

For the record, I didn't vote for W either. Neither time. I'm very distraught at the damage he's caused, here and abroad. There is not a soap box big enough...

I heard about the pranksters, they dressed up like Osama Bin Laden, didn't they? I think the authorities are all in a huff because they looked like incompetent boobs, not catching them until the very last gate.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

E - Yes, one of the japesters did indeed pop on a big beard and white dress but the funniest thing was their "security cards" they stated JOKE & still they got through!
Anger at being "humiliated" is without a doubt a big factor here. I'm a bit worried about the protesters who've planned a march for today (saturday) I suspect the bullies are going to be out in force and wanting to show a little force. Watch out anyone who tries a little joke today!

Zoomie said...

Your police's reaction is probably a reflection of what that clown Bush expects. Awful man. Worse administration. Can't wait for him to be gone, although the likely successors don't look all that great, either, with a few exceptions. Hang in there - you've only got him for a few more days, whereas we have to deal with him for more than a year more. Poor us!

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Zoomie - you have my sincerest condolences. All you lovely americans do :)