The week started well. Poo did us proud.
Our story on the giant inflatable dog turd which tore free of its moorings and carved a path of destruction through the Swiss countryside, made it on to America's
Colbert Report – the best satirical news program in the world (see video).
But the fun was just starting. In response to a story
Calls for prescriptions for Nurofen Plus one 'Joe Mater' had an interesting take.
“Dear Sirs, we need to buy NUROFEN HEADECH TABLETS AND CAPSULES in large quantity for iraq country, free zone beirut in transit. kindly send us your best offers in case you can supply regards joe matar 961 3 473 593 mobile.”
It was difficult to know how to respond. So we just popped a few Nurofen and moved on. Which was good because there was a veritable fire about to start over at the
Aussies support immediate pension increase story. Clearly not ALL Aussies were supportive if 'Dweeb Land' from teen land was anything to go by.
“Why waste good dole money on em , better going to young teens like me than old farts. they about to drop off anyway,”
But others, it’s fair to say, including 'Dennis Smith' from Sydney were not really in agreeance.
“I can not believe the moderator would let a post like this go through,an insult and just outright disrespect to all people who have ever worked hard for this country and they get spoken about like this,I am disgusted at this post being published at all you both should hang you heads in shame !!!!!!!!”
But then things got serious. Over at
Students expelled over private school huffing scandal we were getting some serious debate – 'proundparent Pymble' of the North Shore was adamant.
“Zero tolerance! Those girls knew what they were doing was wrong and illegal. My support goes out to Mrs.Waters and the decision makers at PLC.”
But then students from the school started to speak up.
“HEY HEY HEY!! im from the skool and NO they skool did NOT JUST BOOT EM OUT! its much more complicated than that! you silly person. the principle did wat she had to because it was right and I would DEFINATELY NOT GO TO YOUR SKOOL IF U FOUND OUT SOME WERE TAKING DRUGS AND U LET THEM STAY! if u DO NOT get rid of threats like those kids then ur skool would SUCK! i believe the principle did the right thing. i wouldve done the exactly same thing! cheers, xox PLC student.”
And then parents got involved, as we saw when 'Concerned Parent' from Smartsville piped up.
“How can they re-act like that? My daughter goes to that school and was a close friend of one of the girls who was expelled, and it has had a profound impact on my daugther's life. I mean how would you feel if you best friend was kicked out of the school for a small mistake. Children are bound to be curious. While I do not condone what those girls did, I feel that what the school did was wrong. They have a reverend and a whole horde of cousellors isn't this exactly what they are for. To help.”
It all made for exactly the kind of debate that we need. A fellow teacher from the North Coast piped up…
“Unfortunately, this sort of reaction is typical of independent schools. They preach that they have pastoral care, however they reject those that don't fit the mold. The public system takes all comers, regardless of socio-economic status, religion (or not), race or disability, and accepts that sometimes mistakes are made. There are consequences for their actions in the State system but certainly more compassion.”
The story of a boy who hanged himself after being bullied at school also gave us an insight into the boy after people who knew him began to share their thoughts on LIVENEWS.com.au.
“Alex was my beautiful nephew, I cannot express the pain I feel, but that is nothing to my brothers pain who was his father, the media circus that surrounded the baby's funeral should not have been tolerated, the grief was palpable and no reverance was given to the circumstance, by god the media have a lot to answer for, this tragic incident was hard enough to cope with for all family members, this shall go down as the biggest media disgrace I have ever witnessed, all my love to beautiful Alex,” said Tracey Cowie of Chifley NSW.
Others like Tayla Ruddock of Currans Hill also knew Alex.
“I was an ex girlfriend of alex and good mate after. Im surprised on how much bullying can do i mean why tease some one so much that they only feel the way out is to take there life ! He was a good mate to many and a mad person to get to know. he was good in school and loved motor cross and soccer. i dont know how any one could do something so sick and to tease some one about something that much that they took his life ! i hope the bullies get a taste of their own. alex R.I.P love you taay xo.”
But that’s all getting a little heavy. By the end of the week the smart-arses were out in force as evidenced by this little gem of a comment on a story called
Australians still losing bucket-loads to Nigerian email scams.
“Hello there Livenews. My name is Mombo and I recently inherited $5 million dollars from an uncle who now lives in Israel. The only problem is I can't get it into the country because of our tax system - i'll lose much of it. You guys are just starting out as a website so I'm sure an injection of capital would be useful. Here's what I'm proposing - i send it to your account and we split the money. The only problem is i need some money to pay a lawyer to set it up. About $A7000. Wot U reckon?,” Mombo Mbeki, Abjua Nigeria.
And then our more regular wags got started…
“Mombo Mbeki, Abjua, Hi Mombo, thank you for the wonderful offer, I will certainly help you as soon as I can secure an inheritance of my own, unfortunately I have to go to Europe in person to secure the money. If you could send me A$2389 for my airfare, I will be able to pick up my $49000 inheritance and I will the immediately send A$7000 to your account. Thank you very much for selecting lil old me for your truly amazing and generous offer. My bank details are .............,” Graeme Henderson, Darling Downs.
Some people were slightly angrier, if a little big drunk, as was “Milan Iamila” when commenting on
Martina loses 200m silver medal.
“THINK USA IS BAD MAN ,,, THOSE ARE VERRY BAD,,, CHURANDY COME FROM A SMAL LAND BUTH WE HAVE GOD AND HE IS MORE POWERFULL , AND HE IS GOING TO DO SOMETHING”
And of course finishing off the week were those who were affected by 'Colin' the baby whale desperately searching for its mother around Pittwater. Some like 'Nick Sides' were very concerned.
“KISS... 1) Obtain a bladder (from the military???), 2) graft a rubber teat onto it (Clark Rubber???), 3) fill with a human infant formula (good enough) from a corporate doner (Nestle???), 4) place it overboard next to this mother-like yacht 5) the animal will feed, buying us time to lure it to another pod. We can put man on the moon, destroy the earth with a flip of a switch but can't milk a whale.”
Others like 'PrakashBhat’ could see the funny side.
“I do think that the baby whale Colin's mother had her to get the baby bonus and with that money she went and bought a HD plasma/LCD TV ! Probably she is watching olympics and hence abandoned her baby. I feel sorry for you Colin. Blame Costello for all this.”
And so ended another week at LIVENEWS.com.au.