Pauline Hanson and Schapelle Corby...

Pauline Hanson must be having a moment where she feels she needs to get back into the spotlight seeing her last foray was something to do with not selling her house to a Muslim, and Woman's Day has decided that they would oblige. The only other newsworthy piece of gossip about Ms Hanson is that she has pledged her support to Tony Abbott over Julia Gillard. Now there is an endorsement that Mr Abbott must be looking forward to exploiting in the coming election campaign.

Of the myriad of issues that Ms. Hanson could have chosen to vent on, she has decided that it is time that prisoner transfer agreements (PTA) received her passing attention. Her particular target in this case seems to be none other than one of Australia's most well-known incarcerated citizens, Ms. Schapelle Corby.

The Hanson view is a simple one. If you are convicted of committing a crime overseas then you should do the time for that crime overseas. The logic being, why should Australian taxpayers foot the bill for your foreign crime sprees? Judging by the comments left in the Daily Telegraph there are quite a few people that agree with her.

Perhaps more interesting is that the Hanson view has been aired in none other than the Woman's Day. It was not all that long ago that this publication was publishing nothing but pro-Corby related articles. I wonder what happened on that front. Perhaps they are just airing an alternate view that is designed to drive more support to  Ms. Corby and her push for freedom. Then again...

After the recent rush on Corby related news in the press there has not been much printed in the immediate past. There has been no news of her state of mind, the state of her clemency bid, or her desire to have a child (in jail if she must). Maybe the old adage is true...no news is good news!

Schapelle Corby -- Depressed and Desperate?

It has been a while since I last wrote a Schapelle Corby related post. There has been no reason for this, other than not being bothered. I am planning on writing a couple (I might do them all in a row now that I am onto it). This particular post was inspired by some email I received asking me what I thought about her deteriorating mental state and whether she should be repatriated to Australia for treatment. It was also inspired by the above recent New Idea cover.

The picture, as they say, tells a thousand words. So, I won't bore you with a thousand more analyzing, but rather, I will just bore you with a few observations.

1. Why is it that New Idea has an exclusive deal with new tidbits of Schapelle Corby related information? Is there a media deal in place? Is Schapelle profiting from this exclusive deal?

2. How does this exclusive deal advance the campaign to bring Schapelle Corby home?

3. A recent report from Dr. Jonathon Phillips stated that Schapelle Corby was severely depressed, harming herself (allegedly cutting herself with a piece of glass), had regressed into a child like state, and who is not likely to survive prison. However, this picture (above) does not paint that scenario, of a desperate and depressed woman, does it?

4. In contrast, her regular doctor, Dr. Thong, has argued that Schapelle Corby is depressed and anxious. But, with medication that is taken as it is prescribed to be, Schapelle Corby can function normally and within the parameters of what is expected of a person in her situation.

5. I have argued pretty consistently that Schapelle Corby has been found guilty and exhausted her appeals, and no amount of rearguing and rehashing the evidence is likely to change this fact. The focus must now be on how to speed up the process of repatriation. I firmly believe that five years is more than enough time for the crime that she has been convicted of. However, a cover such as this one and an open letter to Australians has not seemed to endear her to the wider Australian populace. In fact, popular support seems to be running along the lines of, if you do the crime you must do the time. This is sad, sad for Schapelle Corby.

6. If part of the strategy is to generate support for the idea that Schapelle Corby has done enough time for the crime she has been convicted of, then it is time to broaden the base of appeal. It should not matter whether you think she is innocent or guilty in order to join the movement for repatriation. As long as you think she has done enough time and deserves to be repatriated, then that is enough. Unfortunately, this is not the case. It seems that in order to be a supporter you have to be a true believer in that Schapelle Corby is an innocent victim; a political porn in some geo-political game, where you must toe the single party line.

Perhaps this is why I have not written more frequently. I support the idea that Schapelle Corby has done enough time, but I cannot bring myself to ascribe to the party line. I wonder how many more people like me are out there; people wanting to help, but also turned off by the constant derision from true believers if you are not prepared to declare your support for innocence.

Sad really, very sad.

Sperm Smuggling

A murderer has been able to smuggle his sperm out of jail and have it transported interstate and then inseminated into his girlfriend. The girlfriend has then become pregnant and given birth to a son. Are congratulations in order here?

The NSW prison security system at one particular jail obviously leaves a little to be desired. However, any security system is only as good as the people who work in it or run it, and in this case it seems that neither worked well. The jail cannot be identified according to reports. Nevertheless, word of mouth will probably see the identity of both the jail and murdered concerned revealed at some point.

This kind of breach usually sees heads roll, and this case has been no exception with three members of the prison management team being stood down. A doctor and nurse have also been stood down. It is alleged that the doctor and nurse were instrumental in the deed.

For those of you who are wondering, sperm can survive outside of the body for up to 48 hours if kept at body temperature. So, the actual smuggling of the sperm out of jail and keeping it viable is not so difficult if the security gods align in the right way. It seems that the gods aligned themselves in the right way for this murderer and his keen girlfriend.

A Liquor Shortage for Jakarta

I do not go out all that often and I am guessing that I will probably not be going out at all for the foreseeable future with "The Kid" being born in a mere six days from now. However, I did notice recently that the price of my regular vodka & cranberry has almost doubled in price in just over a week. I just figured this was a trickle down on the imploding global economy that is being propped up by various bail out packages throughout the world. But, alas, it has more to do with a liquor shortage.

Probably more specifically it has to do with the sudden ratcheting-up of excise or duties on imported alcohol that now sees some 60 containers of liquor sitting idly in some Indonesian ports. The duty on the imported alcohol sitting in Indonesian ports is 300% apparently and importers are refusing to cough up and pay the higher duties. This is but part of the problem. The Government also imposes a quota on imported alcohol. This is designed to protect local producers from the market power of big multinational alcoholic beverage producers.

Nevertheless, standard fare is that this quota is usually tapped out by mid-year and the lack of further imports leads to plenty of smuggled liquor and other less than legal mechanisms of getting more imported liquor into the market.

The end result is that this is likely to make business difficult for places that sell alcohol as people are likely to be much more discerning when it comes to drinking and how much they drink. A three-drink night may well become a one-drink night and an early night at that. The trickle down effect is likely to not only impact the bottom lines of the businesses but also the people that they support, such as staff.

It looks like I will be saving some money.