Good Parenting Skills?

Being a parent is a great thing. I would not swap it for the world. However, there are always challenges and it is always a steep learning curve. There is always that realisation that you cannot always get everything right all of the time.

Yet, as some of these photos highlight, there are some things that just should not be done, particularly in this day and age of technology where our world is becoming increasingly smaller and better connected.

Just a few photos found while surfing the internet today...

Valentine's Day "Banned" Again in 2011...

The fact that the crotchety old white-robed backward looking Islamic scholars in various parts of Indonesia take the time to consider Valentine's Day each year is testament to the pervasive nature of the celebration. However, the vast majority of Indonesians have too little time to take stock of fatwas and other edicts issued banning Valentine's Day. The vast majority probably do not do anything out of the ordinary. It is just another day in a busy calendar.

It seems that Valentine's Day falls foul of the defenders of truth and the ways of the Prophet because it is a Western celebration of love. And, that is haram or forbidden in Islam. I wonder if it is dangerous because it is thought to be a western tradition and those western kafirs would do anything they could to undermine Indonesia or is it just that because it is about love it might promote promiscuity and, heaven forbid, free casual sex. I have been told there is no aphrodisiac quite like a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates. But, that said, as Forrest used to say: "life is like a box of chocolates, you never quite no what you're gonna get".

Traditionally, the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) have banned Valentine's Day on the basis that it is the same as proselytizing.

My guess is that most Indonesians will take no notice of the warnings and go about their daily lives as they would have if no fatwas were issued. I am also thinking that Cupid will not be deterred either come 14 February.

Ho hum...

Face Tattoo...

You have to be really sure on your art work when you are using your own skin as a canvas. This is even more so when you are thinking of getting something tattooed on your face.

I am sure that US rapper Gucci Mane gave some thought to the latest addition to his portfolio. Then again, maybe not! Mane had been doing a stint in an Atlanta psychiatric hospital. He thought that he would recognise that moment by getting a three-scoop ice-cream cone tattooed on his face. The ice-cream has a few lightning bolts hitting the scoops and Mane's favourite phrase, "Brrr", close by.

Seriously, why would someone get an ice-cream cone tattooed on their face?

So, what flavour did he choose for the scoops of ice-cream?

Telkomsel and Excelcomindo Get on Board the TitS Bandwagon...

In a victory for ignorance and stupidity, Telkomsel and Excelcomindo have decided to jump on board the TitS Express to "Insanityville". TitS has been waging a "War Against Porn". The main thrust of his current strategy is to shut down access to any site or material that he determines is offensive and undermines the morals of the Republic of Indonesia. So, Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry Smartphones, is now in his sites.

The Minister for [Mis]Information and [Mis]Communication (photo caption: "nah, I am right-handed and I start like this!") has decided that RIM has two weeks to shut down access to all pornographic sites. Here is my confusion as I sit down typing away while looking at my new mobile phone. I am wondering who is responsible for blocking porn content on my phone if Australia ever gets to the point that Indonesia is at now with TitS? My phone is a HTC and my service is provided by Telstra's Next G network. So, is HTC responsible for blocking porn content that may be accessed through my mobile phone or is that the responsibility of my service provider Telstra?

I would have figured that Telstra would have had to have been the responsible party in this instance. So, if that is the science of the matter then why is TitS so adamant in his pursuit of RIM and their BlackBerry Smartphones? I am no techno wizard, so feel free to jump in and comment.

I wonder if the real issue is not one of nationalisation through creative and novel interpretation of the prevailing laws and regulations, specifically the Pornography and ITE Laws.

I am sure I will get back to TitS and his RIM obsession in the future. Although, the mind boggles, where to from here Mr TitS, porn for the sight-challenged (blind in less politically correct terminology)?

Times Have Changed: Going to The Fair and Winning a Sex Toy!

I remember as a kid going to the fair over the Christmas holidays and playing the swiveling headed clowns with a view to winning a stuffed toy. It was always the plan at the Royal Easter Show as well during the Easter School holidays. However, times have changed, and perhaps not for the better, at least in New Zealand anyway.

A stall at the local fair in Nelson on New Zealand's south island run by Sturgeon Amusements are offering up blow-up sheep dolls as prizes. A blow-up sheep toy being given away as a prize in New Zealand seems apt given the jokes that surround New Zealander's and their enjoyment of sheep as company. So, it is either the ultimate in stupidity or just poor taste masked as a sense of humour that this stall is providing young children with a blow-up sheep sex toy as a prize.

They surely cannot be claiming that they did not know what it was, can they? After all, how many sheep do you see with bright blue eyes, long lashes and a French Maid's bonnet? It appears that the "toys" were to be destroyed but by some twist of fate the toys made their way to the fair. The owner of Sturgeon Amusements has offered anyone with a sheep sex toy a replacement toy if they bring the sheep back.

Seriously, what were they thinking that it was in any way appropriate to be giving blow-up sex toys to children.

Ho hum...

Show Me The Money!

This is surely one of those moments where your heart sinks to a place somewhere around your ankle level when you realise the magnitude of your stupidity. A British driver from Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex for some reason whacked £80,000 on the roof of his car and then drove off.

I am sure some people have stories where they have placed a bag on top of their car and driven off without getting the bag off the roof and into the car first or perhaps it is a mobile phone or even a can of Coke or something similar. But, £80,000 is a lot of cash to forget to put into the car before driving off.

In any event, the police have recovered some evidence from the scene of the loss and are treating the case as theft. It seems that whoever 'found' the cash took it out of whatever was holding it and left that behind, presumably with some fingerprints that may or may not lead to the perpetrator of the "theft". The report of the crime suggests that there is also CCTV footage of the "crime scene". So, maybe the owner of the money will get lucky.

It must have been a sight to behold when the man gets home and his wife says "so, honey where is the money that you drew out of the bank?" I am pretty sure that a throttling was on the cards.

I have never driven off with anything sitting on the roof of my car. I wonder, have you?

Drinking and STDs...

The owner of this wine and liquor store must surely have a sense of humour, right?

I guess this means that the link between excessive drinking and STDs is no longer anecdotal, is it?

The photo came courtesy of The Huffington Post this time (I have seen it before as it has done the rounds of the internet and email inboxes).

I Am Spartacus...

The moral of this story...

No matter what the occasion, no matter what the circumstances, and no matter how funny you think you might be being...don't do it!

Paul Chambers has learned this the hard way. His lesson has also shown how far we have come in taking the silly to the extreme of seriousness with respect to consequences. Chambers crime was to jokingly suggest in a Tweet that he might have to blow up Robin Hood Airport in northern England if the airport stayed closed because of snow. There is obviously nothing micro about micro-blogging site Twitter. The actual message looked like this: "Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get [it] together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"

In that perversely funny way there is nothing very charitable about Robin Hood in this story.

Unfortunately, for Chambers, an airport manager discovered the Tweet and reported it to a superior, who then reported it to police. The initial discovery came five days after the tweet was made, but for some reason the message was deemed to be "non-credible" but worthy of being passed onto police.

Chambers was charged and convicted for sending the Tweet. He appealed. That appeal was rejected and he was fined and ordered to pay costs.

The case has attracted plenty of attention from all directions. Stephen Fry has offered to pay any fine that Chambers ultimately is required to pay. However, the Twitter-sphere has ratcheted-up support for Chambers. In Twitter-land "IAmSpartacus" has been used as a tag to show support for Chambers. In fact, "IAmSpartacus" has become a hot trending topic.

The "IAmSpartacus" tag comes from the 1960 Stanley Kubrick film "Spartacus" starring non other than Kirk Douglas. In the film Spartacus' fellow rebels adopt his name in a show of solidarity.


What I do not get about this case is how a non-credible threat results in a charge and a conviction, which is then upheld on appeal. The offending Tweet was clearly a joke. In these times, a poor joke. I find it difficult to see how if Chambers had been serious about blowing up the airport that he would have Tweeted those plans in advance. Oh well!

Stupid Is As Stupid Does...

Oh dear, I wonder how this one might end up?

Fail Blog?

The internet is a place of some truly weird and fascinating stuff. It is also home to some real nasty stuff as well. But, I had never heard of this site until today, failblog.org. Yet, if you are looking to lighten up your day then this might be a place to visit in order to see how the other half lives...

Photoshop? Anyone?


see more funny videos

Well, now back to work!

Ancient Rome and a DPR Junket to Greece...

It is a good thing that I can touch type! Otherwise, I might not see the keyboard through the tears of laughter. This post is probably not an "only in Indonesia" one, but the supposed parliamentarians housed at the House of Representatives in Jakarta just do it with so much ease that it might as well be!

The latest in a long line of laughing stock moments is the Nudirman Munir of Golkar fame and a member of the DPR. It would seem that the DPR Ethics Council, of which Nudirman is Deputy Chairperson, has decided that it needs to take a comparative study tour to Greece in order to study the ethics of Ancient Rome. Nah, bugger me, but the last time I looked Rome ancient or otherwise would have found itself located in modern day Italy. In fact, the erstwhile members of the DPR ethics council would need to be undertaking a comparative study within a comparative study tour to get from Greece to Italy to do what it is that the trip, otherwise known as a junket, is supposed to let them learn.

But, the best part of the whole thing is that Nudirman rationalises the trip as needed in order to answer the very important questions of how parliamentarians can leave the chamber during sessions, whether the ethics council can dismiss parliamentarians, whether parliamentarians are permitted to smoke (presumably in the chamber during sessions), and views on the death penalty.

The last one is a hoot because this was justified as the members of the DPR Ethics Council needing to get first hand views on this as they have traditionally been fooled by do-gooder NGOs who pulled the wool over the ethics council's eyes. Yes, the tears are streaming down my cheeks now.

Yet, the icing on the cake despite all of those individually humorous moments above is that the "real" reason that the members need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money is that the information they hope to glean from going there in person cannot be found on the internet. My guess is that Nudirman needs to hire some better researchers or ask around. He might just find that he does not have to even leave Jakarta, let alone Indonesia, in order to find an expert that can fill him in on all that he doesn't currently know.

Now for the not so funny. During the period from 2004 through 2009, the DPR found time to take some 143 all-expenses paid comparative study tours from the public purse. Each of these 'tours' is supposed to generate a written report detailing the knowledge gained. The grand return from 143 tours is 3 reports. Yes, readers, that is three, 3, tiga reports. Of these three reports one of them is a one-page itinerary. Now, the data comes from some good friends of mine at PSHK (Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies or Pusat Studi Hukum dan Kebijakan). If you want to know more about these things then feel free to contact them.

If I was Nudirman, I would be hoping that I stayed high on the Golkar ticket because I almost certainly would not want to have to return to the real world and get a real job that did not involve the inexcusable and almost unaccountable waste of public funds on useless study trips.

But, while you're there Nudirman please don't forget the oleh-oleh! And, a photo standing in front of Big Ben as I am pretty sure that is not available on the internet.

Maurice Gibb Watching TV From Beyond The Grave...The Bee Gees Live!

It pays to do your research, particularly if you do not want to look really foolish (in this case some might argue, stoopid). So, let's face it, there is not a whole lot one can do to cover up asking a twin about his dead brother, particularly when the dead twin has been dead for 7 years or so.

The interview by Stephen Dixon with Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees fame was covering some ground about an [alleged] affair that Maurice Gibb had with British actress Barbara Windsor of EastEnders fame.

The news of the alleged affair has only recently broken as a result of an interview given by Windsor recently. So, Dixon thinking he might get a scoop on the competition decided that it was worth quizzing Robin about whether his brother would be watching the story unfold on the TV.

Robin was a particularly good sport and, without breaking step, informed the poorly informed host that Maurice had in fact passed in 2003. Dixon in full cover up mode tried to pass this off as an honest mistake created by confusion as to just how many Gibb brothers there were. Ah, not that hard, there were four Gibb brothers and three of them were in the Bee Gees.

The beauty or treachery of live TV.

Tifatul Sembiring -- The Minister for Stupidity & Nonsense...

There is nothing funny about HIV / AIDS and there is nothing funny about Tifatul Sembiring (aka TitS). It would seem that TitS via his Twitter account (@tifsembiring) thought that a joke through a play on the letters of AIDS would be something amusing to send to all his Twitter followers.

Now, AIDS for just about everyone else stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. But, for @tifsembiring it stands for, in Indonesian, Akibat Itunya Ditaruh Sembarangan, which in English means in essence "caused by the reckless putting of one's penis" presumably into places where penis' should not be.

This sort of reminds me of a time way back when, perhaps in the mid to late 1980s, a time when I was just a youngster, and when AIDS was still very much considered "a gay disease". The "joke" then was Anally Injected Death Sentence which was neither funny nor representative of what sort of tragedy was to unfold on a much broader scale, and a tragedy that continues to unfold on a large scale even today in places like Africa.

TitS tweet is offensive, but then it is hardly surprising as he is an offensive man. He is very much a sufferer of PKS or Perennial Klown Syndrome. But, when it is all said and done, his tweet proves that old cliche, "if you have nothing positive to say then perhaps it is better not to say anything at all." Or that other classic, "it is better to be thought of as a fool for five minutes rather than open your mouth and confirm it for a lifetime."

It is pretty sad that the Minister for Communication and Information knows diddly about both the primary elements of his brief. If he was in command of the elements then he would have known that there was no other possible outcome from putting a tweet out there like this than bad.

The Minister needs to exhibit a little class, and show a little remorse for making a joke of, and mocking those that are suffering with HIV / AIDS. Perhaps he could impose some community service hours on himself and go and work at a HIV / AIDS charity doing good work in Indonesia. I would highly recommend Yayasan Spiritia, they are doing good work. Perhaps, the Minister would learn a thing or two about some of the challenges that people living with HIV / AIDS face every single day in Indonesia, like struggling to be able to get a regular supply of affordable medications or simple discrimination.

The real question is whether the Minister has the testicular fortitude to man-up and admit that his joke was not a joke but rather it was nothing more than a chance for him to offend and pretend that it was all fun and games. My guess is the Minister will not be able to escape from his Perennial Klown Syndrome woes and try and redeem himself on Twitter while holding out hope that others will come to his rescue with piss poor support like, "lighten-up it was just a joke".

As I said, and many others will continue to say, there is nothing funny about HIV / AIDS.

Postscript:
The support for TitS can be found in some of the comments in response to the article at The Jakarta Post. It would seem that the claim is that the offending tweet is part of a much longer logical sequence that makes the tweet less offensive. The tweet is not TitS' personal belief but rather just a comment on, and relaying of, something said by a former Health Minister of Indonesia (Professor Sujudi).

However, it probably is worth pointing out that the series of tweets, to which the supportive commenter refers to, has a very distinct homophobic viewpoint suggesting that HIV /AIDS is a "gay" disease and represents God's choice of raining down destruction and death on those that practice "deviant" behaviours. The postscript was added about 40 minutes after the original post.

Disclaimer: Oh, and if anyone picked up on the PKS theme relating to the TitS...no offense is intended to any other organisation or group that uses the same letters to represent themselves. If you look at the accompanying photo you can see that the Minister has in fact got the "Krusty the Klown" (from "the Simpsons") thing happening.

Calling President Obama Names...

I was reading a story earlier on today about a British teenager who sent President Obama an email message. The message is allegedly a drunken rant, but the gist of it was that the president was a "prick"!

I am sure he is not the only one in the whole wide world that thinks that, but he is probably one of the few that have bothered to get online and track down a working email address for the White House and fire off his little tirade.

Unfortunately, for the teen, Luke Angel, the FBI intercepted the message, made a few calls to the British police, and the local coppers came around to his house in Silsoe, Bedfordshire, and reprimanded him.

For his efforts, Mr. Angel is now apparently banned from travelling to the US for life. Yep, I had to read that twice myself. I find it hard to believe that calling the president of the US a prick warrants quite such an extreme measure. There simply has to be more to it, doesn't there?

Let's face it, there is a big difference from calling someone a prick and threatening to kill them. There is a big difference between calling someone a prick and using a racial epithet, even.

According to the US Department of Homeland Security there are 60 reasons why someone might find themselves on the "banned from the USA" list. I only have 59 others to track down. Hopefully, they are a lot more serious than this one! I wonder if Mr. Angel would have been banned had he called President Obama a wanker? What about a clown? Or perhaps a Nazi?

On a personal note, I like the fella and like the idea that Obama is president. I actually would have voted for the fella if I was a US citizen with the right to vote. I reckon that he is doing a pretty good job in a very tough gig. I always thought he had much thicker skin than that. After all, the president lived in Indonesia for three or so years in his formative years, and you have to be tough inside and out to survive that!

This story surely must be a beat-up...the US is not really banning people from travelling to the US for calling the president names, are they?

Government of Jakarta, huh?

I have read some stupid things today, but this takes the cake. What is the Government of Jakarta thinking when it states that it thinks working cooperatively with the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) during the holy month of Ramadan to "secure" entertainment venues. Secure in this context must mean compliance as opposed to safeguard. Unfortunately, this news story I read in Indonesian (here, so if you can read it...if not, then you will have to take my word for it).

At this stage it is supposedly only a plan, but the fact that it has been suggested shows some serious lack of foresight by the government and a real lack of understanding. The Government of Jakarta has sufficient law enforcement resources at its disposal that it just does not need to make use of the thugs at the FPI to do quasi police work.

As I said, this is the stupidest thing I read today. The FPI is the same bunch of goons that go round each Ramadan and forcibly close entertainment venues irrespective of whether the venue is operating pursuant to the rules and regulations.

These closures are done using extreme violence and are designed to damage as much property as possible, they are designed to inflict physical harm on patrons at these venues, and they are designed to strike fear into the general populace. So, I ask again, what is the government thinking by seemingly granting the FPI legitimacy to break the law and harm the citizens of Jakarta?

The Governor of Jakarta, Fauzi Bowo, really needs to think again on this one. If he stays this course it only serves to provide ammunition to his critics who have already nicknamed him Fuzzy Bodoh (bodoh in Indonesian means stupid).

The plan to use the FPI is just a stupid, stupid, stupid idea!

The Crocodile Files -- Stupid Is As Stupid Does...

Here is one for the truly stupid files. An Australian man has been bitten by a saltwater crocodile after breaking into a crocodile park and trying to sit on a crocodile and give it a pat.

Are you shaking your head yet? You should be! And, having a little chuckle to yourself as well.

Yes, an Australian man holidaying in Broome in the northwest of Western Australia decided that he would scale a barbed wire fence and break into the Broome Crocodile Park. Now, it would seem that the man's courage is directly proportional to the amount of alcohol that he consumed, or perhaps the directly proportional angle here is alcohol and stupidity! In any event, after having been kicked out of a local hotel for being too drunk he decided that to sober up he needed to pat a crocodile.

Picture this...a drunk man breaking into a crocodile park to pat a crocodile. Where does that rate on the stupidity scale for you?

The crocodile, affectionately known as Fatso, happens to be 5 metres long. Fatso was not so happy about his new passenger or the after hours wake-up call. So, after being sat upon, Fatso spun around and grabbed a hold of his passenger. Fortunately, for the passenger, Fatso decided he did not need an evening snack and let the passenger go. At which point one assumes the drunk bloke had a moment of clarity among the beer haze and scarpered quick smart to the safety of the other side of the fence.

The bloke was lucky. He escaped with some serious lacerations to the leg that Fatso got a hold of and that was it damage wise. Lucky, very lucky because as any keen observer of saltwater crocs will tell you, these are creatures that usually once they bite they don't let go.

Disguised?

This most certainly is one of those moments where you stretch back in your chair and smile. I don't know that this is the worst disguise ever, but it has to be close. If you could send people to jail for being hopelessly stupid then these two gentlemen, Matthew McNelly and Joey Miller, might just get the nod.

They tried to break into an apartment complex and failed. There are lots of people who try to commit crimes and do not succeed. However, I am not sure I have ever heard of anyone drawing on their own disguise with a marking pen. Yet, the icing on this cake is that it was a permanent marker.

My experience with permanent markers is that if they get on your skin then they are really difficult to get off. So, to colour in your face with a permanent marker is absurd, absurdly funny that is.

The excuse for the embarrassment is likely to be that they were drinking heavily and were intoxicated. Yep, the last time I had a few beers though, I do not recall hatching a plan to burglarize a place and disguise my face with a Zorro mask inked on in permanent black marker.

Kyle Sandilands -- Stupid Is As Stupid Does...

It is always interesting to see and hear people offer an apology for being truly offensive. But, the apology more often than not tends to sound really hollow and more like damage control than a real apology. This is the case with Kyle Sandilands of 2Day FM fame, or is that infamy.

After the debacle of the lie detector segment (which you can read about here) and a two-week suspension, it has not taken long for Sandilands to jump right back in where he left off. Sandilands is often portrayed as a shock jock, but I am starting to think that the only shock that this bloke will get is when he looks in his own jock(eys).

I have written about the dangers of exaggeration and using analogies that just do not hold up to scrutiny. But, as an extension of this there are some things that are just not funny. So, the idea that a concentration camp is in some ways an extreme reality version of a Jenny Craig weight loss program is not only objectionable, it is offensive.

One of Australia's premier comics, Magda Szubanski, who happens to be of Polish extraction, and is currently the one of the faces of Jenny Craig in Australia, was the subject of the concentration camp taunt by Sandilands. Szubanski has battled with her weight for many years and finally committed herself to doing something about it. To her credit she has lost 25kgs.

However, Sandilands seemed to think she could lose a few more kilos yet, and that any suggestion that she might be genetically disposed to being heavy set as a consequence of a large frame was nothing more than the standard excuse used by fat people to stay fat. He then figured that to prove his point that he would reckon that the weight would fall off if she was in a concentration camp.

Brainless! There are myriad of other things that I thought about writing to describe Sandilands and his stupidity. But, I know there is no need to write them down as most people would probably have a good collection of their own.

The result is that Sandilands has been suspended again. However, if Austereo, the owners of 2Day FM has any testicular or ovarian fortitude, then they would convert this suspension into a firing. And, if Austereo does not do it then the sponsors must show their concern by fleeing en masse with their advertising dollars.

I am voting for a Sandilands dismissal by not tuning into any 2Day FM programs.

Facebook -- Dangerous?

Have you ever wondered how embarrassing or dangerous Facebook can be? If you have not, or even if you have, then this will most definitely be of interest to you.

This is certainly going to be a WTF have I done. But, in any event, Michael sounds like the man!

(You might have to enlarge the picture to read it or click on the embedded link!)

Never Ask A Question If You Do Not Know The Answer...

They teach you this very simple philosophy of advocacy in law school. It seems that they should also teach it to you in media and communications studies programs as well!

There are always exceptions to every rule. There are sometimes as an advocate when in the pursuit of truth you take an educated and calculated risk in asking certain questions. However, for most advocates this would be a lot less frequent than asking questions to which you know the answer to.

A perfect example of this occurred on the Kyle and Jackie O's Lie Detector segment on 2Day FM radio. A mother dragged her 14-year-old daughter onto the show,and Kyle and Jackie O being the ratings hogs that they are decided that this would be a real ratings boost for them. The mother seemingly wanted to shame her daughter into confessing on public radio during a peak hour morning segment to her drug and sexual history.

As a parent, I am not into naming and shaming. It does much more harm than good to a child. That is my personal view and I am sure if there are any readers out there interested in this issue you will undoubtedly be able to find statistics that suggest naming and shaming works.

The girl had told her mother that she had been raped and the mother has not believed her. So, in her infinite parenting wisdom she has decided that taking a lie detector test on a public radio station would clear this whole sordid episode up once and for all.

The girl is 14-years-old! What was the mother thinking? And, more to the point, what were Kyle and Jackie O thinking when they decided to go ahead with this? Discussing a 14-year-old's sex life and drug use on a public radio program appears to me to be in blatant disregard for the rights of the child and the welfare of that child. If Kyle and Jackie O intend hiding behind the fact that the mother gave her approval and the mother is the guardian of the child and has the right to do so, is naive and disingenuous.

It is not rocket science to see that the potential harm here far outweighs any good that might come from the segment. Not everything in life is about ratings and popularity.

The girl clearly did not want to be there and can be heard saying before the questioning starts, "I'm scared ... it's not fair." This should have been a red light to stop the segment then and there. Unfortunately, no one present bar the girl seemed likely to stop.

Then the questioning begins.

The first question was pretty harmless about whether or not the girl had skipped school. Then the questions got to the nitty gritty of why the segment was on in the first place.

The mother asks the daughter, "Have you ever had sex?"

The daughter replies, "I've already told you the story about this ... and don't look at me and smile because it's not funny." At this point, anyone worth their salt would have cut to an advertisement and posed some quick questions to the mother about the story and what was going on here. I guess for some people ratings are more important than the rights and mental health of a child.

After a brief moment the girl then said, "Oh, OK ... I got raped when I was 12-years-old!" If the lead in of the previous question was not enough to shut the segment down, then this statement should have been.

However, after a brief pause, Kyle (Kyle Sandilands) asks, "Right ... is that the only experience you've had?" What an idiot!!! This bloke needs to get slapped around a little bit by regulators, by his station masters, and by the general public. The statement is outrageous!

Then the girls mother jumps in and says she only found out about the rape a couple of months ago. What? Has she reported it? Has she looked at getting her daughter some counselling to try and work through the trauma of being raped as a child? There are some serious issues here all around that need to be addressed relating to the welfare of this particular child.

I wonder whether there is a claim to be made here that the segment amounted to harassment or abuse of a child. Perhaps I feel more strongly about this now that I am a parent, I cannot really say, I have always been a strong supporter of the rights of children. Even as a young boy, I steadfastly refused to let other kids be harassed. One such incident all but ended my cubbing and scouting career when I stood up to the scout master and told him what I thought of his constant harassment of one of my troop members. As I recall it became a bit of an incident at the time.

I hope that in the aftermath of this fiasco that 2Day FM antes up and helps this family get the counselling that they need to deal with the issues that the rape has resulted in, as well as the stupidity of running the segment in the first place. This was hardly the time or place for "The Moment of Truth" to be played out. And, the sexual and drug history of a 14-year-old is hardly suitable material for a live segment on any public platform.

It is certainly a Forrest Gump moment, "stupid is as stupid does!"