The Dog's Tits
Little Green Footballs
Cox & Forkum
Tim Blair
Val Prieto
Damian Penny
Yobbo
Silent Running
Kim Du Toit
Unoriginal Prankster


Premium core
Lileks
The Wogger
Catallaxy Files
Eject Eject Eject!!!
Samizdata
Currency Lad
libertarian.org.au
Vodkapundit

Unblog Politika
FrontPage Mag
IPA
Quadrant
CIS
The Real Cuba

Brain Police
Michael Jennings
Zoe Brain
Daniel Pipes
James Randi

Girls, Girlz, Grrrlz
Emily Jones
Kathy Kinsley

Grumpy Old Farts
Paul Bickford
Acidman
Mad Ogre

Encomium Jeebus
Steve H.
The Rottweiler

Right Wing News


Beautifully Wicked
Bitchin' Monaro Guide
Capitalist Chicks
Evil Godless Swine
Professor Bunyip

Anti-suckage
Mr. Mustard
Vigilant TV
Bleedin' Brain
Israelly Cool

Aussies Up Your Arse
After Grog Blog
Mangled Gazza
Slatts
Evil Pundit
Kev Gillett
Patrick Hawke


Wankers

Adam Yoshida
Walter Lippmann
Niall Cook
Resistance
Joe Vialls' Corpse
Robert Fisk
Michael Moore
Victor Zammit
Dick Neville
The Daily Osama
George Monbiot
Jew Killers United
Pilger
The Guardian
Noam Chomsky
Green Left Weekly
Socialist Alliance



11 December 2005

Scary Thom

Following on from his fearsome non-existent lawyers, non-existent 'communications tribunal' and non-existent friends in the Federal Police, the Castro-loving Greens candidate Thom Lyons has issued more threats:

Your continual harrassment is why I complained to the VIC police on friday.

Uh-huh.

What shall I do with you?  Contact your boss, or the federal police directly?

My knees are trembling as we speak.

You obviously have serious mental problems.  Do you plan on doing anything about it.  Taken down your picture of Castro yet.

Speaking of mental problems Thommy, I've had two currently serving members of the Australian military write to me in the last few days, pointing out further holes in your military service claims.

Here's the first correspondent, whom I'll name 'Troy McLure' :

Thom claims to have served in the "photo field" of the RAAF. This is a very vague description and most unusual for a military professional where precise terminology is impoortant. Is he referring to photojournalism or imagery and assessment? [...] I am currently [description deleted by Tex] at RAAF Laverton and there is not, and never was a "Recon Lab" at this location.

I would also like to know how Thom was "reactivated" at the age of 56. The mandatory retirement age for service personnel is 55. Very rare exceptions are made for members such as Peter Cosgrove, but I do not think Thom has the same stature [...] Another factor is that the cut off for the inactive reserve is 55, no exceptions.

Here's the second correspondent, whom I'll name 'Mr. Wong'. Mr. Wong is currently in the RAAF, and is doing some checking into Thom's claims:

First, on Thom's claims that he came to Australia in 1988 after being hired by Australian Defence Industries:

Smells like Bullshit. If he was 'working for the Navy' at this time, then the accessing of his skills would have been done through one of a series of MOU we have with the USN and thru them with its contractors. If he was working for the USN as a member, he would simply have been posted. We had a US civvy contractor working with us at the time and his employment was done thru this mechanism. The contractors loved it because it guaranteed higher pay, and their company made a motza as well, so everyone was happy.

Next, Mr. Wong comments on one of Thom's other claims:

THOM: "The third day I was in country I got a call from the Royal Air Force asking me if I'ed consider joining the RAAF as a direct entry office in the photo field.  I told um about working on the reunion and they said they could delay entry.  It seems that they had only one officer left in the photo field with real combat experience.  They promised me my choice of posting as a teacher at the photo school at SALE or to the recon lab at Laverton, commission at the rank equivalent of Captain in the USAF and promotion to Major in 2 years.  I took it. "

MR. WONG: I call 'Bullshit' Transfers are simply not done like this. The RAAF had plenty of Vietnam war era blokes about at that time, including Imagery analysts, and we have NEVER had specialist dedicated IA's as an independent stream. We had no Photog officers, only troops and SNCO. IA officers are line intelligence officers who do the imagery course, they usually managed the PHOT's in the FEG Phot shops. There was no photo school at Sale that I am aware of (I will have to check this with some old-and-bolds) unless he means the little PHOT facility for the base, and there has not been a 'recon lab' at Laverton since the Central Flying School training facility was closed there in 1947. There ARE two facilities which the description 'recon lab' might fit. Neither are or ever have been in Victoria.

Mr. Wong also provided two questions to ask Thommy. Questions a real RAAF officer would know the answers to.

When I sent Thom these questions, and asking for a comment on the e-mail above, Thom replied with the comments you see above.

He's really not happy about having his claims checked on, is he?

And in case you were wondering, I still haven't heard from his lawyers.

 

War of the worlds

Caught up with the Spielberg/Cruise sci-fi epic last night.

I enjoyed it tremendously, though it could have been better.

Spielberg is always at his best whe he's being dark, and the mood of this end-of-the-world epic is pitch-perfect.

Kudos to Spielberg for the 'minimalist' approach of keeping it focused on Cruise's character and his family. The genuinely scary tripods are seen and heard - often in the background - as a huge, unstoppable terror, through the eyes of the humans. The visuals were astounding (I generally loathe obvious SFX), but it was the extraordinary use of sound that makes so much of the movie unsettling. The noise of the 'fertilisation' sequence while the family hides in the farmhouse basement was superb.

Cruise does a surprisingly good job as the dickhead dad. Probably because Cruise himself is such a dick.

There are two problems with the movie. First, the masive plot holes related to the tripods being hidden in the earth for thousands of years (nobody on the planet dug one up by accident?), and secondly, the rapid conclusion. One minute the humans are being wiped out, then suddenly, the aliens are dying, and it's 'movie over'. It's a lame, poorly constructed ending to a tense epic that deserved better.

Still, it's well worth a look, especially if you have a big screen and surround-sound. Those tripods rock butt.

 

The Clearing

Willem Defoe kidnaps rich guy Robert Reford.

Helen Mirren - the rich guy's wife - wants him back.

Defoe and Redford have a bunch of dumb conversations about nothing.

Stuff happens.

You never find out why any of it happened, or who these people really were.

It's all quite watchable, and quite completely pointless. This is a film about, well, nothing.

 

A recent anniversary

John Lennon was a worthless cunt who is doing more for the world as grave fertiliser than he ever achieved in life.

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

This coming from the guy who had an air-conditioned room for his fur coats.

Fucking douchebag.


Looking for older whackings?

Wanna see my previous rants against lefty, commie, peacenick wankers, plus lots of fun stuff about motorcycles, music and movies?................ Click here for the full past whackings index

 

Motorcycles
MC News
Superbike Planet
Motorcycle News
Oz Trikes
MotoGP
Motorcycle USA

Scooters & Dealers
Bolwell
Vespa & Gilera
Italjet
PGO
Viva Vespa
Gasoline Scooters
Honda
Yamaha

Women
Holly Valance
Maria Sharapova
Eliza Dushku
Katherine Heigl
Michelle Williams
Kate Winslet

Kulcha
CHUD
Roger Ebert
RAGE

Info'mation
Skeptics' Bible
Hi-Fi Writer
How Stuff Works
Snopes
The Smoking Gun
Straight Dope
Against Nature
Australian Skeptics
CSICOP
Shooters Party

Assorted Gubshite
East Side Boxing
Draggin Jeans
Miniguns
killfrog.com
Omega Chess
Currency Converter

Death To Spam
Spam Poison
Spam Clogger
Kill Spammers

Guns
Barrett Rifles
Taurus
Smith & Wesson
Ruger Firearms
Browning
Mossberg
Armalite

Helicopters
Rotorway
Bell
Sikorsky

Support Brave Multinationals!!!