It is sad and having been scammed once you'd have thought he would be more wary. He is lucky to have survived this latest disappointment. His family must dispair for him and his loneliness and what it has cost him, in money and emotions.
For God's sake, didn't he at least see this "girl" via webcam before rushing off to meet her?
CONTINUES TONIGHT! 6.30pm eVSC Fan Favourites 7.00pm eVSC Grand Finale : Compilation 7.12pm eVSC Grand Finale : Results #1 & #2 All times in AEDST. Air times and/or dates subject to delays.
What a story! Look at the details, 'she' is from one of the poorest countries in the world, has a family with a wedding dowry of $100,000 to offer and no local men willing to step up to the plate (she must have been hideous to look at) so the money could remain in the local area. WHERE would such a family get that kind of money? why would they offer the bride on the Internet? and risk sending her overseas forever when they rely on children to keep parents in their old age? If the farmer did not smell a rat on day one he is a fool! and greedy to boot.
When I read that I went on a site where everyone posts pics of holidays etc and I looked at pics of mali it seems very poor. Omg I looked at pics of the poorest country in africa and it had a luxury pool :O
We're here, we're queer, we're still in high school Daniel Swain August 15, 2007
The F-bomb was dropped on me only once. I was at a bus shelter with my then boyfriend when we heard the "call of the wild": "Go back to Mardi Gras you f---ing faggots!". I responded as calmly as I could: "I may be a f*g**t, sir, but you are a fool. My people get parades, what do your people get?"
The gay teenager is a modern invention. No longer must we wait for the liberal oasis of university to express our sexuality identity. After several years enduring those polite euphemisms of "flamboyance" and "sensitivity" I tiptoed out of the closet. Fifteen, out and proud.
My story is not unique. For the more liberal members of our generation the closet has become an antique.
The internet has become an important resource for the fledgling homosexual. A boy a few years below me at school came out by editing his MySpace profile. The advent of cybersexuality has allowed gay teenagers to communicate, connect and flirt without fear of persecution. Feel lonely? Log in, chat. Where once a teenage lesbian would have felt confused or alienated, she can now google stories just like her own. The internet first introduced me to the history, the politics, the rituals of being gay. My sex education was exclusively heterosexual, and I didn't want to risk borrowing that book from the library.
Television has also made a difference. Programs such as Will and Grace have popularised the image of the f** hag and her effete companion. The result: I have been accessorised by teenage girls who want you to be "their" gay best friend. Having gay friends makes them feel like one of those metropolitan goddesses from Sex and the City. We'll merrily trot from one boutique to the next picking dresses or boyfriends. I try to explain that I know nothing about fashion or men but they simply won't listen. (I do try to be more like the well-trained, urbane, television homosexuals. I really do.)
Thankfully, my own high school is, largely, the tolerant, accepting society in microcosm. It is Wollongong's only academically selective school which means that the student body is intelligent enough to know that sex only matters when you're involved. To the Sydney readers, I hope that shatters some of your stereotypes of Wollongong: we aren't all steel-brained Neanderthals.
But other students are not so lucky. According to a LaTrobe University study into the lives of same-sex-attracted youth, 44 per cent experience verbal abuse, while 16 per cent suffer physical abuse. Gay teens can end up homeless, depressed and suicidal. The average high-school corridors are known for their inimicality. Friends of mine have to rush from class to class through hidden paths to avoid the obligatory shout of "f*g**t".
This intolerance makes it obvious how the modern gay rights movement has failed gay kids. It is a political movement driven by the concerns of wealthy, white, middle-aged, metropolitan men. Marriage, apparently, is the gay equality issue of our time; the right to give your relationship governmental oversight. It is a noble project but when you compare it to real queer issues of our time it appears a waste of focus, time and resources.
HIV infection rates are on the rise in gay communities, as is the use of crystal meth. The afflictions that school students face remain unaddressed. Internationally our identity is criminalised: there are still nations around the world that enforce the death penalty for being gay. In Russia and Poland, reactionary parties have tried to remove the civil liberties of gay protesters. These groups face the problems that our community dealt with decades ago. I thought history bred compassion.
Growing up gay involves moving slowly forward in the traffic jam of progress. You savour each small advance but you can only see your destination in the distance. Sometimes bigotry, hatred and cruelty bring your journey to a standstill.
Daniel Swain is a year 11 student at Smith's Hill High School in Wollongong.
I remember being in high school 37 years ago and we students knew who the gay guys were. In those days we referred to them as 'fairies' or 'pansies'. One of my nephew's was obviously gay to his school friends just 20 years ago, mind you we in the family had an incling also I have several cousin's who are gay although some went to great lengths to deny it even to themselves, even marrying women to prove a point. The marriages did not last. I have several gay friends and 75% of them have also married women and produced children in some instances, exploring their sexuality to make sure they were actually gay, and realising they were. Thank goodness times have changed and are changing, making life easier (I hope) on the younger gay generation.
No way would an openly gay person would have fit in my Turk/Muslim run high school. In 2004, a group of classmates and I filmed an Idol spoof and the teachers wanted it banned because the character that I played (a stereotypical gay judge) was apparantly "sending the wrong message" to parents, and had the potential to "destroy the reputation" of the school.
I know, I know. Don't even get me started on how pissed I was over that.
It's still up on YouTube but it's on private. So you'll have to be my friend if you want to see it lol.
CONTINUES TONIGHT! 6.30pm eVSC Fan Favourites 7.00pm eVSC Grand Finale : Compilation 7.12pm eVSC Grand Finale : Results #1 & #2 All times in AEDST. Air times and/or dates subject to delays.
Not really. It's just that the people running the place are total bastards.
CONTINUES TONIGHT! 6.30pm eVSC Fan Favourites 7.00pm eVSC Grand Finale : Compilation 7.12pm eVSC Grand Finale : Results #1 & #2 All times in AEDST. Air times and/or dates subject to delays.
Strip club visit a foolish mistake: Rudd Sunday Aug 19 11:02 AEST Federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd says he made a foolish mistake by going to a strip club during a drunken night on an official trip to the United States.
Mr Rudd, a conservative Christian, said he was too drunk to remember much of his visit to Manhattan's Scores "gentlemen's club" in September 2003 with New York Post editor Col Allan and Labor backbencher Warren Snowdon.
He said neither he nor Mr Snowdon had a "completely clear recollection" of whether there were semi-naked women in the club or what they were doing.
"But that doesn't absolve me for going in that door in the first place. That's where I made the error of judgment and it's something I shouldn't have done."
Mr Rudd was the opposition foreign affairs spokesman at the time and was in New York to represent Australia at the United Nations.
He rang his wife, Therese Rein, at home in Brisbane the next day to confess to her.
Mr Rudd said he expected his public popularity to plummet following the revelations.
"I think I'll take a belting in the opinion polls," he said.
"It's an embarrassing thing to happen. I think no-one would welcome it. I accept that.
"But I think at the end of the day people just want you to level with them and when you've made a mistake, be up-front about it."
Mr Rudd said he was not a big drinker and could only remember two occasions when he had drunk too much - the Scores night and at home on his 35th birthday.
"I've said from day one since I've been in public life - I'm as flawed and failed as the rest of them," he said.
"I don't apply these sorts of tests to any of my colleagues in politics, past or present.
"I own responsibility for my own actions here. I'm the bloke who took the decision to go out to this place ... and that's a foolish mistake on my part."
News Ltd papers on Sunday made an unsourced allegation that Mr Rudd had been warned by club management about his behaviour.
But Mr Allan said Mr Rudd had behaved like a perfect gentleman, while Mr Rudd said neither he nor Mr Snowdon had any recollection of any warnings.
"We'd had too much to drink, I accept that, but I think the big error made was just in going in there in the first place," Mr Rudd said.
"I accept responsibility for that, I don't make any excuses for being there, and with the benefit of hindsight it's something I just should not have done."
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the story would endear Mr Rudd to voters because it showed he had "blood in his veins".
"I think most Australians will say `big deal' and move on," Mr Beattie told ABC television.
"It shows that he's human, it shows that he's got blood in his veins. I don't think there's anything wrong with having blood in your veins, I don't think it will cost him anything at all."
Mr Rudd said he could think of better ways to humanise his image.
Treasurer Peter Costello declined to criticise Mr Rudd, but said he had never visited the Scores club.
"I find when I'm in America on official business they pack your program pretty full. I don't think that you get much time for that kind of activity," Mr Costello told the Ten Network. How convenient that they would bring this up as the federal election draws near. For God's sake, it happened almost 4 years ago.
Now I've never been to a strip club nor would I ever consider it (too low-brow for my liking), but I think it's stupid how they're digging up relatively innocuous skeletons from his closet just to make him look bad.
Personally, this incident/"scandal" hasn't affected my opinion of him in any way, although I would probably want to learn more about the other political parties/leaders before I cast my first vote.
CONTINUES TONIGHT! 6.30pm eVSC Fan Favourites 7.00pm eVSC Grand Finale : Compilation 7.12pm eVSC Grand Finale : Results #1 & #2 All times in AEDST. Air times and/or dates subject to delays.
Exactly, Sillyghost! Spot on. This report is well written IMHO.
If this is the worst Rudd's opponents can come up with
Michelle Grattan August 20, 2007
UNLESS there is something more than we know, Kevin Rudd's visit to a New York strip club in 2003 in the company of a leading newspaper man reflects little other than poor judgement.
One can imagine it: Rudd had had a few too many drinks when New York Post editor Col Allan a sociable, knockabout kind of guy suggests they go from dinner to a bar.
What does Rudd do? Say, "thanks Col, but I'd better hit the sack"?
In retrospect, that obviously would have been prudent. But not surprisingly Rudd, no doubt pleased enough to be courting a senior News Ltd editor, went with the flow.
Presumably he thought it was an "off the record" situation, or perhaps more likely he didn't think at all.
Most fair-minded people would see the whole incident as a bit of silliness Rudd behaving in an un-Rudd-like fashion, which some indeed could find refreshing rather than a betrayal of Christian and family values.
That the report has surfaced several years on and close to the election campaign suggests deliberate dirt-throwing by Rudd's opponents.
The Government has been aware of the club visit. Labor sources claim Alexander Downer has been alluding to it in interjections in the House. The Government's fingerprints appear to be on the story and journalist Laurie Oakes yesterday suggested Julia Gillard might be the next target.
In the big scheme of things, trying to besmirch people for political gain is more reprehensible than visiting a raunchy nightclub.
Still, Rudd is taking out some insurance for himself by claiming he would get a knock in the polls over the incident.
In the end, however, people are likely to take a commonsense view of it.
There are grounds on which voters might be wary of Rudd, such as lack of experience. But if critics want to find some dark side to Rudd's character, they'll have to do better than this folly.
I often make comments on news items with the Courier Mail under the name of Suzi from the Sunshine Coast. My comment on this story said in essense to 'keep things in perspective, people'. Going by the comments on this story more than two thirds of people respondents agree it is gutter journalism. The guy who was responsible for the 'expose' is Glenn Milne who has a badly damaged reputation himself! My comment is number 239. You tube has some wonderful footage of Glenn Milne making a drunken as s of himself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHHu4B-VJrA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IamdZlffbYU
What a moron Glenn Milne-Journalist IS! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black etc etc!
AND.... another idiot opens their mouth and makes comment on something they should not! Germaine Greer is obviously not getting enough attention, poor OLD dear. She has been going through menopause/change-of-life for most of her life now. A bitter whizzened up old has been.
Reassessments: Greer dethrones one famous wife, restores another
Germaine Greer went feral again at the weekend. The Independent on Sunday reports she told an audience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival that Diana Spencer was "a devious moron" who slept with married men and made nuisance calls when they tried to dump her. "And this is the angel that people want to crown," Greer concluded.
It got worse - Greer attacked William Shakespeare, not for sleeping with the Princess of Wales, but for dumping his wife Anne Hathaway. She said he probably died of syphilis. Greer said generations of "demeaning and mean-spirited" male academics had suggested Shakespeare was forced to marry a "complete slag ... the town bike" when she became pregnant, even though Hathaway was ugly and eight years older than him.
Instead, Greer proposed that the marriage was for love. Greer thinks Hathaway was Shakespeare's business angel, paying for his plays' preservation, securing his place in literary history. "All the literary wives you have heard of were considered to be frail, faulty and not worthy," Greer said. "I say the wives of great authors are essential to their success, whether the academic establishment has realised it or not, and we might as well begin at the top, with the wife of the man of the millennium."
'Street racer' charged with manslaughter Les Kennedy August 22, 2007 - 5:38PM
An alleged street racer has been charged with manslaughter over the deaths of an elderly couple in Sydney's west last month.
Officers from the Police Metropolitan Crash Investigation Unit laid the fresh charge today against Robert James Borkowski, 37, a chicken delivery truck driver of Claremont.
Alan Howle, 71, and his wife of 50 years, Judith, 70, were killed when a Holden Commodore allegedly driven by Borkowski crashed into their vehicle on the Great Western Highway at St Marys on Sunday, July 29, at 6.20pm.
Borkowski was refused bail when he faced Central Local Court on August 1, charged with two counts of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death, one of negligent driving occasioning death and one of illegal street racing.
He was further charged with driving under the influence.
Borkowski is expected to appear before Penrith Local Court on September 21 to answer the charges.
When I first heard about the much loved married couple being killed when caught up in an illegal street race I thought the drivers would be 18-25, stupid young people with no brains. This guy is 37! The crime of drag/street racing is bad enough but being responsible for the deaths of a 70 year old couple married for 50 years, is IMHO murder with a deadly weapon. Throw the book at this fool and his opponent in the race, and gaol/jail them for 20 plus years.
What a moron Glenn Milne-Journalist IS! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black etc etc!
Glen Milne is a Liberal suckhole, so not a real independent journalist. His argument for his own appalling behaviour in that incident was "yes, but I'm not running for Prime Minister". Great defence there Glen, what are you five years old?
Road Rage, Supermarket rage, car park rage, pub rage, nightclub rage. The world is going to hell in a hand basket with all this rage!
Drunk real estate agent jailed for glassing September 3, 2007 - 2:56PM
A young real estate agent has been jailed for attacking another woman with a broken glass in a busy Brisbane nightclub, leaving her victim with facial scars.
Sheri Avril Hayes, 22, a senior property manager with Remax, had been drinking with a group of friends at Friday's nightclub in the city on February 19, 2006, when she smashed a beer glass into the face of a 19-year-old woman.
The Brisbane District Court was told the woman had accidentally brushed past Hayes while she and her friends had tried to make their way onto the dance floor.
Hayes deliberately bumped into her a couple of times and then asked her if she wanted a fight.
Some of the complainant's friends attempted to defuse the situation, but Hayes lashed out with the beer glass, hitting her in the middle of the face.
Hayes, who was heavily intoxicated at the time, fled the club immediately after the incident.
The victim was taken to hospital with cuts to the bridge of the nose and forehead, and has sustained scarring from the attack.
On February 22, police received an anonymous tip-off that linked Hayes with the attack, and she made full confessions the following day.
She initially told police the victim deserved the attack because she had struck Hayes first.
The crown submitted there was no evidence supporting this, and Hayes now accepts it was unlikely.
Judge Garry Forno told Hayes, who pleaded guilty to one count of wounding, that he accepted she would lose her job if convicted, and that this would be substantial punishment for one so young.
However, he said the courts had a responsibility to hand down a sentence that would act as a general deterrence.
Hayes sobbed uncontrollably as she was sentenced to 18 months' jail.
Logged
