Punch on: Open thread 31/10/2011

Adam Diver says:

07:44am | 31/10/11

Correct, over 50% of Australians were flying with Qantas on the weekend, the journalist said so.

iansand says:

06:59am | 31/10/11

Ever sat on a jury?  I can assure you that during a lot of trials there are huge swathes of time where you can usefully zone out, particularly as every lawyer in court has a transcript of the prosecution evidence well in advance.  There are few surprises.

Mahhrat says:

08:02am | 31/10/11

@Iansand, no mate but spent six months doing up said court transcripts.  The Family Court ones were the best; spending $500 plus an hour to argue over what would be eventually only a different of $30k or $40k in marital assets.  Hilarious stuff.  Sometimes, people just freak me right the hell out.

VVS says:

08:35am | 31/10/11

No, barristers aren’t referred to as “Your Honour”, only judges and magistrates (who used to be “Your Worship”).

So no longer are magistrates able to quip when mistakenly referred to as Your Honour, “Mr Smith, you do not have to honour me, only worship me”... they loved that one.

I do feel sorry for the client, the man/woman on trial, though. When your counsel’s mind is clearly pre-occupied with something else… extremely unprofessional and possibly a grounds for an appeal if he is found guilty.

gobsmack says:

08:45am | 31/10/11

This is from the Herald-Sun:

“The proposal came at the end of the first day of a sexual assault trial at Bendigo County Court on Monday.
After the jury was sent out, Justice Cotterell asked if there was anything further before ending proceedings.
A court transcript reads:
Mr Moen: Only a personal matter, Your Honour.
Her Honour: Yes?
Mr Moen: It doesn’t go to the case at all, but I just wanted some witnesses to see whether Ms Hrvatin would marry me. I’m asking her now in court. Would you?
Her Honour: Right. Will you marry him, Ms Hrvatin?
Ms Hrvatin: Absolutely, Your Honour.”

Tim says:

08:56am | 31/10/11

““The proposal came at the end of the first day of a sexual assault trial at Bendigo County Court on Monday.”

Bahahahahaha, A sexual assault trial?

How romantic, this guy is all class.

neo says:

10:14am | 31/10/11

Yeah, WTF, it wasn’t even some corporate nonsense trial, it was a bloody sexual assault. Yeah, a bit unusual, yeah, something you can tell the kids, but honestly, a SEXUAL ASSAULT TRIAL!? Gotta admire the Judge’s reaction.

Mahhrat, don’t point that out, our jobs rely largely on people wanting to prove a point and litigating out of principle. I say bring it on, if you are in the right, you have a right of a Court acknowledging it!

iansand says:

10:48am | 31/10/11

I have a sneaking suspicion that this was cleared with the Judge and the prosecutor in advance.

Erick says:

10:51am | 31/10/11

Well, at least it wasn’t a divorce hearing.

Mahhrat says:

11:07am | 31/10/11

At least he had the decency of waiting until the end of the day.

I would have picked a better type of appearance, however.

The Portal 2 programmer who made the levels for his partner to play through did better, though.

St. Michael says:

11:15am | 31/10/11

Incidentally, where did they get the idea David Moen was a Victorian? He’s West Australian, possibly over in Victoria on brief for this particular matter, but he operates from this side of the country.

The proposing in court is not original.  In WA we had a DPP prosecutor who did that to another one in open court about five, six years ago or so.  So hey, feel free to now whinge about your taxpayer dollars being spent for courtroom shenanigans, too.

Chris L says:

12:05pm | 31/10/11

The fact that it was a sexual assault case is probably what prompted him.

“Oh yeah, I’d better obtain consent before I forget and wind up sitting at that other bench!”

nossy says:

09:09am | 31/10/11

@TimB   good stuff there TimB - shall have a look at that clip when I get back from the beach.

nossy says:

08:20am | 31/10/11

@Tim his client was found guilty, sentenced to be flogged and deported to Botany Bay - a happy day all round Tim.

St. Michael says:

11:07am | 31/10/11

@ nossy: you could say the lawyer got the same sentence.

nossy says:

09:07am | 31/10/11

@fairsfair brilliantly said there FF. Yes we lost 3 Aussie soldiers and 7 wounded and the petty QANTAS dispute pales by comparison doesnt it - bravo FF!

Seanr says:

09:23am | 31/10/11

As an ex RAR man I’ll say thanks fairsfair.
Apparently the brother of one of those killed was also serving in Afghanistan and will be escorting the body home.
The fact they were killed by an ANA soldier will deepen the distrust already felt by a lot of diggers towards their Afghan ‘allies’

Tim says:

09:29am | 31/10/11

FF,
what news were you watching?
Most agencies I’ve looked at have it as their #2 story behind Qantas?

We have to be realistic. We’re involved in a war and deaths need to be expected.
I’d actually prefer if they cut down the sensationalist reporting everytime an Australian dies overseas. Every death is a tragedy to someone.

neo says:

10:28am | 31/10/11

I’m a bit on the other side of the fence for this. A soldier dying in a war situation is hardly a news story, and it has only been so because of how few Aussie soldiers have died.

Granted, the recent case involved somewhat unusual circumstances, but you gotta remember, if you think any of the Afghanis are happy about the Western occupation, you are fooling yourself. They may pretend to be on your side, but trust this, they cannot wait for you to gtfo of their country. This is still a war, the people there just can’t usually attack you by daylight because they are outnumbered and outgunned.

fairsfair says:

11:12am | 31/10/11

I’m not really interested by the politics of it all. I don’t like how when people die, it is used as a platform to criticise the ADF or the Government or whatever. Fact of the matter is, three men, who were representing our country overseas have been killed doing something that they believed would help ensure Afghanistan has a means to stand on its own feet in time.

If these men were consular staff. If they were AFP personnel. If they were humanitairan aide workers - they deserve recognition because they died in a circumstance that excludes 99% of the selfish population. I for one can admit that I could not do what any of the above groups. I could not abandon the comforts of home to do a job even if I know that it could perhaps better the lives of others. No matter how much it paid or didn’t pay.

Channel 9 news were running it #3. 60 Minutes last night ditched a story to cover Qantas, they didn’t even mention the diggers at the end of the bulletin. Peter Overton kept flashing on in the middle of Underbelly to update on Qantas, no mention of other major news. ABC news ran it at #2 for three minutes after over twenty minutes of Qantas babble.

I just think it is really bad form.

Blind Freddy says:

11:53am | 31/10/11

I noticed the same and wondered which of the three funerals will our intrepid leaders be attending- given their habit of late.

I’m guessing the media were more interested in the Qantas story because it directly affected them - and THEY do believe that They are the centre of the universe by which all things will be measured.

Babe in the Woods says:

02:45pm | 31/10/11

Well said FF, and thankds for binging that up.  I agree totally with your sentiments and message to the ADF.  I was very saddened to read that story.  I don’t care a damn about the politics of it, just so sad to lose 3 brave men.  And you are right….where are all the pollies?  Must be a free lunch somewhere.

Ben C says:

10:43am | 31/10/11

Good luck with the job Shenanigans. Hopefully you won’t be too busy to keep us up to date with your Battlefield 3 exploits.

By the way, should I go and get the game even though I haven’t played the first two?

Shenanigans says:

11:03am | 31/10/11

Cheers Ben, and yes, yes you should get it, regardless of having played the others or not, it’s an full scale war FPS at its finest, flying the jets has become my favourite part of that game, slowly but surely dog fighting my way to being the best virtual super hornet pilot out XD I highly recommend it, even for casual gamers, learning curve isn’t step, but it’s curvy enough to keep you interested for ages, plus the glorious graphics and epic vehicle battles makes any gamer drool :p

TimB says:

11:21am | 31/10/11

Whoo, fighter combat.

I haven’t had a good dogfight since Crimson Skies.

JC says:

01:36pm | 31/10/11

Oh man, I got BF3 and oh man, ohhh man. Needless to say I’ve been loving it. I tried out the jets and although they are fun, I don’t feel like I’m helping out, also I was hoping to see some 2 seater jets like in BF2.

My favourite part is parachuting behind enemy lines, silently taking them out and take an objective, then have the helicopter pilot come pick me up afterwards, and if you have a good pilot and a squad willing to join you, man is it fun. aaargh the nerd in me , what can I say the game is immersive.

Semi Concerned Citizen says:

04:31pm | 31/10/11

Get battlefield 3 Ben C,

the joy of popping off a stinger or 30 each round and teaching those flyboys somethin. Also the satisfaction in a squad getting taken out in an APC by a couple of mines placed 6 deaths earlier to pop you on top of the leaderboards. Wow just wow

jay-ded says:

01:39pm | 31/10/11

The Ode
‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.’

Little Joe says:

07:58pm | 31/10/11

We will remember them!!!