Simon Rumble’s blog

News that cops removed their name tags at the APEC protests should come as no surprise. This tactic has been around since the Vietnam War protests, allowing the coppers to get away with beating hell out of anyone they like without being identified.

I was at an outdoor rave party in 1995 where cops did exactly that and got away with it, despite photos of cops smashing heads and multiple witness statements. The photographer wouldn't come forward to identify the time and location of the photos as he was a visa overstayer, and of course the cops denied everything and had collaborated on their statements.

The cops claimed they remove their badges because the pin could be used as a weapon, yet at the time of the investigation the badges were being redesigned. Did they move to a safer fastener, like velcro or press studs? Course not!

I'll be very interested to see where the latest cases go, though I won't be holding my breath.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: NSW Police are all either bent or have covered up for bent coppers, which means they're also bent. Nothing I've ever experienced has changed that view.

Lawyer for the police says "a full-scale riot was probable because in a crowd a mob mentality easily takes over." I couldn't agree more, and considering there will be more coppers than protesters, we should ban the biggest mob as they're the most likely to succumb to a mob mentality.

I wonder if the judge has asked for evidence about this "mob mentality" or if it's just because the police say so?

It's not like cops would be encouraging violence or anything. Oh no.

Fortunately the judge in this case has called bullshit on the coppers a few times already.

I'm also curious about the bail conditions given to protesters arrested yesterday that ban them from being within 200 metres of an APEC declared area. I think this bears challenging as I think it could well be unconstitutional under our implied right to political speech.

Update: so much for judicial sanity.

Kevin Rudd has actually taken a stance on an issue, this time the sale of uranium to India, a nuclear-armed country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Amazing!

Is this the first time Rudd has actually taken a stand on an issue?

Kevin Andrews, Australia's minister of immigration, has defamed an innocent man and tarnished Australia's reputation as a country of fair dealing. He must resign. You can also demand he does.

So Haneef is out and heading back home. I suspect he's going to be a rather wealthy man by the time his lawyers are finished, but then again he's now on every blacklist under the sun and probably won't even be allowed to fly inside his own country, let alone outside.

The thing that staggers me about this whole affair is how quickly, shamelessly and cynically the pollies and media jumped all over the poor guy the moment he was arrested. Surely the sensible thing to do, from a basic investigative point of view, would have been to suppress any identifying details about the guy or the case. After all, you don't want to tip off any associates, had he really been a bad guy, that you've got him in custody and he's (potentially) squealing like a stuck pig.

But of course, it's an election year and there's far too much political capital to be had claiming there's a terruhist in our midst.

How long will Andrews last? Probably until the enormous payout, which probably means after the election.

This just came through on freecycle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freecycle_Network
Have an extra one of these that came with a phone upgrade last year. Expires in November. Pack opened but unused.

(Please note: Optus prepaid SIM with activation paperwork only. No phone included!!)

Pick up Enmore, can leave in letterbox.

Either this person is very brave or doesn't keep up with the news. Doesn't she realise she could be charged for recklessly giving a SIM card away?

With both the logging companies and pro logging unions supporting Rudd's just-announced forestry policy, you can be sure the one thing it doesn't do is protect any trees. Yet another sellout from the ALP's king of sellout.

I'm sure the Labor defenders will trot out the "they had no choice" argument, given the CFMEU cheering on the rodent last election. Then again, you could ask why the CFMEU didn't cop any serious repercussions over that?

So I guess I would also fail the character test by having associated with convicted criminals. After all, I've met a man who was jailed today, and probably have met others. I guess this means all criminal lawyers would fail the test too.

Lucky I was born here then, I guess. Not sure I'm too proud of that fact on current form.

The only good news from this is that someone who evaded tax is going to jail. If only they could've pinned it on the Goanna before we paid for his funeral.

The obituaries for the taxi driver's choice of right-wing shock jock Stan Zemanek are sickening. By dying of cancer he seems to have been rehabilitated as some kind of lovable, mildly eccentric but genuinely good guy. Remember this guy was a xenophobic, rabidly right-wing, abusive arsehole who regularly incited his listeners to violence, up to and including the murder of cyclists on one memorable occasion.

At the risk of inciting Godwin's Law, had he only died of cancer would Hitler have got obituaries touting his love of Eva and Blondi, the tragic childhood accident that left him a nut down and gushing paragraphs about his love of animals and vegetarianism?

The superstitious might think it bad to speak ill of the dead, but never forget that Stan Zemanek was a right-wing nutjob who incited people to violence. If there's a hell, I'm sure they're firing up the barbecue as we speak.

As you can see the Tranny Cops are masters of disguise. Clearly our police overlords had trouble distinguishing them from regular plods. Fortunately our eagle-eyed judges were able to spot the imposters and the charges have been dropped.

This excerpt is just hilarious.

Mr Fordham entered into evidence a symbol that was on the women's uniforms that he said was similar to the Victorian police insignia.

Mr Heilpern said: "I presume Victoria police haven't seen it but they don't have an anarchist sign in the middle [of their insignia]."