photo credit: WTL photos

Here is an hysterical quotation from today’s SMH. Coming on the same day as the news about the horrific terrorist attacks in Islamabad in Pakistan, WEE feel it really demonstrates how out of touch some people are:

Campbelltown resident Rebecca Giddio learned about 20 minutes too late of today’s M5 shutdown.

The 34-year-old was driving to her husband’s office in Botany to show off the newest addition to their family, three-week-old daughter Charlotte.

She had successfully bundled both Charlotte and the couple’s other daughter, four-year-old Brooke, into the car about 9.20am and had just passed the tolls, when news of the latest computer glitch broke on radio.

“It came over the radio station that the M5 had been totally closed both ways and then the next minute I just hit traffic and it was just bumper to bumper the whole way,” Ms Giddio said.

Two hours, two traffic diversions and an emergency breastfeeding session later, a frazzled Ms Giddio finally made it into her husband Eric’s business in Botany.

“[Charlotte] was all right when I first left but I had to pull over because she was really hot and dehydrated. I had to strip her down and feed her and I had to put cloths up on the window for shade,” she said.

“I’ve got a four-year-old with me as well so while the traffic was still I had to get her to jump from one side of the car to the other because the sun was too hot.”

Oh baby, M5 tunnel takes its toll – National – smh.com.au.

Oh… my… god… the four year old had to move from one side of the car to the other. This is just terrible. How traumatic for all concerned. Dear oh dear.

I hope that her health insurance covers trauma counselling because Rebecca is clearly in need of some help with getting over this dreadful trip.

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photo credit: batrax

Owner of Diana crash car wants to sell it: report

September 8, 2008 – 9:31AM

The French company that owns the car in which Princess Diana died wants the wreckage back so they can sell it, possibly for as much as £1 million $2.17 million.

Owner of Diana crash car wants to sell it: report – World – smh.com.au.

Real classy. Tasteful. Nice people.

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Adam Rope (Letters, April 4) asserts that I did not oppose the interventions in Australian domestic politics by Tom Schieffer, the former US ambassador to Australia. This statement is untrue. For example, in my Herald column on March 30, 2004, I wrote that Schieffer “should understand that it is not the role of the US ambassador to interfere in the domestic political debate”. Mr Rope should do some fact-checking. Gerard Henderson Sydney

Source: Nothing but a wave of apathy in the wake of tsunami warning – Letters – Opinion SMH 5 April 2007

Poor old Adam Rope. He probably doesn’t have time to gather every column that this man has ever written and check the collected wisdom of Gerard Henderson (what a frightening task) to find every little reference, and has to rely on his memory. Adam probably has a real job. But Henderson is onto the keyboard in a flash to write in to the newspaper (the very same one that provides him weekly column space) to point out the error. [more]

But in the great scheme of things, did Adam’s error really matter? Were we all standing around the water cooler talking about Henderson’s article. The answer is no. Do WEE have time to check every seeming misrepresentation that Henderson makes about certain facts in his columns? No. It’s just part of the general cut and thrust of debate. No, it only matters on planet Henderson.

What makes this miserable, ungenerous action even more disappointing is that the letters editor allows such unimportant drivel to be published in the letters page. If Henderson wants to correct the record let him do so in his weekly column but don’t take up precious letters space where the voices of the great unwashed should be heard.

Then again, he probably realises that not as many people will read his protestations if they are included in his column – WEE find the letters page far more interesting that his biased, one-eyed opinions about politics in Australia.

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