Balloon Boy Hoax Confirmed
The mother of the so-called ‘Balloon Boy’ has finally admitted it was a hoax. This from the Coloradoan:
Mayumi Heene told a Larimer County sheriff’s investigator that she and her husband lied to authorities last week when they reported that their 6-year-old son was aboard a balloon released from the family’s backyard.
On Saturday, Mayumi Heene told Investigator Robert Heffernan that she and her husband had lied to authorities on Oct. 15. She admitted the release of the flying saucer was intentional as a hoax.
Not only was it a hoax but they told their kids to lie…all to make them more marketable as a TV show.
Mayumi Heene said she and her husband knew all along that Falcon was hiding in the residence. The motive for the fabricated story was to make the Heene family more marketable for future media interest.
Mayumi Heene said she and Richard Heene had devised the hoax two weeks before the launch and that the experimental flying saucer was made specifically to carry out the hoax. Mayumi Heene also said the she and her husband had told their three children to lie to authorities and the media.
Time to smack them with all the law has got. It was impressive and slightly humourous when it was possibly the boys pulling the hoax, but the parents should know better. They’ve also taught their children a terrible lesson about how to get ahead in life and it’s now up to the legal system to (hopefully) teach them they were wrong.
Mamma Mia!
I had the pleasure of seeing this show on its opening night in Wellington on Thursday. What an excellent show. I hadn’t seen the movie and wasn’t really sure of the plot beforehand. I also wasn’t a big fan of ABBA, mostly due to the appalling Muriel’s Wedding.
But this show was excellent. It was well put together, has a great cast with a mixture of experience and new talent, and everyone had a good time. The show was humourous and didn’t take itself too seriously. Although the crowd was a bit sedate, as NZ crowds tend to be, they were conned to their feet for the final encore and wholeheartedly got into the groove.
If you’re looking for something fun to do then this show is certainly value for money. Given I didn’t pay for the tickets I’m not sure I can say that…
Judge reserves decision in Otago Uni Code of Conduct hearing
A judge reviewing the legality of Otago University’s code of conduct for students has reserved his decision at the High Court in Dunedin.
The Otago University Students’ Association believes the university’s discipline of students for behaviour off-campus and unrelated to their studies is unlawful.
And the University friendly ODT reports:
The University of Otago “did not want to be the behaviour police” but believed it had the responsibility and the authority to denounce student behaviour serious enough to affect its reputation, the High Court at Dunedin heard yesterday.
My sincere hope is the judge finds in favour of the University and upholds its right to provide consequences for those who do serious damage to the reputation of this fine University. It really is a tiny minority that causes all the trouble that ends up reflecting badly on all the students in Dunedin.
ALL POLITICIANS LIE
It’s a simple fact that every one over the age of 15 is well aware of. Except large numbers of bloggers and the politicians themselves. An excellent post today at No Minister shows us some fine examples of their hypocrisy.
My favourite example from the post:
1. Ministers Rodney Hide and Heather Roy are attempting to make people affected by their portfolios put money into the ACT Party coffers if they want to hear the Minister’s intentions for this area. It doesn’t take much imagination to realise the kind of things right-wing bloggers would have written about this if Ministers in the previous govt were doing it, so presumably there’ll be no excuses for it under this govt, right? Er, wrong. According to Cactus Kate, it’s perfectly alright because the Party gets the money, not the Minister. As someone pointed out, such hair-splitting is classic Winston Peters material – unsurprising I suppose, since he and CK are both lawyers. And according to various commenters, Helen Clark is doing something similar at the UN – this Helen Clark who’s now apparently a benchmark for ACT Ministers’ behaviour in office being the same one vilified for years as dishonest, corrupt and a disgrace to the nation.
But then what do you know? Adolf at No Minister effectively manages to feed Psycho Milts point that bloggers are one-eyed idiots with a rant about how Phil Goff is a flat-out liar.
Goff is trying to somehow conflate the real election promise which was ‘no asset sales in the first term’ into something like ‘no competition for ACC in the first term.’ No wonder people just are not listening to Labour. They are flat out liars.
It’s no wonder it takes forever for anything to actually happen in politics when so much time is put into calling the other side liars.
When is enough enough?
Come on. When is the US legal system going to finally say to Lindsay Lohan that she’s blown it? How many more chances is this drugged up super brat going to get?
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — A Beverly Hills judge extended Lindsay Lohan’s probation for a 2007 drunk driving conviction for a year to give her more time to complete a required alcohol counseling program.
Lindsay Lohan has been serving three years’ probation on DUI charges.
Judge Marsha Revel ordered the actress-singer to appear in court Friday morning after she was notified by the program that Lohan was missing meetings.
Revel warned Lohan she would go to jail if she hears again that the actress has not been attending meetings
Fat Controller Looks Down From Heaven On Baby Hit By Train
Check this out:
The Fat Controller, who we all know died and was replaced by the weirdly thin Controller, must have been looking down from heaven on this little baby. I bet Ma is one relieved parent today as this could have ended in major tragedy.
What’s next? We’ve had balloon boy and now baby train so who knows!
Balloon Boy – What a Hoax!
As soon as I heard this on the radio this morning I thought there was something fishy about the thing.
My theory, that he would be found hiding at home and that it was a hoax, was at least partly confirmed when reports came in that he had been found in the attic. Fortunately I had dared to share this theory with others, though I wasn’t game to announce my theory to the world (no one wants that sort of publicity when you’re starting a blog, though it would certainly have helped the readership for a time!).
What’s left now is the debate over whether this was a hoax. Here are my thoughts;
- It is a hoax!
- It wasn’t pulled by Mum or Dad, but by the 6-year-old himself.
- Most likely he was helped by his brothers, but he could have done it alone.
- His motivation was payback to dad for yelling at him by getting rid of the balloon he got in trouble over and likely Dad’s favourite toy. Certainly dad has been shown to be a screamer on the family’s ‘Wife Swap’ appearance.
- It seems a little suss that the brothers were on the roof with a video camera and filmed the 6-year-old, who is ironically called Falcon, getting into the balloon but no footage of him getting out.
- The kid hid for over two hours, during which his family and law enforcement officers searched the property. No doubt they went through the garage and the attic calling his name. Strangers searching would be cause for a little boy to come out of hiding, no matter how much trouble he was in. Kids also get hungry pretty quickly, so he either had food or someone (the brothers maybe) were taking him food.
- During the family press conference outside the house the father began to respond to the question of how the balloon became free by pointing to his boys and then, changing his mind, saying “I’m not going to lay blame on anyone here”. This suggests the father now knows that the boys loosened the ropes so the 6-year-old could undo them and he’s covering for them so they don’t get into trouble.
That’s my theory anyway and unless the authorities push the issue, or have other info, we’ll likely never know. Good on them anyway, that thing took guts and was awesome.
The lesson to be learned for parents – don’t yell at your kids!
UPDATE: More suspicion is aroused during a CNN interview when 6 year old Falcon, in response to the question about why he didn’t come out when people were calling his name, replies “You said…umm…we did this for the show’. Snap. Check out the video and watch Dad begin to squirm big time. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/10/15/sot.lkl.heene.did.it.for.show.cnn. Dad then attempts to play the ‘appalled you could take this line’ card, which only makes him look more guilty. I still suspect my original theory is correct, but with Dad now in the know and trying to ensure his kids don’t get in major trouble (and he doesn’t get an enormous bill for the drama) he’s been trying to coach them in what to say.
Pack living
Chappy can report a very nice day with the pack. The day started with our typical Sunday morning ritual, church, followed by a pleasant lunch with a large number of people we didn’t know and then a nice drive over the Otago Peninsula before heading home for a rest and talk to the Whanau on the phone. 
At times I find living in a pack with young pups tiring. It can certainly have a big impact on your social life. But there is a something rather nice about having a litter running around and, whilst I can’t put my finger on why, there is a feeling of disappointment for all those singles or couples that don’t have them. Maybe that’s fulfilment?
Invasion countdown begins
The RNZAF’s combat wing may never have been the most lethal strike force in the sky’s but something about having a fighter squadron made us feel safe. It was like having a ‘Beware of the Dog’ sign on your front gate and having a fox terrier safely tucked up inside by the fire. Unsavoury types are always wimps and never willing to put themselves in harms way, so you never had to fear them coming onto your property.
But then the NZ government decided it wasn’t worth having a foxy in the back yard anymore and decommissioned it. Our Sky Hawks have been sitting in a shed ever since gathering dust and falling to bits. 
Even though they weren’t really operational just having them there was a bit like leaving the ‘Beware of Dog’ sign up on the gate. Unsaviouries would always be slightly unsure what the exact situation was and less likely to come onto our turf. But now it has been announced that they are, finally, to be sold.
So soon they will be leaving our shores and we will no longer have a fox terrier or a ‘Beware of the Dog’ sign. I wouldn’t dare suggest that anyone would actually give a hoot about wanting our country, but God help us if one day they do.
d’oh!…Ha-ha
If someone had died this would have made an excellent Darwin award.
Pirates choose wrong target – a French warship
In the darkness of the Indian Ocean, a bulky French re-fuelling vessel looked like easy pickings for two boatloads of Somali pirates as they drew alongside early today.
The men started their usual pre-boarding drill, letting loose with Kalashnikov assault rifles, when they noticed the 40 millimetre cannon and missiles on the deck above them. Their fat merchant ship was in reality La Somme, the 18,000 tonne flagship of the French navy’s operations against Somali pirates.
Suckers. Shows how little brain power these Somali pirates have. Give them an automatic weapon and they are threatening but don’t trust them to do anything properly.
I think the French should have used them as target practice with the 40 millimetre. Or better yet, throw them overboard and let them swim home. That’ll teach em.
a dog's life 