Gee, what's worse....getting caught with drugs or having incompetent lawyers trying to prove your innocence?

SMH article.

Adding to the recent events of infamy involving Australians, this was a recent case where two Australian kids robbed a bank in Colorado with pellet guns they bought from a Wal-Mart. If you ever think of doing something illegal and stupid, heed these lessons:

1. Don't rob banks whilst wearing your uniform from work.
2. If you are wearing your uniform, at least have the initiative to take off your name tags.
3. Don't be already known, and arrested for shooting the same pellet guns in the neighbourhood.
4. Attempt the robbery someplace else where you are not the only two Australians in town, or where there's a lot more foreign accents being heard.
5. Don't take incriminating photos of yourselves with the money.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/06/12/1118514927434.html?from=top5

For those of you with broadband, here's a snippet of Russell on Late Night with David Letterman talking about the whole phone-throwing incident. He does actually comes across as a nice guy. Surly yes, but nice. As he admits though, he does have a problem controlling his temper which has gotten him into a lot of trouble over the years.

A far cry from "Proof" and "The Sum of Us". :)

An Australian of Vietnamese descent has been sentenced to death in Vietnam for heroin trafficking. This makes it two Australians (the other is also of Vietnamese descent) condemned to die in Vietnam since April.

Why no uproar? Is it because they are male and not Caucasians? Hmmm, food for thought.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15568692-2,00.html

However, give the government credit for trying to save him:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Well-plea-for-condemned-Australian-Ellison/2005/06/10/1118347578156.html

Russell allegedly threw a phone at a hotel employee at the NY hotel he was staying at. All I can say is: is it really that surprising anymore? The man did fight with his bodyguard last August while filming "Cinderella Man". Yes, his *own* bodyguard who also happens to be a friend of his.

He's such a diva. The man is a good actor but he seriously needs anger management skills.

Here's a good alternative look at the Schapelle Corby case: a Japanese girl went through the same thing in Australia a few years back. And guess what...we never heard much about it, but I bet you it was big news in Japan.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Australia-the-villain-in-Japans-Corby-case-expert/2005/06/02/1117568309970.html

Plus a good counterpoint for the mob hysteria: plain simple facts. The author comes from the point of view that she is mostly guilty and less likely to be innocent. I'm on the fence but I agree with his analysis of the situation.

It's funny how an international drug case would bring out the racists and xenophobes, like worms crawling out of the woodwork. The following is what I'm talking about:

• Right-wing radio listeners calling for the boycott of all things Indonesian, and to take back all our aid money. I will repeat what I said earlier: the ppl who died and suffered from the tsunami had nothing to do with this case, and neither does the majority of the ppl in Indonesia. If you want to boycott countries, why not add to the list Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the UK and the USA? These are all countries that have Australians waiting to go on trial or in jail. And I'm probably leaving out other countries as well. What, you thought that Indonesia was the only place that Australians are incarcerated? Do more reading.
• And not surprisingly, Pauline Hanson also encourages a boycott.
• Ppl threatening Indonesians and Indonesian restaurants in Australia. One such restaurant in Perth is actually owned by a white *Caucasian* man.

The phrase "Un-Australian" may be over-used on many occasions, but here it isn't.

Schapelle herself has asked for ppl to be calm and rational about it. Her brother in law is Indonesian, and so are her nephews and nieces. She may dislike (to put it lightly) the Indonesian justice system but she does not blame Indonesia. Of all ppl, she has more reasons to hate Indonesia and Indonesians but she doesn't. What does that tell you about all these bleep-heads out there?

If you still need more convincing, here's what The Age has to say about the evidence against her. If you really want to help, think of a legal strategy to use in her appeal. If you have nothing intelligent to say, shut the f*ck up. You're not only embarassing yourselves, you are giving the rest of us decent Australians a bad name.

At best she was a naive girl caught in a bad situation. I truly believe that she may be innocent, that what she described could really have happened. It is entirely possible that somebody did open up her bag and put that marijuana there. Having said all that though, a few things come to mind:

1. Resting your entire case on that one theory: it's easy to say it but hard to prove. Also, blaming the Indonesian police for manhandling the evidence is counter-productive. Ok let's just say multiple sets of fingerprints were found on that bag, what would that have proven? A piece of luggage would naturally have many sets of prints on it passing from the check-in counter to the plane, then off the plane and onto the baggage collection carousel. And so what if Schappelle's finger prints were not found on that bag of marijuana? Someone else could have put it in and she willingly transported it. Her defense team could and should have diversified their defense strategy. I'm not a lawyer so I have no suggestions here. Her lawyers were stuck for ideas too from the looks of it. I don't blame the judges - the evidence to prove her innocence was just not there.
2. Abusing Indonesian officials: it happened before the trial, during the trial and when the verdict was delivered. Yes the system may seem deficient compared to Australia's (only because their's a Dutch system which works on a different principle) but I would think that insulting the country and the people that hold your daughter/sister's life in their hands is not an intelligent thing to do. And let's not forget that there are at least 10 more Australians waiting to have their drug trials in Bali: the Bali nine and that man from Queensland. Imagine how the officials would think of these other Australians now.
3. Boycotting Bali and Indonesia in general: same thing as above. How would that make Indonesians feel, and how would that help those currently waiting to be on trial?
4. Evoking the memory of the tsunami to gain compassion: one of her supporters appealed to the Indonesian president for compassion by bringing up the fact that Australia helped Indonesia during that awful event. First of all, it is distasteful to compare *one* life to the hundred thousand odd Indonesians who lost theirs. Second, Australia as a country helped because we are compassionate. We didn't do it to expect a "favour" in return which is what this supporter was implying.

The PM is right on one thing: we would resent it if another country tells us how to run our court system, and we should accept the verdict.The best Schapelle can hope for now is that she is transferred back here to serve out her sentence. She would be closer to her family and her sentence might be reduced at a faster rate or she may be eligible for parole.

EDITED June 02 - Factual errors.

Just had a thought about the Bali Nine. Looking at the racial make up of the gang, no one can deny that Australia is now truly multicultural. ;)