More comment on firecrackers

Crikey, I just can't let this story go. Let me pull it apart for you, line by line.

RACHEL PAWSEY, 33, a mother of 10, heard the home-made firecrackers go off on New Year's Eve in a reserve opposite her home

A mother of 10 at age 33? 10 kids? 10? Given her age, she can still pop out some more too. Gawd. All on welfare too, I bet.

Ms Pawsey was doing it tough. Two years ago the family had moved from Cessnock to be near her parents. They liked the area and were comfortable in their Housing Commission accommodation, though her husband, Gary Gibbons, a builder's labourer and carpenter when he could get work, was unemployed.

For as long as I can remember, builders have had a bastard of a time getting enough labour to finish their projects. There are half finished houses and apartments all over Sydney due to the shortage of qualified carpenters and so on. They can earn good money too, yet here we have this family, with a major league breadwinner, living in Housing Commission accommodation and the husband out of work. Sure, the housing market has turned to crap now, but that is a recent phenomena.

Bugger me.

Notice that although she has 10 kids, we are not told whether he husband, Gary Gibbons, is the father of any of them.

Ms Pawsey called an ambulance and tried first aid. The ambulance took Joshua, Matthew and Lakeisha to Gosford Hospital.

Sorry Lakeisha, but your parents are idiots for giving you a name like that.

"I don't know how they found a lighter, but someone did," Ms Pawsey said. One of the children lit a fuse and the cracker went off with a huge explosion...

I guess they found a lighter because you smoke. They knew how to use a lighter because they watch you stick fags in your mouth all day and light them up, even though:

Yesterday Gary was at Westmead with Joshua and Ms Pawsey, surrounded by family and friends, tending to the needs of her other children, including Seth, five weeks

Yes, a 5 week old baby. It is pure conjecture that you smoke, but given the circumstances described so far, I would be amazed if you didn't - including throughout the pregnancy. It was no surprise at all that the kids found a lighter and knew how to operate it.

This next bit sounds like crap to me:

Ms Pawsey was in tears as she told the Herald how she had always cautioned her children about fireworks.

Really? Why was that?

I've never cautioned my kids about fireworks, because I don't see any need to. We don't have them around the house, just like we don't have grenades or anti-tank missiles or land mines. I've never said to Junior, "Junior, I've told you 5 times today, stop fiddling with the pin on that hand grenade".

I've told Monkey many a-time not to go near the BBQ when I'm using it, because it is hot. That is a clear risk, and he's been warned again and again. He knows that the coffee we drink each morning is hot, and he avoids it, because we have told him again and again about it. He avoids the power outlets around the house, because we have many of them, and he knows not to touch them. He doesn't go near the knife drawer, because the knives in there are sharp.

But fireworks? Who has fireworks lying around the house? If they weren't banned, I'd buy them from time to time and blow up the letter boxes of the white trash down the road, but we can't get our hands on them, so I see no need to warn the kids about them.

So either she is lying through her teeth about telling the kids, or they see them all the time - illegal or not.

Where does Fairfax find the journalists that write this kind of crap? This story was written by Malcolm Brown, and it even features a photo of an innocent looking kid who looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

Malcolm Brown, you are a twat. A twat with ears.