Paper 'blatantly misled' readers: Swan

Treasurer Wayne Swan says Sydney's Daily Telegraph has "blatantly misled" its readers over assertions that the government is considering a congestion tax.

The newspaper said on Friday the government was about to hit drivers with another wave of "Greens-induced" tax pain by exploring a road congestion tax in the nation's major cities at the October tax forum.

Mr Swan said the government has previously indicated that it would not be introducing congestion charges."

"(It) stated clearly yesterday to the Daily Telegraph that congestion charges were a matter for state governments and the federal government has no intention of implementing congestion charges," he said in a brief statement on Friday.

"Given the government's clearly stated position that it will not be introducing congestion charges, the Telegraph has blatantly misled its readers."

He also pointed out that the front page story states that drivers are still reeling from the announcement of a carbon tax, when again the government has clearly stated that fuel for motorists has been excluded from the carbon pricing policy.

29 Jul 2011

No so, claims the paper again with its reaffirmation that the 'Congestion Tax' is going to take place.

Irrespective of the whether the government got caught out, or the paper 'blatantly misled', there is a policy of misinformation to the masses, as in any event the paper is at the service of the government.

What the general populous may not realise it that the heads of politics and business all rub shoulders at various events.

Comedy star Blake sucks earwax from ear piece

Comedy star Hamish Blake has grossed out viewers by sucking earwax from his ear piece during a live cross.

Blake had TODAY host Karl Stefanovic in hysterics at the start of the interview when his hearing set started playing up.

To address the technical fault, he is seen on camera licking the device to clear it. "What is going on there?" Stefanovic asked.

"Hamish is sucking the wax from his ear piece," comedy partner Andy Lee said.

He then joked about Blake's expanding waistline with Stefanovic during the interview about the pair's new series, Hamish and Andy's Gap Year , which is being filmed in New York.

He blamed his weight gain on an over indulgence on US food.

"Looks like he's had a few hot dogs," Stefanovic said while Blake was off camera getting his ear piece fixed.

"You bet mate, you bet … he eats burgers a day, hot dogs a day, it's amazing," Lee said.

Hamish and Andy's new series premieres on the Nine Network tonight

28 Jul 2011

This is the pinnacle of Australian Comedy that was bought for $17 million.

Two imbeciles participating in stunts that can be potentially harmful, is what the Australian youth is taught that is considered as successful (by who?).

The mass media has a purpose to keep the Simpleston's amused, and as a result many a dollar is spent on such useless form of entertainment.

At the end of the day it it not the network's money, but money that comes from the advertisers, which ultimately come from the paying customer of the goods advertised by the company.

There are very little programs on the major networks that have any intellectual content, but rather the focus is on simple shows with moronic anti-social behaviour, coupled together with visual stunts that can result on bodily harm, and if practiced in the workplace would be considered unsafe under O.H & S laws .

In Australia morons sucking up earwax is NEWS.

15 Years in Prison For Taping the Cops?

How Eavesdropping Laws Are Taking Away Our Best Defense Against Police Brutality (in the United States - corpau)

More and more people use their smartphones to record police misconduct. But laws against wiretapping are being used to intimidate and stop them.

July 27, 2011 |

Over Memorial Day weekend this past May, residents of Miami Beach witnessed a horrific display of police brutality as 12 cops sprayed Raymond Herisse's car with 100 bullets, killing him. The shooting provoked outrage in the surrounding community, not only because of the murder, but because of what the police did afterward.

Officers on the scene confiscated and smashed witnesses' cell phones; later, when they were confronted by the media, the police denied trying to destroy videos of the incident.

But 35-year-old Narces Benoit removed his HTC EVO’s SIM card and hid it in his mouth. He later sold the video to CNN, placing the police in the awkward position of explaining why they lied about allegations of cell phone destruction. More importantly, the video showed at least two officers pointing guns at Benoit, demanding that he stop filming.

Police brutality takes many forms around the country on a regular basis, particularly in poor and minority neighborhoods. Sometimes, the only method of accountability is a victim’s word (if they are still alive) against that of an officer. Unsurprisingly, the police officer’s version of the story is often adequate for a judge to dismiss allegations of wrongdoing, unless there is hard evidence of misconduct, such as a video or audio recording, which can be useful to unravel conflicting versions of police-citizen encounters.

Due to advancements in technology, the average citizen carries a digital camera in his or her pocket or purse, creating a potential army of amateur videographers on every street corner. A quick YouTube search of "police brutality" lists endless videos, often cell phone footage, of what appear to be police acting with unnecessary and violent force. Some of those videos have served a crucial role in bringing charges against brutality that may have gone unaddressed had it not been for bystanders recording.

One would think the fear of videographers on every block would be a powerful deterrent to police misconduct. However, legislatures are not taking this newfound power against police abuse lightly. In at least three states, it is illegal to record any on-duty police officer, even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists. The legal justification is usually based on the warped interpretation of existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws with statutes against obstructing law enforcement sometimes cited.

Illinois, Massachusetts and Maryland are among the 12 states where all parties must consent for a recording to be legal. Since the police do not consent, the camera-wielder can be arrested and charged with a felony. Most all-party consent states (except Illinois and Massachusetts) include a "privacy provision" that says a violation occurs only when the offended party has a reasonable expectation that the conversation is private. This is meant to protect TV news crews and people who record public meetings — where it is obvious to all that recording is underway — from accidentally committing a felony.

Massachusetts and Illinois are the only states that do not recognize an expectation-to-privacy provision to their all-party consent laws. While courts in Massachusetts have generally held that secretly recording police is illegal, recording them openly is not. Illinois, on the other hand, is the only state where the legislature specifically amended the state's wiretapping law to make it illegal to record on-duty police officers without their consent, even in public.

Cases Keep Piling Up

Recording on-duty police officers has gained momentum in states around the country for some time now. But it's only in the last few years, after several high-profile incidents, that the topic has begun to generate nationwide headlines and debate.

Original Article:

http://www.alternet.org/story/151806/15_years_in_prison_for_taping_the_cops_how_eavesdropping_laws_are_taking_away_our_best_defense_against_police_brutality/

Anders Behring Breivik

In Australian mass media news, today marks the day when the first burials are taking place with regards to the tragic massacre in Norway.

The mass media took a picture of Brevik's bust (see illustration on left) which looked like a formal attire, of some sort, and showed it on national television along with many other photos of him that are available from the internet.

What the Australian mass media did not mention is that the attire is worn by Freemasons.

In the Australian mass media there is a moratorium on mention the word Freemason, or even suggesting that one is a member of a lodge.

Members of the lodge must swear to secrecy, and the list of members of the lodge is kept confidential.

From an article :

Quote:

The alleged offender is a member of the John lodge St. Olaus TD Three pillars of the Norwegian Masonic Order. He has 3 degree status, where the peak is ten degrees. – We have no way to express an opinion on individuals or incidents related to any members, said spokesman of the Norwegian Freemasons order Helge Qvigstad told Dagbladet. On a Facebook profile appears to be 32-year-old Christian and politically conservative. As favorite books provide the man behind the profile including George Orwell’s “1984″ and Kafka’s “process”.

Content that was available on his facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002651290254&sk=wall

is no longer available.

NRMA welcomes speed camera removal in NSW

The NRMA has welcomed the removal of more than a quarter of NSW's fixed speed cameras.

Roads Minister Duncan Gay ordered 38 of the state's 141 speed cameras be shut down on Wednesday morning following an Auditor-General's report that found they had no significant road safety benefit.

Mr Gay said the report was vindication of community concern that some speed cameras were being used as revenue generators.

"The auditor's report actually picks up on a number of things the NRMA has been calling for, for a long time," NRMA motoring and services president Wendy Machin told reporters in Sydney.

"We believe the government has to act in good faith.

"They said that any cameras that weren't contributing to safety should not be used.

"They're going to do that and I think that's the right thing to do and I think the public would agree with that."

Premier Barry O'Farrell ordered the audit in April, to address motorists' concerns some cameras were used as cash cows under the previous government.

While he found that 38 of the cameras were ineffective, he also said none had been located purely for revenue raising.

Mr Gay ordered the RTA to switch the cameras off on Wednesday morning and said they would be torn down in coming weeks.

He left the door open to them being placed elsewhere but insisted there would be a net reduction of speed cameras.

Ms Machin agreed with a suggestion in Mr Achterstraat's report that there could now be an annual review of speed cameras.

27 Jul 2011

This move indicates that the government is aware that the introduction of speed cameras, has failed to reduce road deaths, but rather introduction of the speed cameras was used purely for financial gain, rather the road death reduction.

Motoring organisations like the NRMA, and RACV have been highly critical of the effectiveness of the the speed cameras with respect to the road toll.

In Victoria, a large bank has bought the traffic fine camera operations, as it sees them as a huge money spinner, and not a road death reducer.

Returns : Australian super funds 'worst performing'

AUSTRALIA'S superannuation funds were among the worst performing among developed countries over the past three years, falling casualty to their love affair with shares.

They logged average returns of -2.8 per cent from 2008 to last year, with only the pension funds of recession-hit Estonia (-3.7 per cent) and Portugal (-3.1 per cent) faring worse among OECD countries, The Australian reports.

And the industry's assets, as a share of the economy, are still to return to 2008 levels despite a solid bounce in its investment returns last year, the latest OECD analysis of pension markets reveals.

Geoff Kingston from Macquarie University's economics department said yesterday the aggressive investment strategies of most Australian super funds was to blame for the slide.

"Roughly half of your superannuation assets in growth assets suits most people, but the typical Australian fund, even for older people, is for 60 to 70 per cent (allocation) in growth assets,'' he said.

money.ninemsn.com.au 27 Jul 2011

Another scam at the expense of the general populous.

The so called 'poor performing' superannuation funds are poor performing for the people and NOT the companies that invest your money.

The short term money markets can make 3% per day for the company.

The general interest rate offered to customers is approximately 5% per annum, a figure well down on the mass profit made from your funds.

One of the least beneficial financial decisions is to 'lock' your money into a corporation's super fund.

Current Australian television commercials are pushing the public to invest in super funds.

Financial institutions know that they have one of the poorest performing interest rates to the customer, in their super funds.

Inflation rate 3.6% due to bananas

On Australian national television (Channel 7) it was announced that the official rate of inflation has gone up to 3.6% "party due to the rise in cost of bananas."

According to the news outlet (ninemsn.com.au), bananas have hit a rock bottom $1 per kilogram (21 Jul 2011) :

Price of bananas slipping to $1 per kilo after big crops

then it was reported that the price has jumped 138%.

The majority of goods and have gone up in percentages between 10-70%, depending on the source.

The overall household budget has leap from either the previous financial or calendar year.

The government with the support of the mass media has gone out on a campaign of misinformation, as to the real cost of living.

The currently reported figure of 3.6% inflation rate is false.

These figures are deliberately fraudulent, in order for the banking community to hike the interest rates up.

The business community together with the media bosses work aggressively in providing false information, in order to suit their agenda.

Not one single member of the general community has embarked on a legal campaign to rectify the false figures produced by the government.

Recently documentation has been made available to implicate the government for issuing fraudulent statistics regarding the crime figures in Victoria, which led to the resignation of disgraced police chief Simon Overland.

corpau.

Converting stolen goods to currency

In Australia, there is a business which converts stolen goods to money. This fraud and moving of stolen goods is known to police agencies, and is kept under wraps from the public eye.

When an item is brought to the business to be sold, the person producing the item must provide suitable identification. The person then produces false identification.

The person taking down the details fulfills the obligation, even though the details are false.

The item is then taken out the back, for a period of 7 days, then is put out onto the shop floor for sale.

The criminals bring in various items, from expensive professional tools, various electronic goods to mobile phones.

As a general rule, the business are located in the poorer suburbs, close to public transport, as that type of petty criminal does not use motor vehicle transport.

This is type of criminal practice has been going on for quite some time, and authorities are deliberately turning a blind eye, in effect supporting the criminals, and the peddling of stolen goods. The mass media has also taken a deliberate stance on silence on this matter.

The estimate from a source within the industry puts it at tens of thousands of dollars per day.

corpau.

Sex offender walks free again

A Queensland serial sex offender will again walk free after a court overturned his indefinite detention order.

In a written judgment handed down on Friday, the Court of Appeal in Brisbane ordered Raymond Yeo, 65, be released from jail under a 31-point community-based supervision order.

Yeo has a criminal history dating back to when he was 13.

He was sentenced in 1995 to three years' jail for a sexual offence against a 16-year-old boy with an intellectual disability.

He was also convicted and jailed in 2001 for committing 13 sexual offences against two boys aged nine and 11.

Granted bail in 2000, he then committed two sexual offences against a six-year-old boy and was jailed in 2002.

He was then subject to a continuing detention order in April 2006 after he was deemed unfit for release.

He remained in jail under this order until he was released 18 months later.

In 2007, Justice Debbie Mullins ordered Yeo be released under a strict 10-year supervision order that banned contact with children under 16 and prohibited Yeo from leaving his home at times when children were travelling to and from school.

In May 2008, Attorney-General Kerry Shine lost an appeal to have Yeo returned to jail.

But just over a year later the appeals court agreed to a continuing detention order, after Yeo breached his supervision order by attending a meeting at a McDonald's restaurant, despite being advised not to attend because children were present.

Since then two judges have refused Yeo further attempts at freedom, ruling the indefinite detention should stand.

However, on Friday this was overturned by the Court of Appeal, which, despite saying it a "difficult, borderline case", ruled a new supervision order could mitigate the risk Yeo posed to the community.

Under the order, Yeo is again banned from contact with children or accessing pornographic material.

He is also forbidden from drinking alcohol, and must have regular psychiatric and medical tests, including testing of his testosterone levels.

22 Jul 2011

Another example of how the justice system is against the victim.

Cases like this only support the general public's opinion that the 'system' has failed them, once they are on the receiving end of a criminal act.

Death of hacking whistleblower probed

LONDON — The death of Sean Hoare, a former News of the World journalist and whistleblower on the escalating phone-hacking scandal, was "not suspicious" and involved no third party, police said a post-mortem showed Tuesday.

The post-mortem carried out on 47-year-old Hoare, who was found dead at his home on Monday, revealed there was "no evidence" that anyone else was involved in the death.

A toxicology report is expected within weeks.

Hoare's body was discovered at his home in Watford, a suburb north of the British capital, less than a year after he became the first named journalist to allege that one-time editor Andy Coulson knew about hacking at the tabloid.

Hoare was reportedly battling drink and drug addiction from his years as a high-rolling showbusiness reporter searching for scoops on the London party circuit.

He first alleged in interviews with The New York Times and the BBC last year that Coulson, who edited the News of the World from 2003 to 2007 and went on to become Prime Minister David Cameron's communications chief, knew about voicemail hacking.

"It was endemic. It happened," Hoare said of phone-hacking, in an interview with the BBC in March.

"People were scared. If you've got to get a story, you've got to get it, and you have to get that by whatever means. That is the culture at News International," he said.

News International is the British newspaper publishing arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation global media empire, which owned the News of the World but shut it down earlier this month.

Hoare's claims were passed to Scotland Yard last year but they said he declined to give evidence. Coulson has since been arrested and bailed over allegations of phone-hacking and bribing police.

Just a week ago, Hoare made new allegations in The New York Times about journalists making payments to the police, and about the use of "pinging", the illegal use of mobile phone signals to locate people.

Hoare's drink and drug problems led to his dismissal from the News of the World in 2005, British media reported.

"The man's next of kin have been informed and the family are being supported by police at this sad time," a police statement said.

Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper quoted an unnamed friend as saying Hoare "thought that someone was going to come and get him, but I didn't know whether to believe half the stuff he was saying."

The Daily Mirror is one of the main tabloid competitors of the News International-owned newspaper The Sun.

Hoare's death also came as Murdoch testified Tuesday to British lawmakers over the scandal.

British newspaper commentators noted that Hoare's health was damaged from the years of drinking and drug abuse as a showbusiness journalist.

"His health never recovered," wrote The Guardian's Nick Davies, who has led the paper's phone-hacking investigation, which uncovered many of the allegations that led to the closure of the News of the World.

Davies added that Hoare was "a lovely man."

David Yelland, a former editor of The Sun, paid tribute on Twitter, writing: "Sean Hoare was trying to be honest, struggling with addiction. But he was a good man.

aap