Aussies get a rotten deal from Apple

AUSSIE consumers pay up to four times more than Americans for the same IT software, devices, games and downloads and a parliamentary inquiry is demanding to know why.

The world's biggest tech companies, Apple, Microsoft and Adobe, have been summonsed to appear before a public hearing of the House Committee on Infrastructure and Communications in Canberra on March 22 to explain their pricing discrepancies.

Aussie music lovers regularly pay around $2.19 for new release singles through Apple's iTunes store, where as US listeners pay the equivalent of $1.31, according to a submission to the inquiry by consumer group Choice last June.

The popular 16GB Apple iPad retails for around $679 in Australia, but costs only $640 in the US.
A 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro laptop costs $1349 for Aussies but just $1220 for Americans.

Australian gamers are forced to pay more than four times their US counterparts for the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game, which costs $89.99 in Australia and $20.34 in the US.

Microsoft also slugs Aussies $751 for its Windows Vista Ultimate software package, versus $436 for US customers.

Labor MP, Ed Husic, who is leading the charge against unfair IT pricing, said the tech giants had refused multiple requests to appear voluntarily before the committee.

"This is an important move but one we shouldn't have to take," Mr Husic said. "These firms should have cooperated and been prepared to be more open and transparent about their pricing approaches.

"In what's probably the first time anywhere in the world, these IT firms are now being called by the Australian Parliament to explain why they price their products so much higher in Australia compared to the US."

"Given the widespread use of IT across businesses and the community, the prices paid for hardware and software can have a major commercial and economic impact."

The CEO of Choice, Alan Kirkland, welcomed the move to get the tech giants to please explain.

"Australians are waking up to the fact that we are being ripped off. We believe it's time that these companies realise this and start pricing fairly in the Australian market," Mr Kirkland said.

A Choice investigation found that one Microsoft software development product Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate was so overpriced in Australia than an Aussie shopper could pay for return flights to Los Angeles, buy the software there and still come home thousands of dollars better off than buying it here.

"With price differences this stark, the same old excuses just won't cut it anymore," Mr Kirkland said.
A spokeswoman for Apple Australia refused to comment on the summons.

"We're not commenting on the IT pricing inquiry," she told News Limited.

news.com.au 12 Feb 2013

This practice has been going on for years, where Aussies consumers have been getting ripped off, by the multinationals.

Slave labour trade agreements boost profits for the multinationals, with government support.

It is unnerving how quickly governments act to install speed cameras, within months, yet take years or even decades to give consumers a 'fair go'.

Laws are set up by the corporate elite for the corporate elite, at the expense of the general population.

An example is how tax laws favour corporations, with the masses footing the bill for their operations.

A future article will outline how corporations are allowed to operate in tax havens, paying Australian citizens wages from their off shore, tax free nations like the Cayman Islands, etc.

Tearful Chrissie Swan admits she hasn't been able to quit smoking while pregnant

PHOTOGRAPHS of a pregnant Chrissie Swan smoking have been sold to Woman's Day magazine for $55,000, after a three-way bidding war which included the media personality desperate to keep her cigarette shame a secret. 

 
Swan and her Watercooler Management agent David Wilson were in negotiations with Melbourne photo agency Media Mode until 11pm on Tuesday, when the Bauer publication finally secured the rights.

Woman's Day editor Fiona Connolly confirmed the controversial images, which have sparked a national debate on the popular personality and womens' health, will be published in the next edition of her magazine.

Despite tweeting they had "declined to purchase" the incriminating images, it is understood rival New Idea had bailed out on negotiations at the $30,000 mark for the exclusive set, taken near Swan's South Yarra home on Monday (diverting their funds instead to another paparazzi offering of snaps of Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman swimming together at Balmoral Beach).

It was left to Woman's Day to bid against Swan herself, who fought desperately to keep the damaging images off the open market.

The former Circle favourite told 2UE's Ian 'Dicko' Dickson (a partner in Swan's management company) she had only offered $10,000 and was not able to match the magazine's big money because she was "just a working mother."

But Swan reportedly made a final offer of $53,000 for the damning images, before Woman's Day bettered the amount by $2000 by the agreed late-night bidding deadline on Tuesday night.

Just hours after the photo auction was settled, Swan then used her Mix FM Melbourne radio show to confess all about her private struggle with nicotine addiction and the personal turmoil she felt in putting her unborn child's health at risk.

Connolly told News Limited "Chrissie herself has admitted how grateful she is the photos were taken as they not only stopped her smoking but have sparked one of the most significant debates for women's health in years."An emotional Swan appeared on Channel 10's The Project yesterday and said she has really struggled to give up smoking during this, her third pregnancy, and probably wouldn't have confessed to it had she not been caught out by a photographer.
The Can Of Worms host and radio presenter earlier used her Mix FM Melbourne program to confess her cigarette sins, which she had kept hidden from her partner, family and friends until being snapped in the act by a paparazzo last week.
"I actually can’t explain it," she told hosts Carrie Bickmore and Charlie Pickering moments after bursting into tears on national TV.

"There can be no reason," she said.  Swan said she was "completely embarrassed" by the story and her situation "because being a mother is the single most amazing thing that has ever happened to me".
"It’s a horrifying situation and people are rightly disgusted," she said, adding that she only told her partner and her mother after the photograph was taken. She also said she hoped that the incident was dramatic enough to help her give up the fags for good.
"I have never felt less like a cigarette in my life," she said.
She said her latest pregnancy had been a "massive surprise and I had tried to go cold turkey like I did with (oldest son) Leo and I was confident I could do it, but I couldn't. I just failed and failed, time after time."

While making "no excuse" for her risky behaviour, Swan said the pressure of carrying two radio shows, a new TV program, a weekly newspaper column, maintaining a relationship, raising two kids and selling the family home had all been triggers in her decision to keep "having a sneaky cigarette."
Already targeted for her parenting choices, when a magazine portrait of her young family sparked a debate about childhood obesity, Swan said she carried the shame of her smoking secret heavily and would "never do anything to harm them and yet, here I am having five cigarettes and justifying it. It's madness, I can't explain it."
Health specialists said Swan's high-profile admission had the potential to have a positive impact on other mothers secretly battling to give up smoking for the health and safety of themselves and their children.
The anti-smoking lobby Action on Smoking and Health said Swan's confession showed just how "extremely addictive" nicotine could be.
"She sounds like she has a life similar to other women with lots of pressures, this is not a personal attack on her, but that is no excuse to continue smoking," chief lobbyist Anne Jones said.
"We have excellent support for people who want to quit smoking these days, from online quitting to Quitline and subsidies for nicotine patches.
She said most mothers did not deliberately want to risk their child's health whether they were addicted to "nicotine or heroin."
Mothers who smoke during pregnancy increase their risk of having a miscarriage or a premature birth, their baby is has an increased risk of a low birth weight or death from sudden infant death syndrome according to the National Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy’s National clinical guidelines for the management of drug use during pregnancy.
The National Health and Medical Research Council and National Institute of Clinical Studies says cigarette smoking during pregnancy also increases the risk of the baby being born with a cleft lip and palate or developing childhood cancers.

perthnow.com.au 7 Feb 2013

Trailer Park Trash mothers like Chrissie Swan do not deserve children, if the choose to continue to smoke.

What makes it worse is that  the corporate media pays 'drug money' for trash stories like this.

Pathetic parenting even before the child is born.

At the end of the day it is society which pays for this pathetic parents actions.

Record police fines on pedestrians as car theft arrests drop

POLICE are fining more Victorians for jaywalking but are failing to nab criminals for serious crimes such as car theft cars.

More than 5690 fines worth a record $412,418 were issued to pedestrians by Victoria Police in the 2011-12 financial year.

heraldsun.com.au 12 Feb 2013

It may be difficult for the 'layman' to understand that the police work for the 'corporatocracy'.

A policy is to raise revenue, in the most effective manner for the government, which in reality is a business.

In the near future corpau will be publishing how the Australian government is actually a business, or rather a corporation.

The authorities have little concern for 'crime reduction', but rather put an emphasis on raising revenue by its police 'force'.

An officer must bring in more than they are paid.

Drugs in sport

In the corporate media, the current hot topic is doping in sport or the use of performance enhancing substances in the football code of AFL previously known as VFL, in particular to a Victorian team Essendon. Drugs are not limited to the AFL.

U.S. cycling champion Lance Armstrong, has been caught out using performance enhancing drugs, and consequently his previous first place wins have been deleted from the record books. His carefully scripted interview with Oprah, was farcical, explaining the definition of cheating from the ‘dictionary’. The joke is on the uneducated commoner.

Being ‘THE’ topic in the media, a football program called ‘Footy Classified’ recently referred to its viewers with the quote ‘to layman at home’, explaining some of the details of the allegations. On the program also it was noted that the Essendon football players involved in the allegations, in any previously public engagements proudly wore their signature football colours, whereas in the media interviews denounced any visible association with  their team Essendon.

The football code VFL was created by the ‘authorities’ to keep the commoners busy on the weekends, and to occupy them during the week with meaningless competitions and trivia, in order to distract them from the machinations of the ruling elite. This is a well known and well documented fact.

Currently the AFL is a billion dollar industry, vast approaching a multi-billion dollar business.

Corruption in the police force as well as with the legal profession working together with corrupt judges, associated (read: paid off ) with high profile betting syndicates, together with well established drug families, will ensure that no one of significance will get prosecuted.

Some players are involved not only in criminal activities, but also deal in drugs with the help of biker gangs, to which the authorities turn a ‘blind eye’.

At the end o f the day, the ‘authorities’ will stop at nothing to keep this multi-billion dollar industry churning out the profits from the ‘layman’, the uneducated commoner. 

It is of little doubt that the current scandal will blow over with nothing more than a ripple in the industry.

Drugs flown to Australia on private planes

THE arrest of an alleged drug boss in Chicago has revealed a bold trafficking operation by Mexican gangs who fly tonnes of cocaine from the US to Australia in private planes and, on the return leg, fly out "millions of dollars" in cash profits

To entice pilots to fly the jets for the monthly US-Australia roundtrip, cash windfalls are offered, according to court documents.

Planes used to fly cocaine to Australia are loaded with millions of dollars in cash for the flight back to the US and pilots are paid a 10 per cent share of the booty.

The details are alleged in the criminal complaint lodged by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in the US District Court in Illinois against Jose "Juanito" Mares-Barragan, a 31-year-old accused of being the co-head of a Chicago drug trafficking organisation working for Mexico's ruthless Sinaloa cartel.

"If he wants to go big, we can go big," Mares-Barragan allegedly told an informant, codenamed CS1, during a recorded meeting to discuss enticing a pilot to fly cocaine from South America to Central America.

The pilot would make $US500,000 for each South America-Central America flight and CS1 would earn between $US30,000 and $US50,000 for introducing the pilot to Mares-Barragan, documents filed in court allege.

Mares-Barragan also allegedly told the informant "$US1500 per brick" would be earned for transporting 20 to 25 bricks of cocaine from California to Chicago.

Mares-Barragan's former co-head of the Chicago drug operation has become a "reliable" key informant for authorities, in the hope of receiving a reduced sentence, and is referred to as "Individual A" in court documents.

According to the complaint against Mares-Barragan, CS1 and Individual A met on January 13, 2012 and the movement of cocaine from the US to Australia was discussed.

"Individual A advised that his/her associates were moving millions of dollars per month from Australia to the United States, and that the money was being used to purchase cocaine to be sold in Australia," special agent for the DEA Christopher O'Reilly wrote in the criminal complaint lodged against Mares-Barragan.
"In prior meetings between CS1 and Individual A, CS1 had pretended to be a pilot.

"Individual A asked CS1 whether he/she was interested in moving millions of dollars from Australia to the United States."

Mares-Barragan was arrested on January 22 and charged with conspiracy to attempt to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine.

He has been refused bail and is being held at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center.

aap 11 Feb 2013

The drug industry in Australia is worth approximately $1,200 million per month. 

A 'brotherhood' meeting in the 1980's stated that the authorities are fighting a losing battle with the organised drug syndicates.

Under no circumstances can the corporate media reveal the true extent of the losing battle by the authorities against drugs, as not only is the corporate media an official government 'lap dog' but would also indicate a loss of control, and the 'commoner' would lose faith in the 'system'.

Royal Bank of Scotland fined $A596m

STATE-RESCUED Royal Bank of Scotland says it will pay fines totalling $US612 million ($596 million) to US and British regulators to settle allegations of Libor interest rate rigging. 
 
RBS, which is 81-per cent owned by the British government, said it has agreed to pay the equivalent of 391 million to regulators, becoming the third bank to admit its part in the Libor affair after Barclays and UBS.

The investigations uncovered "wrongdoing" by 21 employees, predominantly in relation to the setting of the bank's yen and Swiss franc Libor submissions between October 2006 to November 2010, the bank said.

RBS added it had been fined $US325 million by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, $US150 million by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and $US137 million by Britain's Financial Services Authority.

The bank has also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DoJ, in relation to one count of wire fraud relating to Swiss franc Libor and one count for an antitrust violation relating to yen Libor.

RBS Securities Japan Limited has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to one count of wire fraud relating to Yen Libor, it added in the statement.

Japan's Financial Services Agency said the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has been investigating the local arm since mid-November for involvement in LIBOR manipulation.

British finance minister George Osborne condemned the "totally unacceptable" behaviour at the bailed-out bank and insisted the taxpayer would not pick up the bill.

"Those responsible will face the full force of the law," Osborne told reporters.

The Edinburgh-based lender, which was rescued with taxpayers' cash at the height of the global financial crisis, said that it would recoup about STG300 million ($A458.02 million) from its staff bonus pool and by clawing back previous pay awards.

John Hourican, chief executive of the bank's Markets and International Banking division, will leave RBS and forfeit his 2012 bonus and long-term incentive shares.

"This is a sad day for RBS, but also an important one in continuing to put right the mistakes of the past," Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Philip Hampton said in the statement.

"That is why those responsible have left the organisation or been subject to disciplinary action."
RBS said its derivative traders sought to influence the bank's yen and Swiss franc Libor setters over the four-year period.

"Two RBS traders based in London colluded with other banks and brokers in making and receiving requests for higher and lower" rates, it said.

The total fines slapped on RBS are more than those handed last year to Barclays for attempted Libor rate-rigging, but less than the amount paid by UBS for similar offences.

Libor, or London Interbank Offered Rate, is a flagship instrument used all over the world, affecting what banks, businesses and individuals pay to borrow money. Euribor is the eurozone equivalent.

Libor is calculated daily, using estimates from banks of their own interbank rates, and affects the pricing of more than $US300-trillion of contracts across the world, according to British regulator, the Financial Services Authority.

aap 7 Feb 2013

Whilst the bank may be 'fined' for fraud, what about the monies returned to customers?

Corporate criminals are allowed to keep the proceeds of crime.

Australian banks are miniscule compared to the global market.

 

To the average Australian, the amount of a $600 million fine, may seem a lot, but in the perspective of the Aussie 'Big Four' banks only represents one tenth earnings of just one bank per annum.

 

The Anglo-Masonic legal system in full swing, 'supporting' corporate fraud.

Grocon police 'overkill'

NEARLY 1000 police officers were used on just one morning at the height of last year's Grocon dispute - about one in every 13 sworn police in Victoria.

The massive response is underlined by police data - released under freedom of information - that reveals 3067 police shifts were worked in just two weeks at Grocon's Myer Emporium site in central Melbourne in August and September.

Victoria Police refuses to disclose how much the dispute cost it - and taxpayers - as a legal case against the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is under way. But it defended its response as necessary to ensure safety.

CFMEU state secretary John Setka denied the union was to blame for the costs and said the number of police used was an ''absolute disgrace''.

He said it was not the fault of police, it was a result of Premier Ted Baillieu backing Grocon chief executive Daniel Grollo. ''It's just one little rich boy helping another little rich boy.''

The data reveals that on August 31 - 10 days into the bitter dispute - 967 police were used in an early morning push to seize control of the site from protesters.

The 3am push encountered little opposition. Police took control of the site and erected a fence that blocked two lanes of Lonsdale Street. The move allowed about 30 Grocon workers to return to work, about one-third of the usual number.

A week before the push, Mr Grollo had formally asked Chief Commissioner Ken Lay for help. In a letter dated August 24, released under FOI, Mr Grollo said he made the request reluctantly. ''Our employees are keen to return to work but are presently unable to do so - from our perspective, the timing of any attempt to return will be determined solely with their safety in mind,'' he wrote.

Mr Grollo also said there were long-term issues for Victorian businesses arising from the blockade. ''There are of course longer-term multi-site issues relating to companies seeking to go about their lawful business in the face of unlawful activity in the state of Victoria,'' he wrote.

Mr Grollo said his request was made with ''reluctance'' and acknowledged that it ''poses a burden on your (police) time and resources''.

In the fallout from the dispute, the CFMEU is facing a $10.5 million damages claim from Grocon and is also being pursued by the federal building industry watchdog for fines and damages.

Mr Setka, who was union assistant secretary at the time, played a central role in the dispute and has been accused in court documents of having used phrases to Grocon employees such as ''you're a f---ing dog'', ''scab'' and ''rats''.

Mr Setka said police officers had told the union they did not want to be there, had been pulled from country stations and were upset at ''being used as political pawns''.

''I don't blame the Victorian police for a moment, they're sent where they're ordered to go,'' he said.

The dispute remains unresolved and Mr Setka said the union was planning further action. ''To be honest, it's a bit like a military operation,'' he said.

Police Association secretary Greg Davies said the costs from the dispute would be significant but said the scale of the police response had helped ''dampen the enthusiasms of anyone for any sort of altercation''.

''It is a big number [of police] but then we had a reasonably recent experience, the World Economic Forum at Crown casino, where we were under-resourced,'' he said. ''If it's all going to turn to porridge, it's the police that will bear the brunt of it.''

A police spokeswoman said the large response was justified. The FOI data shows a heavy police presence on other days, with 763 police used on September 4 and nearly 700 the following day.

''A large number of police resources were used to maintain a presence at the site during this period. We believe the number of police deployed was sufficient and necessary to ensure the safety of the public, our people, Grocon employees and any other person involved in the dispute,'' the spokeswoman said.

theage.com.au 6 Feb 2013

The police are at the disposal of their employers, the government and their corporate brethren.

The purpose is to enforce the 'law' on the masses and not to prosecute the ruling hierarchy.

The police work for the 'corporatocracy', a fact the the general population is not aware of, and totally ignorant to dismiss as a 'conspiracy theory' if this is pointed out to the 'Joe Average'.

One of the primary objectives is to keep the peasants in line, and controlled.

A recent example of this is when a gathering of the masses was staged supporting a (media supported) group of young delinquent loser group of teenagers called the Janoskians, where a protester (against the Janoskians) was carted away. 

 

See Herald Sun article:

 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/police-called-in-after-clash-between-pranksters-the-janoskians-and-facebeef-at-federation-square/story-e6frf7jo-1226563598313

Sex tourism comedy sketch angers Thais

A US comedy skit that makes fun of Thailand's booming sex industry has angered the government and it is trying to block videos of the sketch on the Internet, the Thai culture minister said on Monday.

The skit on the Saturday Night Live programme is a parody of an advertisement for a Thai-language course by the Rosetta Stone company, which shows men surreptitiously learning phrases for use in Thailand's notorious night-life, such as: "Take your clothes off."

Culture Minister Sonthaya Kunploem was not amused.

"The sketch misrepresents Thailand and its people," Sonthaya said. "We're working with the Foreign Ministry to let the US know it is offensive and we have asked our information ministry to remove the clip."

Predominantly Buddhist Thailand is deeply conservative despite its vibrant sex industry, and its censors often target nudity on television and in print. Prostitution is illegal though widespread.

In the comedy skit, men can use the language course to practise phrases such as "How much?" and "Is that for the whole night?"

One embarrassed character insists he's learning Thai for business, only to hide his head in shame.

The comedy show on the NBC network came in for lots of criticism on Internet forums but some Thais said authorities had to face the facts.

"The government is simply trying to close its eyes and ignore the problem," Thanachai Chomchurnjai said in one Internet chatroom, referring to prostitution.

theage.com.au 5 Feb 2013

Governments will quite often deny there is a specific problem, as this indicates a control failure.

This is more evident in the lucrative and expanding sex industry of Asia.

In Thailand there are many 'sex destinations', and 'sex tours' which are well organised events.

The sex industry in Thailand is controlled by the Russian and Chinese mafias.

High profile Australian business men, as well as politicians and High Court judges travel to Thailand for sex with underage boys.

The authorities of Thailand turn a blind eye to these acts of paedophilia, as do the authorities of Australia.

When it comes to a Mr. Joe Average committing acts of paedophilia, then there is a corporate media outcry, but when it comes to government officials committing the same crimes there is an enormous coverup.

Myki Ticketing Fraud

Information has been obtained by corpau from within the industry that the operators of Melbourne’s public transport ticketing system ‘Myki’ (pronounced - my key) are responsible for defrauding their customers.

The corporate media, which is an official government propaganda tool, is very quick to run stories of how consumers are evading the ‘controversial’ ticketing system, but are very slow to report fraud of the other direction.

The ‘controversial’ ticketing system is plagued with technical difficulties, over budget (read 'Money for Mates’), corruption and underperformance just to name a few.

Melbourne’s public transport system previously had a perfectly adequate working system, that of a card with a magnetic strip. 

In accordance with ‘secret’ government agendas to monitor the masses, from all aspects, the ‘Myki’ system was introduced which monitors the card holder in real time.

The propaganda machine kicks in to illustrate the benefits to the consumer, but in reality, they are negligible, compared to the data which is obtained by authorities.

Authorities ‘illegally’ spy on registered ticket holders, and even if one is not registered, one is caught on camera, and monitored accordingly.

The way the operator is committing fraud against the customer is that a customer must swipe the card upon entry to a public transport system service, then swipe when exiting the service. Once this is done an appropriate amount is deducted from the account holder.

When a card reader is offline, there is no way of the system knowing when the user has finished their journey. Instead of the user being debited for that journey, an amount is debited as if the journey was taken to the end of the line.

The operators are fully aware of this fact, including their ticketing inspectors, but still support this fraud.

Australia’s legal system is a ‘basket case’ that favours the corporatocracy, to the detriment of the masses or the consumer.

Stupid Obese Aussies

The rate at which Australians are becoming obese is quite frightening.

Some parents who feed their children "chips and lollies", because anything else is "too hard", not only should be taken to court for child abuse but also have their children confiscated, as they are not fit to raise them.

Junk food heavy weights like McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Hungry Jack's (Burger King), are literally making a 'killing', supplying carcinogenic 'food' to their purchasers.

In today's day and age, one can quite easily argue that there is no excuse for 'not knowing' the dangers of consuming junk food, of which also the products of Coca Cola Amatil fall under, as there is ample information available to the 'Average Joe' or even "Below Average Joe", from sources like the Internet, health experts, nutritionists, or even just plain old General Practitioner's.

The average lemonade contains approx 67.8g of sugar per 600ml (approx 17 teaspoons) , or approx 339g, 0.75 pounds (or approx 85 teaspoons) of sugar per 3 litres of soft drink.

On every bottle of lemonade sold in Australia, it is mandatory to provide a list of ingredients of the product. The amount of sugar per serving or per 100ml is provided to the consumer.

Low class workers or plainly put ignorant or the uneducated masses are more likely to fall into the obese or even morbidly obese category, due to the consumption of junk food or poor diet.

An example has been presented in the labour or left winged newspaper the Herald Sun with an illusion that an individual was unaware of his poor health until he had a free 15 minute WorkHealth check.

The 33 year old, 136kg (300lb) male subject, who drank 3 litres of soft drink per day, had a staple diet of junk food, who felt 'sluggish and tired', had sleep apnea, and life threatening breathing problems, showed nothing less than ignorance and stupidity towards his ailing health.

The propaganda machine used the fact that a 'free' WorkHealth check saved his life, whereas the signs were there for quite some time, where the subject chose to ignore them.

It is easy to see how the (herd) population are in a (cattle) class of their own.

See Herald Sun story:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/north/scott-cornford-loses-41kg-after-workplace-health-check/story-fnglenug-1226565911023