US government reveals Multiple Kill Vehicle

The US government has released video of its latest weapon that looks and moves like the murderous Skynet flying droids from the Terminator movie series — and the name is just as menacing.

The Multiple Kill Vehicle (MKV) robot, built by defence contractor Lockheed Martin, is designed to be mounted to a carrier missile shot into space to take out enemy nuclear missiles.

The video shows the MKV using small rockets to hover and track left and right inside a special test facility at Edwards Air Force Base.

According to the Missile Defence Agency, during a ballistic missile attack a carrier with a cargo of small kill vehicles get in the way of any enemy missiles.

"Using tracking data from the Ballistic Missile Defence System and its own seeker, the carrier vehicle will dispense and guide the kill vehicles to destroy any warheads or countermeasures," a press release from the MDA stated.

Lockheed-Martin rival contractor Raytheon is also developing its own MKV.

The MKV is just a small piece in the puzzle that makes up the US's controversial missile defence shield, referred to as "Star Wars" when first announced by the Reagan administration in the 1980s at the height of the Cold War.

What began as the Strategic Defence Initiative in 1983 became the Ballistic Missile Defence Organisation in 1993 before being renamed the Missile Defence Agency in 2002.

President-elect Barack Obama has publically criticised the highly complex program, which will cost an estimated A$80.6 billion between 2004 and 2009, saying he would not "weaponise space".

ninemsn 11 Dec 2008

Excellent!! Team America World Police to the RESCUE.

Will they use this technology for :

A). Invading another country that hosts 'terrorists' in order for the financiers to gain control of the Oil reserves or (makes billions = good )

B). Use the technology to fight the violent decapitations by the drug cartels just south of the Texas border, that distribute DRUGS that KILL more Americans, than any external terrorists acts. (lose billions = bad)

Court orders Qantas to pay $20m

The Federal Court of Australia has ordered national carrier Qantas Airways Ltd to pay $20 million in pecuniary penalties for breaching the price-fixing provisions of the Trade Practices Act.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) instituted proceedings in October 2008 alleging Qantas had reached an understanding with other international airlines in relation to the imposition of fuel surcharges on air cargo across its global networks between 2002 and early 2006.

The ACCC said Qantas admitted to making and giving effect to the understanding, repeatedly exchanging assurances among airlines in the implementation of fuel surcharge increases and reaching local agreements in certain Asian countries collectively.

ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said the penalty reflected the seriousness of the contraventions and Qantas' large share of the market.

"Cartels - particularly those that are engaged in by large businesses with broad application over a period of time - have a significant effect on consumers," Mr Samuel said.

"They are an unseen fraud on the community that must be uncovered and punished." (lets NOT just stop at one company, Mr. Samuel, TELSTRA has been named, and ASIC has all the relevant paperwork,and SLATER & GORDON has confirmed it is FRAUD! What more do you NEED ??? !!! ??? !!! )

He said Qantas had undertaken an exhaustive probe of the allegations after being made aware of the conduct.

Qantas has been restrained from engaging in similar conduct for three years and ordered to pay $200,000 towards the ACCC's costs.

The Federal Court also ordered British Airways PLC to pay $5 million for price fixing in relation to fuel surcharges applied to international carriage of air cargo between 2002 and early 2006.

British Airways has reached agreement on the penalties after admitted it arrived at an illegal understanding with Lufthansa on fuel surcharges on some of their international air cargo services.

Mr Samuel said the case should send a strong message to cartels.

"That the ACCC will not relent in its pursuit and the bringing to account of those who engage in illegal behaviour," he said.

"There are no safe havens for illegal cartel conduct.

The court also restrained British Airways from engaging in similar conduct for a period of five years and to pay $200,000 towards the ACCC's costs.

11 Dec 2008.

In another matter regarding corporate fraud, Telstra is responsible for a fraud that is worth approximately $10 million per year, BUT all the relevant channels WIPE their hands clean, as at the time Telstra was government owned, and NO GOVERNMENT wishes to implicate itself.

Since Telstra is now under the leadership of Solomon Trujillo, who resigned as CEO of US West Communications Inc. See excerpt from the now deleted article from Wikipedia :

• He resigned as CEO of U S West Communications, Inc. just before the company became the subject of a federal criminal probe for overstating nearly a billion dollars in profits. [7] He was not charged by the justice department and has denied any knowledge of accounting irregularities.

there is NO hope of the wages fraud seeing the light of day in ANY court.

Australia Prison Island 101 - Net Censorship

Here we have a classic example of how Internet Censorship DOES NOT WORK.

The site put into the browser is www.neis.com.au which is a program called NEIS (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme), for unemployed people, set up by the Australian Government.

The Australian government is pushing for Internet Censorship of ALL Australians, in order to stop downloading illegal content (as defined by who?), in order to protect us , and as a good measure throw in the words child porn, to get support.

Technically all content on the 'net can be classified as illegal.
Content on youtube is also illegal.

A statistic pull out from someone's hat suggests that 60% of internet traffic is peer to peer (i.e. file sharing - of movies / music??).

The fact is that the government is under intense pressure from Corporate giants MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America, and the Music Industry, as they CLAIM they are losing millions.

This is another example of how Corporations DICTATE political agendas.

Maybe the Government dos not want you to have a New Enterprise Incentive Scheme idea so you may succeed?

Or maybe it is working ???

Melbourne radio host found dead

Melbourne breakfast radio host Richard Marsland has been found dead.

Police said the 32-year-old Caulfield man's death is not thought to be suspicious.

Mr Marsland co-hosted on Triple M with Pete Helliar and Myf Warhurst after starting his radio career in Adelaide on the SAFM breakfast show with Greg Fleet, Marty Sheargold and James Brayshaw.

He also co-hosted a live, daily morning program AM Adelaide on Channel 7, Adelaide with the multiple-Logie award winning Anne Wills, and then hosted The Late Date Show nationally with Bessie Bardot on 2DayFM, 92.9 and FoxFM.

Austereo Melbourne general manager Ben Amarfio expressed the station's sadness at losing a talented and popular member of the Triple M team.

"Everyone he worked with was impressed with his professionalism and dedication and he had an extremely bright future ahead of him," Mr Amarfio said in a statement.

"We thought so highly of Richard that we were expanding his role in the show next year.

"Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this difficult time."

6 Dec 2008

Again we have a report, that does not mention the cause of death. Since there are apparently no suspicious circumstances, it therefore looks like a suicide.

If we have a moderately high profile figure, who's cause of death was suicide, for whatever reasons, depression etc, then the public should be made aware, and help offered to others, as it has been done in the past with other 'celebrities'.

Carl Williams' mother found dead

Barbara Williams, the mother of convicted killer Carl Williams, has been found dead in her Melbourne home.

Citing police sources, Sky News reported that Ms Williams' body was found in a bedroom in the house, adding the only indication as to what had happened was a medicine bottle being found nearby.

Police say there are no suspicious circumstances.

Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles says Ms Williams had been suffering from depression.

"This is a very sad and tragic case. Here's a mother who has brought up her children the best that she can," he said.

"Unfortunately Carl's in jail and her husband's in jail and that's obviously had a massive effect on her.

"With all the publicity that's gone on, that's probably contributed to her depression."

Williams was sentenced in May 2007 to a minimum of 35 years' jail for the murders of three Melbourne underworld rivals - father and son Lewis and Jason Moran and drug dealer Mark Mallia.

His father, and Ms Williams' estranged husband George Williams, 61, is also serving time, sentenced last year to four-and-a-half years' jail after pleading guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine.

abc 22 Nov 2008

full story:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/22/2427113.htm

Nothing new about this story EXCEPT that the report made by the general media is the allusion that she committed suicide by a pill overdose, which is incorrect.

A source closer to the actual event, stated that Barbara Williams hung herself.

There is NOTHING NEW about media deliberately withholding information from the public, for whatever reasons seen fit by the editors / politicians of the day.

Muslim school sacks teacher who wanted national anthem

A MUSLIM school has banned the national anthem at assemblies and sacked the teacher who asked for it to be played.

Australian International Islamic College teacher Pravin Chand was sacked last month, four months after his proposal for students to sing Advance Australia Fair was ruled to be against the "Islamic view and ethos".

A memo sent to teachers in July also announced "the singing of the anthem will be put on hold".

Yesterday, the Brisbane school denied it had banned the national anthem at assemblies.

The school chairman, Imam Abdul Quddoos Azhari, said students sang the national anthem "at every function, on every occasion".

But Mr Chand, whose version of events was backed by a second teacher, said he had not heard the anthem once this year.

"No national anthem, to me, means no integration with Australian kids," he said.

"Western values (at the school) are a no-no.

"It's like a paramilitary camp, that place."

Mr Chand's employment was terminated by the college board on the ground that he was "not fitting into the school's ethos".

Outgoing principal Azroul Liza Khalid, who started at the school in July, said she had not heard the anthem at assembly, although it was played on two or three other occasions.

Ms Khalid said she was told by a board member not to play the anthem, or any songs, on a Friday because it was a holy day. In July, school assembly day was moved from Monday to Friday.

The revelations follow a public outcry over a plan by the same Brisbane college to open another campus.

A vocal crowd draped in Australian flags and playing local rock anthems accused the college of promoting segregation, anti-Australian values and even terrorism.

Muslim leaders said the protests were "un-Australian" and claimed religion should not be used as a reason to protest against a school.

Local Education Minister Rod Welford's spokeswoman indicated it was unlikely a public school had ever banned the national anthem.

"It's not compulsory for schools to play the national anthem," she said.

"There's an expectation it would be played on formal occasions when the Australian flag is being raised."

A Catholic education spokesman said: "I'm absolutely confident that no Catholic school has ever banned the playing of the national anthem and never will".

The future of the proposed 60-pupil college at Carrara will be decided by Gold Coast City Council next year.

James O'Loan Herald Sun 5 Dec 2008

Victoria - on the move BACKWARDS 101

Motorists spend a day a year behind the wheel

MOTORISTS are spending an extra day a year behind the wheel because of government inaction on transport.

A typical driving commuter spends almost two weeks - about 336 hours - a year going to and from work.

When the Labor Government was elected in 1999, the same driver would spend only 12 days and 17 hours in the car every year for the same trip.

Tell us about your traffic nightmares below

Peak-hour average speeds have fallen dramatically in the past decade, while the Bracks and Brumby governments have been in office.

The average speed in morning peak has fallen from 37.5km/h in 1999-2000 to 34.8km/h in 2007-08.

In the afternoon, it's down from 41.4km/h to 37km/h.

The Government yesterday refused to confirm details of the transport plan revealed in yesterday's Herald Sun, except that two extra lanes would be squeezed on to the West Gate Bridge.

The bridge's lanes will be 40cm narrower than the current 3.5m width, and the emergency lane will make way for moving traffic.

Roads Minister Tim Pallas said a previous plan to introduce reversible lanes had been dumped. "(This) is better, it's safer and less costly," he said.

The $240 million project will strengthen the bridge's outer edges and install suicide prevention barriers.

Mr Pallas said the capacity of the road, which carries 160,000 vehicles a day, would increase by 50 per cent.

"This is a medium-term solution, and additional capacity will need to be built into our east-west movements," he said. "I'm not going to confirm or deny any aspects of what might be in the transport plan."

But Mr Pallas hinted that the plan, to be released next week, would include some form of east-west road.

"Melbourne has an unsustainable reliance, into the long term, on the West Gate Bridge," he said.

A road tunnel assisting the movement of freight out of the ports area is likely to be included in the package.

Transport insiders have tipped that the complete tunnel, linking with the Eastern Freeway as suggested by Sir Rod Eddington, will not be on the immediate agenda.

The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry said any delays were putting off the inevitable.

These projects included an underground rail from Caulfield to Footscray and the removal of level crossings.

VECCI has also called for the Frankston Bypass, which the Government has already confirmed, and the northeast connector from Greensborough to Ringwood.

Plans to narrow the lanes on the West Gate were attacked yesterday by Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder. "What a load of hogwash," he said.

The Government needed to build a new road linking the east and west to ease congestion rather than attempt to cram more motorists on to the West Gate Bridge.

"It would appear the east-west connection has been taken off the agenda so around about a million-plus people living in the eastern suburbs are now stuck with a car park," he said.

Ashley Gardiner, Herald Sun 5 Dec 2008

Court systems 'hampering right to know'

The public's fundamental right to know is being threatened by inconsistent and unnecessary procedures in many of Australia's courts, a new report has found.

A coalition of major media organisations has repeatedly voiced frustration at being denied court documents or blocked from reporting on court cases by vague and indefinite suppression orders.

The organisation, Australia's Right to Know (ARK), released its most recent publication: The Review of Suppression Orders and Access to Court Documents in Australia.

ARK, representing 12 media organisations, canvassed the views of court reporters, media lawyers, court registrars and public information officers in its 121-page report.

News Ltd chairman John Hartigan accused the legal system as being part of the problem.

"The judiciary is often critical of media reports of court proceedings," he said.

"But the issue is that reporters are being hampered in getting quick and accurate information from some courts."

Journalists are routinely denied evidence tendered in court even though state and federal laws deem the information to be in the public domain, the report's author Prue Innes said.

"There are huge interstate variations. We might only guess why this might be but we're unable to say."

Various laws already exist to protect the identity of witnesses, including sex-abuse victims, children and undercover police officers.

But legal teams on both sides apply for suppression orders for many other reasons so as not to prejudice current or future trials.

The number of suppression orders made in Australia grew from 607 in 2006 to 678 in 2007.

However, the lack of a formal register of the orders suggests the actual figures could be much higher, Ms Innes said.

ARK said according to the NSW judicial system, only nine orders were made in the first half of 2008, and all of them came out of the Supreme Court.

"There were doubtless others made but as statistics are not kept the picture is incomplete," the report said.

The majority of orders had no sunset clause and many were so vague that media organisations were limited in what they could write, it said.

The ARK report recommends suppression orders be clear, specific and with no wider scope than necessary.

Whenever possible orders should include a sunset clause so they expire automatically or should otherwise state why the order should be indefinite.

Courts that do not have a public notification system for suppression orders should establish one.

On the issue of media obtaining court exhibits, the report recommends "courts adopt a procedure based on a presumption of access" so journalists receive the requested documents promptly.

"It's not a lot of use getting stuff days or weeks out from the event," Ms Innes said.

The report also recommends trialling the use of television cameras in court cases and the use voice recorders by journalists to assist with accurate reporting.

No laws exist to prohibit such devices leaving the decision to the judge.

The ABC's managing director Mark Scott said it was time to step out of the dark ages.

"It's absurdly old-fashioned that we still have to rely on artists' sketches of defendants, and scrum for images outside court," he said.

14 Nov 2008

Aussie retail staff among top thieves

Australian retail staff have the world's greatest propensity for theft from their employer, costing the industry almost $3 billion, a survey finds.

The second annual Global Retail Theft Barometer found Australian retailers experienced the world's highest rate of employee theft and fraud and that the illegal activity cost the sector almost $3 billion over the past 12 months.

The cost of employee theft - or "shrinkage loss" - as it is termed in the industry, is usually passed on to consumers.

The survey estimated that the shortfall cost each Australian household almost $426, the equivalent of two weeks of grocery shopping for the average household.

The study was prepared by the Centre for Retail Research, England and was published on Tuesday by Checkpoint Systems Inc, a supplier of radio-frequency electronic article surveillance systems to prevent stock loss.

Checkpoint managing director Mark Gentle said Australian retailers rarely addressed internal theft despite investing heavily in different security systems to prevent stock loss from external sources.

"Australia is sophisticated in its approach to shrinkage and a lot of work has gone on aimed at external theft," Mr Gentle said.

"This has reduced customer shop lifting by 2.05 per cent compared to last year, now the challenge is what do we do with internal theft."

Mr Gentle said the cost of retail shrinkage was borne by consumers.

"Whilst shrink is a serious threat to retailers' bottom lines, the hidden tax on consumers is an additional unfair hit, especially as they are already dealing with the strain of tightening household budgets during the economic downturn."

The study found that employee were surprisingly consistent in their choice of goods to thieve, regardless of geographic region.

They favoured razor blades, shaving products, cosmetics, face creams, perfumes, alcohol, fresh meat/expensive foodstuffs, infant formula, CDs and DVDs, fashion, electronic games, cellular phones and watches.

Retailers estimated that, on average, they lost between two and five per cent of the value of new product lines to theft.

Popular products such as Harry Potter books, electronic games and recent DVDs experienced loss levels of up to eight per cent, causing supply shortages.

The theft survey was based on data from a confidential surveys of 920 large retailers worldwide, with combined sales of $US814 billion ($A1.22 trillion).

money.ninemsn 11 Nov 2008

Technically, the statement above (Aussie retail staff among top thieves) by the mass media is deliberately misleading (false).

Corporate Crime is Australia's largest financial burden. The problem generally is that what makes light in the mass media, is only a fraction of what is going on behind closed doors.

Examples of this are as follows are only a small part of the bigger picture.

Christopher Skase (Quintex) > $1,000,000,000
Richard Pratt > $750,000,000
Alan Bond > $1,000,000,000
Telstra > $10,000,000 per annum
Rene Rivkin > $50,000,000
Henry Kaye (Eugene Kukuy) > $30,000,000
Steve Vizard $3,000,000

The LARGEST problem is that the court systems supports these types of crimes, and as put by the ABC's 7:30 Report : Alan Bond walks free. A quote taken from ketupa.net/bond.htm states it how it is : "Just one fraud committed by businessman Alan Bond was worth the same amount as every single household burglary committed in Australia over 18 months."

With ALL of the above mentioned individuals, they are SET FREE by the Australian court system.

They are only the people who take the wrap. Behind them there are others that help. If these matters were to be taken seriously, then the people behind them would be exposed, i.e. lawmakers, politicians, business executives.

Teen dead after wild Adelaide brawl

A teenage boy fatally stabbed in a wild brawl in central Adelaide was set upon by two gangs of youths, a witness says.

Another youth is in a critical condition after the brawl involving between 12 to 15 teenage boys, all of African appearance, erupted near the corner of Grenfell Street and St James Place about 3.30pm (CDT) yesterday.

"One of the teenagers has died and one is in a critical condition at the Royal Adelaide Hospital," South Australia Police spokesman Senior Constable Mick Turnbull said.

With many of the youths armed with knives the brawl spilled out across Grenfell Street.

"The fight has proceeded across the road, outside the Fleet Street newsagency (in Grenfell Street) and two teenage boys have been stabbed as a result of the fight involving a group of teenage boys," he told AAP.

A witness, who did not wish to be named, said two large groups of youths chased a boy across the road to the newsagency.

"Soon as they saw the single guy, out came knives, off came belts, and they went for him," one said.

Witnesses at the scene told reporters the fight involved a group of Sudanese youths.

An overseas student said she was inside the newsagency with her elderly parents on their first trip to Australia as the brawl erupted.

"It was terrible. This should not happen in Adelaide," the unnamed woman told News Limited.

"They (her parents) should not see this in Adelaide.

"It's very frightening. Thanks to God they (her parents) were not stabbed."

A man who administered CPR on a wounded boy, believed to be 14 years old, said the scene was chaotic.

"I came around the corner and saw a group of youths running," the unnamed man told News Ltd.

"I don't know where (on his body) he was stabbed, I was doing CPR while I was on the phone calling for help and other people were helping."

A bicycle courier said he used his shirt to stem the flow of blood from one of the wounded boys.

Blood stained the footpath and a window outside the shop, while magazine racks inside were upturned, witnesses said.

Major crimes Detective Inspector Doug Barr called for witnesses to contact police.

"One person has been arrested and is in custody, however, their connection with this incident is sketchy," he told reporters.

"The investigation is still in the very early stages and I'm unable to provide further details about that."

Traffic in central Adelaide was in gridlock for the afternoon peak as major crimes detectives closed the affected section of Grenfell Street to examine the scene.

Grenfell Street did not reopen until about 7pm.

13 Nov 2008

This is what happens when governments import trash from around the world. These people live in OUR community and trash our society, and not where the lawmakers live and work.