Britain's Parky slams late TV star Goody

British veteran chat show host Michael Parkinson slammed late reality TV star Jade Goody as "all that's paltry and wretched about Britain".

Goody found tabloid fame after appearing on the British edition of Big Brother in 2002 and transforming her 15 minutes of fame into a full-time celebrity career.

She died last month of cervical cancer aged 27, milking the media spotlight until the last in deals with broadcasters and publications to make money for her two sons.

"Jade Goody has her own place in the history of television and, while it's significant, it's nothing to be proud of," Parkinson wrote in the Radio Times weekly magazine.

"Her death is as sad as the death of any young person, but it's not the passing of a martyr or a saint or, God help us, Princess Di," added Parkinson, known as Parky in Britain, Australia and elsewhere.

He added: "When we clear the media smokescreen from around her death, what we're left with is a woman who came to represent all that's paltry and wretched about Britain today."

Goody's example has been hailed by cancer charities as well as Prime Minister Gordon Brown for prompting a surge in the increase of young women taking tests for cervical cancer.

She released an autobiography, a perfume and an exercise video, and saw her notoriety go global when she subjected Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty to racist bullying on Celebrity Big Brother in 2007.

ninemsn 8 Apr 2009

Said it the way it should be said.

The Mass Media DELIBERATELY focuses on this type of 'trash' entertainment.

AFL club investigates chicken sex film

AFL club North Melbourne says it will not punish the player responsible for posting on the internet a degrading video that depicts a toy rubber chicken performing sex acts.

Chief executive Eugene Arocca this morning confirmed that an internal investigation is underway and once identified, the player at the centre of the tasteless video would be "re-educated" rather than disciplined.

The four-minute video, posted on video sharing website YouTube, features the rubber chicken, always wearing a condom on its head and manoeuvred by an unidentifiable hand, seeming to sexually penetrate a real chicken carcass, The Age newspaper reported today.

The real chicken, depicted as a woman, is hurled into a wall and run over by a van before the rubber chicken returns to again penetrate it, The Age said.

Mr Arocca today said the video was "stupid and thoughtless".

"We pride ourselves on being an inclusive club. Most of our employees are female, in fact many of the volunteers who come to this club are female," he said.

"We really take umbradge to the suggestion that this club treats women poorly or is disrespectful to women."

Parts of the film, titled The Adventures of Little Boris, were recorded in the club's locker room, including the locker of senior player Brady Rawlings, on the desk of a staff member, at a supermarket and in a hotel toilet.

The film's soundtrack is Move Bitch, a song by US rapper Ludacris. No players, coaches or staff are seen in the video.

Mr Arocca said he was "embarrassed" about the video and ordered it to be removed from YouTube when alerted to it by The Age.

"Foolishly, one of the younger members of our group placed it on his Facebook (page). It then found its way onto YouTube. It's now been removed," he said.

"I'm furious to say the least that it's gotten out, though I haven't had the advantage of seeing it."

AFL corporate affairs manager Brian Walsh said the video was "infantile and inappropriate".

8 Apr 2009

Do NOT expect any ROCKET SCIENCE Brain work from a bunch of Infantile Neanderthals handling a ball.

Just more Quality News to keep the plebs amused.

Banks need a kick up the bum, says Swan

Banks that fail to pass on the latest interest rate cut to borrowers need "a good kick up the bum", federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says.

The Commonwealth Bank has said it will only pass on a cut of 0.1 percentage points from the 0.25 point cut in the cash rate announced by the Reserve Bank on Tuesday, while the National Australia Bank says it will not pass on any of it.

Westpac and the ANZ have yet to make a decision.

"Certainly I'm pretty disappointed with their decision or the decisions that have been announced so far," Mr Swan said on Wednesday.

The banks would have to justify their commercial decisions in the court of public opinion, he told Fairfax Radio Network.

"You know what they're like, they do need a good kick up the bum occasionally," Mr Swan said.

The failure of the banks to pass on the latest rate cut had blunted the effectiveness of monetary policy, he said.

"It's not helpful when we're trying to get everyone in the community working together to deal with this global financial crisis."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had asked the two banks to reconsider their decisions, Mr Swan said.

But he said he would not contemplate a suggestion that the government could put pressure on banks by withdrawing its guarantee of their deposits.

"The beneficiary of the guarantee is not the banks, it's the Australian people," Mr Swan said.

"(Ending it) would in fact fundamentally rebound not just on the banks but on the Australian economy and that is absolutely something that we can't consider.

The guarantee had been essential to the stability of the Australian financial system, Mr Swan said.

Meanwhile, Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull is demanding Australia's big four banks pass on the latest interest rate cut, saying they are doing "very, very well" at the moment.

"The least they can do is pass on these cuts in official rates," Mr Turnbull told ABC Radio.

"The banks are doing very, very well at the moment, particularly the big four, they are doing well competitively and in every other way."

The banks had received enormous support from the government, through the deposit guarantee and a wholesale term funding guarantee, he said.

Mr Turnbull warned that monetary policy would not work if the banks did not pass on rate cuts.

"The rate cuts are only effective in terms of stimulating the economy if they are passed on by banks," he said.

Government pressure has helped keep Australia's banks honest and home buyers in reasonable shape, federal Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says.

"And we'll keep that pressure on," he told Sky News on Wednesday.

The government had kept up a constant "drum beat" of pressure on the banks to cut rates, Mr Tanner said.

"That pressure has had an effect, it's helped to keep the banks honest, to keep Australian homebuyers in reasonable shape."

ninemsn 8 Apr 2009

Four nations blacklisted as tax havens

Four nations were blacklisted as uncooperative tax havens Thursday after G-20 leaders declared the age of banking secrecy was over and said they would no longer tolerate shady havens draining away badly needed tax revenue.

At the request of the Group of 20 summit of rich and developing nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development named the Philippines, Uruguay, Costa Rica and the Malaysian territory of Labuan as the worst offenders, saying they had refused to adopt new rules on financial openness.

Leaders also said nations that refuse to exchange tax information could in the future face tough sanctions - including the withdrawal of financing by the World Bank or International Monetary Fund.

"The time of banking secrecy has passed," French President Nicholas Sarkozy said following the summit. "Everyone around the table wants an end to tax havens. Everyone knows we need sanctions."

The announcement reflects mounting concern that banking secrecy in tax havens has helped to worsen the economic crisis by disguising the true value of some global assets. Anti-poverty activists say such places provide corrupt officials places to stash illicit funds, often depriving poor nations of needed resources.

The OECD has divided countries into three categories: those who comply with rules on sharing tax information, those who say they will but have yet to act and nations which have not yet agreed to change banking secrecy practices.

Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which both have strong banking secrecy traditions, said last month they would adopt international rules on tax cooperation and were ready to comply with G-20 demands.

Liechtenstein, Switzerland's tiny Alpine neighbour, said it has already met with British officials to prepare for the new standards. Monaco said earlier that it would be more transparent with foreign tax authorities.

In return they were spared the fate of being blacklisted but were left in a grey area of countries that still have to implement their commitment to accept new information-exchange standards.

China supported the blacklisting, but would not agree to have two territories, Hong Kong and Macau, classified as uncooperative tax havens.

Potential sanctions for transgressors include extra audits of those who use tax havens and curbs on tax deductions claimed by businesses using the territories.

In their communique, leaders said they may consider further penalties in their bilateral relations with tax haven territories.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Brown and President Barack Obama played a key role in pushing for a crackdown on tax havens.

At least 35 offshore tax havens, from Britain's Channel Islands to the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, are under increasing pressure to provide more information to international authorities to prevent people from evading taxes or hiding income by shifting money to such places.

Stephen Timms, financial secretary to the British Treasury, said a culture of banking secrecy had worsened global economic problems.

"That lack of transparency - that opaqueness - has contributed to the severity of the problems we are seeing in the world economy at the moment," he said.

3 Apr 2009

This is NOT brand new News. This is OLD NEWS.

These nations have been set up FOR THAT VERY purpose.

It's just that now the lay people 'may' be able to use those services which is the concern.

The Banking and Finance sector is fully aware of this and takes advantage of this fact.

Parts of TELSTRA are registered in the Bahamas and Tasmania for Tax evasion purposes, and there is NO reprisals by the ATO (Australian Taxation office) BUT they target EASY 'offenders' like Greg Norman, Paul Hogan, Dick Smith.

Daughter drugged so she'd get pregnant

Police say a mother drugged her 13-year-old daughter so the woman's boyfriend could get the girl pregnant.

Police say 32-year-old Shana Brown is no longer able to have children, but wanted a baby with her boyfriend.

A detective says Brown and her 40-year-old boyfriend, Duane Calloway, attempted to impregnate the girl on three occasions. He says the girl prevented the rapes.

The girl's paternal grandmother reported the incidents to police in Uniontown, in western Pennsylvania, about 80km south of Pittsburgh.

Brown is facing several charges, including endangering the welfare of children. Brown's lawyer didn't immediately return a call for comment.

Calloway faces charges of attempted rape. It wasn't immediately clear if he has a lawyer.

ninemsn 3 Apr 2009

ANZ to shift 400 jobs offshore

In another attempt to boost profits, ANZ has resorted to shifting its operations offshore to India.

In a move publicly denied by ANZ, but confirmed within sources in the bank, jobs will go from Australia.

This brings an average saving to the bank of approximately 1/5th or even 1/10th of the cost of an Australian employee. There is NO savings to the customer by the cheap / unskilled labour offered by the developing nations.

Globalisation / Outsourcing are terms coined by the multinational corporations, and propagated as a benefit to society, whereas in real terms it means LARGE profits for the corporations concerned.

The sacking of a $50,000 Australian employee to be replaced by a $5,000 (outsourced) unskilled worker from a developing nation, whilst the cost for their services to the end customer is NOT reduced is ONLY of benefit to the multinational / firm concerned.

Globalisation / Outsourcing is supported by the Law Makers / Politicians around the World as is reaps LARGE profits for the exploiters, and is another form of LEGAL slavery, which was abolished in the US of A many moons ago.

Australia agrees at G20 to billions in loan guarantees to poor nations

Australia will stump up billions of dollars in loan guarantees for struggling nations after the G20 summit opened in London.

And bankers will be subjected to extraordinary limits on pay and bonuses in a bid to curb reckless stock market speculation.

The summit in London’s Docklands area also endorsed tough regulations for the finance industry, most of which already exist in Australia.

An international “college of regulators” would ensure countries were imposing strict conditions to prevent another collapse of markets such as the insurance industry caused by dodgy business practices.

And sources said the summit wanted a battle against protectionism, with the World Trade
Organisation to audit the openness of individual nations.

Full story in the Herald Sun HERE

The Government cannot even sort out it's priorities as the Water Storage Capacity in Victoria has reached CRITICAL levels, and it has been estimated that by the year 2012 there will be NO WATER in Victoria.

This is NOT a priority, as the Government indicated that it will outsource the building of a desalination plant (to a private company), and Victorians until then will be paying a price of 25% increase per annum in their water bill for the next 4 years.

Since the privatisation of Melbourne's Water Services there has been NO increase in infrastructure over the past 25 years, with an increase in population of 30%.

Vic govt defends justice system

Victoria's attorney-general has defended the state's justice system following the conviction of a serial burglar who brutally bashed a 91-year-old woman.

John Kelsen was sentenced to 11 years' jail on Wednesday for attacking Rachel Williams in August 2007, after breaking into her Broadmeadows home six times.

She died a month later, but there was not enough evidence to link her death to the attack.

It was revealed Kelsen had numerous previous convictions for burglary, theft and assault, but he had never spent time in jail prior to his attack on Mrs Williams.

Attorney-General Rob Hulls defended the system on Thursday, saying he believed entirely in judicial discretion.

"I wasn't privy to anything heard before that court," Mr Hulls told reporters.

"I'm not privy to the actual nature of the charges, whether or not the person pleaded guilty. I'm not privy to background information in relation to those charges. That's why I continue to support judicial discretion."

He was happy with the "checks and balances" that were in place in the system.

"It is entirely up to the court what sentences they deem appropriate, based on the facts presented before them and based on the sentencing act which takes into account a whole range of matters."

He said if a magistrate or judge got a sentence wrong, the decision could be appealed, as happened in a "small number" of the 90,000 cases heard in Victoria every year.

"I do not think that politicians should be the one who are the judges and also the juries and also the sentencers.

"I'm firmly of the view that an independent judiciary is the cornerstone of a true democratic system and judicial discretion is absolutely essential."

aap 2 Apr 2009

It's VERY simple, if the justice system worked, then there would be NO NEED to defend it.

Too many times criminals have been let out, with full knowledge that there is NO chance of rehabilitation, and they re-offend, quite often with more violent crimes.

The law system is fully aware that once in jail, the criminals become more hardened. The statistics prove it.

The biggest problem is that these criminals are let out into society, where John Citizen is effected, and NOT the law and policy makers.

The Anglo - Masonic Judicial System favours Corporate Crime, and in general is too lenient on violent crimes against Mr. Citizen.

As an example statistics shown by the Herald Sun on crimes committed by Celebrities / Sports Stars versus the SAME crime (Drink Driving) committed by Mr. Average, Mr. Average receives a conviction, whereas Celebrity figure gets a slap on the wrists.

Uranium, drugs seized in Victorian raids

Uranium, cash, chemicals and illicit drugs have been seized in raids connected to the illegal leaking of confidential police files.

A joint operation involving the Victoria Police Petra taskforce, the Ethical Standards Department (ESD) and the Office of Police Integrity (OPI) resulted in three men being arrested on Wednesday.

Petra was set up to investigate the 2004 murder of police informer Terence Hodson and his wife Christine, after Mr Hodson agreed to give evidence against police accused of drug trafficking.

The OPI is investigating the leaking of a secret police file identifying Mr Hodson as an informer to the underworld.

The OPI and the ESD investigations revealed criminal links between police and an alleged well-organised drug syndicate and led to Wednesday's raids and arrests in metropolitan Melbourne and country Victoria.

Police raided a house in Penola Street, Preston, after allegedly discovering a clandestine laboratory and about eight litres of an undisclosed drug of dependence and cash.

They arrested and charged Garry McMillan, 42, of Preston, with drug trafficking and manufacturing and other offences. He was remanded to appear in court at a later date.

They also raided a storage shed at Harcourt, north of Melbourne, where they allegedly found uranium, which is valuable on the black market, and chemicals and glassware.

Police also raided a house in Bulla and allegedly found a hydroponic cannabis plantation and equipment for making amphetamines, while they allegedly found similar equipment, $120,000 in cash and a handgun at a house in Kangaroo Flat, near Bendigo.

Andrew McNaughton, 46, of Kangaroo Flat, was charged with drug trafficking and remanded to appear in court at a later date, and an unnamed 49-year-old Bulla man was charged with various illicit drug offences and will appear in court in June.

Detective Inspector Steve Smith said a well organised (actually this is baby stuff - and only for show) syndicate involved in the manufacture and distribution of drugs had been smashed.

An OPI spokeswoman said it was not alleged that any corrupt police were involved in Wednesday's arrests.

The arrests come after members of the Petra task force have charged two men over the Hodson murders in the past two months.

Those charged were former policeman and one-time drug squad detective Paul Dale and Rodney Charles Collins, 63, who is accused of pulling the trigger.

2 Apr 2009

Telstra Fraud - No Jail Time

Telstra has exhausted ways of legitimately making money and has resulted in fraudulently obtaining monies by deception.

In a move to reap (read rape) millions of dollars from its customers, Telstra has decided to charge 1/10th of a cent, the same crime committed by an individual results in jail time.

The ACCC (Australia's Consumer Watchdog ) is inactive in this matter.

Yet another example how Corporate Fraudsters get away with crime, with the Australian Law System supporting them.