HOW RON PAUL WINS TAMPA AND ROMNEY GETS DISQUALIFIED, ARRESTED OR FLEES TO FRANCE

CENTRELINK CRACKS DOWN ON EBAY PROFITEERS

Updated June 15, 2012 14:18:36

VIDEO: Centrelink pursues eBay profiteers (The Midday Report)The agency has asked the website to reveal the identities of about 15,000 people who have sold more than $20,000 worth of goods in one year. Another way of expressing this sentence is to say that that an agency of the Australian Government has asked a private company to reveal PRIVATE information about its customers so it might realise greater profits in accordance with the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.Relevant question’s that the media don’t ask;1. Did the aprox 15,000 people quoted each make more than 20k in one year?

2. If no, why is an government agency seeking to invade people’s privacy for making something in the region of $100 a month?

3. How did Centrelink actually come across these names to begin with? In other words, where is the valid ‘cause of action’ that gives rise to this invasion of privacy?

4. Are they trying to bring into the open a practice they have been doing in private?

4. Is this the thin end of the wedge? i.e. Is this an excuse to legitimise this practice in the eyes of the sheeple so that they wont grumble too much when it is rolled out to ALL Australian’s?

5. Will this lead to other agencies demanding their piece of your private pie?  

Centrelink says it is cracking down on people who are receiving benefits and simultaneously making large profits on the trading website eBay.What is a large profit? If 20k between 15 thousand people, or even 20k is considered a large profit, how does Centrelink define profits made by mining companies, weapons manufacturers, banks & religion?

The head of Centrelink, Hank Jongen, says many people may have declared the money legally, and he says the agency is not targeting those who use the website as a hobby.

Well not at this stage.

But he says the Government wants to make sure the system is not being abused.

This would be because the government hates competition.

"The aim of this program which is really a pilot, is to identify people who may be receiving Centrelink payments who are operating an organised business in the online cash economy in order to hide profits," he said.

Did you know that Centrelink swaps private information with another private corporation dressed up as a governmental agency, namely the Australian Tax Office?

Would we as a community react with outrage if this was an ATO plot to receive private data from a private company? If the answer is yes then know that they can access all of the data that Centrelink gets. 

The emergence of new technology has meant that in reality we've got to become more innovative in the way we detect fraud.

Centrelink chief Hank Jongen

"The emergence of new technology has meant that in reality we've got to become more innovative in the way we detect fraud.

What is the new technology? The internet? Internet trading? ebay? This is knopwn in my community as a lie. What is it called in yours?

"Online trading creates an opportunity for people to earn income and in some instances we believe people may not be declaring that income.”

Do you know what the word ‘income’ means?

Mr Jongen says eBay is co-operating with the Government.

SO MUCH FOR ASKING. THIS HAS ALREADY HAPPENED AND YOU CAN CONSIDER THIS AS PUBLIC NOTICE TO THE EFFECT.
Maybe, you should stop dealing with ebay, maybe, tell them that you don’t appreciate their actions violating people’s privacy. Tomorrow it could be yours. Companies listen when their bottom line becomes affected.

But the president of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry O'Gorman, says it is a gross invasion of privacy. No shit sherlock.

"What we say should happen is that if police have probable cause for investigating someone, they go to a magistrate, they get a warrant and they access that person's eBay records that way," he said. Is this a F.O.G?

Hopefully after you have had the opportunity to be at that hearing defending your interests I presume, not that it matters given the Magistrate and the Police have no separation due to the fact that the Magistrate acts in a place that is a registered business that not only trades as ’the magistrates court’ but also corporately governs the registered business that is called the Police.

Did you know this? It is the reason why you can’t get a fair “hearing”? You are actually in a place of business, not a court. 

Of course, you should shaking your fist Homer Simpson style whilst cursing these ‘no good dole bludgers’, who live the life of riley while you go out and assume the role of an employee on the plantation. This is why the tiniest semblance of refutation occurred right @ the end of this article after you have been subjected to an opinion masked as a journalistic story throughout this hit piece.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-15/centrelink-cracks-down-on-ebay-profiteers/4073334

AL QAEDA –AL CIADA– TO IRAN: STOP SPREADING 9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORY

By LEE FERRAN Sept. 27, 2011 The terror group al Qaeda has found itself curiously in agreement with the "Great Satan" -- which it calls the U.S. -- in issuing a stern message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: stop spreading 9/11 conspiracy theories. In the latest issue of the al Qaeda English-language magazine "Inspire", an author appears to take offense to the "ridiculous" theory repeatedly spread by Ahmadinejad that the 9/11 terror attacks were actually carried out by the U.S. government in order to provide a pretext to invade the Middle East. "The Iranian government has professed on the tongue of its president Ahmadinejad that it does not believe that al Qaeda was behind 9/11 but rather, the U.S. government," an article reads. "So we may ask the question: why would Iran ascribe to such a ridiculous belief that stands in the face of all logic and evidence?" Though Iran was the first of the two to use the "Great Satan" as a synonym for the U.S., the author claims that Iran sees itself as a rival for al Qaeda when it comes to anti-Americanism and was jealous of the 9/11 attacks. "For them, al Qaeda was a competitor for the hearts and minds of the disenfranchised Muslims around the world," the article says. "Al Qaeda... succeeded in what Iran couldn't. Therefore it was necessary for the Iranians to discredit 9/11 and what better way to do so? Conspiracy theories." The magazine also includes a short article allegedly written by al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden before his death at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALs in early May in which bin Laden advises his fighters not to let American soldiers "become great in your eyes."Iran continues to spread the conspiracy theory, al Qaeda says, because doing otherwise would expose their "lip-service jihad" against the U.S. Apparently looking to bolster their ranks of the "Inspire" news desk, al Qaeda included at the end of the magazine a solicitation for contributors to the magazine "with any skills – be it writing, research, editing, or advice." Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on 9/11 Ahmadinejad has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. was behind the 9/11 terror attacks, recently during the somber observance of the tenth anniversary of those attacks and then again in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly last week. That speech triggered a walk-out by the U.S. and several other delegations. "Mr. Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people's aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead he again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories," Mark Kornblau, the spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said at the time.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-iran-ahmadinejad-stop-spreading-911-conspiracy/story?id=14620643

ABC NEWS SUGGESTS EATING OUT OF A DUMPSTER AS VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO "SPENDING"

This is just pathetic. ABCNews has hit a new low. In a puff-piece about the new found wonders of dumpster diving for food titled "Freeganism: Dumpster Diving to Buck the Spending Trend ABCNews is risking the health of the public by pushing an absurd notion that eating food retrieved from a dumpster is a legitimate alternative for people living in America. Eating out of a dumpster is DANGEROUS.

But that doesn't stop ABCNews from offering dumpster diving for food, or "Freeganism", a term George Carlin would have torn to shreds, as a viable alternative to "spending".

Amid S&P downgrades and widespread panic about financial markets, an anti-consumerism movement quietly marches on: Freeganism.

Freeganism, which popped up in the early 90s, rejects the idea of overspending as a "national addiction," according to New York City freeganist, Madline Nelson. The movement goes beyond veganism's rejection of animal products and bucks consumerism for sustainability. It has spread worldwide, with Freeganist websites in French, Norwegian and Portuguese.

Freeganists practice dumpster diving for food, composting and recycling. They also walk or bike instead of driving, "squat" in abandoned buildings, eat local and "work less," according to the freegan.info website.

This is absurd. Where writer Reshma Karpalani of ABCNews is trying to make it seem that eating out of a dumpster isn't that bad by pointing to ONE person, Madline Nelson of New York City, whose agenda conveniently dovetails with the beltway village idiocy of the idea that somehow "spending" is too blame for our woes, and anyone can fend for themselves without adding to the "spending", just look at Madline Nelson!

As millions and millions of Americans have been thrust out of the middle class and into poverty because the banks have shipped their jobs overseas and stolen their homes ABC News is trying to subtly make the case that you don't need a social safety net or food stamps or welfare, not when you can figure it out for yourself. Hell, lose your home? I'm sure ABC News will run a puff piece on the wonders of moving into a tent in Central Park as a way to avoid nasty "spending" on things like rent in this new, jobless plutonomy.

Seriously, do not listen to these irresponsible CLOWNS at ABC News. Even their own cited expert says that eating out of a dumpster is NOT safe. It saddens me that Americans are being reduced to this, this is not a reasonable alternative. Ending our insane wars so we can invest in America is a sane alternative. Taxing the rich and profitable corporations so we can keep Americans from having to face poverty is a sane alternative. Suggesting that people who are struggling might find help at the bottom of a dumpster is fucknuts insane. If you needed a better example of how out of touch our media is with reality, nothing says it better than suggesting in all seriousness that a real solution to poverty in America is having the children of the poor and struggling eating out of a dumpster.

But what if your country is slowly devolving into a third world hellhole for the forgotten and exploited working class with a very safe and super wealthy Oligarchy? Well, that is where intrepid reporters like the people at ABCNews have stepped in to fill your head with bullshit. Much as eating garbage is like an alternative to "spending", in the eyes of ABCNews eating shit is the new thinking.

More below the squiggly thing . . . .

ABCNews states that Freeganists test the temperature of any foods they find and discard certain foods during summer months if they are found below a certain temperature. As it's only source, ABCNews quotes Freeganist Madline Nelson, who admits "It took me two years of doing this before I considered myself sophisticated enough with it to discern which foods were cold enough or hot enough to take". This means that for two years this woman risked food poisoning or worse, and continues to do so. Does ABCNews point out the folly of this thinking? Yes they do, but in the weakest way possible.

But according to the New York State Health Department, these temperature-testing precautions are not enough.

"There are too many uncertainties involved about what the food in the dumpsters have been exposed to," said spokesman Peter Constantakes. "We have concerns about the practice mainly because anything that goes into trash has exposure to any sort of food pathogens, including rat droppings, pesticides, or household cleaners that can be a potential health risk."
abcnews.com

Bold text added by the diarist

Rat droppings. Seriously.

Does ABCNews bother to explain why people can't afford food? (Hint: a dying middle class, rampant poverty, which strangely coincides with record corporate profits and the largest gap in income inequality in the western world.) Does ABCNews explain why we need a strong safety net in America so we can prevent people from being left with no alternatives other than having to pick through trash? No. Instead dumpster diving for food is presented as a viable alternative to living in a country that gives a shit about anyone but the super rich. This is "Trickle Down" in all of it's horrifying reality, rich guys buy more food than they can eat, and you are welcome to fight the rest of the peasants off for whatever crumbs remain.

CEO salaries are still soaring while the average American earns less money in real wages than their parents did 30 years ago. Does that have anything to do with the reason that people can no longer afford to feed themselves and keep a home? Over the last decade the tax burden has been shifted onto the working class so that the rich can have their wars and tax breaks, corporations have shifted jobs overseas and the jobs we have left in America pay less than they did 2 years ago, but does ABCNews tell you that these things play some part in the America we live in, where people have to look to the trash can for aid? Does ABCNews report on the pile of cash corporations are hoarding? Does ABCNews report on the need to create jobs through spending on infrastructure in this country, so people can earn a living and a good wage instead of being reduced to looking for their next meal in someone else's garbage can so they can keep up in an America where food prices, health care prices and other costs keep going up as the average wage of the average American stays stagnant? No. ABCNews is simply saying "Let them eat trash".

Because gods forbid someone tells the peasants that if we taxed corporations and the rich we could ensure that every single American citizen will be fed out of something other than a dumpster.

This is your "Free Market" brain on drugs. Any questions?

Class War, it's what's for dinner.

The rich get richer and everyone else loses their jobs, their homes, their retirements, everything, but hey, at least food trickled down to us via the local dumpster.

Welcome to SomaliAmerica, brought to you by Goldman Sachs.

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/647200/abc_news_suggests_eating_out_of_a_dumpster_as_viable_alternative_to_%22spending%22/#paragraph3

AFGHAN CHOPPER CRASH A MAJOR BLOW TO US COMMANDOS

Updated August 08, 2011

The loss of about two dozen elite commandos in a helicopter believed to be downed by the Taliban has dealt a major blow to US special forces, a key element in the strategy to wind down the war in Afghanistan.

The US military is trying to confirm whether insurgents shot down the Chinook transport helicopter which crashed with the loss of 38 people, most of them Americans.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility, saying its fighters had shot down the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade during a firefight south-west of the capital, Kabul.

Thirty of those killed were US troops - some from the Navy's special forces SEAL Team 6, the 300-strong unit which carried out the raid that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May.

None of those who took part in the bin Laden raid were believed to be among the casualties.

A navy special forces member interviewed by the Navy Times expressed "shock and disbelief," saying: "There's no precedent for this. It's the worst day in our history by a mile."

Seven Afghan commandos and an interpreter were also killed in the attack, the deadliest for the NATO-led coalition since the invasion to oust the Islamist Taliban in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

CNN said the troops in the chopper were part of a "quick reaction force", charged with swooping in to back ground troops under attack and in trouble.

Such units are often deployed on special forces operations and were present during the bin Laden raid, indicating the operation late on Friday was aimed at an important target.

The Pentagon will struggle to replace such a large number of commandos, given that it takes five years to train them, according to Captain Kenneth Klothe, a special forces expert at the National Defence University (NDU).

US special operations forces have played an increasingly central role in the war, with thousands of members of elite units carrying out scores of commando operations, usually at night, to capture or kill senior Taliban fighters.

The low-profile units and surgical strikes are part of NATO's strategy of battling the Taliban while trying to minimise the impact of the war on the local population in order to win hearts and minds.

In the second half of 2010 some 7,000 operations, not all carried out by special forces, led to the killing of 2,000 insurgents and the capture of 4,000, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The quickening pace of elite operations - now reportedly carried out in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia - had raised concerns even before the helicopter crash.

"The problem is that it's very difficult to grow special forces overnight," Admiral William McRaven, the new commander of US special forces, said in June at a Senate confirmation hearing.

"One of the greatest challenges I think we will have for the future is there will be a greater demand on SOF (special operations forces)," he said.

The crash comes just two weeks after foreign troops began a security handover to Afghan forces.
AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-08/chopper-crash-a-major-blow-to-us-commandos/2828586?section=world

AUSTRALIANS MUST WORK HARDER: TREASURY HEAD

By Lexi Metherell, staff

Dr Parkinson says Australia cannot rely on the mining boom alone. (AAP: Alan Porritt, file photo)

Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson is warning Australians face declining living standards if they do not work harder.

In a strongly worded speech in Melbourne last night, Dr Parkinson blamed what he called populist media campaigns for undermining bipartisan support for reform.

The Treasury Secretary said Australia could not rely on the mining boom to prop up the economy and if productivity was not improved, incomes would take a dive.

"Our productivity growth, again measured in terms of both labour productivity or multi-factor productivity, has slowed and importantly there's little reason to believe it will improve in the immediate term," he said.

"Indeed the rate of improvement in the living standards of Australians, or at least that part that's captured by income measures, has already begun to deteriorate, even with the sustained and unprecedented rise in the terms of trade."

Dr Parkinson, one of Australia's most powerful government officials, has also sounded a note of caution in the growing debate over foreign ownership.

He warns politicians to tread cautiously.

"The issue around whether foreign ownership, whether it's of the mining sector or of agricultural sector, has to be handled quite carefully," he said.

"You can see there have been a number of political interventions this week.

"I just hope that they are handled with clear recognition of where Australia's national interest lies."

The debate has resurfaced after a state-controlled Chinese mining company bought 43 farms in northern New South Wales.

The Greens, independent Senator Nick Xenophon and Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce want a review of foreign investment laws.

Senator Joyce says they need to be tightened to guard rich agricultural land for food production.

And independent MP Tony Windsor wants what he calls "sensitive lands" to be protected from mining.

But Dr Parkinson says foreign investment is in Australia's national interest because there simply is not enough capital domestically to invest in developing assets.

"Once we get into the world of discouraging capital from any source, you know it's got to be a legitimate source, but once we're in the world of discouraging capital to come to Australia we are actually making a deliberate decision to lower our own potential wealth," he said.

But at the same time, Dr Parkinson says Australia needs to get the right price for its valuable non-renewable resources, suggesting there is scope to increase taxes on the mining sector.

"Once sold, those assets cannot yield any further return for Australia's citizens," he said.

"This means that it is critical that society receives an appropriate return on the assets rather than the value being captured solely by the Australian and foreign shareholders of the companies that sell the assets.

"Arguably, this is not presently the case."

Dr Parkinson says economic reforms should make it easier for people to move to rapidly growing mining areas.

He says lower stamp duty - which could encourage people to sell their houses and move - and other reforms that would make it easier for people to transition to new jobs were a sensible approach.

"Tax reforms that improve resource allocation and improve mobility, and especially state taxes such as stamp duty and property tax," he said.

"Appropriate reforms to tackle climate change at minimum cost also make sense."

AND SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS

Kellie Tranter

At this time of year we should spend a few minutes mulling over John Lennon's question:

And so this is Christmas.

And what have we done?

Political "spin" continues relentlessly, both nationally and internationally, the euphemism circumventing mendacity's moral turpitude. Apparently lying's politically and socially acceptable that way.

We continue grovelling to an international bully which speaks truthfully when behind our backs it describes our country as not "packing enough punch", and when "outed" says of itself: "….governments deal with the United States because it's in their interest, not because they like us, not because they trust us, and not because they believe we can keep secrets…" That makes us an accomplice but not an ally, and there is a difference.

It's thanks mainly to Julian Assange and Wikileaks that people around the world finally have a little insight into the brutality and venality of US foreign policy. Assanges' quest to let people all over the world know the truth and his refusal to stand mute in the face of duplicity and injustice deserve our praise. Moral courage of that calibre is rarely seen nowadays, and people need to know what is really happening and why. If he didn't publish these documents you can bet we would never have known the truths they contain.

Yet a concerted program of personal vilification and an international manhunt continues. After all, hell hath no fury like bruised, frustrated Capitol HillillHill and Wall Street egos. Do political leaders really believe that Assange is the only person on the planet who wants governments to be open, transparent and accountable? Do they think he's the only person who understands that our governments are almost pathologically incapable of telling the truth, or that they authorise the commission of despicable acts in our names behind hypocritical calls to freedom and democracy?

Now Assange, an Australian citizen, is calling home. And guess what response he gets? Prime Minister Gillard condemns him, Attorney General McClelland considers cancelling his passport and - surprise, surprise - Tony Abbott supports his prosecution. It looks strikingly similar to the good old "bipartisan support" that came out for the invasion and continuing destruction in Afghanistan and for the abandonment of David Hicks. Assange's thoughts of family and home are not unnatural when things seem to be closing in, so it's important that Australians know that "the real Julia" - the one who likes footy and mates and kids and the Aussie spirit of a fair go - will be answering the call from one Australian to another.

Next, the war we continue fighting to "bring democracy and peace" to the innocent and impoverished men, women and children of Afghanistan. Ten years to go. Will that occupy conversations around Australian Christmas tables this year? What about breaches of the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva and Hague Conventions, the Geneva Protocol and numerous subsequent treaties, principles of distinction and proportionality and customary international law. What do you care? Please yourselves. Yeah, I'll pass the turkey.

Did you know that less than one in 10 Afghans were aware of the 9/11 attacks and their precipitation of the war in Afghanistan? An International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) survey showed 92 per cent had never heard of the events of September 11, but four in 10 Afghans believed the US is on their soil to "destroy Islam or occupy Afghanistan." Good job of winning the "hearts and minds"!

Back at home we've had another year of the privatisation of essential services, with the details hidden from the public - as usual - under the banner of "commercial in confidence". What rubbish is this, when taxpayers inevitably underwrite the deal, guaranteeing the "free marketeers" a sure profit or paying a fortune in "compensation" when the government does a backflip?

And good old Aussie entrepreneurship's still going strong. Unregulated water brokers drum up the idea of establishing a water tender. If the tender is successful who's the buyer going to be? A "good corporate citizen" promising to keep water and food prices affordable? I've been asked whether the Farmers Federation will have enough foresight to purchase the water for its members so farmers can keep growing food: I can only wonder, will they? And will they have enough money to win a bidding war?

Apart from leaving it to the market, good governance in Australia continues to involve scrapping successful services not generated from the belly of the political party of the day, removing the voice of those directly affected by political decisions, wastefully duplicating services because of lack of communication, irregular data collection and inadequate systems to support evidence based decision making and funding models that make organizations - even in the welfare sector - compete rather than work together. A particularly helpful model for society's most vulnerable? Anyway, isn't economic growth the answer to all of our problems?

Donella Meadows, a famous systems thinker, pointed out that:

…the new world trade system was explained to me. It is a system with rules designed by corporations, run by corporations, for the benefit of corporations. Its rules exclude almost any feedback from any other sector of society. Most of its meetings are closed even to the press (no information flow, no feedback). It forces nations into positive loops "racing to the bottom," competing with each other to weaken environmental and social safeguards in order to attract investment and trade. It's a recipe for unleashing "success to the successful" loops, until they generate enormous accumulations of power and huge centralized planning systems that will destroy themselves…

If we look around us, isn't that synopsis accurate?

We're full of self congratulation about our escape from the global financial crisis, but have we really sailed through? Have our governments and the "big four" banks made a full and frank disclosure of their contingent liabilities? All of them, I mean, including those flowing from off balance sheet transactions? Disclosing their full exposure in the derivatives market isn't a bad place for them to start, and that certainly isn't where the confessions should stop.

All in all it's hard to be much impressed by what we've done in 2010, and by what we haven't. Perhaps if society at all levels heeds what Lennon said - "Let's stop all the fight" - we'll be able to look forward to 2011 and "…hope it's a good one, Without any fear".


Kellie Tranter is a lawyer and writer.