26 April 2013

The ‘Adam and Eve’ story taught in schools today

In today’s day and age of much technological advancement there are areas that the masses (or plebs) have access to that did not have generations ago or a couple of thousands of years ago.

In the early 1900’s the masses were NOT allowed to read the bible, but rather had to ask a noted priest for explanations. The reasons given were that the information contained within the bible could be misinterpreted. These people are still alive today that can vouch for this.
 
Catholics were and still are taught the story of the two children of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, totally omitting the third one Seth, whose bloodline goes up to Noah and the floods.

In a time before the ‘bible’, Egyptian authorities, who were aware of the movements of celestial bodies, would gather the herd population, just prior to an eclipse, use the most common method of crowd control fear, to tell the herd that the ‘gods’ are angry with the people, and sacrifices, and items of wealth must be given to uphold peace. Then and only then the sun would be restored.

The most common version of the bible today is the one ‘edited’ by King James (VI) completed in 1611. 

Over the centuries the original books have been distorted and misinterpreted, with changes conducive to the translating authority’s agenda.

Adam and Eve are mentioned in Genesis, as the first people on Earth, who had two sons where one of them Cain, a crop farmer killed Abel a shepherd. Adam and Eve then found a wife for Abel in a city, which logically is impossible, since they were the first people on Earth with only one son left.

Unfortunately this story hold has zero credibility, in today’s scientific community.

Some scholars, religious educators today, put the existence of Adam and Eve to approximately 4004 B.C to approx. 4200 B.C.

In the Jewish faith, the Adam and Eve described in the Old Testament are regarded as the beginnings of their people. Similarly the Greek nation takes the starting point of their people from Helen of Troy.

Previously polytheism was the order of the day, where the masses were told there were many gods that were in charge of the different facets of life. The authorities and scholars then went on a crusade, with as much proof that many gods existed,  as one single one, to convince the masses that everything was created by one being.

The Abrahamic religions are based on a belief system rather than factual proof of the existence of a single creator.

More families choosing to learn at home

Gone are the days when education meant sending children to the nearest public school or, if the family could afford it, to a private school. Parents today can choose an education model that suits their family arrangements and children's needs, and follow directed or self-guided curriculums.

Options include religious, Montessori, Steiner, Reggio Emilia and home schooling.

Thousands of Victorian children have been schooled at home, and in the past two years it has grown threefold here and worldwide; this year an estimated 4000 Victorian children will be home schooled.

Susan Wight, co-ordinator of the Home Education Network, a volunteer advocacy and support organisation, says home schooling is a recognised, legal and viable alternative to various mainstream schooling options.

According to the state government guide Home Schooling in Victoria, published in March 2010, the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 requires all children of compulsory school age (six to 17) who are home schooled to be registered with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority.

Mrs Wight says home schooled children have the same options for entering tertiary studies available to those from public and private schools. Some parents home school their children through primary grades and then enrol them into schools for the VCE years; other choices include Open University; the AYCE (Access Yea Community Education) program; university entrance tests, exams or programs; TAFE; and bridging courses.

Mrs Wight says parents choose to home school children for a variety of reasons, and manage it in different ways. Some have a more structured environment, she says, but most take a less formal approach.

Some families choose to home school one child while another is in school - it depends on what they believe will suit each child best. ''There are also people who home school part-time or have children that attend school for a particular subject,'' she says.

Kim and Michael Versteden sent their children to the local public school but removed them in 2005 in favour of home schooling. The couple run their own business and live in Gippsland with their children, Scott, 17, Kaitlin, 15, and Ryan 13. Their eldest child, Wade 19, works.

Ms Versteden says she and her husband were unhappy sending their children to school but didn't know there were options. ''I thought kids who went to school were put in the same environment with the same bunch of kids, for the same amount of time, with the same teacher, were taught the same way and they wore the same clothes,'' she says. ''Everything was the same, the same. It didn't cater for children's individual needs.''

She believes home schooling has allowed the children ''to learn the way they are wired to learn. It might be more hands on, more abstract or more textbook - depending on who they are and where they're at''.

The Verstedens were also dissatisfied with their children's academic accomplishments, and social issues. Ms Versteden, a classroom helper at the school, saw bullying, some involving her children.

Before taking the children out , she attended some home school group activities and found the environment more co-operative than competitive.

Home schooling is not a situation where a parent is the teacher and the children students, Ms Versteden says. It's a family or group of people learning and working together.

''It's all relative to what they need to know at that time, and often what they don't like then will become an interest later,'' she says.

''There are times when Kaitlin will come to me with a maths problem and I'll have to work it out myself to help her, but I think it's good for them to see me work things out because it shows them how to do it. It's also good for them to see us struggle doing something because then they don't feel like a failure when they are struggling - and it's amazing how many things I've learnt since we started. We believe home schooling has given[them] a well-rounded education.''

What you need to know

Home Schooling in Victoria outlines services and support for families, which includes information on:
  • Registering a child for home schooling
  • Developing a home schooling program
  • Victorian school curriculum support
  • Home-schooling support networks
  • Financial support
  • Partial enrolment and community-based education options
  • Post-compulsory pathways
The Education and Training Reform Act 2006 requires that education in Victoria is consistent with the principles and practice of Australian democracy and that all education programs, including home-schooling programs, address eight key learning areas  as a condition of registration: the arts, English, health and physical education, languages other than English, mathematics, science, studies of society and the environment, technology.
Parents who home school their children assume responsibility for the planning, implementation and assessment of the educational program. The program should enable each child to:
  • Realise their learning potential
  • Maximise their education and training achievement
  • Develop enthusiasm for lifelong learning 

theage.com.au 25 Mar 2013

The public education system was designed to program and monitor the education of the children of the masses.

Any child that rises above the rest can be a threat to the establishment.
 
The children of the leaders and corporate elite have a rich history of being isolated from the public education system, are taught an entirely different curriculum, which is a well documented fact.
 
In Victoria current news focusing on the educational system shows that the system is failing the masses, which it is not really, but rather the agenda is being fulfilled.
 
The children of the masses are deliberately being dumbed down as future subservient slaves to the corporatocracy.

Drugs found on Bieber tour bus in Sweden

Swedish police say they found a "small amount" of drugs on Canadian pop star Justin Bieber's tour bus while he was performing in Stockholm.

"We conducted a search of Justin Bieber's bus and found a small amount of drugs," Stockholm police spokesman Lars Bystroem told AFP.

Police made the find on Wednesday evening during a raid of the empty bus, which was parked outside the Globen arena, where the 19-year-old singer was performing.

The officers in charge of security around the Grand Hotel where Bieber was staying reported a strong odour of marijuana wafting from the bus before the singer and his entourage left for the concert venue.

Justin Bieber. (AAP)They then contacted the Stockholm police drug squad, Bystroem said.

"We have no suspect," he said, adding that the drugs were currently being analysed.

An electric stun gun that requires a special permit in Sweden was also seized.

Bieber made headlines earlier this year when he was photographed smoking a joint.

Before coming to Stockholm, Bieber played to sold-out venues in Norway and Denmark, but the teen idol's European tour has been marred by controversy.

Earlier this month, Amsterdam's Anne Frank museum defended Bieber amid a furore over his comments that he hoped the Jewish teenager who died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp would have been a fan.

And in Germany, animal rights activists asked him to apologise for bringing a 14-week-old capuchin monkey into the country without the proper paperwork.

news.com.au 24 Apr 2013

Drugs are literally rife in the music & entertainment industries.

News reports suggest that police will do a blitz on party goers at music events, for example at Australian festivals 'The Big Day Out' or 'Summadayz', but there is no policy to curb the illegal drug use among entertainment icons.

Half the music industry in Australia is as high as a kite. 

Music gurus would be stoned on national television, with the full support of the authorities, e.g. police.

Should not Bieber be deported back to the United State for questioning, as in the case of Julian Assange?

What the plebs are not allowed to do, the selected few are immune from the law.

My night with Ben Cousins


I ask Cousins for some autographs for my kids. He looks at me like I’d asked him for a million dollars. Eventually he signs.  I wander back to my table slightly dazed.  As MC what do you do? Kick up a fuss and ruin the club’s foundation dinner?

It's the morning after the night before.

I'm driving through the dusty plains of the Western Australia Wheatbelt town of New Norcia, the one with the Benedictine Monks. Even they couldn't have rectified what has just happened.
It leaves a bitter taste in what was supposed to be a night of renewal and fresh beginnings.  
I stop for a quick break and lay down ten bucks for a toasted sandwich.

An Irish girl looks at me with all the interest of ...another Irish waitress working in the regions before pushing the half-toasted sanger in my direction.

"Will that be all sir?" a lovely Irish lilt but with little sincerity.

I've MCed a dinner for the Moora Footy club. A big night, the Foundation Dinner for two merging clubs. One marginalised from the 'wrong' side of the river, the other full of white fellahs, big farming lads. Problem was the number of farms was dwindling.

The drawcard was Eagles legend Benny Cousins.  

I'd read Cousins' ghosted biography. Life as a junkie and elite athlete. Frank and confronting. I watched Such is Life. Cousins is articulate and confident.

A breeze wafts by. A relief after a hot muggy day. Guests gather at the lush spacious Moora Oval outside the clubrooms.

It's an Oasis in a drought stricken area. Only a quarter of farming families remain from the late 1960s. The people are friendly with generous hearts.

They tell stories of the England cricket team visiting in 1965-66, when cricket tours lasted more than two months.

The quaint grandstand on the western side of the oval an ongoing reminder. Moora Club President Dave Stribley is tall and thick set and generous of spirit. He takes me into the bar where blokes in suits suck on stubbies and women in long tightly hugging dresses sip wine.

It's a grand occasion for the town and the new club.

Still no sign of Cousins.

It's also WA election night. The Wheatbelt is Nationals heartland where people speak highly of Royalties for Regions, installed when the Nationals held the balance of power after the 2008 election. It's in the state legislation.

Twenty-five percent of mining royalties must go regional projects. Apart from the occasional 'singing toilet' it's been seen as a game-changer for the regions.

Soon the crowd files in. Tables are set out in a big beautifully decorated hall. A large stage stand a few feet above the audience. A bit like a school hall where a principal might deliver an annual address.

We all wait for the announcement of the new club's name and colours. But we're all really waiting to see Cousins.

As MC I welcome the audience and speak of the sense of community I feel at this club. A club is like a school. All you need do is walk through it to gauge its true nature.

I talk about the listener who complains every time I mention the club when I get to Moora on the weather map. They laugh. A sense of defiance reflecting the community. Continuing against the odds.
I introduce Stribley.  He talks of the history of the two sides that are amalgamating and the work that has been done behind the scenes to make it happen.

A round of applause and the new red and gold colours are revealed by shy teenage males modelling the uniform.  An even bigger shout for the new name, the Moora Mavericks.

I monitor my phone for election results.  The ABC's political analyst Antony Green has called the election for Barnett. The polls only closed an hour ago. Still no sign of Cousins.

I thought he'd be here by now.  For five grand I thought he'd be here at the start or even given a coaching clinic before the dinner. I start to wonder if he will turn up at all.

Tables of guests go up to get their food. There's good natured chat all around. People tell me how much they appreciate the ABC.

Then suddenly there's activity at the door.

Casually attired Cousins, tall thin and athletic, wanders over to one of the outer tables with his minder, Tony Shaw, Director of Indigenous Services Australia (ISA). Shaw has the swagger of a man with some power. He wears Cousins that night closer than I ever saw Tony Liberatore.

Stribley, having welcomed Cousins, walks back to where we are seated.

"He seems ok, not sure about the bloke with him."

"He's a bit iffy Cousins about being interviewed. I'll introduce you; see if you can work out what is going on."

We walk over to Cousins' table. He looks like a rabbit in the spotlight. I ask how he wants me to introduce him and if I could interview him for five minutes for my radio show.

The minder steps in looking at me in shock.

"No we're not allowing any of that."

"Can I record the speech then?" I reply.

The minder shakes his head.

I ask again.

'No, Ben is here tonight as a legend of the game wishing the new club all the best. You introduce me and I'll introduce Ben."

I hear the words but haven't absorbed them. They make no sense.

I turn to Cousins and again ask how he would like to be introduced.

Shaw then motions to me that I look at him and direct the questions his way and not Ben's.

I turn away and say to Ben.

"There will be nothing controversial if I interview you. I just want to get a few words to take back for my listeners."

Shaw leans back in his chair and interrupts. He's clearly annoyed.

"Look I already explained to you that you introduce me and I'll introduce Ben. Which part of this don't you understand?"

"Will Ben be taking questions?" I ask in hope.

"He will decide that depending on how the talk goes. Anyway, you're the MC."

It's an insulting comment.

So much for free speech.

Sensing my displeasure, the minder gives a half smile. It's part of his 'bad cop good cop' routine. Part bully, part charmer, but mainly bully.

"Look we're not used to this public speaking and Ben's a bit nervous."

(I later look up Tony Shaw on the ISA web site. He's described as, 'one of Australia's premier Indigenous speakers.')

The idea of Cousins being nervous about speaking in front of a crowd is news to me.

An ABC colleague told me he'd seen Cousins talk to a crowd of a thousand people at a sit down dinner. He also confidently took questions for more than half an hour.

I ask Cousins for some autographs for my kids. He looks at me like I'd asked him for a million dollars. Eventually he signs.

I wander back to my table slightly dazed at what I've just experienced.

As MC what do you do? Kick up a fuss and ruin the club's foundation dinner?

One of the guests wanders back to the table where I am seated. She has a disappointed look on her face.

"He's not allowing any photographs. That bloke with Cousins said to me that with things like Facebook the risk is not worth it."

I'm thinking of the guests who paid fifty dollars to see Cousins speak and maybe even have a photo taken with him. Aren't we all adults here?

The main meal is finished. On stage I announce at the election count they're calling at least seven seats for the Nationals. A cheer goes up. I introduce the minder and leave the stage. He makes an effort to shake my hand. He's happy I haven't made a fuss. It's made his job easier.

Shaw speaks for ten minutes about his life. He's lived in numerous institutions growing up. A black fellah made good against the odds. It's a well-rehearsed speech parts of which he must have given dozens of times.

He also describes the 'journey' Cousins was on and how he needed healing and not more attacks from the media.

"I sat with Ben and his father in the desert... and shed tears as we moved Ben towards a place of healing. We all want the best for Ben," Shaw moves his hand as he speaks as if to give greater meaning to the words.

Then he introduces Cousins.

"You've probably seen our guest speaker's face on Crimestoppers," says Shaw before he loads up with another 'joke'.

"Who's the driver of a car with Ben Cousins and Ashley Sampi  sitting in the back?

Answer: "A policeman."

"And ladies and gentlemen here he is ...Ben Cousins. "

Applause echoes around the room. Then a sudden quiet.  Shaw stays on stage. He's standing behind Cousins as a teacher might before a student speaks at the school assembly. Cousins timidly walks forward toward the microphone and pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket and  begins to read.

An awkward silence.

Then he starts.  Cousins stumbles over his first few words.

"It's g... great to be here for such a wonderful occ..occ... occasion."

It's a pattern that will continue for the next three minutes. He frequently stops and apologises and has no connection to the words he is reading. It's as if he is reading a second language that he doesn't know that well. Finally he stops.

It is a relief when it ends. I look around at the crowd who gaze forward with bemused expressions. Cousins had spoken for 180 seconds earning more than $1700 a minute.

After a while a couple of the of the audience stand to give a standing ovation. Then more. It's like a Mexican wave that grows in momentum. A few of us remain seated. I feel for Cousins but also for those at the dinner.

When Stribley speaks again at the end of the evening he mentions that "at least we have gotten an insight into where Cousins' life is at."

At least was a good phrase.

Stribley was generous and so was the crowd.

The Moora footy club had paid five thousand dollars to receive a '20 to 30 minute speech on his story to date and also his views on the positives of the amalgamation of the Rovers and Warriors Football.'
They didn't get it.

There is talk of Cousins returning for a jumper presentation. Even Cousins can see that what he has delivered is a major let down.

I later discover the following was part of the original arrangement between Indigenous Services Australia and the new Moora Football club.

'Ben will make an appearance if possible during training at the club if feeling up to it although he doesn't take coaching clinics, it would purely be for a meet and greet.'

I think again of the people who paid their money for the dinner expecting to hear him talk about his life. I imagine what the reaction would have been had this happened at a sell-out crowd at East Perth where city corporates had paid big bucks to see Cousins speak.

The night rolls on. Cousins  leaves soon after the speeches have ended. There are mumbled murmurings of the disappointment felt among the crowd.

My strongest feeling is one of sympathy, sympathy for the audience and for Cousins. It leaves a bitter taste in what was supposed to be a night of renewal and fresh beginnings.

The drive back to Busselton is long and slow delayed by having to pull over for numerous wide loads. The road from Moora through New Norcia is too narrow for the traffic flow and dangerous.

What I have seen over the last 24 hours reflects a lot about the way the regions are treated.
They are out of the way and won't cause too much fuss. Maybe Royalties for Regions is making a difference.

theage.com.au 23 Apr 2013

Football players are not really known for their mental prowess, but rather their Neanderthal grunts throwing a rock around a field.

The 'authorities' put losers like Ben Cousins on a pedestal, for the children of the uneducated masses to follow blindly.

In reality Cousins is a real life loser, a disgrace to the sport who should be forgotten, but he is 'promoted' by the 'authorities', as it's all part of the agenda to keep the herd population amused.

A real inspiration and role model for the children of the canon fodder.

Judge calls bouncer's attack on patrons 'vicious and cowardly'

A NIGHTCLUB bouncer who assaulted a male and female patron outside a popular Prahran venue has been handed a suspended jail sentence and fined $10,000.

In handing down the penalty, Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg told security guard Ahmed Popal that his attack on the man and woman outside the 161 nightclub was vicious and cowardly.

Nightclub attack CCTVPopal, now aged 25, first assaulted the male victim after words were exchanged.

The male victim ended up on the ground where he was assaulted.

He was further punched to the back of the head as he was being frogmarched away.

During the assault, the male victim's female friend tried to intervene and she was also punched.
CCTV footage released by the court shows the graphic nightclub incident.


Mr Rozencwajg said he did not accept defence counsel Chris Dane's submissions that Popal felt threatened at the time.

The magistrate said Popal was a professional security guard who had been trained to quell and avoid violent confrontations.

He said the fact Popal was a security guard was an aggravating factor.

Mr Rozencwajg said it was a concern that Popal was back before the courts after a previous appearance for violence offences.

Mr Dane submitted that the release of the CCTV footage to the media would be an additional penalty to his client in the form of public humiliation.

In agreeing to release the footage, Mr Rozencwajg said he considered the release as a form of accountability and an extension of our open court system.

Popal pleaded guilty to affray, intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing serious injury and assault.

Mr Rozencwajg handed Popal a seven-month jail term suspended for two years, along with the fine.

heraldsun.com.au 24 Apr 2013

The Australian legal system functions as a corporation, and financially acts as such.

There is little interest in incarceration of criminals.

The priority is to 'fine' people or issue infringement notices, as in the case of the Trailer Park Trash bouncer ('security' guard) Ahmed Popal.

The video clearly shows how a cowardly Ahmed Popal, assaults a female patron.

No jail for this coward, which clearly show the direction of the Australian legal system towards assault.

Airport security 'allowed to read your emails'

ISRAELI security officials at Ben Gurion airport are legally allowed to demand access to tourists' email accounts and deny them entry if they refuse, the country's top legal official said. 
 
Details of the policy were laid out by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein in a written response to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the group said.

US-IT-SOCIETY-EMAIL-INTERNETIn June 2012, ACRI's Lila Margalit wrote to the attorney general demanding clarification following media reports about security officials demanding access to tourists' email accounts before allowing them into the country.

"In a response dated April 24, 2013, the attorney general's office confirmed this practice," ACRI said, quoting sections of the document which said it was only done in exceptional cases where 'relevant suspicious signs' were evident and only done with the tourist's 'consent'.

"However, the attorney general's office also noted that while a tourist may refuse such a search, 'it will be made clear to him that his refusal will be taken into consideration along with other relevant factors, in deciding whether to allow him entry to Israel'," it continued.

ACRI slammed the policy as a "drastic invasion of privacy" heaping scorn on the idea a tourist could freely give their consent while facing the threat of possible deportation if they refused.

"A tourist who has just spent thousands of dollars to travel to Israel, only to be interrogated at the airport by Shin Bet (domestic security) agents and told to grant access to their email account, is in no position to give free and informed consent,'' Margalit said.

"Such 'consent' - given under threat of deportation - cannot serve as a basis for such a drastic invasion of privacy," she said.

"Allowing security agents to take such invasive measures at their own discretion and on the basis of such flimsy 'consent' is not befitting of a democracy."

news.com.au 25 Apr 2013

What the Nazi ruled Germany did nearly 3 generations ago, the Israelis are doing now.


Currently America's entire telephone billing system is handled by Amdocs, an Israeli based company.

Also Amdocs has been working with Telstra, at an undisclosed location in Collins St, Melbourne, obtaining databases from the telco on its users.

Fake Hitler diaries taken as real news history


 Picture taken on April 25, 1983 shows Gerd Heidemann, reporter of the German magazine "Stern", presenting during a press conference documents what the magazine believed were Hitler's diaries.

Berlin: When the German newsweekly Stern announced in April 1983 that it had acquired Hitler's previously undiscovered diaries, the magazine's exclusive prompted a worldwide sensation. The editors promised to later hand over 60 handwritten volumes to West Germany's Federal Archives for posterity.

Instead the magazine's scoop turned into a publishing debacle, when it was quickly discovered that the purported diaries were forgeries.

Now, in an unlikely coda 30 years later, fake history was formally enshrined as real history on Tuesday when Germany's Federal Archives said it would accept a collection of the forgeries from Stern as news media rather than Nazi history.

The fake Hitler diaries are documents of the past," Michael Hollmann, president of the Federal Archives, said in a joint statement with Stern on Tuesday. "They are in good hands at the Federal Archives."

In 1983, editors at Stern provided a reporter, Gerd Heidemann, with millions of marks to buy what they believed to be a significant collection of Hitler's writings as well as other documents. The cover of the magazine declared, "Hitler's Diaries Discovered," in red ink over a photograph of black notebooks. The diaries were also purchased by Britain's Sunday Times.

Fraud: Konrad Kujau presents the faked diaries  on August 29, 1984, in HamburgThe find was immediately greeted with scepticism by experts, but the English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, (Lord Dacre), pronounced them genuine, lending fleeting legitimacy to the find. His reputation was ruined when experts from the Federal Archives and Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office established that the books were fakes.

 The front page of the Sunday Times which serialised what were purported to be Hitler's  Diaries in 1983.
The supposed diaries had been written by a Stuttgart dealer in Nazi memorabilia named Konrad Kujau. Kujau and Heidemann were both convicted of fraud.

The deception triggered deep soul-searching at Stern, with the magazine's staff members staging sit-ins to protest against what they saw as management's bypassing traditional editorial channels and safeguards when they bought and eventually published parts of the diaries without sufficiently checking their authenticity.

"The forged diaries are a part of Stern's history," Dominik Wichmann, Stern's editor in chief, said in the statement on Tuesday. "We don't want to push this away, but rather deal with it in an appropriate and factual manner."
The archives are the central institution of memory for the German government, and everything from the Cabinet meeting minutes to proceedings from the transport ministry are preserved in its books and catalogues, which would reach 300 kilometres if arranged in a line.

theage.com.au 24 Apr 2013

Many facts about the war (World War II) are falsified, for whatever agenda to be fulfilled as a result.

Since there are still people alive, who can vouch otherwise, once the last one goes, the lies will flow, not only from governments but especially from Hollywood.

Currently many war effected migrants who have settled in Australia particularly Melbourne and Sydney are claiming 3 to 4 war pensions under false names, to which the government is fully aware of, but does nothing.

Some people are allowed to get away with fraud, at the expense of the tax paying community.

Telco created fake debt collector to make 'outrageous' demands

An Australian telecommunications company that created a sham independent complaints hotline and sent letters pretending to be a fictitious debt collector has engaged in "false, misleading and unconscionable conduct," the Federal Court of Australia has found.

Excite Mobile's conduct affected "a large number of consumers" across the country, including an unknown amount of people in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Excite's mobile phone plans, which used the Optus Network, were initially flagged by the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network.

In December 2011, following an investigation by the ACCC, proceedings were launched against Excite Mobile in the Federal Court of Australia sitting in South Australia.

Federal Court Judge John Mansfield handed down his judgment on Thursday, making adverse findings against Excite Mobile for several forms of "unfair", "unconscionable" and "misleading" conduct.

The company and three individuals, including directors Obie Brown and David Samuel, were misleading about an internal complaints handling department they had created to limit customers filing complaints with the independent Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, the court heard.
To this end, the company had established its own organisation called "Telecommunications Industry Complaints".

Judge Mansfield found there was nothing "sinister" about trying to address complaints internally, but the company had made representations that it's "TIC" was independent from Excite.

"The evidence indicated that some consumers were deliberately misled by being told that TIC was independent of Excite Mobile," he said.

Excite Mobile also created a fake independent debt collector called Jerry Hastings, who it used to write threatening letters to at least 1074 customers, Judge Mansfield found.

"Jerry Hastings as used by Excite Mobile is, I find, a fictitious character and one created to be seen as separate from Excite Mobile," Judge Mansfield said in his judgment.

"By creating and sending the Jerry Hastings letters, Excite Mobile engaged in conduct which was misleading, deceptive and likely to mislead and deceive."

As well as being misleading, the letters used "undue coercion" against customers and made false representations about the remedies available to them, Judge Mansfield found.

The remedies Excite claimed while pretending to be the debt collector included demands for 20 per cent of the customers' original debt for late payment and the repossession of all assets, including children's toys.

"The letters were not from a debt collector or a representative of a debt collector but were created and sent by Excite Mobile," Judge Mansfield wrote in his judgment.

There were also problems with the contracts themselves, Judge Mansfield found.

The company had enforced a "day cap" clause, which in some cases meant a customer could only make a two-minute call each day before facing fees in excess of the $33 monthly contract charge, something not made clear to customers when they were sold the plans.

"I consider the sales method adopted by Excite Mobile for promotion of its day cap plan was in all the circumstances unconscionable," Judge Mansfield said.

"It was not a plan which was suitable for most users of mobile telephones, for obvious reasons.
"One may ask rhetorically whether the consumer would have been interested if they had been told that everyday normal usage of the mobile phone under the plan was likely to increase the monthly charges quite significantly."
Some customers, largely those in remote communities, were also falsely told they could get coverage at their home address, where there was no Optus network coverage available, the court heard.

Judge Mansfield also found a $75 "cool-off" fee and a $195 charge for returning a phone if the box was damaged to be unconscionable or unfair.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the judgement was a "landmark" for unconscionable conduct.
"The conduct of Excite Mobile was outrageous," Mr Sims said in a statement on Monday.

"Inventing a fictitious complaints handling body to deceive customers and creating a fictitious debt collector to coerce the customer to pay an alleged debt to Excite Mobile is unjustifiable and unacceptable."

Excite Mobile faces fines of up to $1.1M for each breach of trades legislation, an ACCC spokesman said.

The ACCC are seeking injunctions and pecuniary penalties, which would include orders Mr Brown and Mr Samuel be disqualified from managing a corporation for five years.

Excite Mobile's website appears to have been taken down.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has started deregistering Excite Mobile, which operated from 2008 to 2011, but has deferred the process following a request from the ACCC pending the outcome of this proceeding.

theage.com.au 22 Apr 2013

Excite is NOT the only dodgy telco operating.

Telstra, the industry's monopoly is also committing fraud against its customers, but there literally is no action against Telstra.

The practice of debt collection is also illegal, but this will be posted in another article at a later date.

Islamic rewrite of Gallipoli legend

In the shifting sands of military history, few battles have been mythologised as absolutely as the Gallipoli campaign.
Its brutal, often hand-to-hand clashes are almost unrecognisable in today's remote-controlled modern warfare, and its losses were significant: 8709 Australians died in the failed push to control the strategic Turkish seaways, along with 2707 New Zealanders, about 21,000 British, about 9800 French and 1358 Indians.

Turkish troops on parade at Gallipoli during World War I, circa 1915.
Up to 86,000 Turkish soldiers also died in the campaign, and details of life on the frontline continue to be teased from a handful of their precious diaries.

In the lead-up to the 2015 centenary of the seven-month long campaign, Turkish and Australian academics are also sifting through thousands of pages of Turkish military documents.

Turkish troops on parade at Gallipoli during World War I, circa 1915. Photo: Getty Images



Like the diaries, the documents are written in Ottoman Turkish and Arabic script - Turkey adopted Roman script in 1928 - so must be painstakingly translated to supplement the historical and archaeological work that it is hoped will put together the few missing pieces of the Gallipoli story.

Associate Professor Muhammet Erat from the Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University near Gallipoli says the military records and documents lack the human side of the war: ''what they felt, how they suffered, what they ate, what they didn't eat, these personal details are lacking in the historical documents,'' he says.

''We want to uncover those truths and share them with people.''

But amid this renewed search for answers, a parallel retelling of the Turkish myths of Gallipoli is occurring across this moderate Islamic country.

1922: Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881 - 1938), born Mustafa Kemal in Salonika.At its heart is a reassessment of the role of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish commander at Gallipoli, founder of the modern, secular Turkish republic and its first president, says the director of the Gallipoli Centenary Research Project at Macquarie University, Harvey Broadbent.

''There definitely seems to be a move in certain political circles to reduce the role of Ataturk and increase the motivation of Turks at Gallipoli … to be fired by their belief in Islam, to say they looked on it as a kind of holy war,'' Broadbent says.

''This … aligns itself with the rolling back of Ataturk's secular ideas to reduce the restrictions that he placed on religion in the state.''

Since the moderate Islamic Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002 many secular Turks fear the Ataturk myth is being quietly dismantled.
And with it his role in the Gallipoli campaign is being retold, Broadbent says.
Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, circa 1922. Photo: Getty Images


''Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and … his superior officer both had a strong, purely military approach to the war, rather than any extremist or pious religious attitude to motivating the troops,'' he says. ''Ataturk always called on his troops to fight for the motherland rather than fighting for Allah.''

But recent growth in Turkish battlefield tourism has occurred hand-in-hand with the significant Turkish military memorials developing into ''more sacred Islamic spaces'', he says.

At the heart of the resentment many Islamists feel towards Ataturk is his decision in 1924, soon after he came to power, to abolish the caliphate and lay the foundations for a more secular society.

The issue of secularism versus religion is a deeply sensitive one in Turkey, says Muhammet Erat.
An academic who has spent his career studying the battles on the Gallipoli peninsula, Erat acknowledges ''there may be people who try to diminish Ataturk's success … but these opinions cannot ever change what he has achieved''.

''Without Ataturk the narrative of 1915 would be incomplete, but by only telling it from the perspective of Ataturk would also be incomplete.''

He notes that the majority of Turkey's population during World War I was Muslim and that the Sultan Mehmet V, also the Caliph, declared a jihad or holy war in 1914, calling on all Muslims to help the Ottoman Empire in its battle against the Allied Forces. Few heeded the Caliph's call.

His colleague Assistant Professor Azer Banu Kemaloglu, who is also working on the Gallipoli centenary research project, says in the past five years there has been a noticeable campaign to ''attempt to debunk Ataturk's myth'', prompting significant debate across Turkey.

''They say he was an insignificant actor in the Gallipoli campaign,'' she says.

''Because Ataturk represents the last remnants of the secular nationhood and they want to move towards an Islamic government, they have to kill this idea, this myth of Ataturk.''

Yet it is a difficult myth to kill. Described by historians as having a ''superb grasp of strategy'' Ataturk and his leadership was seen as decisive in defeating the Allies' plans, ultimately forcing the withdrawal of Allied troops, including Australians, in December 1915.

As well as examining the diaries provided by veterans' family members, Erat's team will be travelling through the countryside around Canakkale, where much of the Turkish military contingent was drawn, collecting oral histories from families.

It is the stories from the mouths of soldiers that keep the experience of Gallipoli alive, he says.
''When they were in the trenches in 1915 and they wanted to see if the other side was sleeping, they would put a cap on their rifle and raise it up - if the Australians were awake they would shoot at it, if they were asleep they would not,'' Erat says.

''These things do not occur in modern warfare; the humour, the humanity, that is missing. In modern warfare there is not even the need for trenches.''

The Gallipoli project led by Harvey Broadbent at Macquarie University is similarly ambitious, combing the Turkish military archives in Ankara and the Ottoman Archives in Istanbul to comprehensively piece together the Turkish side of the campaign.

''We know substantially the Australian British and French story - there are over 130 publications in English relating to the Gallipoli campaign throughout the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century,'' Broadbent says.

''What is not well covered in English is the Turkish side of the story.

''It is going to provide … sections of the story of Gallipoli that have been missing, including answers to questions such as why the August offensive failed and how near it came to success.''

In 1934, Ataturk wrote a moving tribute to Anzacs who died at Gallipoli, reaching out to his former enemies in a way Kemaloglu says was much better received in Australia than in Turkey.

''Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country,'' Ataturk wrote.

''Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side now here in this country of ours … you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land. They have become our sons as well.''

And it is here, on this remote peninsula on Turkey's Aegean coastline, that so many young Australians lie, the neatly arranged rows of gravestones punctuated with bright yellow, pink and purple flowers a poignant reminder of that brutal campaign.

theage.com.au 25 Apr 2013

Turkey is NOT the only one now rewriting history.

Many accounts of World War II, especially the events in Germany and Poland are now being also falsified.

24 April 2013

Call to cull more than 50 NSW councils

THE number of NSW councils should be reduced to fewer than 100 to restore the fortunes of the ailing local government sector, a report proposes. 
 
The Independent Local Government Review Panel released its third and final discussion paper on Wednesday with 20 proposals to improve the sector, which employs 50,000 people.

The panel's chair Graham Sansom said some of the state's 152 councils should be given "financial and governance" incentives to amalgamate voluntarily.

The panel proposes expanding the City of Sydney council so it encompasses the area from the CBD to the coast and down to Botany Bay.

"We see it as a new dimension to become a global capital city in a similar way to Brisbane and more recently Auckland," Professor Sansom said.

Parramatta and Liverpool councils also needed wider boundaries, the panel said.

"If Parramatta is going to become a genuine second CBD, then Parramatta needs a local council with wider boundaries and more resources," the report said.

"Also there's also a proposal for a third major metropolitan city in Liverpool and so we're going to be recommending consolidation of council boundaries around there."

The paper proposes a combined Newcastle and Lake Macquarie council to improve the Lower Hunter and a merger of Gosford and Wyong on the central coast.

The panel said there was no evidence that amalgamations would lead to losses of jobs or local identity.
A financial assessment of the state's councils last week found that almost half were on track to hit rock bottom within three years.

Local Government Minister Don Page encouraged comment on the panel's latest report.
The panel is now travelling to 37 destinations in NSW for consultations.

The local government sector controls $160 billion worth of assets and $10 billion in revenue.

 heraldsun.com.au 24 Apr 2013

City councils are not part of government, but rather function as corporations, i.e independent businesses.

The general populous are misled that city councils are part of government, and therefore rates have been obtained fraudulently.

This fraud has been going on right under the noses of the uneducated masses.

Since this fraud is a multi billion dollar industry, there is an urgency to keep the matter quite.

See you video regarding this topic:

Pirates of the Suburbs - Destroying Communities by Renren Iliad posted on 31 Dec 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Lnze7O22g currently at 12,652 views



No police investigation on $32 million Crown casino rip-off by high roller

THE swindler who ripped off Crown casino for $32 million will not face a police investigation.
And the Crown insider who helped him has also escaped scrutiny for his role in the matter.

The casino has elected not to ask for a police inquiry, despite the rip-off being the biggest in its history.

The Herald Sun last month revealed how the high roller and at least one accomplice had pulled off the massive sting.

Crown's surveillance system was infiltrated and the complex's cameras used to spy for him during big money hands of cards.

The high roller's betting was tailored around the information picked up through the cameras.

The conman had been staying at a luxury villa in Crown Towers, and was involved in a major promotion at the casino in the period before pulling off the rort.

The high roller has been banned from Crown and a VIP manager sacked.

It is unclear whether the pair had a prior relationship or whether it was fostered during the guest's stay.
Crown said last month it was confident it could recover the money.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the force had been liaising with Crown casino over the scam.

"We have not received a formal complaint in relation to this matter, however we have been briefed on the issue," the police spokeswoman said.

Crown said it did not wish to comment.

heraldsun.com.ay 21 Apr 2013

Victoria police is able to pursue criminal charges against the 'swindler' even if the casino does not.

Crown casino is involved in money laundering, high class prostitution and drug deals on the premises all with the help of the authorities, namely Victoria Police.

23 April 2013

Fluvax still given to children despite being banned from under-fives in 2010

PUBLIC confidence in vaccination could be undermined after reports kids have been injected with a banned flu shot, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) said. 
 
Some doctors are still mistakenly injecting kids with the CSL-produced Fluvax - three years after it was banned for young children due to the risk of high fevers and fits.

News Limited can reveal that a baby suffered a febrile convulsion and 20 other children recorded such high fevers they could not be given their second dose during a clinical trial that began a year before Fluvax triggered febrile convulsions in 100 children.

AMA  president Steve Hambleton says it's concerning if true, as there are four other brands of vaccine safe for children as young as 6 months.

"We do have safe vaccines that we should be using for that age group," he told Network Ten earlier today.
Dr Hambleton said the AMA was very concerned about anything that undermined confidence in vaccination, which saved about 100 million lives each year.

Dr Hambleton said was important for the elderly, very young and children with chronic disease to be vaccinated against the flu.

The 2010 findings

GPs and clinics began mass immunisations at the start of the flu season in March 2010.

Within weeks, Fluvax was banned for the under-fives after triggering febrile convulsions in one in every 100 children - 10 times the expected rate.

The 1992 healthy children involved in the CSL-funded clinical trial were injected between March and August 2009, and data was collated by February 2010.

But the Therapeutic Goods Administration said yesterday CSL did not provide preliminary data until April 26, 2010 - three days after the Chief Medical Officer ordered a halt to the entire immunisation program.

And a synopsis of the findings - which revealed that a seven-month old baby suffered a febrile convulsion, high fever and severe vomiting within four hours of the flu shot - was not given to the TGA until June 2010.

The findings were published this month in the international medical journal, Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.

The study recorded 588 episodes of fever, and 26 "serious adverse events", including 19 among children younger than three.

Fluvax caused minor to severe side-effects in nearly 80 per cent of the children, the study team reported, with at least one in four of the youngest children developing a fever after their first dose.

The study team recommended "further research" to understand why the vaccine triggered fevers.

CSL stands by its data and reporting system

CSL spokeswoman Sharon McHale yesterday said all CSL's flu vaccine trials had met international requirements, "including the timely reporting of adverse events and disclosure of clinical trial data to regulatory agencies."

"Febrile events are known side-effects of vaccination in children," she said.

"Based on the clinical data available to CSL at the time, the significant increase in febrile convulsions that occurred in children in 2010 were unexpected and could not have been predicted."

Australian National University microbiologist Professor Peter Collignon - an adviser to the World Health Organisation - said the febrile convulsion and high fevers detected in the clinical trial "should have been a red flag".

The Health Department spokeswoman said drug companies were not required to complete clinical trials before supplying new vaccines because there was not enough time between selecting new flu strains and manufacturing the vaccine. Subs: do not remove

An investigation by News Limited reveals that some doctors have mistakenly given the CSL-produced Fluvax to 11 children in recent weeks,

Two children in Western Australia, three in Queensland, three in NSW, one in the Northern Territory were given Fluvax shots, and Victorian Health is investigating two cases.

The federal Health Department said it was "concerned" doctors had given Fluvax to the under-5s "contrary to very clear instructions".

news.com.au 21 Apr 2013

Children of the canon fodder are used as experiment bases for the authorities.

This is nothing new, and has been going on for decades.

Pharmaceutical companies have admitted that they are unaware of the effects of many of the drugs that are in the marketplace, and are aware that a significant portion of them can have deadly results.

Authorities 'force' the masses to use 'unsafe' medication, which may even have carcinogenic properties, as a means of population control.

Information obtained from a worker within, under strict conditions of anonymity, suggests that data has been falsified in order to put unsafe drugs into the mainstream, for financial gain to the organisation.
 
Child abuse in the hands of government.

Nowhere to hide if you're not at school

TRUANTS could be tracked using space-based technology as part of a controversial new approach to managing student attendance. 

A new smartphone app which enables parents and schools to locate missing students with GPS technology will be available in schools from June 3.

The software mines daily attendance data for students listed as missing without an explanation and links their parents' mobile phone to the app called MGM PinPoint, pre-installed on the student's phone.

Parents receive an SMS alert about the absence and a link to a Google map showing the location of the student at that time, but only during school hours and only if the student's phone is switched on.

Improving attendance rates - which are as low as 70 per cent in some areas - has become a critical factor in lifting the academic performance across the state, particularly in disadvantaged areas.

MGM Wireless - which developed the technology - said the app would be free to the 1000 Australian schools already paying for its SMS service, which sends an automated message to parents about absences.
This includes 180 NSW schools but principals will have the choice to opt out of the GPS technology feature.
For an extra cost principals can receive a map showing the location of every student with an unexplained absence that day.

Federation of Parents and Citizens of NSW spokeswoman Rachael Sowden said parents wanted to know the whereabouts of their children but tracking them using GPS technology raised privacy issues.

Newcastle mother Judy Morgan said her daughter Sasha's school dealt with absences by sending a letter to the parents: "I guess (the usefulness of the app) would probably depend on the child, if there were issues and you needed to do that for their safety then it could be OK, but generally with my girls I wouldn't want to do that."

news.com.au 23 Apr 2013

The (global) agenda is to track everyone, at any point in time, in 'real-time'.

This is currently available to governments, authorities and telecommunications bodies, via the user's mobile (GSM) phone.
 
Under whatever pretexts fit deemed by authorities new methods are used to monitor and control the movements of the masses.
 
This is just another one of the ways.
 
The sleepy herd population still does nothing about it.