A nationwide manhunt has been launched for prime suspect Hohepa Morehu-Barlow, a purchasing officer in Queensland Health ...
More than $5 million is believed to have been transferred from the department's accounts through a sophisticated network over the past three years.
A further $11 million was shifted in a single transaction in the past fortnight.
Highlighting that bureaucrats are not all saints who want to "serve the public". Then again, I suppose they might have been influenced by the fact that the government stole the money in the first place. Permalink
While governments around the world are restricting access to vitamin and mineral supplements under Codex Alimentarius, pharmaceutical drug use is increasing rapidly.
More than 20 percent of American adults are now regularly taking pharmaceuticals for conditions like anxiety and depression. A new study conducted by Medco Health Solutions Inc., a pharmacy benefits management company, has found that one in five adults -- and one in four women -- now regularly takes at least one drug for psychiatric or behavioral disorders.
One of the things I sometimes keep an eye on are the "Most Read" article lists on news websites. I think they reflect somewhat, the level of sophistication in society. Although, disturbingly, these trends are formed by the component of society that actually get online and read the news, which I would imagine is the component at the upper end on the intelligence curve.
Nevertheless, the trend you will notice is amazingly persistent and is represented nicely by this screenshot I took, five minutes ago, of the "most read" articles on the Herald Sun website ...
I suppose the logic is that, since the most trafficked material on the web is pornography, if we can only make the news look as much like pornography as possible, we will increase our traffic and our ad revenues.
Update: Gillard's attempt at benefiting from yet another poll-boosting celebrity photo-op, this time with Kylie Minogue at the ARIA's, partly backfires.
Julia Gillard has received a poll boost that very disturbingly appears to be the result of photo-ops with a series of foreign celebrities, including the Queen, United States President and uber-socialist Barack Obama, and now Princess Mary of Denmark.
While the Labor party itself remains well behind, Gillard's personal approval rating has risen significantly.
This is the woman who looked the Australian people in the eye and said "there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead", and then, post-election, immediately proceeded to introduce that very tax following Labor's narrow election victory against a Coalition that, quite frankly, isn't much better.
Shouldn't we be encircling parliament and demanding this tax be rescinded? Shouldn't we be defending ourselves against this sort of dictatorial rule? I suppose that is now impossible, since the so-called "conservative" Howard government disarmed us back in the 90s. Nevertheless, the lack of anger with Ms Gillard is very disturbing.
If a politician did this 100 years ago, I hesitate to state openly what might have happened to them, for fear that ASIO may begin tapping my phone and bugging my house (assuming they have not already done so).
"With two Elton John concerts this weekend at the Hope Estate attracting 34,000 people, Cessnock Council is considering plans to charge ticket-holders a road tax to visit the region."
The Australian reports today that Queensland's Liberal National Party will oppose a push for the Queensland parliament to acknowledge same-sex civil unions.
If the LNP were truly a small government party, they would oppose parliamentary recognition of any form of union or marriage. Marriage and its definition is a matter for individuals and their specific church. Just as government needs to remove itself from the economy, it needs to remove itself from trying to define marriage. Ron Paul explains:
In supporting the rebels in Libya with military force, the western powers, with support from the Australian government, are actually aiding Al Qaeda. Rebel strongholds in Libya are known as Al Qaeda havens, and rebel leaders have admitted that there is Al Qaeda amongst their fighters.
Then again, we must remember that Islamic extremists have been supported by the west before, for example, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. It seems that the status of Islamic extremists as friends or enemies depends wholly on the strategic goals of the imperialists and statist war-mongers.
Data scientists have discovered that Apple’s iPhone (and 3G iPad) is purposely logging a user’s location in a secret file on the device. The file is then copied to the owner’s computer when the iPhone is synced.
Researchers say the recording of the data may have started with the iOS 4 software update, which was released in June 2010.
Security researchers Pete Warden and Alasdair Allen broke the story at radar.oreilly.com that ever since iOS 4 arrived on iPhones and iPads, the devices have been recording where you've been and when, holding up to a year's worth of private data that, according to Warden and Allen, isn't actually private at all. Permalink
Some alarming statistics put forth on 2GB yesterday. Centrelink pays out 84 billion dollars of tax-payers money per year. It employs 27 thousand people to administer those payments. Of course, the wages of those employees are also payed by the tax-payer.
On top of the outright theft, last year about 3500 people were prosecuted for fraud. Permalink
"The Libyan rebels are calling for it (a no-fly zone), the Arab League supports it and the international community needs to get on with it," he said.Let us be clear about one thing, to establish a “no fly” zone over all or part of Libya would constitute an act of war against Libya. Establishing any kind of military presence in the sovereign territory of Libya will require committing troops to engage in combat against the Libyan air force, as well as anti-aircraft systems.
Those claiming a western intervention in Libya would be any different to the 2003 invasion of Iraq are being deliberately deceptive. Bandt and his Green cohorts are not, nor have they ever been, opposed to violence. Their redistributive and living-standard-depressing economic policies are themselves acts of violence. They are only opposed to violence if it suits their specific policy agenda. If violence is what they need, then they have no hesitation in justifying it as "humanitarian assistance". Read more
So you've just won government. You claimed your reform agenda was crucial. You had said you were going to fix the problems. You claimed you could get the state back on track. And then ...
THE Baillieu Government is searching for a new catchy slogan for the state after ditching "Victoria: The Place to Be" less than a week after seizing power.
Oh how so very critical are the governing classes to our well-being in this country.
The Greens deputy leader Christine Milne said an internal Labor-party debate about nuclear power would simply delay action on climate chance.
"It is not the technology of the moment, renewables is the technology of the moment and it would be a backwards step for the government to now reconsider nuclear," Senator Milne said.
"Nuclear is too slow, too expensive and too dangerous."
Windmills have been around for 1000 years. How exactly is nuclear power not the "technology of the moment" and yet windmills are? Permalink
No doubt the protestor on QandA who threw his shoes at John Howard was on the mark when calling Howard a war criminal, but someone ought to ask him if he supports the environmentalist policies currently causing genocide in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Did he support the banning of DDT?
Does he support IMF and World Bank imposed environmental restrictions? Permalink
Gold has surged to a new high as the prospect of price inflation reared its ugly head in the United Kingdom on bad news from a report indicating a weaker-than-expected eurozone industrial production. Germany and France, despite sovereign debt fears, have been able to manage anemic growth but today’s data signals a slow down. Read more
Has anyone noticed that veterinarians, who compete in a marketplace, are a good deal more efficient and cheaper than the socialised human healthcare system which is spiraling out of control?
Note the following story:
I was just at the veterinarian’s office with a puppy, getting shots for the pooch and generally checking his health, dealing with fleas, and looking into this issue and that. The doctor spent quite the time with me and the dog, gave us free stuff, administered various shots, and helped in many ways.
As we explored various options, he mentioned the price of each service along with the prices of alternatives. In fact, prices were part of his language, same as with any service provider. As we left, the bill came. It was $65 for the entire treatment that day, which struck me as completely reasonable. Most importantly, it was fully transparent and open: fee for service and fee for goods.
In other words, it worked the same as any other normal market. There is no co-pay, no crazy federal programs funding my right to a worm-free dog, no vast subsidies or penalties, no schemes for redistribution and equality. There is private pet health insurance available for catastrophic things, but not regular maintenance, and hardly anyone goes for this stuff in any case. It wouldn’t make any sense. No employer is on the hook to cough up premiums for pet health insurance.
And guess what? Googleing around shows me that pet medical care prices are not beyond the normal inflation rate. There is no crisis, no frenzied attempt to over-medicate, no push to restrict services because that’s what the insurer wants, no vast distortions in the market, no waiting lines, no hysterical attempt to immunize the doctor from lawsuits, or anything else. It was as normal and predictable as going to the grocery store.
It strikes me that we have a pretty good model here for reforming human health care. Just treat us all like animals and the whole system would be largely repaired.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday that nuclear energy is the only alternative to traditional energy sources.
"You couldn't transfer large electric power stations to wind energy, however much you wanted to. In the next few decades, it will be impossible," Putin said, adding that consumption patterns would only undergo minor changes.
He said the only "real and powerful alternative" to oil and gas is nuclear energy. He rejected other approaches as "claptrap."
Russia (along with China) has been one of the key countries opposing the international carbon dictatorship that the United Nations wants to impose on the world. If Russia and China were not opposing the green agenda, Australia would be under an ETS right now. We should be thanking Putin for his resistance to western elites, not trying to start a war by putting missile installations into Poland and supporting the crackpot President of Georgia. Permalink
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday that nuclear energy is the only alternative to traditional energy sources.
The global gas market has been recovering from the recent economic downturn, but demand for energy sources will soar over the next few years, Putin told a meeting with the Valdai International Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
"You couldn't transfer large electric power stations to wind energy, however much you wanted to. In the next few decades, it will be impossible," Putin said, adding that consumption patterns would only undergo minor changes.
He said the only "real and powerful alternative" to oil and gas is nuclear energy. He rejected other approaches as "claptrap." Read more
The following case highlights the importance of guns for self-defence, and how America is losing what Australia has already lost, and what we must get back, our right to own and use a weapon for defending our homes and families.
George Grier from Long Island in New York, had to use his rifle on Sunday night to stop what could have been an invasion of his Uniondale home by a gang he thought might have been the vicious “MS-13.” He said the whole deal happened as he was about to drive his cousin home.
“I went around and went into the house, ran upstairs and told my wife to call the police. I get the gun and I go outside and I come into the doorway and now, by this time, they are in the driveway, back here near the house. I tell them, you know, ‘Can you please leave?’ Grier said.
Grier said the five men dared him to use the gun; and that their shouts brought another larger group of gang members in front of his house. Read more
New Labor member of the NSW Legislative Council, Luke Foley, a enviro-fanatic and member of the socialist left faction, has gone on the attack against Islamic fundamentalism in his inaugural speech.
I think we may be seeing this more and more from the left, showing that they are not, and never were, really pro-Islam, but will use whatever icebreaker they can to break up what little is left of western entrepreneurial capitalistic culture, and usher in their global green religion.
At least Muhammed was a businessman. The Greens want to destroy business and send everyone back to the jungle.
I'll take Islamic fundamentalism over Green fundamentalism anyday.
I hadn't seen this criticism of Marx before and when I did I laughed, because it's so true ...
"The most remarkable fact about this unprecedented prestige of an author is that even his most enthusiastic admirers do not read his main writings and are not familiar with their content. A few passages and sentences from his books, always the same, are quoted again and again in political speeches and pamphlets. But the voluminous books and the scores of articles and pamphlets turned out by Marx are, as can be easily shown, not perused even by politicians and authors who proudly call themselves Marxians. Many people buy or borrow from a library reprints of Marx's writings and start reading them. But, bored to death, they usually stop after a few pages, if they had not already stopped on the first page."
The next time you meet a marxist, ask them what primary works they have read of his. If they hold the position that communism has never existed, remark that crude communism has and point them in the direction of "Private Property and Communism" in Marx's Economic Manuscripts.
"Where is our sense of independence? Our sense of self? I don't think we have one "
Well Mr Fraser, one might ask you the same question given you and your greenist friends support international treaties which completely destroy Australia's national sovereignty. Mr Fraser doesn't want independence for Australia, he just prefers Australia as a UN dependency rather than a US one. Permalink
The people promoting secession in WA and NQ are not crazy, nor are they un-Australian. In fact, secession means pluralism and greater competition, hence greater prosperity for all Australians. This state pluralism and decentralisation is exactly how Europe initially rose above all other regions of the world.
British European MEP, Daniel Hannan, explains this thesis (termed the 'European Miracle') very succinctly below. In fact he paraphrases the man who first put this thesis forth, an Aussie historian, Eric Lionel Jones.
"If we keep growing by 2.1 per cent a year in population, that doubles our population in 30 years, it means in 220 years' time we would have over one billion people here and no one believes we could feed one billion"
Every single person who has predicted a Malthusian catastrophe has failed. The reality is that, given our future on other planets, there is no limit to human population. In fact, the higher the population, the higher our standards of living. In the middle ages, when humans still were only living, on average, about 30 years, the population was less than 500 million.
Even if there were a limit to human population, which there is not, the market would resolve it via price rises and improved contraceptive technology. Permalink
The question is how many years of rolling healthcare crises will it take for people to consider that the problem just might be the discredited principle of socialism.
And if you want to "end the blame game" between the federal and state governments, then read the Australian Constitution which DOES NOT give the federal government powers to control healthcare.
The news today tells us that the Australian people are teeming over house prices and want something done.
But the reason you have high house prices is because the government is already doing TOO MUCH. State governments are choking land on the outskirts of suburbia and that is driving house prices up and creating an illusion of so-called "overpopulation".
Will somebody please tell me what is wrong with people building large suburban houses and enjoying them with their families? Isn't that what life is all about? Why should the government prevent a legitimate transaction between two people on the outskirts of suburbia?
Planning, you say. Wasn't anything learned from the collapse of the Soviet Union 20 years ago? If your goal is increasing living standards, then government central planning is a failure.
And why should it be desirable for house prices to rise? Is it desirable for mobile phone prices to rise? Is it desirable for computer prices to rise? Is it desirable for car prices to rise?
In a healthy economy, with sound money, prices go down because increased economic activity and new technologies allow goods and services to get cheaper. Permalink
Nearly two weeks ago, United States Senate leader Harry Reid, a green fanatic, was forced to ditch the Carbon 'Cap and Trade' bill that, if passed, would have seen a 1 trillion dollar attack on the already struggling US economy. The American people managed to mobilise enough senators to oppose it.
Failure of passage in the US has helped to stop Australia's own infamous ETS legislation.
But there are concerns that the US legislation could be snuck through, with commentators noting the upcoming, so-called "lame duck" session of the US Congress in November-December, in which there will be 30 or 40 Democratic members who have lost their seats in the mid-term elections, but whom will still be sitting in this session as voting members. The risk is that these Democrat Party members who may have previously voted against 'Cap and Trade' to protect their seats, will now have nothing to lose in supporting the legislation, and will in fact, have everything to gain, with many looking for patronage jobs in the Obama administration. Read more
Julia Gillard has received a 
Shouldn't we be encircling parliament and demanding this tax be rescinded? Shouldn't we be defending ourselves against this sort of dictatorial rule? I suppose that is now impossible, since the so-called "conservative" Howard government 
Data scientists have 
Some alarming statistics 
Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt likes to parade himself as a peacenik, with his fanatical opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but today the "Anti-War" Bandt has called for 
From 
No doubt the protestor 
NSW Premier Kri 
As we explored various options, he mentioned the price of each service along with the prices of alternatives. In fact, prices were part of his language, same as with any service provider. As we left, the bill came. It was $65 for the entire treatment that day, which struck me as completely reasonable. Most importantly, it was fully transparent and open: fee for service and fee for goods.
So which would you prefer?
Labor Federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek, has told Sky News that she thinks averag 
Healthcare is a rolling crisis in Australia. The crisis never ends, despite constant government efforts to "fix the system".
The news today tells us that the Australian people are