Another Day In Sydney.
Well, not exactly the City centre, but near enough for the rest of us.
Fewer police...THE police force has revealed a secret proposal to amalgamate commands, six months after it denied those plans were afoot.
The number of commands will be cut from 80 to 70 - all believed to be in Sydney - but the force has refused to reveal further details.
Commissioner Andrew Scipione said no stations would close but that it would "reduce management numbers", "increase flexibility" and "put more police on the street".
His spokesman would not answer further questions as to which commands would be amalgamated or when the process would start.
Former police commissioner Peter Ryan tried to amalgamate the commands in 1999 but came under heavy criticism with the plan aborted by then police minister Michael Costa in 2001.
The force revealed the latest attempt last week during pay negotiations with the NSW Police Association.
.
.
.
.
"Under their plan they will lose 50 Inspectors, whose positions will be taken up by constables.
"We are bitterly disappointed that … the best the government can come up with are a series of mean and crude cost-cutting measures."
Shadow police spokesman Mike Gallacher said the reduction in commands was simply about cutting costs and would reduce the service to the community.
"This adds to the public servant positions they've already cut from the NSW Police Force in the last 12 months, placing additional pressure on our cops to perform duties normally conducted by civilian personnel.
"But there is no way in the world they can cut the number of Commands without cutting service levels at the same time."
Youths loving the ganglife...GANG life was the theme of his MySpace page and "gangland" would be the style of Hilel Merhi's death at a friend's 21st party.
He was shot several times from close range with a handgun after two hooded men crashed the party at Merrylands.
.
.
.
A woman who was among the 100 guests said there didn't appear to be any argument.
"They just shot him and ran out before everyone started screaming," she said.
The victim, 26, described himself on his MySpace page as a "straight, single and athletic hustler, earning $250,000 a year".
Considering that some groups here in Australia
don't believe in fighting one on one,
this is not a surprise, either:
A YOUNG father was stabbed and savagely beaten to death with a baseball bat by a mob of up to 15 people who turned on him in Sydney's south-west yesterday.
Wayne Boyce, 23, from Bonnyrigg, was set upon in Trevanna St, Busby, just after 3am.
The father of two infant boys had driven to the address after a friend, known as Joel, called him for help when the angry group turned up at his house, The Sunday Telegraph reports.
Neighbours said they awoke to the sound of smashed windows, as members of the group shouted for Joel to "come outside".
A car parked in the driveway was also badly damaged by the men, who had allegedly come after Joel for reasons which are still unclear.
It is understood he had called Mr Boyce, a long-time friend, who at first dismissed the problem, saying he should just tell the men to "go away". Eventually the dangerous situation became clear and Mr Boyce rushed over from his home in Bonnyrigg.
His brother-in-law, Mohammed, said the moment Mr Boyce arrived at the Busby address and got out of his car, the group turned its anger onto him.
He attempted to escape, but was stabbed in his lower back and fell to the floor where his killers continued to bash him with bats and metal poles.
Paramedics were called and attempted to revive him at the scene, but he died a short time later from his injuries at Liverpool Hospital.
Police yesterday formed Strike Force Harney to help track down his killers, who had fled the scene, and forensic officers and local detectives later secured evidence.
Authorities said the trouble had occurred as a result of an altercation between "two groups of men" outside the home.
Friends and family gathered at the home of Mr Boyce's parents, just metres away from where the attack occurred, to offer support.
His girlfriend, Casey Tyrell, 19, was too distraught to speak yesterday, but her mother described him as a beautiful soul who should not have died in such a senseless way.
"Wayne loved my daughter and my daughter loved him," Sharon Tyrell said.
"She loved him so much."
She said it was incomprehensible why he had to die.
"It was just a fight - they didn't have to bloody stab him," she said.
Police continue to appeal for witnesses to come forward with information or call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
I have no doubt that footage from this scene will appear on liveleak or youtube at some stage, complete with poorly spelled gloating.
Of course, with the police
having arrested two suspects, I'm sure that there will be a huge buzz, and with much fanfare, sfa will probably be accomplished.
The offenders, or perpetrators, may be formally charged, may go to trial, and may get off with a slap on the wrist for affray.
The
idea that some cultures amongst our multicultural paradise might be partial to violence of the terminal kind is not to be spoken of because that doesn't quite fit the preferred paradigm, and heaven help those who might speak out against it.
(Centre)Linking Across The World.
So why on earth would someone spend
18 months on a leaky boat? Why would "asylum seekers" travel through numerous countries with a similar culture, or religious belief, to cross water to a country that is 60% desert and full of infidels.
Wouldn't have anything to do with the
benefits of living in a Western society now, would it?
I've mentioned in the past about one of our specific benficiaries. My figures were only hypothetical based upon the figures available at the time.
Let's face it, here in Oz, there is a lot of largesse to go around.
Especially if you are a refugee, or seen to be a refugee. Of course, the definition of what a refugee is seems to be a bit fuzzy, but you get that with self-perpetuating bureaucracies.
For example, I always thought an asylum seeker was the same as a refugee, but apparently not:
Refugees
As outlined above, refugees are victims of persecution who have been recognised as fitting the definition of a refugee contained in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, to which Australia is a signatory. Click here for more details.
Asylum Seekers
For some of the world's refugee population it is either impractical or impossible to go first to a neighbouring country and then to seek resettlement from there. This could be because the neighbouring countries are not signatories to the international laws that would ensure their protection in these countries (few countries in this region, for instance, are signatories to the Refugee Convention). It could also be because they would not be safe in a neighbouring country, in particular if that country was sympathetic to the persecutory regime. In these cases, individuals may choose to try to go directly to a country, such as Australia, where they can seek protection.
Such people are called asylum seekers. Those who come to Australia have usually entered with a visitors', student or other temporary visa. Some arrive with no documents or with false documents.
Arriving without appropriate papers should not be interpreted as an attempt to defraud the system. By definition, refugees are people who are at risk of persecution. In most cases, the agent of persecution is their government. Applying for a passport and/or an exit visa can be far too dangerous for some refugees; so too can be an approach to an Australian Embassy for a visa. These actions can put their lives, and those of their families, at risk. In such cases refugees may have to travel on forged documents or bypass regular migration channels and arrive without papers.[emphasis added]
So let me get this straight... some refugees can't seek assistance in a neighbouring country so have to move a few countries across and go for asylum, yes?
This means to flee Afghanistan, a person has to travel (if we're going by land) through: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia before boarding a rickety skiff to hopefully reach mainland Australia.
That's a lot of countries with islamic cultures, when you consider that people tend to prefer their own culture.
So what is it about Oz that's so damned attractive?
Lack of waiting periods?
Lots of free services, paid for by the taxpayers to make you feel at home?
Groups to help with housing, employment, and legal issues.
There are a lot of services available for free, and a lot of ways to get an income if you land in this country and are accepted as a refugee, or asylum seeker or whatever you choose to call yourself.
The money is enough to live on, especially when you count in all the concessions. There's a reason that the concession card from Centrelink is fondly known as a Gold Card, adn when you've got plenty of people falling over themselves in order to feel like they're doing good in the world, it's got to be a nice space to be in.
Press Release from the International Free Press Society.
International Free Press Society’s Mohammed Cartoon Fundraiser Succeeds Despite Cyber AttackFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC - April 13, 2009: Just one day after world media reported that the International Free Press Society (IFPS) was raising funds to support its free speech activities by selling prints of the most famous of the Danish Mohammed cartoons, the IFPS website suffered a massive cyber-attack. In the wake of the attack, which began at 6:30 am on Thursday, April 9, 2009, the IFPS created an alternate website which is now in place at
http://internationalfreepresssociety.wordpress.com. The main site will be restored in the near future at
http://www.internationalfreepresssociety.org .
Prints of the controversial cartoon can be ordered online at
http://freepresssociety.blogspot.com.
Sales for the print of “Turban Bomb,” signed and numbered by the Danish artist Kurt Westergaard, continue uninterrupted and indeed, have exceeded expectations, as orders have been processed via more traditional means and email marketing was expanded.
The IFPS was founded in January, 2009 to defend individuals and organizations under assault for exercising their right to free speech. For taking on this mission, the IFPS is under ongoing cyber-attacks. This aggression only serves to underscore the urgency with which free people must come together to defend free speech.
While the website was offline, the IFPS main office at the Danish Free Press Society in Copenhagen, Denmark received an unexpected increase of email, phone and fax orders for the prints of the controversial and historic Westergaard “Turban Bomb” cartoon, as well as calls of concern about the website outage from across Europe and North American. Information on how to purchase the original signed prints is provided at the temporary website and below. Demand for the cartoon have greatly exceeded expectations, with over 300 orders submitted during the website outage and in the immediate days before.
IFPS anticipates that the limited edition of 1000 signed and numbered prints will sell out shortly.
The International Free Press Society provides original research, advocacy and support for authors and artists under attack, and daily news updates on individual cases of repression of free speech particularly in Europe, Canada, and the United States, as well as in India, Africa and Asia. In February, March and April, IFPS helped sponsor speaking tours of major U.S. cities including New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and Miami for Geert Wilders, Dutch Parliamentarian and producer of the controversial film FITNA.
According to Lars Hedegaard, President of the International Free Press Society, people from around the world appear eager to show public support for artists’
and authors’ right to free expression by purchasing copies of the Westergaard signed print. “Orders are coming in from all over the world. Hong Kong, Canada, the US, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, Norway, Finland, France - you name it.”
Hedegaard took the temporary outage in stride. “This was an attack against IFPS as an organization, and against our mission to support freedom of expression worldwide. Happily, it had the effect of increasing support for our activities as the word spread that we were being threatened. We encourage everyone to visit our temporary website at
http://internationalfreepresssociety.wordpress.com and soon the restored one at
http://www.internationalfreepresssociety.org , and to help support artists like Kurt Westergaard by purchasing a signed copy of his cartoon. We have also started a new Phase 2 viral online fundraising campaign, so that bloggers and website owners who want to support free expression can provide links at their own websites to order a print.”
Diana West, Vice President of the International Free Press Society, added: “In addition to increasing demand for the cartoon prints, this crude cyber-assault on free speech has boosted people’s awareness of the urgency of the IFPS mission.”
Kurt Westergaard, creator of the controversial cartoon, stated “The contemptible attempts to close us down will not succeed. The enemies of free speech will soon realize that their hacker attack on the IFPS website has only made us all the more determined to get our messages out. I take great comfort from the fact that so many people have already bought my cartoon. It’s good to know that freedom of expression has defenders all over the world.”
ABOUT THE “TURBAN BOMB” CARTOON BY KURT WESTERGAARD
Remember the Danish cartoon crisis? Riots and mayhem, trade boycotts, burnt- down embassies, more than 100 killed in violent demonstrations, death threats against artists and editors. All of it the result of the Danish daily Jyllands- Posten’s decision to publish 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed on 30 September 2005.
One cartoon in particular stood out as the focus of world-wide Islamic rage and has since acquired the status as the iconic image of our age: Kurt Westergaard’s drawing of the prophet with a bomb in his turban.
This is the picture that won Kurt Westergaard world fame but also meant that he has been forced to live under constant police protection ever since its publication. Despite contracts on his head and determined efforts by Islamists to kill him, Kurt Westergaard has never recanted and never apologized for being a free artist.
Now you can own your exclusive reproduction of this icon, which has never been offered for sale before.
In collaboration with the artist, the Free Press Society in Denmark and the International Free Press Society have printed up a limited edition of 1000 copies.
Each copy is individually numbered and signed by Kurt Westergaard.
The picture is printed in durable colors on fine paper 42 by 21.5 centimeters, suitable for framing. It will be delivered in a solid cardboard tube.
It can be yours for US $ 250 (188 Euros), postage and handing included, but exclusive of customs dues or VAT where applicable.
The proceeds from this offer will go towards the International Free Press Society’s continuous campaign for free speech. Proceeds will support research, public education and legal efforts for individuals and organizations under assault for exercising their right to free expression; and to support efforts to ban hate speech laws and pass laws protecting freedom of expression.
To pay online through Paypal, go to :
http://freepresssociety.blogspot.com/To pay via bank transfer:
Please go to your bank and ask for a “bank to bank transfer”.
Transfer amount: US $ 250
Bank name: Danske Bank
Bank address:
Holmens Kanal 2-12
1092 København K
Denmark
Account owner: Trykkefrihedsselskabet
Bank number: 1551
Account number: 1032801
IBAN DK9430000001032801
Swift DABADKKK
Message: Indicate payer’s name, email address and postal address with payment
