Newspaper front pages: a comparison

Left-wingers have been spewing outrage over recent front pages of different News Corporation titles, such as the Daily Telegraph and the Courier-Mail. The truth is, the left believes only those who support them should be heard. Dozens of News Limited titles endorsed Labor in 2007, including the Daily Telegraph. In 2010, despite Labor's shocking first term, 6/11 News Limited titles backed Labor. Now, after another chaotic term which included Labor breaking multiple promises and presiding over the asylum seeker disaster, a couple of newspapers have, shock horror, expressed their view that it might be time for a change. Cue outrage. British Labour MP Tom Watson has arrived, to attack the papers, with the warm encouragment of the ABC. GetUp is launching a campaign including TV adverts to oppose freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Kevin Rudd has smelt a conspiracy. Media Watch has devoted episode after episode to the issue, ignoring the fact consumers choose to buy News Corp papers. I thought the best way to settle this issue would be to examine some other newspaper front pages. These delights below are from the UK's third largest circulating title, the Daily Mirror which has endorsed the British Labour Party at every election since 1945

Palmer: open door to illegal immigrants

Clive Palmer has unveiled his policy on illegal immigration: open the door. Palmer said asylum seekers should be allowed to fly to Australia and also said he opposed off-shore processing and detention.

Mr Palmer said he did not approve of the offshore processing supported by both major parties.
"What sort of a nation are we if we don't follow our international responsibilities and allow people to come here safely?" he said

Mr Palmer said Australians collectively bore the responsibility of asylum seekers drowning at sea.

"We can eliminate the people smugglers. We can eliminate the problem. We can eliminate the drownings. We can treat people as human beings."

In 2011 Mr Palmer compared the treatment of illegal immigrants by Australia to the actions of Nazi Germany.

Anyone thinking of voting for Palmer should be aware - a vote for Palmer is a vote for more illegal boatpeople.

Clive Palmer - Policy thief

Aspiring Prime Minister Clive Palmer has been caught out stealing Liberal Party policies.

According to news.com.au,
The billionaire's new political party has lifted about 17 of the 22 pages of text in its new "National Policy'' from a Liberal federal platform document publicly championed for more than a decade.

'Both documents have the headline "We believe'' and then proceed to list 17 identical points...The eight sections have the same headings, same sentence wordings and same large sections of copy about beliefs, nation-building plans, values, governing, creating work and prosperity and enhancing security'

Clive Palmer is a dangerous publicity seeking egomaniac. A vote for Clive will keep Gillard in the Lodge.

The harmless video that led to a court case

This is the harmless, amusing video by charming Brisbane comedian Adrian Van Oyen that led to a court case. While some of the video is a little edgy, no one would could seriously think Van Oyen was a ticket inspector. Yet Translink and the Queensland Police evidently thought this video was serious enough to warrant a costly investigation and court hearing.

Unlike Melbourne group the Janoskians who touch and hump people in public, steal their food, block traffic by smashing appliances on the road, block traffic by busking, block traffic with this dangerous stunt, and try to make people move, Van Oyen's videos are not threatening, dangerous or sinister, rather they appeal to a larger audience and are funny for those being 'pranked' too.

Van Oyen's videos include
*'50 Epic Dance Moves' (In Public)
*Pick Up Lines (Saying things such as 'Will you be my penguin and I'm Mr Right, someone said you were looking for me')
*More Pick Up Lines (Where he gets kissed)
*Public Serenade (One Direction, One Thing)
*Public Serenade (The Way You Make Me Feel)
to name a few. Follow him on Twitter here, Facebook here, and see his Vlog channel here.

I imagine Queensland Police have a lot on their plate, so Van Oyen should be the last of their worries. And surely a warning would have done? Violent young offenders seem to get away with a lot, but if you pretend to fall asleep on a train or without uniform or ID you ask to inspect tickets, you are marched to court instantly.

Additionally, Van Oyen was fined and given a good behaviour bond. This is ironic. Apparently what he did was a bad as punching someone in the face - recent figures indicate 59% of those convicted of common assault get a good behaviour bond.
Additionally, a large number convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault with intent got a good behaviour bond.
The law is an ass.

Leveson left with egg on his face

Regulatory tyrant Lord Leveson has been left with egg on his face after he was caught out using Wikipedia to write his expensive and long report calling for government regulation of newspapers for the first time in 300 years.

As The Independent reports:

In his report the judge warned that inaccuracy in newspapers, “caused significant concern.” He also claimed that “The Independent was founded in 1986 by the journalists Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Brett Straub...”
The first two names are correct, but who is Brett Straub? His name first appeared in the Wikipedia entry on The Independent on 27 October 2011, when someone using the IP address 134.71.143.10 removed the name of Matthew Symonds, genuinely one of this newspaper’s three founding journalists, and inserted “Brett Straub”.

With one year and government funded staff, you'd think he could at least check his sources. Fool.

Hamas' desperate forgery

Interesting article on Fox News - terrorist organisation Hamas has been caught out using images from conflicts in Iraq and Syria and passing them off as happening in Gaza. They have also been caught out using children as human shields.

Read more here

Police state - man charged for feeding horse

In a bizarre example of the British Police State, a man has been charged after feeding a police horse a sausage roll. The man was charged with 'breaching the peace' in Glasgow earlier this year. He defended his actions, claiming the horse 'looked hungry'. The man will go to trial next year.

This comes after an incident in 2006, when a Oxford University student asked a police officer if he realised his horse was 'gay'. He was arrested for 'homophobic' comments, and spent a night in the cells after refusing to pay a £80 fine.