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Australia Taps More Phones Than Entire U.S.
An anonymous reader writes "Last year Australian authorities tapped more phones all United States authorities combined. Australian phones were tapped at 20 times the rate of phones in the US according to this article in the Sydney Morning herald. The fact was revealed during a debate in the Australian parliament. The government is attempting to pass new legislation to to make it even easier for the country's domestic spy agency ASIO to tap phones." Update: 09/16 14:07 GMT by T : Julian Assange writes "The Australian is also running the story and has better stats." Thanks for the link.
Ouch. Seems Big Brother is an aussie now.
Isn't this old news? Their government was using it to spy on other parties.
And being one of those Australians who has been tapped - let me tell you it is not nice.
Especially when you are innocent.
Lucky We Live In A Free Country Like America!
:-)
See What Happens When Citizens Give Up Their Guns?
This Would Never Happen If Australia Had A First Amendment Like The US!
Just wanted to get those out of the way. Carry on.
I think that maybe CIA/FBI statistics are a little less forthcoming than those from ASIO. With all these measures to prevent terrorism, I'd assume that the CIA and FBI combined would be at least 20 times what they were just over a year ago anyway.
In short: I don't believe it.
The USA can keep dreaming that they have privacy, but guys, face it - you don't live in the land of the free any more.
They're welcome to our line. I admire anyone that could stand more than 5 minutes of listening to the crap that my sister speaks about all day long on the phone.
Silly. What did you think seti was for?
To spy ET phone home..
I live in the Netherlands (pop 15 million, about as much as NYC) and the police over here taps more phones than the whole of the US.
It's not as much the phone taps that are in place that worry me. It's the taps that should be there and that are prevented by corrupt officials.
Land of the free. Yeah sure, but only when you've bought your local politician/whatever.
the pun is mightier than the sword
1984X?
Get the EULA T-shirt
They are probably all too busy tapping us foreigners, so they don't have the time to tap themselves.
Besides, when you've heard one yankee, you've heard them all.
Echelon makes this kind of irrelevant. The 5 countries that are part of Echelon (US, UK, Canada, Australia, and NZ) can basically listen in on ANY phone call/fax/email/IP etc in any of the other countries. There are some computers here in New Zealand that are directly controlled by the US (NSA I think). This means that the NZ govt (and Aust govt etc) can listen to US phone calls. Now part of the reason it is set up like this is that the US authorities can use the NZ bit of the network to listen to US calls. This way it is technically not "domestic spying" as it is occurring over here.
I guess the wiretaps they're talking about here are for court-issued wiretaps for the police, rather than the secret services.
How will I go about conspiring with my terrorist buddies now. It's getting harder to be a sleeper agent in the asia pacific region. Looks we will will have to go back to pidgeons.
especially telling.
Guess that explains everything. The crooks, labor organizers, and opposition, have mastered the "sophistication" of the telephone.
Anybody can work under ideal circumstances. -- Jeff K. (January 4, 2001)
the ratio of tapped phones to population must be tremendous. Theres only what? 20,000,000 people in Australia?
Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
A typical ignorant comment made by a typical ignorant Yank, and seeing as you posted as anon, then it shows your enthusiasm for being known... then so will I.
Ah, you must be an American.
Not trying to be funny, or anything, but isn't Australia in the same position as the UK, in that it doesn't have a written constitution? Just a network of constitutional laws and acts, and a supporting set of court judgements that delineate the powers of the state. I apologize for my ignorance, but if Australia is in the same position as the UK, then there is a problem with constitional rights, because there is nowhere that these rights are explicitly stated.
For instance, with regard to freedom of speech, the UK government can use something called a D-notice to suppress press reports that it doesn't like, although there has been a lot of controversy about this, and I think that the use of this power is limited by the courts. I don't claim to be a big expert on this.
I live in Russia, and used to work for a multilateral organisation here. We were always happy that our phones were bugged, because then the Russians might actually believe that we meant the advice that we gave them.
fuk you uncle tom nigger, atleast our country isn't built on the backs of slaves
How did this ever get modded in?
Slashdot is really taking a dive if this is the level of comment considered commendable.
LMAO !!! you guys sound like someone just yanked the chain of a hundred dogs all at once. c'mon, get over it. history is past tense, can't be changed, should be lived with or ignored if necessary. peace
does that include phone tapping on europeans with echelon?
fucking americans...
I kind of doubt US government agencies could give an accurate accounting of how many phones they have tapped if they wanted to, and they probably don't even want to. And "tapped" probably doesn't take into account any kind of monitoring and audio keyword search that isn't aimed at a specific person.
what happens when people are having phone sex..
:-)
guy: oooh baby.. give it to me.. right now
wire tapper: hmm.. this might seem interesting.. they may be exchanging something
girl: oh my god.. i'm coming! i'm coming!
wire tapper: raid his house now! they're up to something..
eh.. a stupid thought, nonetheless, always a possible situation
... if cops have nothing to do except listening to other people's phone talks.
and america consists of gun tooting wankers who think that their right to have a gun (in their constitution) is because the king of england (yes i know we have a queen) MIGHT invade.....hows that for paranoia :-)
We played dungeons and dragons for 3 hours.....then i was slain by an elf
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Australia hasn't a so high crime rate or shouldn't fear about being attacked by terrorists like other countries. I miss the whole point here. Why a government should take away its citizens privacy and freedom for no apparent reason?
These are phone-taps which have come under the gaze of the law. Most phone taps are done by intelligence agencies, which can and do operate outside of normal legal constraints. Something like Echelon isn't just to pick up Espn.
We're bugged more than US By Duncan Macfarlane September 16, 2002
POLICE are being given authority to tap telephone conversations at
such an unprecedented rate that Australians are 20 times more likely
to be bugged than Americans. But despite the rate of tapping
increasing ninefold over the past decade, the ability of Australian
authorities to secure convictions as a result of listening to
telephone calls is lower than in the US.
In the past four years alone, the number of phone-tap warrants
approved by the courts and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal has
tripled from 675 to 2157 - one-third more than all state and federal
taps approved in the US.
In contrast to the US, our national security authorities, including
the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation, do not
publish statistics of their bugs.
The extent of the tapping has prompted federal Labor justice
spokesman Daryl Melham to call for a new body to oversee the use
of phone taps by Australian police, possibly based on a model used
in Britain , which has a chief surveillance commissioner.
"There is an urgent need to strengthen the resources available for
external scrutiny of telephone interception activities and other
forms of intrusive surveillance," Mr Melham said.
Labor analysis shows that only seven of the 2164 police applications
for interception warrants were rejected by the courts last year.
Since 1999, when Administrative Appeals Tribunal officers were
first given power to issue warrants, numbers have increased sharply.
AAT officers now issue 94 per cent of all warrants, Family Court
judges 5 per cent, and Supreme Court judges only 1 per cent.
The Australian Council of Civil Liberties said the explosion in
warrants showed that police were forum shopping and targeting
sympathetic judicial officers.
Cameron Murphy, secretary of the council, demanded the federal
Government publish more detailed information to reveal if a handful
of judges and officials were responsible for most of the warrants.
"We think Australians would be aghast if they knew so many people's
phone conversations were being bugged," Mr Murphy said.
Labor also warned that Australian police were achieving far fewer
criminal convictions per phone tap than US authorities.
Between 1996 and 2001, US police made 3.31 arrests and secured 1.55
convictions for each phone tap.
Over the same period Australian agencies made only 0.63 arrests
per phone tap and 0.46 convictions.
A spokesman for Mr Melham said technological advances were part of
the reason for the explosion in tapping.
All telecommunications providers were now required to construct
their facilities so that police could tap phones centrally instead
of climbing telegraph poles.
But then again, all the other (religiouse) nuts europe wanted to get rit of went to america.. explains a few things too..;-)
(ok, now, where are my asbest undies...)
Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!
I think phone tapping en masse is wrong, and should only be used in the most severe of circumstances. Phone tapping people as hoc, or because their the wrong shade of blue or *may* be doing something that's unethical or perhaps illegal sets a very bad precedent.
So we trust the government through the election process, they should trust us, if trust is taken away from our society, then what's left?
New Zealand has a higher crime rate than Australia.
but how many planes have they had fly into their buldings, killing 1,000s'?
Australia "officially" tapped 2150 phones and has a population of about 20 million, roughly 1 tap per 10k people.
The U.S. "officially" tapped 1490 phones and has a pop. of 280 million... That's about 1 tap per 187k people.
Of course, I'd bet my nest egg that the U.S. does more unofficial taps than Australia, so the real rate is probably something barely less shocking. But fear the day lawmakers point to this and say, "We're not doing enough phone taps!"
But CNN told me that Bush is taking away all my freedoms! Those damn Ozies can't beat us at this. I *demand* that the US tap every phone now!
I'm writing Barbara Boxer to inform her of this crisis.
Last night I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep when I thought I heard a strange noise coming from the bathroom.
Knowing that I wouldn't be able to doze off until the mystery was solved, I hauled by sad ass out of bed and stumbled down the hall to the "little room"
At first I thought it must just be tinnitus because the sound was really indistinct and seemed to be coming from multiple directions at once.
After a few minutes walking around the bathroom with my hands cupped to my ears I finally traced the source of the noise to the basin.
Yes, those bastard law-enforcement officials -- they'd phoned my tap!
Haha, what a fucking joke.
To all the morons saying that I'm from America: I'm not. I'm from the Netherlands. What I wrote was a JOKE. Guess what, that was the reason it was modded funny! Some people actually understand humour!
What a bunch of clowns you are.
So does Germany
so ggod in living in a developing country .. our phones dont work half of the time whew ;-)
My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
... at least the Aussie's have better high-tech wireless phones than the US ...
Thank you, I'll be here all week ... :) remember to tip your waitress ...
This was front page news in Taranaki, New Zealand for days!. Somehow seems less violent than where I live now. NZ front page news
Hey now.
How would you like it if the King of England came over to you and started getting in your face?
Oh wait, you're British, aren't you?
Erm. Well, I bet you still wouldn't like it!
Whenever a country experiences a surge in crime, (because of a bad economy or new methods by crooks or a new street drug) it runs the risk of a major backlash in the form of draconian punishments, abolition of civil liberties, and sometimes vigilantism. The backlash never solves the problem, which means it can repeat itself again and again. The appearance of crack cocaine in America caused the public to tolerate aggressive tactics by the DEA and then by other TLAs, culminating in Waco. Europe and Australia now tolerate promiscuous phone tapping. Britain is almost a panopticon now, and is loosening regulations on psychiatric commitment. Eternal vigilance, folks. Nothing else suffices.
nope - I'm a uni student studying IT however.
It's amusing to count how many people have somehow blamed this on the U.S.
I dont find this a bad thing. I mean, they are only going to bug those who think are doing some pretty bad shit!! As long as i stay in ASIO's "good books" - i shall not even worry about it.
:)
Plus, what i dont know doesnt hurt me
Giving IE users a taste of their own medicine since 2005 - http://pods.-is-a-geek.net/
Looks like our little Johnny Howard has been following the lead of the US more than we first imagined. I'd imagine he'll be constructing the Aussie version of the PATRIOT Act next. Depressing and, at the same time, completely unsuprising.
----------
When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.
Well, aparently more convicts were sent to the USA than Oz, so...
"Last year Australian authorities tapped more phones all United States authorities combined."
Good job editors.
Dirk
Call some random person...
*ring* *ring* *ring*
"Hello?"
"The secret website is goatse.cx!"
"Huh?"
*click*
Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
U
nauthorised wiretapping by intelligence agencies is kinda nasty, but they can't use it to convict you (directly).
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
These bills are thus likely to fail in the Senate, as the opposition is opposing the bill and the green-left minor parties that hold the balance of power were *never* going to vote in favour of it.
This is (at last) a somewhat politically courageous action by the opposition, because standing up for civil liberties is rarely politically advantagous and will run the risk of the government accusing them of risking Australia's national security or some such nonsense. Kudos to Labor for actually showing a little backbone.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Big brother watching them, lol, that sucks!
that will lead to even higher demand of crypted communications for criminals(or just for people who want to discuss only with whom they are talking, and not also with some goverment agency) there.
So there would probably be some market for phones crypting you'r talk so that goverment agencies cannot decrypt it, perhaps i should take out my soldering iron and a pile of electronic junk like processors, eeproms, microphone, speaker...
i wonder how easy it would have been to make a phone like that =D perhaps at same time you could implement a button when pressed would mutate your voice also...
That would need a lot of processing power to first translate you'r voice from analogic to digital and incoming voice from digital and analogic and also crypting & decrypting it.
i mean a lot of processing power compared to some pic processors etc... actually it's merely nothing needed but a lot for small electronic gadgets...
perhaps somebody should start making such a device?
I'm glad i don't need to worry about somebody tapping my phone, if i remember right here they need atleast to inform the tapped person that they are tapping...
also there is a market share for devices detecting phone tapping...
Cybernetic Zombie's Network
Pulsed Media Seedboxes
otherwise we'd have our enemies finding out how those crooked sticks come back when you throw them or how those hollow stick make those cool sounds
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Most democratic countries have a constitution but lack a Bill of Rights. I think this is why allegedly "free" countries like Britain and Australia have so much trouble with government infringement on civil liberties like property ownership, privacy, gun ownership, speech and so forth.
I've seen a few lame attempts at establishing a Bill of Rights in other countries. But none of them are taken seriously by their respective governments and most of them are written so they can mean anything the politicians want them to mean. South Africa's new constitution, for example, is one of the more hilarious documents I've read lately.
Galland
maybe this is naive, but who cares if your phone is tapped? you should be ok with it so long as you have nothing to hide. i know all you paranoid folk out there believe the govt will frame you, but jees. give me a break. if you are clean, just let it go.
There isn't a single Dutch Police officer hired as a subsidized worker (now known as ID-jobs, formerly known as Melkert jobs). Only "stads- en parkeerwachten" (unarmed "officers" patrolling city centres and writing parking tickets, with no other authorities, they cannot even make an arrest, they have to call the real cops).
The BVD (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdient: Internal Security Service), is best compared with the NSA, not the CIA, as the BVD isn't allowed to spy abroad.
You sure you're Dutch?? If you are, you're showing the same level of ignorance, usually bestowed upon our American brethren. Just goes to show that everything is the same on both sides of the pond.
Australia Taps More Phones -LEGALLY- Than Entire U.S.
Since even those in chage say that the number underreported ia on an order or mangitude higher than those reported. These numbers also don't take into account US customs whose records were destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. They are still trying to re-create those records from ancilarry data.
As an American, I've always thought of Aussies as being likewise independent, free-thinking and friendly people (Mad Max notwithstanding).
You know, like, "No worries, mate!"
Now I'm feeling bad because I was worried about the evil Ashcroft and Carnivore while my buddies in Oz are enduring much worse!
"Provided by the management for your protection."
I know a lot of you out there think that your home countries are a lot safer, more interesting, etc.... and I agree. But you forget one thing about it. America is a real soup of people, and NOTHING COMES EASY IN AMERICA.
That is the nature of the soup that is the good 'ol USA. Most of the people that are from Finland and Norway say that there are no tensions and no problems at all with others.. well, move to Minnesota or the Upper Penninsula in the USA and you will notice that there is less violence there too... on the count that there really are less ethnic-religious-governmental-general-people tensions. Its the land of happy, slightly overweight hockey playing white guys. Lots of cheese.
I mean honestly, what the hell is there to argue about in Finland? Do you have a thousand cabbies that come from every country in the world and can't understand you, nor you understand them when they speak? Do you have hundreds of religious groups pining for their big piece of the political pie? Do you have anything that might get you annoyed like that? Unregistered illegal Mexican drivers that ran over kids in a schoolyard and then get no punishment because they are not US citizens, and caused all of this becasue they can't be bothered to read and understand English road signs?
WHY DOES AMERICA HAVE ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS? Because when poor, uneducated, huddled masses think of travelling to a land of prosperity they don't look around their straw hut and say, "Let's go to Iceland!"
Don't get me wrong. That's a good thing about being an American. But also you don't get this: when a Mexican punk drug dealer shoots a Texas cop on a sting in front of police, you also don't get an international incident where Vincente Fox shows his ass as a "show of power" to the American people over a P.O.S. drug dealer. The last time I checked, the Netherlands hasn't sent troops anywhere to save people. SO the Netherlands hasn't drawn any heat for it either. Believe it or not, there are several places in the world where people are excited to see me because I am a representative of America. Not everyone will try to kidnap me.
America-bash away. I don't blame anyone for liking a home country where everyone basically acts and looks the same as you... sounds great. Never had that. Probably pretty nice.
WE ARE JUST DIFFERENT, WITH DIFFERENT PROBLEMS. NOT BETTER OR WORSE THAN ANYONE, JUST WITH DIFFERENT PROBLEMS. But you can't really blame the USA for going crazy every day. You'd be nuts too if you had this many people that can't agree.
And another thing. When everyone says we don't need an army it just makes me laugh. Well, that is because we are doing the job for you. Keep in mind that if anyone invaded Norway, Iceland, The Netherlands, Australia, beautiful New Zealand, or anywhere else civilized... we might have the jets in the air faster than you might have yours. Why?
NOT BECAUSE AMERICA WANTS TO BE MR. BADASS ALL THE TIME. Its actually simpler than that.
That is what true friends do for friends when they need help. We'd kick butt again for France or Germany (or the Netherlands) in a second if they needed it. Of course, the UK doesn't even need to ask. You get punched silly for even looking at the UK in front of the USA.
They are all closet BC users anyway..
MW
Actually in Australia, to have a family link back to the transportees is seen as a sign of class!!!!
Considering that Australia has a population of 20 million, and the U.S has a population of 280 million, that is _alot of tapping. Over here the phone lines are not well maintained, so if you detect a degrading in the quality of your phone calls chances are your being tapped.
It seems to be that Pine Gap is facing the wrong way.
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
Does anyone else find the title of this article horribly stupid?
Why did they make a point to compare Austrailia to the "entire" United States. Being both countries as they are, I would think a simple comparison would suffice.
The reverse might have made sense. To say something like "State of Florida taps more phones than the entire Eastern hemisphere" would have been interesting.
I know it's a rant, but man I would like headlines to be somewhat relevent...
Australia is a penal colony. What did you expect?
Aussies call each other "mates". It's short for INMATES. Yes, Australia is just a big giant prison.
Used against 3rd world governments but works equally well against 1st world ones as well.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Last year Australian authorities tapped more phones all United States authorities combined.
Jesus that is just horible. First RIAA is NOT doing anything evil and now we get "more phones all united states". Get a clue.
Hmm...
Although you're right about Australia having most, but not all.
There is no right to peaceably assemble. In fact I believe in most States and Territories, if not all, you have to gain police permission or face the possibility of being removed as a public nuisance.
There is no right to petition the Government as such. In some case, the name of which escapes my mind, it was held there's no actual right to be given a vote!
And the closest we get to a right to free speech etc is the _implied_ freedom of political communication.
But yeah, we do have freedom of religion (s116).
Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will! - Antonio Gramsci.
Shouldnt that be 20 times more than the US officially taps?
Arn't all international calls routed via satellite into and out of the US are open season as far as tapping is concerned as US law doesn't require a warrant for this type of tap?
I mean, as long as I can buy a 900 Mhz scanner and listen to everyone's CC #s, VMB #s + passcodes why bother?
Here's hoping you never used your cell or portable phones to say anything silly!
>:-)
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Julian (quoted in the update) is one of the authors of the incredible Rubberhose filesystem (rubberhose.org). Wish a better hacker could port this thing to 2.4!
It's called the USA Patriot Act. It pretty much kills the entire point of the first amendment, because anything you say can be monitored, and you can be prosecuted as a terrorist, if they dont like what you say.
I can confirm Basje's claims. The Ducth
tap more phones than the US in absolute numbers, with only 15 mln people. "Bits Of Freedom' have
more specific numbers at http://www.bof.nl/aftappen.html (in Dutch).
It was even on the reputable Radio 1 last week, btw.
Barry from Amsterdam
/.: Australian authorities tapped more phones all United States authorities combined!
?: Move zig, for great justice!
there are less phones in the U.S. than in Australia. Remember Echelon? We tap the ones in Australia (legally), then give the information to the Aussies (also legally). They do the same for us. Then both of our foreign intelligence agencies can truthfully say "We don't tap our own citizens' phones."
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
Wow! With so many police listening into so many conversations, the crime rate must be nearly zero. How can people do anything wrong if they can be listened to at will!
Except, um, if the people listening in aren't totally honest themselves. Who listening in on the prosecutors and cops? How long until blackmail starts?
Man in Black: Truly you have a dizzing intellect.
Vizini: Wait 'til I get going. Where was I?
Man in Black: Australia.
Vizini: Yes, Australia. And everybody knows Australia is entirely peopled by criminals... and criminals are used to people not trusting them as YOU are not trusted by me. Therefore I can clearly not chose the wine in front of you.
That about do it folks? Can't believe nobody posted this already. *shakes head*
Toddlers are the stormtroopers of the Lord of Entropy.
New Zealand has a higher crime rate than Australia.
That is because they don't have wallopies to take their agression out on.
BTW, *everybody* is probabably descended from at least one criminal if you go back far enough in your family tree.
Table-ized A.I.
This is impossible! Everyone knows that the United States is the world's most corrupt nation, and violates more individual liberties than the next five corrupt nations combined. The US is the home of Microsoft, the MPAA and the RIAA. Alan Cox boycotts the US, not Australia.
This story cannot be true.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Hmm..I'm surprised some "higher authority" hasn't decided to h@xxx0r the entire slashdot news site to remove such "sensitive" information :P
The Welkin: Online Music Reviews
Worth noting that during the War of 1812 many of those living in the USA were living as slaves.
I believe that, during the War of 1812, the UK was farther along in abolishing slavery than was the USA. FWIW.
Sorry to nitpick, but I think that, in 1812, the USA fell a bit short of "great power" status.
Why not have fun with it??
http://www.langmaker.com/mlindex.htm
Learn to speak in some wierd goofy language and annoy the hell out of the people doing the wiretapping.
If you read it carefully, it says Australia filed more wiretap warrants than the US as officially reported by the two governments. That doesn't necessarily have any relationship to the actual number of wiretaps, legal, quasi-legal or outright illegal. We did learn all about Echelon on Slashdot right? HELLO
How many posts will blame this on John Ashcroft in some way?
This kind of story forces us Americans to take a good looks at the rights that we are all afforded. Australia is not some thrid-world country of communist dictatorship. It's a democracy and close ally of the U.S. and still the people have to put up with a kind of opression that we could (hopefully) scream about. Rights are not handed to people, they have to demand them. This country is moving towards a dangerous time for our rights. I hope that the people don't forget that our rights are what makes this such a great place to live. Not McDonald's, not the movies, not Everybody Loves Raymond. The foresight of the writers of the constitution has protected us from the current condidtion of the not only Australian citizens, yet also those of many other democracies in this world. However, we cannot be protected forever. As it was said by the Beastie Boys: "You gotta fight for your right to party."
Brought to you by the Artificial Idea Factory.
The more I hear about Autralia, the more amazed I am about that country. It's as if someone wants them to look like real facists.
They won't accept boat refugees, they ban books, magazines and films, they wiretap phones and computers.
Yet another country I'm going to avoid...
A couple of observations need to be made:-
1. Do you believe the stats on phone-tapping ? The FBI in the good old days of J E Hoover used to go to Congressional inquiries and honestly say they only had a few wire taps (all with the requisite warrants) because they used to pull all their illegal taps the day before (and then reconnect them the next day);
2. Maybe Australia's crime rate is lower than the US in part because of a greater use of wire taps ?
Nitpick:Japan's reigning emperor has had a purely ceremonial function since 1946, much like the british monarchy, but they are far from outlawed.
People in Soviet Russia, however, appear to be afflicted with amusing juxtapositions of the aforementioned situation
Darn, "eh" tends towards Canadian, right? **Off to get my taxi driver license**
Imagine the Creator as a stand up commedian - and at once the world becomes explicable. -Mencken
(how many AMericans speak 2 languages? do you? Betya its those Spanish Immagrants that do the most)
Si. Puedo hablar otros idiomas. En los EEUU es importante a hablar con los conductador de los taxiz (o taxis, se depende en particular a parte del Sudamerica y la accente).
Why yes, I do speak two languages.
By the way, I understand that you English is not the greatest, but keep it up... I can tell that you are getting better. I am not being sarcastic. I appreciate you trying to use your foreign language skills.
However... I would not move to Spain unless I had a good grasp of the language. Nor would I drive illegally, nor enter the country illegally, nor would I not pay taxes and then try to get free health benefits.
Just because I see that the people of another country are coming here and cannot understand the language doesn't mean I hate them, I am just pointing out that "it ain't easy brother."
Try this one: 1-900-FUC-KYOU
for one thing because they keep doing all the dirty work that so obviously are way beneath what you could ask an nth-generation citizen to do.)
Personally, I don't have a lot of hate for bad examples, but I can really say this one out loud and on slashdot over THAT STATEMENT...
FUUUUUCK YOU.
You really can't sell me that shit.
First of all, I never met my grandfather because a mine cave-in. So if you would like to sell me the one about the dirty fucking jobs out there for the immigrants, then you are barking up the wrong tree. The only reason my people got out of the mines was because one generation had an errant gene that made them too tall.
At least the immigrants get to see the fucking sun during the Winter. SO FUUUUCK YOU. There are plenty of Americans that get their hands dirty, and bust ass for little money. AND PAY TAXES ON IT.
But let's not dwell on the immigrants, lets talk about the one group that has been here 150 years (juuuust right after the colonists), and still gets treated like shit.
Yes, I'm talking black people in America.
What about my black friends that have been here for generations and still can't get a decent fucking job? What about them? Yeah. You're right. Poor immigrants. Their problem is that they can't speak the language. NO! Their problem is that they don't pay taxes. Black people pay taxes and work right next to them. Talk about a fuck job.
You know what the difference is in America between a black man in a car with a license and an immigrant hispanic without one? THE FUCKING FLASHING LIGHTS BEHIND THE BLACK MAN'S CAR.
POOR IMMIGRANTS. Always so polite. Blend in so well. Never drunk in public, or stealing your shit. NEVER EVER PLAYING THEIR STEREO TOO LOUD AT THREE A.M. NEVER PARKING IN YOUR STREET WITH THE THREE THOUSAND CARS SUPER-EXPENSIVE CARS THAT BELONG TO THEIR ONE HOUSE.
I guess I resent the fact that Third-Worlders come over, and then act like the Third World all over again. Its about the fucking courtesy... not the festivals.
The US has the best presidency money can buy. :-)
Talk to the wiretappers. Ask them how they're doing... how you can get a job with them.. tell them jokes... make it fun for them. (:
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
Under a parliamentary system (such as they have in Australia, UK, Canada, Germany, etc) there are NO guaranteed rights, like we have here in the US.
The only freedoms the people have are those "granted to them by Parliament". Many of the basic rights we have in the US are "granted by God", not some political body...and can never be infringed upon.
Big difference! You defenders of the parliamentary system can just keep believing the illusion, but you are NOT really free. You are one vote away from losing those freedoms you DO have...
For example, The USA keeps about 0.7% of the population behind bars. For comparison, a rate of 0.1% is common in western Europe. It gives a whole new meaning to "the land of the FREE". See this story from The Economist (may require registration...).
My Country, Israel, does not think that Humans have rights at all; like leaving their own front door. I am lucky on that front, I only got arrested three times, and my home was searched, for making minor protests, like waving a pirate flag on my own balcony.
Would rather (just) have my phone tapped.
Bloody right too. Imagine all those polar bears running around with ak-47's. Madness.
Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
but your average Aussie is still racist
Shows how much you know about Australia. What bullshit. The words and actions of a vocal and (unfortunately) influential minority do not a country make. There were a lot of people who voted against John Howard in the last election, myself included. Are you saying that I, as well as all these other people, are racists? I don't think so.
But hey, while we're on stereotypes here, can I say that the average American is a fat, ignorant git who's more than willing to give up his "freedoms" in order to feel "safe" again? I don't believe that's true, but you'd be suprised what people would believe in the absence of the truth.
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When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.
I don't like the fact, and I know there are heaps of non-racist Australians... but a lot of people vote for Howard. and a lot of people voted for One Nation!
That I agree with. But it's more accurate to say that One Nation has been (rightfully) confined to the "lunatic fringe" section of politics and is not the great threat to the mainstream parties that it apparently once was. The main frustration I have with Australian politics at the moment is that there really is no worthy opposition to the current government and that, knowing how fucked-up the current government can and has been, is a pretty scary thing. What I'd like to see is something like in Sweden (where I am at the moment) - a social democracy. But that would require increased taxes and a combining of the two types of politics (which might require, *gasp*, agreeing on things) and given the inability of Australian politicians to even suggest either or both possibilites, I don't see it happening in the near future.
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When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.