Maclean man pleads guilty to Internet intimidation & other charges - gets 12 month good behaviour bonds

The Daily Examiner, 24 September 2009, page 4
Click to enlarge

Yesterday, Grafton Local Court convicted Berlin, also known as John Paul Breslin, of charges of intimidation with intention to cause physical/mental harm, possessing a police uniform when not a policeman, selling police insignia and using police insignia when not a police officer.
In court Berlin changed his plea to guilty on all charges after the defence and prosecution agreed to combine several of the charges.
Berlin came under police notice when he sent abusive and threatening emails to a man living in the United States who distributed police insignia under licence from the NSW Police Department between June and September last year.

Last Monday was World Alzheimer's Day, but I forgot.......

.........which is not as funny as it sounds given the age group I am entering.

The day after that the Northern Rivers Tweed Daily News reported:

TWEED Heads has the highest rate of dementia cases in the state and it's predicted this number will more than triple in coming decades, according to new figures out today.

THE report, commissioned by Alzheimer's Australia NSW, found the Tweed area had the highest incidence of dementia in NSW with 1608 cases this year, increasing to a projected 7451 in 41 years.

In 2009 Alzheimers Australia and Access Economics estimated that 36,000 people diagnosed with dementia live outside of Sydney in rural and regional New South Wales, and Of those people with new cases of dementia in New South Wales in 2009, approximately 14,000 live in Sydney, while approximately 10,000 reside in the balance of New South Wales. Projections suggest that the incidence of dementia in Sydney will increase 4.9-fold to approximately 67,600 (63,600-71,400) people, while new cases of dementia in thebalance of NSW will increase 4.8-fold to 48,700 (45,800-51,400) people by 2050.

The Big Dry, The Big Red, the big dust choke on the NSW North Coast - but Lismore still played on at the 2009 Festival of Cricket

Photo from ABC North Coast News

The Northern Star this morning:
"THE DUST storm that enveloped the North Coast yesterday at one point stretched to Mount Isa and caused humidity at Ballina to plummet to an almost unheard of minus 2 per cent.
Every drop of water was sucked from the air by the dry continental air mass, prompting the Rural Fire Service to declare a total fire ban.
Like a giant snowball it grew as it travelled, blowing close to 16,000 tonnes of dust across the coast every hour."

However, the boys in white were determined to play on in Lismore at Oaks Oval in the 2009 Festival of Cricket!

More pics from The Northern Star, The Daily Examiner, and Nellibell.

Grafton Bridge

Copmanhurst backyard

Lismore airport on 23rd September 2009

Even more pics of Tabulam and Ballina at The Far North Coaster.

Have your say on Australia's anti-terrorism laws before 25th September 2009

Australian Greens MPs have written to Attorney-General Robert McClelland about the Rudd Government's intention to expand Australia's anti-terrorism laws:

Dear Attorney-General,

I welcome the opportunity to comment on proposed changes to Australia's anti-terrorism legislation in a public consultation process.

I am concerned, that detailed changes to our laws are being proposed before the government has provided the promised White Paper on terrorism, or before the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Laws has begun their work.

I am particularly concerned about the proposal that the Australian Federal Police be permitted to enter premises without a warrant under emergency circumstances that are not clearly defined.

While Dr. Haneef Aside would have benefited from a 7 day cap on being held without a charge, I am concerned that there has been no demonstrated need for the proposed 7 day preventative detention period, and that setting such a maximum could be a licence to use it.

I am not convinced that the proposed redefinition of the act of terrorism is an improvement,, rather the proposal significantly widens the offence. You have departed significantly from the proposals put forward by the Sheller Committee. Your changes will make the legislation more complex, and simultaneously uncertain. Some legal practitioners have suggested that it will be unworkable.

I do not support the strengthening of the National Security Information Act, which allows for closed court proceedings, effectively locking lawyers out of the room, and for some evidence to be closed to the accused and their legal representatives. It also requires security clearances for lawyers which threatens the right to a fair trial and limits the pool of lawyers permitted to act in cases. Your proposed changes would contravene the separation of powers established by chapter three of the Constitution.

As Australia played an active role in establishing the terms of the so-called war on terror, Australia has a role in reformulating what a legitimate response to terrorism should look like. This import role cannot be undermined by unconsidered, ineffective reform.

The Greens also have an online petition which can be signed before 25 September 2009:

The Greens have been calling for review of our anti-terrorism laws since well before the Rudd government was elected. Rammed through our Parliament in 2005, the Howard-Ruddock anti-terrorism laws demand urgent review and overhaul rather than strengthening, because of how seriously they undermine our human and civil rights.

If you would like to sign this petition go here.