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Privacy tort a rort for the influential

PAUL Keating's fondness for picking up the phone to relay his displeasure about media coverage is the stuff of legend. from the half-dozen spirited conversations I've had as a publisher with the former PM, the most memorable went to the issue of privacy.

An item had appeared in Sydney Confidential about his daughter being spotted on a date with a rugby league player at a city bar. the article didn’t suggest any hanky-panky, simply that they had met for a drink. Keating didn’t think it should have run at all and took particular issue with the accompanying photograph featuring separate merged images of his daughter and the said footy star.

At the risk of sounding disingenuous, I can see up to a point why he would. the item, or certainly the accompanying photograph – despite being tagged as digitally altered – would have annoyed any parent, even one who had spent their entire life in the public arena.

That said, it is extremely difficult to see what damage it did to either party. It certainly wasn’t defamatory, suggesting no misbehaviour or scandal.

This type of low-level gossipy stuff forms the backbone of many women’s magazines and showbiz sections, and typically prompts the "just because the public is interested in something doesn’t mean it is in the public interest" argument.

But if the privacy purists have their way, there are many, many important stories which could no longer be told as a result of a lawyer-led blitz on those stories which are frivolous, daft or prurient.

The key weakness in the proposed tort of privacy and the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission is that no one has explained how you disentangle the noble stuff from the nonsense.

There is one person I can think of from my time editing the Daily Telegraph who would have adored a tort of privacy and his name is Marcus Einfeld.

On the face of it, how could any reasonable person argue that the public has a right to know who is or isn’t driving your car at any given time?

Why should anyone have the right to know who you are having lunch with, and for how long, on any given day?

Surely the freedom to move about the city, to dine, to see friends, is a basic freedom which should never be the subject of external scrutiny?

It should be, unless of course you’re a liar and fraud who, as a judge, has jailed people for committing perjury, but will deliberately perjure yourself to dodge a $77 speeding fine and keep your licence by claiming that a dead person was driving your car on the day you were caught exceeding the limit.

In the Einfeld case the duration of the lunch he had with a friend at the Pilu restaurant in Freshwater also went to the heart of whether he could or could not have been driving his car on that day. Had Einfeld had a tort of privacy at his disposal, none of the key, incriminating facts in this case would have seen the light of day.

Even without a tort of privacy, Einfeld tried desperately as the scandal unravelled to prevent publication by injuncting our newspaper to stop articles from being printed. the cashed-up and connected former jurist would have had a field day in the courts if he could have argued that no one had any right to know who was driving his car or where he was on the day.

Even the seamier articles involving public figures are often the subject of hotly contested debate about their public interest. the revelations that the former NSW police minister David Campbell had frequented a gay bath house have been frequently cited as an example of media excess.

Personally I couldn’t care less about the man’s sexuality, but I do concur with former premier Barrie Unsworth’s assertion that, as the police minister, it was unwise for Campbell to frequent a place which left him open to blackmail and in contact with drug users.

Beyond the realm of politics, there are many celebrities who will oscillate between claiming victim status over intrusions, and then returning to the media fray to maintain their profile and source of income.

As is her right under law, Tania Zaetta successfully sued the Daily Telegraph for defamation a couple of years ago. Yet while she was complaining about the coverage, her agent Max Markson was emailing the newspaper "free hi-res glossy photographs" of his client, and urging us to use them in our ongoing coverage.

She also said she was coping with the stress of it all through the lemon detox diet, the makers of which were paying her to spruik the product. Life would surely be easier for many people if they decided whether they wanted to opt in or out of the gossip pages.

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Iowa Debate: WIll the next Scott Walker please stand up?

LOS ANGELES, August 11, 2011—As Iowa Republicans prepare for the Thursday debate and the Saturday straw poll, Iowa may be the last civilized place left on Earth. this is not surprising, since large concentrations of conservative Republicans usually leads to peaceful interactions. The Tea Party epitomizes peaceful political activism. Leftist baboons could learn from this. actually they can’t, but let’s pretend they could.

Are there any leftists anymore who just shut up, keep their heads down, and go to work without complaining?

If not, do any of them ever air their grievances in a non-violent manner?

In Greece, leftists are setting the country on fire to protest the government’s decision to enact budget cuts to save the entire nation. The left is convinced that getting everything for nothing will last forever. is there a single conservative rioting? Possibly, but doubtful.

In London, hooligans are protesting against the police. Shockingly enough, the police might actually this one time crack down. Again, it is doubtful that law and order conservatives are in the street rioting against law enforcement.

In Chicago and Philadelphia, “flash mobs” are a new trendy way to describe criminals and thugs. Failed human beings in failed inner cities are attacking failure by destroying society around them, and shockingly enough, causing more failure.

In all of these cities people think it is simply acceptable to take things from “the man.” it is permissible to beat and rob people in the name of “equal justice.” Like History of the World Part I, where it was “beggars, begging from beggars,” we now have worldwide leftists attacking those in power by beating up their fellow leftists. The best one can hope for is that they will all eventually eliminate each other. There is no hope for them in terms of becoming civilized human beings. maybe the mobs can burn down universities so that there will be nobody left to teach them how to be leftist protesters.

Wisconsin is in a struggle to become more like Iowa and less like Chicago, Philadelphia, London, and Greece. The leftist savages are being beaten back.

Governor Scott Walker has still been too patient for my tastes. He has not had his police force or security detail use rubber bullets or fire hoses on the Moveon and SEIU protesters in his state. Liberals will claim that they have a right to peacefully protest. this would be true except they keep forgetting the peaceful part. Vandalizing government buildings is not what democracy should look like.

Yet Governor Walker keeps winning.

First Republicans won the 2010 election. Governor Walker, in a concept foreign to liberals, governed as he campaigned.

In an attempt to enact a law to keep unions from destroying his state, the Democrats in the legislature broke the law and fled to a foreign state. Governor Walker decided not to hire bounty hunters. instead he just had the law passed anyway.

Democrats then returned and tried to have the courts overturn the law. Liberals love using the courts since they fail at legislative governing. Again, Governor Walker won.

Liberals then tried to fire one of the Wisconsin judges in an attempt to hijack the court solely due to this law. Again, liberals lost. Republicans and Governor Walker won.

Liberals then tried to recall six Republican state legislators. Again, they lost. Republicans and Governor Walker won.

Will liberals get the message? of course not. Now they will try and recall Governor Walker. If they succeed, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch would take over. She is just as conservative if not more. She would make the left even more crazed.

This is fantastic. Governor Scott Walker may be the next Ronald Reagan because he understands what to do with people sworn to his destruction. He crushes them. more importantly, he bankrupts them.

George Soros spent millions trying to defeat George W. Bush in 2004. He failed, but did not blink an eye over the pocket change he wasted. yet like the Soviet Union, labor unions do not have pockets that deep. Reagan did not win the cold War because the Soviets discovered morality. Reagan bankrupted them.

Unions have spent close to 100 million dollars in Wisconsin over the last couple of years. that money could have been used to actually help the downtrodden. Given that the leftists embodied by the unions are power hungry madmen who do not care one bit about the downtrodden, it makes perfect sense that they would spend millions of dollars that could have actually helped people.

The only way to deal with unions is to bankrupt them. The only way to deal with leftist protesters is to bankrupt them. When their choices are eating hot food and sleeping indoors or freezing to death outside while protesting, some of them may decide that starvation is not worth the cause.

Governor Walker may never be willing to break out the batons and crack skulls like SEIU would, but at least he is willing to keep enacting policies designed to let leftists spend every last dollar in their bleeding wallets.

This is why there is hope for Wisconsin while much of the rest of America and the world is on fire.

May liberals keep destroying themselves until they stop smoking the crack pipe of their own self-righteousness. Since they will never stop, may their drug habit of rage deplete their life savings until they either enter detox or become walking zombie lunatics less coherent than Al Gore and Howard Dean.

As Republicans debate in Iowa, I will support any candidate who vows to imitate Scott Walker on a national level. Leftist protesters will learn how to assemble calmly and peaceably, or a law and order crackdown that will make Kent State seem like a Tea Party walk in the park should take place.

To dream the impossible dream…where leftists learn human behavior, either voluntarily or by force.

Brooklyn born, Long Island raised, and now living in Los Angeles, Eric Golub is a politically conservative columnist, blogger, author, public speaker, satirist and comedian. Read more from Eric at his TYGRRRR EXPRESS blog.

Eric is the author of the book trilogy ”Ideological Bigotry, “Ideological Violence,” and “Ideological Idiocy.” Eric is 100% alcohol, tobacco, drug, and liberalism free. After years of dating liberals, he has finally seen the light and now only dates Republican Jewish women. his family is pleased over this. Republican, Jewish women, you may contact Eric above.

Follow Eric on Twitter @TYGRRRREXPRESS

Eric Golub is an independent writer for the Communities.

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Addiction Treatment Services You Must Have

Though there are a number of addiction treatment services available to you, not all of them are absolutely necessary for optimum healing. In fact, not all addiction treatment services are required in every treatment plan because each individual’s needs and reactions during recovery will be based upon his or her unique experience during active addiction. the most important addiction treatment services that you should make sure are part of your drug rehab program include drug detox, psychological addiction treatment and aftercare services.

If you would like to discuss which addiction treatment services are most appropriate for you or a loved one embarking upon drug rehab, contact us at Michael’s House today.

If you experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking your drug of addiction, then you will need to kick off your rehab experience with drug detox. Detox addiction treatment services should be included in any drug rehab program you choose, which means that your rehab experience should begin with a full medical evaluation to determine whether or not you will need medical detox and ongoing monitoring to ensure your optimum health. On-site medical professionals should be able to provide you with all the information you need concerning your detox options depending upon your drug of choice, other drugs of addiction taken regularly, doses of all drugs, co-occurring medical and psychological disorders, etc.

Medical detox alone is not enough to help patients effectively overcome the most difficult parts of addiction for the long term. Psychological dependence and cravings are half of what defines a drug and alcohol addiction and it’s important that patients receive psychotherapeutic treatment to address those issues. Whether you opt for a rehab that provides a traditional approach to treating psychological addiction, an alternative approach or a combination of the two, you will be able to look at some of the issues that may having pushed you on the path toward addiction and kept you there. By beginning to work through the traumas experienced both before and during rehab, you can make great strides in your recovery and help yourself to better prepare to fight relapse when rehab is over.

When you complete drug rehab, you are far from done thinking about and working on your addiction issues. Aftercare services provide patients with the support they need to stay attentive to their recovery. This means that regular meetings like 12-step meetings, personal therapy sessions, alternative treatments like yoga and group therapy sessions can give you the opportunity to remind yourself how far you’ve come since active addiction. These aftercare services can also give you the support you need when you feel tempted to get high or drunk after leaving rehab. the most intensive aftercare option of all is sober living – an option that gives you round-the-clock support and a safe place to live that is guaranteed to be drug-free.

Call now to find out more about our drug detox, addiction treatment and sober living addiction treatment services here at Michael’s House.

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Lil' Wayne Bans Alcohol Backstage, Really Doesn't Want To Go Back To Jail

One of the only people who has more power than Lil’ Wayne is his probation officer.

Fans of Lil’ Wayne know that he likes to have a good time. whether it’s sipping on his favorite mix of codeine and promethozine or smoking three blunts to the face, Lil’ Wayne and sobriety don’t really go hand in hand.

That was, until Wayne was sentenced with a year-long stay at Rikers Island, of which he served eight months. on top of jail time, Lil’ Wayne was sentenced to a drug and alcohol-free life for three years with promised visits from a Probation Officer.

And like the professional he is, Wayne and crew banned alcohol backstage and on his bus during his “I am still Music Tour” because everyone in the Wayne camp is “committed to keeping a safe and professional atmosphere to ensure a smoothly running tour.” so luckily there will be no chance of a shorter tour or cut shows because Wayne was found sipping Jack Daniels just as his P.O. showed up.

But no worries, Weezy fans. Though the performers can’t drink, venues will still be serving all the alcohol needed to get drunk and slur the words to Lil’ Wayne hits like “Lollipop” and “a Milli.”

Though Mr. Carter adopted a zero-tolerance no-alcohol policy, fans are left wondering, “What about everything else?” Pills, syrup, weed—what happened to all of Weezy’s true favorite things? Guess that’s what expensive detox cleansers are for, right? or maybe it is the lack of promethozine and codeine that really cleared his head, influencing his decision to ban alcohol on his tour.

Whatever the case, Lil’ Wayne still proves to be, above all, most dedicated to the well-being of his career and not going back to the slammer. and good for him; a sober Wayne is better than a jailed Wayne. I just wonder if it’s awkward rapping about “straight shots” and “poppin’ bottles” when you have to stay sober until 2013.

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Detox and cleanse my body?

Ok, so I eat pretty healthily, i don't drink alcohol or smoke!! but i'm wanting some simple things i can add to/or change about my diet to help me thoroughly cleanse my digestive system etc. any suggestions???

there is a lemonade drink called the master cleanse drink (lemon juice, maple syrup to taste, cayenne pepper, & a dash of salt) that is quite helpful. i have used it to both detox and lose weight. one time i did it for 9 days. the maple syrup gives your brain the glucose it needs so you don't pass out. here is the link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Clea…

i also drink tea called "everyday detox tea".

regarding cleansing foods to eat: most any kind of fresh, raw vegetable is good for helping the body cleanse itself. they are loaded with living cells and enzymes your body craves. especially anything green & leafy (spinach, lettuce, celery, parsley). also beets help the liver detox. you can eat fresh beets raw but it's easier to get a vegetable juicer and put it in there, along with celery, and apple, a couple of carrots, etc. fresh sprouts (alfalfa, barley, clover, or anykind) are excellent at helping the body detox. if you can stand to but fresh garlic and or ginger in there it's better. years ago i had chronic fatigue and this is how i got over it.

ya start the day with boiled water and lemon have lots green tea in the day get some linseed and have on breakfast don't have wheat or dairy for two weeks have soya and oats
no sugars or tea coffee have decaff if you do
have lots berries as fruit dont have raw veg drink lots water

The body is a self cleaning unit, doesn't need any help.

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