The big thing you have to admire about Ted Koppel is that he won't be bullied into saying anything that isn't the truth, be it about the news or about a supposed-news organization like Fox 'News'. While appearing on Bill O' Reilly's show, he basically lambastes the network for not being a true news network and brands them a 'business' -- nothing more, nothing less. Koppel notes that ideological news is bad for America - from wherever the ideology stems. He notes that there is no question when watching FoxNews where the ideological bent comes from. Further, he chastises O' Reilly for pretending to be a real news anchor, especially when he goes so far as to remind O' Reilly "Once upon a time, you and I thought journalism was a calling..." instead of just a business. Then, when O'Reilly says the difference between FoxNews and MSNBC is that Fox does HARD NEWS, you can almost sense Koppel is going to break out in a loud laugh. He is kinder and more thoughtful in his response than that, but you know he must be thinking it. Feeling it. From his gut. Koppel doesn't have any problem with a business being a business, whether for entertainment or politics, but he refuses to fall in with the FoxNews opinion that they are either REAL news or anything remotely close to it. In his final commentary on the network, responding to Bill O'Reilly's suggestion that he thinks he is doing something noble, he gives Bill a kiss-off right to his face. SAY NO MORE!!! When Ted Koppel is willing to put his reputation on the line to give you, as a news anchor, a final kiss off, right on air, and in your face, you KNOW you have something to be ashamed of... and FoxNews has certainly earned every bit of shame thrown at them.
Network Ten will screen the highly-anticipated movie event Underground – The Julian Assange Story on Sunday October 7 at 8.30pm.
The telemovie directed by Robert Connolly (Balibo, The Slap) focuses on Assange's early life as a teenage computer hacker in Melbourne.
Fresh from screening at the Toronto International Film Festival where the entertainment industry bible Variety called it "one of the small screen events of the year", Underground stars Perth newcomer and WAAPA graduate Alex Williams as Assange.
Golden Globe winners Rachel Griffiths and Anthony LaPaglia star as his mother Christine Assange and Detective Ken Roberts respectively.
Immediately before Underground, award-winning Ten news reporter and presenter Hamish Macdonald presents a special on Julian Assange examining the man behind the WikiLeaks phenomenon and what the future holds for one of the world's most wanted men.
Macdonald travelled to London, Sweden and Washington and discovered dramatic new information from those at the centre of this extraordinary story
On the same night, Seven will launch the new two-part series Anh Does Vietnam, in which comedian, actor and best-selling author Anh Do returns to his homeland to discover just how different his life would have been had his family not escaped the war and moved to Australia when he was two years old.
"A few years ago I went back to Vietnam with my family and we recorded a bunch of home videos," Do said.
"We watched them back recently and they were hilarious, not just because I have an odd family, but because the people in Vietnam have an innate ability to be accidentally funny. So I thought I’d go back and explore the country with a Channel Seven film crew, and boy did we discover some magic."
Anh Does Vietnam will air at 7.30pm, followed by the free to air launch of Killing Time, in which David Wenham stars in the true story of the rise and fall of notorious Melbourne criminal defence lawyer Andrew Fraser.
At the top of his game represented the likes of business tycoon Alan Bond and AFL star Jimmy Krakouer. But when his cocaine addiction spiralled into a thousand dollar-a-day habit he crossed the line and was disbarred, discredited, broken financially, with his marriage destroyed.
Assange movie gets air date
Catholic Church tapped for taxes
Cash-strapped officials in Europe target one of the last untouched sources of wealth.
The Washington Post
ALCALA DE HENARES, Spain - Cash-strapped officials in Europe are looking for a way to ease their financial burden by upending centuries of tradition and seeking to tap one of the last untouched sources of wealth: the Catholic Church.
click image to enlarge
This cathedral in Santiago de Compostela is among the Catholic Church’s holdings in Spain. One of Spain’s largest landowners, the church could owe up to $3.9 million in taxes a year – but it’s also facing its own financial troubles.
2010 File Photo/The Associated Press
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The net worth of the Vatican and the Catholic Church’s dioceses is believed to be astronomical. The Vatican’s gold alone is thought to be worth several billion dollars.
2005 File Photo/The Associated Press
Thousands of public officials who have seen the financial crisis hit their budgets are chipping away at the various tax breaks and privileges the church has enjoyed for centuries.
But the church is facing its own money troubles. Offerings from parishioners have nosedived, and it has been accused of using shady bank accounts and hiding suspect transactions.
Now, along come officials like Ricardo Rubio.
Rubio is leading an effort to impose a tax on all church property in Alcala used for non-religious purposes. The financial impact on the Catholic Church could be devastating. As one of Spain's largest landowners -- with holdings that include schools, homes, parks, sports fields and restaurants -- the church could owe up to 3 billion euros ($3.9 million) in taxes each year.
"We want to make a statement that the costs of the crisis should be borne equally by every person and institution," said Rubio, a 36-year-old former accountant in his first term in office.
Catholic Church tapped for taxes
New gun design uses RFID to boost safety
the handle of a firearm to authenticate its owner, is the brainchild of gun enthusiast Patrick O’Shaughnessy. A news item he’d read, about a police officer who had his gun stolen from him and used against him, inspired the concept. He and his partner Robert McNamara, after finding that biometric technology had too many shortcomings, decided RFID technology was up to the task and decided to have a go at designing a prototype and filing for a patent. There was just one small problem: getting a gun.
“We could not get our hands on a gun in Ireland,” McNamara, in his thick brogue, explained to me.
Eventually, the pair legally cleared that hurdle and ended up creating a prototype with the help of researchers at Georgia Tech Ireland, which works with the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta to commercialize technologies developed in Ireland.
New gun design uses RFID to boost safety
News World news Pope says sorry for sins of church
Saving one of his most audacious initiatives for the twilight of his papacy, John Paul II yesterday attempted to purify the soul of the Roman Catholic church by making a sweeping apology for 2,000 years of violence, persecution and blunders.
From the altar of St Peter's Basilica in Rome he led Catholicism into unchartered territory by seeking forgiveness for sins committed against Jews, heretics, women, Gypsies and native peoples.
Fighting through trembles and slurrings caused by Parkinson's disease, the Pope electrified ranks of cardinals and bishops by pleading for a future that would not repeat the mistakes. "Never again," he said.
Centuries of hate and rivalry could not recur in the third millennium. "We forgive and we ask forgiveness. We are asking pardon for the divisions among Christians, for the use of violence that some have committed in the service of truth, and for attitudes of mistrust and hostility assumed towards followers of other religions."
News World news Pope says sorry for sins of church
RSA Animate – Choice
In this new RSAnimate, Professor Renata Salecl explores the paralysing anxiety and dissatisfaction surrounding limitless choice. Does the freedom to be the architects of our own lives actually hinder rather than help us? Does our preoccupation with choosing and consuming actually obstruct social change?
John Boehner: GOP Won't Agree To Raise Taxes On Wealthy, Even If Obama Wins Reelection
House Speaker John Boehner says Republicans won't agree to tax hikes for wealthy Americans, even if President Obama wins reelection. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON -- Elections often come with a mandate -- or at least some sort of consequences for the defeated party, which not only has its candidates rejected by the public, but its ideas as well. Nevertheless, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is vowing that even if President Obama is reelected, Republicans will not budge on their refusal to raise taxes on wealthy Americans.
At a press conference Friday morning, a reporter asked Boehner whether Republicans were "eventually going to have to raise taxes in some way" if the president wins in November.
"No," replied Boehner. "Raising taxes, according to Ernst and Young, would threaten our economy with a loss of 700,000 jobs. Now why would I ever be for something like that? I'm not."
FUTURE PRIMATE 