Australian Comedy Group Prods APEC Security 244
ajdlinux writes "Members of the Australian comedy group The Chaser were arrested today after attempting to breach security at the APEC Leaders Conference in Sydney. Chas Licciardello and Julian Morrow were arrested, along with nine crew members (all are now free on bail), just a short distance away from the InterContinental Hotel where President Bush is staying. They had already cleared at least two police checkpoints, according to CNN, disguised as a Canadian motorcade. 'No particular reason we chose Canada,' said Taylor. 'We just thought they'd be a country who the cops wouldn't scrutinize too closely, and who feasibly would only have three cars in their motorcade — as opposed to the 20 or so gas guzzlers that Bush has brought with him.'" CNN has a photo of Licciardello, dressed as Osama bin Laden, being arrested.
Previous pranks (Score:4, Informative)
Tomorrow people living in Sydney will be getting a public holiday and the city will be complete lock down mode.
Re:Previous pranks (Score:5, Funny)
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Their finest moment has to be wheeling a trojan horse full of greek soldiers into the turkish embassy.. (can we park this here?)
Sure. Here [google.com] it is. The Australian Army actually let them into the courtyard of their base. At least then someone yelled check out the horse. But amazingly the Opera House is part of the APEC lock down yet during the Torjan Horse prank they went right past security with the horse.
Wrong Synopsis. (Score:4, Informative)
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Ah... University education. Those were the days...
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The Canadian Equivalent is 'This Hour Has 22 Minutes'. Check out the overlap between:
The Chasers - Selling Tourism:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vpHGLXZ-j-Q [youtube.com]
22 Minutes - Talking to Americans:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=seYUbVa7L7w [youtube.com]
Must have been colonies for too long.
Re:Previous pranks (Score:5, Interesting)
"How Australian Authorities Respond to Potential Terrorists
Watch the video of how the Australian authorities react when someone -- dressed either as an American or Arab tourist -- films the Sydney Harbor Bridge and a nuclear reactor.
The synopsis: The Arab is intercepted within three minutes both times, while the U.S. tourist is given instructions on how to get inside the nuclear facility.
Moral for terrorists: dress like an American.
By the way, Lucas Heights is a research reactor. It produces medical isotopes and performs research, and doesn't produce power."
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/04/how
The video can be found here
http://youtube.com/watch?v=McB9tsabPn0 [youtube.com]
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Tomorrow people living in Sydney will...
There's Tomorrow People in Sydney? Does Torchwood know about this?
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I haven't. Does this presuppose the use of television or some such nonsense?
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Re:Previous pranks (Score:4, Informative)
On the one hand I can see that the police and the millions of rent-a-cop types have to take everything ultra seriously just incase one of the leaders (though according to most of the news George "Nucular" Bush and some Chinese guy nobody knows the name of are the only ones in town) does end up karking it in Sydney... it would look bad. On the other hand it's all a big farce.
The police bought a truck mounted water cannon [smh.com.au] (but NSW rents a water crane [smh.com.au] to battle bushfires every summer, priorities eh) for this event and cleared jails [news.com.au] to make room for the protesters the police plan to arrest. I guess if they can boast they managed to jail a guy that looks like Osama Bin Laden they'll get the merit badge they were after.
Re:Previous pranks (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Previous pranks (Score:4, Informative)
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Those of us who are sufficiently open-minded to watch a comedy show before deciding whether it is any good or not will, I'm sure, be in for a treat with the third series.
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Can you not see the irony in that statement. Personally I have been a Chasers fan from the first show and I also loved Friends and Cheers back when they were fresh. However I do agree that the ABC and SBS are under-rated by many Aussies.
No particular reason (Score:5, Funny)
"Security was working" (Score:5, Funny)
Re:"Security was working" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"Security was working" (Score:5, Funny)
Yep, that's Osama, alright! (Score:4, Funny)
Major embarassment (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course the police are spinning this and saying that due to the arrests its 'proof' that security works and the $170 million spent on security was well worth it, despite the fact that Candian flags and fake APEC stickers on the hood are all that's required to get within ten metres of the President's hotel.
Re:Major embarassment (Score:5, Insightful)
It frightens me that there's a very real chance that had castmember Chas Licciardello not been dressed up as Osama Bin Laden, they could have made it all the way inside.
It frightens you? Why?
Perhaps our "leaders" should not have so much security. Might make them concentrate a little more on not having policies which ruin so many lives and drive people to want to murder them, eh?
Personally I think it's a huge shame that I can't walk up to the Prime Minister and argue with him about his policies.
Rich.
Re:Major embarassment (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Major embarassment (Score:5, Insightful)
There is always going to be some extreme nutters who hate the current leaders and their policies.
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Perhaps if the citizens want you dead, you are doing something wrong? As you and other posters point out - you can't stop the crazies, but you can stop the regular Joes by simply doing your job well enough not to anger anyone that much.
" I agree that it's a shame, but you have at least one Representative. Talk to them. They are your voice to the PM."
Ahhh, to be young and naive again.
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And don't get me started on Garfield.
Re:Major embarassment (Score:4, Funny)
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What are the reasons the assassination is being plotted? Voices in your head?
I live in a world where the CIA tried to kill Castro several times, simply because he took back his country from gangsters. Castro was doing what he thought right. So did the CIA.
Here in my country of Canada, we haven't had a Prime Minister assasinated, or even attempted. None have been worthy enough, before or since Trudeau. My Prov
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Seriously though, choice political attack weapon for Canada is pie...the only risk Howard would have been in was were it to have had been beef.
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And if the world is already in chaos, political(lame duck president in US, AUS PM might loose his own seat in a few months)/economic instability(non-prime lending, reserve banks around the world trying to hold it together) and/or wars (iraq, afganistan and others that dont get convenient media coverage) ?
Re:Major embarassment (Score:4, Insightful)
This is true for absolute leaders (such as in the USA). For Westminister system democracies (UK, Australia, Canada etc) the death of a leader does not lead to instability. The party will usually vote for a replacment leader. It is the party that leads the country (with a strong leader obviously) rather than an individual.
The reason I'm saying this is because in such countries, the leader, although protected, is not living in total isolation behind barricades and barriers. I've seen our leaders (in Australia) on many occasions, and I usually cross to the other side of the street so I don't bump into them.
I remember one occasion in Perth when the defence minister (back then) walked in with his family to a food court to have lunch. No guards, no security (at least none we could see).
That's the kind of country I want to live in.
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I think there's an issue of practicality there, though. If we could walk up to our leaders (without having to pretend to be Canadians in a motorcade) then there'd be too many people crammed around them all trying to argue about dozens of different things!
If only politicians could do what the people want, rather than what the people need.
(I'll leave it up to the reader as to whether the previ
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Think of the children you monster. If you're not cowering under the bed then
Re:Major embarassment (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps our "leaders" should not have so much security. Might make them concentrate a little more on not having policies which ruin so many lives and drive people to want to murder them, eh?
John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan because Hinckley was obsessed on Jodie Foster. Public figures, political or not, are lightning rods for every type of kook under the sun.
I'm sorry we don't live in the rosy, bunny filled universe you seem to desire, but that's the way things are.
What's the frequency, Kenneth?
Re:Major embarassment (Score:5, Informative)
And truthfully from a security stand point this makes sense.
You don't want to stop a motorcade at the first checkpoint otherwise an enemy (I know it's Australia, just saying) could just set up watching the check point and wait for his target to be stopped there. What they should be doing is wave an 'obvious' motorcade through the first level of security and then check them out deeper in where it's safe.
Further the article doesn't make it clear what these check points were. Perhaps the first one was just a couple of guys on foot charged with turning away anyone that doesn't have clear business in the area, and not what everyone pictures when they think of a check point as barbed wire, sandbags, gates, guys with machine guns, ect.
Re:Major embarassment (Score:5, Informative)
And truthfully from a security stand point this makes sense.
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And this is why I just said I've given up trust in most news services.
How can they not see the difference between.
The convoy was pulled over - IE the cops either knew something was up or were about to find out when they asked for ID.
and
eventually stopped themselves - IE the cops knew jack sh-t and if the cars had been loaded with bombs or a bunch of armed terrorists they could have gone anywhere they wanted.
So it does indeed seem like the cops f-ed up and
Re:Major embarassment (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's say you stop everyone at the checkpoint and the enemy knows this. All he has to do is find a spot overlooking the checkpoint (not hard in a dense urban area), bring a machine gun, then just wait till the target shows up. So Bush's 10 car motorcade comes rolling up and are all force to stop to be cleared. Now all the guy has to do is open fire at the cars which are basically trapped between the checkpoint gate and the car behind them and even if he can't tell which one Bush is in he's bound to hit something before anyone can react in the chaos.
The only way to protect against this is to either build massive secure checkpoints which would be hard in the middle of an active city. Or have multilayered security where the outer checkpoints make sure guys carrying machine guns don't get through and the inner security makes sure everything is safe and you don't have guys dressed like bin Laden wondering around.
But really though, the news article simply doesn't give you enough information to properly critique Sydney security. For example, why was the motorcade pulled over? Did they simply get lucky or was it proper procedure to check out motorcades once they've cleared the other checkpoints? How close were they to hotel? A 'block adjacent to the InterContinental Hotel' was rather vague. Were they close enough that if it had been a car bomb that people in the hotel would have been at risk? Was there still more security between where they were pulled over and where the diplomats were staying? IE if they had punched the gas would anyone important been at risk?
The news media is just doing what the news media does, trying to be sensational. I take everything they say with a grain of salt.
In the end though was security not as strong as it could be? Probably. But is it as bad as the news is making it sound? Probably not.
Re:Major embarassment (Score:5, Informative)
The news media is just doing what the news media does, trying to be sensational. I take everything they say with a grain of salt.
In the end though was security not as strong as it could be? Probably. But is it as bad as the news is making it sound? Probably not.
I'm sorry? Would it have been "well spent" if those cars were laden full of explosives and detonated outside the hotel? I doubt it.
That said, I love the chaser boys; they know a good prank when they see one, and also know when they're crossing the line... not that it ever stops them.
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Disclaimer: I am also a long time fan of Lateline and Chaser's, it's kinda ironic that the two government funded channels in Oz are by far the most informative and entertaining.
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The security types are simply pissed because a bunch a comics made them look like the keystone cops to the rest of the world.
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How many new laws and restrictions on liberty would it take to reassure you?
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Tell me: Why can the CBD of the biggest Australian metropolis suffer a complete lock-down in the name of a pyjama-party for a few world leaders, while Melbourne can't even host a car-free day [theage.com.au] in part of its CBD? It strikes me that something is wrong with our priorities.
Re:Major embarassment (Score:4, Insightful)
No one lives in the CBD. Unless you sleep in your office this shouldn't effect you because it is going to be a public holiday and you should have no reason to be in the CBD.
There's quite a few apartment buildings in, or very near, the lockdown zone. The Toaster, for example, is right next to the Opera House. Not to mention things like the ferry terminal being smack bang in the middle of it all, the pubs, hotels, general tourist attractions, etc. The Sydney CBD isn't like, say, central London - it's not a deserted wasteland on a non-work day.
Whoever thought Sydney was an appropriate place to hold something like APEC should be fired for incompetence. An island resort or relatively isolated hotel(s), would have been a far saner place to have all the meetings. Much less disruption to local residents, businesses and tourists, much easier and cheaper to secure.
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Yes, we went to the trouble of building a new city in the middle of nowhere, I believe the idea of a "national capital" was to prevent politicians and this sort of shit away from coming into contact with the general public.
However on this occasion the politicians escaped from Canberra and "locked down" one of our two main population centers. 8:00pm on a Sat night in Canberra is so devoid of li
Downer on the comedy group's motives (Score:4, Interesting)
This is Australia (Score:3, Insightful)
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His best moment, IMHO, was a radio interview where the headphones had a problem. "It's broken," BANG, "It's FUCKING BROKEN."
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Have they gone too far this time? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Have they gone too far this time? (Score:4, Insightful)
No, they haven't gone too far. By pointing out that the US has a huge and unnecessary motorcade in a foreign country, it opens my eyes to yet another fleecing of America by the douchebags in office. By pointing out that people may be arrested for nothing more than a prank mostly because it embarrassed the security forces supposedly increased for the visit of someone "so important", it shows me that the countries we live in suck compared to 10 years ago.
Someone needs to continually point out the failures and by doing it with comedic value, a larger majority of people will pay attention.
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Dont worry, the snipers are wearing fluro yellow high visability vests, so you'll be able to see them.
Photos here. [nissansilvia.com]
hilair (Score:4, Insightful)
Over here in the UK, the main Aussie telly we're blessed with are neighbours and home & away - I would swap war on everything for neighbours any day!!
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And for the record, I'd swap the show as well. For those who don't know, most Aussie TV, especially Neighbours, is about the quality of the 20th century BBC: low production value and weak acting. If you can get beyond that, the plots are pretty mundane as well. I just read that they apparently switched to HD for the 2007 season, but before that, viewership was severely declining. It's definitely a solid Meh, whose main purpose is to provide A
If they had tried to do that in the U.S. (Score:4, Funny)
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Transcript of the arresting moment (Score:5, Funny)
Australian Mimicking A Canadian: We're the Canadian delegation. Where's the hockey rink?
Guard: We don't have a hockey rink here, Sir. [Addressing AMAC bin Laden.] Are you from the Middle East, Sir?
AMAC-BL: Yes, from Montreal.
Guard: Who is Margaret Atwood?
AMAC-BL: [pause] She's the wife of Wayne Gretzky.
Guard: Step out of the car, Sir.
APEC Protest Coverage (Score:3, Insightful)
Utterly Un-Australian (Score:3, Insightful)
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They were released on bail after being charged under new security laws, the charge carries a maximum penalty of 6 months jail time if convicted.
Anyone who watches their show on a regular basis knows these guys have intellegence, wit, and most importantly a huge set of balls.
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Not unless flying the Canadian flag is against the law. It wasn't sophisticated enough to break any Canadian laws. There was a Canadian flag on the car and a sticker with an APEC logo which read [theage.com.au]:
"This vehicle belongs to a member of The Chaser's War on Everything. This dude likes trees and poetry and certain types of carnivorous plants excite him."
Contrary to CNN's official misinformation (or should that be CNNNN [cnnnn.com]?) the "motorcade" was not stopped police. They only got picked up when the fake motorcade
unparalleled hypocracy (Score:2, Interesting)
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eep (Score:3, Funny)
On the topic of the Chaser (Score:5, Informative)
For some interesting clips see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs3SfNANtig [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnP0snh_1cU [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3grHjibNdA [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BOMOVV2pf0 [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc5xTZGUrRQ [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GViD0Zwc3Bg [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-6F8GN8eXI [youtube.com]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwJ9s1RdGhc& [youtube.com]
Many more are freely available on youtube and other sites. The ABC doesn't mind you distributing them either.
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http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/war/vodcast/ [abc.net.au]
There you go. Download all the episodes from the shows website. It works in Australia but I'm not sure how good you foregners will go though.
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Darwin Awards (Score:2)
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Cue prison rape jokes in 5...4...3...
Nice to see... (Score:4, Funny)
in Soviet Russia... (Score:2)
In Soviet Russia, Sydney locks down APEC.
Re:tagged Slashkos - kdawsonfud (Score:4, Funny)
Sure. The technology hooks are self evident. You can, ummm, find clips of the guys on youtube. And, err, well, we're pretty sure one of them had a cell phone. And the cameras, don't get me started about the cameras!
Re:tagged Slashkos - kdawsonfud (Score:5, Insightful)
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And staying here to complain about it makes your life complete?