CHRIS PEPPER

April 11, 2009 11:30pm

Adelaide Now

Sunday Mail

IS this the filthiest fast-food joint in Australia? Countless discarded brown paper bags and burger wrappers lay strewn across the floor, piled up in trampled heaps around the tables and chairs.

Abandoned soft drinks, squashed chips and other rubbish cover the table tops as diners sit eating amidst the detritus.

Welcome to McDonald's on Hindley St. These pictures were taken in the dining area at 3am last Sunday by Adelaide law student Jeremy Brown while on a night out with friends.

After entering the premises for a snack, the 22-year-old Hawthorndene resident said he was so disgusted by what he saw that he decided to film it on his mobile phone.

http://www.mixx.com/videos/4695508/mcnasty_video_of_world_s_filthiest_mcdonald_s_franchise

"I went in there and we were all aghast how grotty it was, and I thought I'd capture it on film because people wouldn't believe how messy it was," he said.

The video has since been posted on the internet site YouTube, attracting a worldwide audience.

Mr Brown said McDonald's employees had told him that the filthy area was a regular occurrence.

But he was reluctant to blame staff, who he said appeared to be working "flat out".

"I think it was short-staffed, there were big queues to get food," he said.

"I spoke to someone at the counter, and she said it was often like that."

The appalling state of the restaurant, which is in the heart of Adelaide's entertainment strip, has shocked MPs and union officials.

Peter Malinauskas, secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, said it was the sort of dining and working environment "one might expect to see in a Third World city, not McDonald's on Hindley St".

"It's appalling that customers would leave their rubbish like this in the first place," he said.

Independent MP Bob Such, who has long campaigned for improved hygiene standards in restaurants and food outlets, said he expected better of McDonald's.

"It's not very nice is it? It's a safety hazard as well as a food hazard. People could easily trip over that stuff," he said. "One would have thought a big franchise like that would insist on high standards."

Tony Tropeano, of the Hindley St Late Night Traders Group, called for more council inspections.

"It's a complete disgrace, particularly when dealing with food," he said.

"The authorities should get down off their high horse and see this at street level."

Adelaide City Council, which is responsible for inspecting city restaurants, said although it had previously received complaints about the restaurant, it had found "no issues" in past inspections.

Council spokeswoman Natalie Di Fava refused to give details about those complaints.

McDonald's SA market manager Josie Mangini said the store's management had been "counselled" over the mess.

"The state of the dining room was completely unacceptable," she said.

"McDonald's prides itself on high standards of cleanliness.

"We have spoken to the crew and the managers, and they have been counselled to maintain the utmost standards. It was completely disappointing."

Ms Mangini said two cleaning procedures were not followed, involving a clean "travel path" through the restaurant and when crew clean all of the tables. "A lot of things weren't going right that night," she said.

When the Sunday Mail visited the restaurant in the early hours of Friday morning, staff members were clearing tables every 10 minutes.

One teenage diner, who asked not be named, said the restaurant appeared cleaner than normal.

"It's just the numbers of people who come in and out of here that make such a mess," she said.

The store manager, who would only give her name as Sandra, confirmed a complaint had been made last Saturday night but said she was unable to comment further.

According to the Food Act 2001, inadequately cleaned food premises can be fined up to $2500 on the spot.

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http://news.yahoo.com/photos/gallery/1778;_ylt=AnlxB2HOEpnT8C7_cBuDFshpaP0E

That collective groan being heard around the country can only mean one thing — it' s tax time! The painful tradition of modern income tax collection in the United States is 96 years old this month, though the federal government had dabbled in it on and off since the Civil War as a way of balancing the books when money was tight. From the early days when the tax wasn't even collected to the incredible 94 percent rate paid during one period, here are six things you probably didn't know about the system's history.

1. Working out the kinks

The first personal income taxes in the United States were levied in 1861 by an act of Congress, mostly to foot the bill for the newly erupted and very costly Civil War. There were so many questions and problems with the new system, however, that nothing was collected until the following year.

2. No money necessary, thanks

Income tax, along with many other taxes imposed during the Civil War, was repealed after 1865 because the government simply had no need for the extra revenue. The majority of federal income came from taxes on tobacco and alcohol, which were hot commodities at war's end.

3. Maybe they had it right ...

Another newly enacted income tax was actually declared unconstitutional in 1895. The law stated that any tax must be levied in proportion to each state's population; this flat tax wasn't, and was quickly shooed aside by the Supreme Court.

4. Look out Al Capone

When the modern incarnation of U.S. income tax was introduced in 1913, the word " lawful" was included in the text, referring to the kind of revenue that could be taxed. With the loose definitions of that term under question, the government deleted the word in a 1916 amendment. As a result, many bootleggers and criminals who had previously evaded the law were jailed on tax evasion.

5. Supporting the war effort

Think you give a lot to Uncle Sam today? Just be thankful you weren' t paying income tax in 1945, when the country' s top earners doled 94 percent of their salaries over to the government, mostly to recoup costs incurred from the war effort. Taxation rates for the highest income brackets hovered between 82 and 92 percent until 1963.

6. SOS, IRS!

In 1940, the instruction booklet that went along with the United States' standard 1040 income tax form was two pages long. For the 2008 tax year, it is 95 pages long. No wonder more Americans than ever are enlisting someone to help prepare their taxes, even to file their returns online.

• History's Most Overlooked Mysteries
• Cheating on Spouse or Taxes Morally Acceptable for Many
• History News, Images and Information

http://digg.com/comedy/The_100_Most_Iconic_Internet_Videos

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2009/04/08/bishop.id.cat.burglar.kxly

April 12, 2009

Thomas Frazier, father of 14 children, jailed for owing more than half-million in child support

Bryn Mickle 

The Flint Journal

Saturday April 11, 2009, 8:00 AM

FLINT, Michigan -- Fourteen children by 13 different women in Genesee County and more than $530,000 in unpaid child support.

Even in a county with $700 million in uncollected child support, Thomas Frazier may hold the unenviable title of biggest deadbeat dad.

After years of dodging support payments, Frazier was thrown in jail this week and given the choice of doing 90 days or coming up with about $28,000.

"This guy gives fathers a bad name," said Genesee County Friend of the Court Jack Battles.

Thomas Frazier

Before leaving the Flint area in 2002, Frazier amassed court cases for 14 children born since 1989 and has not paid any money on any of his Genesee County child support cases in at least the past six years, according to court records.

Frazier, 42, portrays himself as the victim.

The victim of a system that he says saddled him with debt for children he claims aren't all his and the victim of a poor upbringing that he said caused him to seek affection from older women.

"I tried to find someone who would love me for me," said Frazier, who believes he may have fathered his first child at age 15.

Authorities say Frazier is a serial womanizer who bounces from state to state and hasn't paid child support in years.

Frazier owes Talisha Tyler about $40,000 for a 14-year-old daughter. Tyler said he has never even bought so much as a diaper.

"Thomas has never been involved in her life -- period," said Tyler.

A Genesee County judge on Thursday ordered Frazier to spend 90 days in jail unless he comes up with $4,100 for Tyler.

Even if he comes up with that money, the judge ordered him to spend 90 days in jail on another case. On top of that, the judge gave him 45 days jail on six other cases.

In all, Frazier is looking at three months in jail unless he comes up with at least $27,900.

Tyler would just as soon see him go to prison for much longer.

"He's a fast talker," she said. "He's not going to pay it."

Frazier doesn't dispute that he owes a sizable amount, but said it was unrealistic for the county to expect him to pay so much support.

"At one point, I owed like $3,000 (a month)," he said. "Nobody makes that much."

He said he believes in his heart that only three of the children -- two daughters and a son -- are actually his.

The rest, he says, were born of women he may have slept with but who lied and claimed he was the father, giving the court false addresses for Frazier so that he could never show up to contest paternity.

Local officials, however, say Frazier has a story for everything.

In October, Friend of the Court officials said Frazier gave them a false Social Security number and tried to convince investigators he was someone else.

He remained under the radar until late last month when he got pulled over in Iowa for a broken taillight on his Mercedes Benz.

In his pocket, police found $5,000 in cash and plane tickets to Florida.

Frazier said he is unemployed and local officials said they do not know what he does for a living.

Frazier said he was actually on his way back to Flint and planned to use the $5,000 as a good faith payment on his child support.

The cop tossed him in jail on child support warrants and then had him delivered Wednesday to the Genesee County Jail.

Frazier says he "messed up" and wants to take care of his mistakes, but hopes the Friend of the Court will knock down his bill to a more manageable $200,000 and set him free.

"There's not a lot I can do in jail," Frazier said.

Frazier's plan for freedom won't get a lot of support from the Friend of the Court.

"We will seek prison," said Battles, who says he's heard a litany of excuses from Frazier.

Battles said he's willing to work with Frazier but said it's going to take a lot more than $5,000.

"It will take six digits," said Battles.

His current jail term aside, Frazier is also looking at further legal woes for his probation violation cases.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton is not in a forgiving mood, noting that Frazier was rolling around in Mercedes Benz with thousands of dollars and plane tickets at the same time he wasn't paying his child support.

"Shame on him for abandoning his children while he lives 'The Life of Riley,'" said Leyton.

Frazier, who has already spent five years on probation for attempted non support of a child, does have one piece of advice for his children.

"Use a condom," he said. "You don't want to end up like your dad."

Posted on Sat, Apr. 11, 2009

'Girls Gone Wild' interrupts Good Friday mass

Philadelphia Daily News

(CNN) -- Jeanne Thomas was sitting at her desk at work when she decided to check the security camera that she installed in her home. The Thomas home had been burglarized before, so she installed a monitoring device where she can watch a live video feed of the camera in her home.

Steven Morales, 19, was arrested in the invasion of a Boynton Beach, Florida, home.

Curtis Williams, 20, was also charged.

When Thomas decided to pull up the feed of her house Wednesday morning, she couldn't believe what she saw. There was someone inside her home, someone she didn't know. Thomas picked up the phone and called 911.

"I'm watching my home on live monitor, and there is a black man in my house, and he is robbing it," she told the dispatcher. The woman on the other end of the call asked Thomas where she was, and Thomas replied, "I'm in Fort Lauderdale, at my work."

To watch the  video of burglars in her home and listen to the 911 call.  Click the link below

http://www.theindychannel.com/technology/19144720/detail.html 

Thomas' home is in Boynton Beach, Florida, more than 20 miles away, yet she was watching over the Internet as two men walked through her home, picking up items.

Police later arrested Curtis Williams, 20, and Steven Morales, 19.

According to the Boynton Beach Police, Williams and Morales entered the house through a pet door. As the 911 dispatcher was calling police to the scene, Thomas stayed on the line, giving a play-by-play of what she was seeing.

"He's in my house. I am seeing him walk around my house. He's in my bedroom right now," she said. The bedroom cannot be seen in the video, but the door from the living room into the bedroom is visible.

Thomas watched as the men wandered through her home, taking valuables such as her TV and Wii gaming console.

"This is unbelievable," she told the 911 dispatcher. "The cat is freaking out. The dogs are hiding."

One of the burglars took a bag of shredded cheese from the refrigerator and could be seen on the video stuffing it in his mouth. None of them noticed the small camera that resembles an air freshener.

"They walked right up to it and didn't know what it was," Thomas said later.

A few minutes after Thomas called 911, the video shows police officers entering the home.

According to the police report, "Williams and Morales had placed the victim's 37 inch flat screen TV, a safe, gaming machine with several misc. games (total value approx. $3000) on the victim's bed."

Williams and Morales told police that two other people, not seen on video, were also involved in the incident.

All four suspects were arrested and charged with burglary of a dwelling and attempted grand theft.

Thomas' husband thought she was nuts for spending $250 on the webcam system, telling her she would never catch anyone. But to her, it now seems like a smart investment.

Thomas hopes it will be a lesson for burglars.

"You never know who is watching you," she said.

Dry Cleaners Offer Free Services For Unemployed

Huffington Post

April 10, 2009

5:55 PM

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This story may be an oldie, relatively speaking, but it's still a goodie -- and a viral one at that! Dry cleaners around the country are offering their services at no cost to unemployed customers who need their suit cleaned for an interview. It all began at Upper East Side dry cleaner First Professional Cleaners. A handwritten sign in their window reads, "If you are unemployed and need an outfit clean for an interview, we will clean it for free." According to the Daily News, it's owner Carlos Vasquez's way of giving a helping hand. "It's just something I do to give back to the community," explains Vasquez. "It's to thank them for the support that I get around here, for letting my business keep going by bringing me their clothes." And he's not alone.

High Point-based "A Cleaner World" cleaners made a similar announcement less than two weeks ago. ABC News' local affiliate in Durham reports that for unemployed job seekers, A Cleaner World "will clean a suit or a blazer and slacks, plus two shirts per week. Women can get a suit and two shirts or blouses or two regular dresses per week."

And Elite Cleaners in Minneapolis has also generously followed suit. Owner Don Chapman has donated his services to 2000 unemployed -- an offer he estimates will cost him $32,000.