Subject: CRIKEY'S LIES
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 17:32:12 -0700
From: Raymond Hoser <adder@smuggled.com>
Organization: AAC
To: "What Stephen Mayne and Con chose not to tell you - exposing their
lies..." <adder@smuggled.com>
Dear Con and Steven Mayne (Photo to right),
If you don't publish this
next week (unedited and without your idiot comments at the end)
on "Crikey Dot Com dot au" we'll just have to publish it ourselves.
Take your pick!
CRIKEY'S PORKIES. 
Before we start, let's make a couple of simple points.
Crikey is not a bad web site. In fact some of it makes an entertaining
read.
Some of it is even informative!
Especially when they follow our lead on issues like "cash for comment"
– remember it was Raymond Hoser who stuck his neck on the 3AW lawyer's
chopping block for putting in Steve Price and the others for their alleged
contra-for-comments to the ABA last year.
Now for the rest.
Some of what they claim is complete crap!
Take for example their banner ad claiming that they overthrew the Kennett
government.
Keep fantasizing Steve and Con.
Pigs may fly.
Can you identify a single vote you swung?
Probably not!
Well here's a few stats for you.
On 2 July 1999, the "Victoria Police Corruption"
books were put on sale.
On August 2, 1999 – thousands of books were shipped through the shops.
Most shops re-ordered within days.
We sold about 3,000 before the September State election, including about
600-1,000 in Geelong alone.
The book as you know has a load about Kennett and his government's corruption.
Like about a hundred pages at least. Jeff's ugly head is even on the cover!
As you also know, Geelong went Labor by just sixteen votes.
Assuming that the book swung just one in four votes away from the Libs,
(and that's a conservative estimate) that's about 150 votes in Geelong
for starters.
Now we're not fruit's like Crikey who will claim to have single-handedly
taken out the Kennett government, but unlike Crikey, Raymond Hoser's book
can be identified as the final push that toppled the government –
If no book "Victoria Police Corruption"
– you'd still have Jeff in Spring Street.
That's the way it was (and is) – take it or leave it. Other publications
of which we have no control of, reported the fact long ago…
But then again Crikey keeps their own myth going…
Then there's that other porkie pie. The Crikey list.
Yes Con did send it out to all and sundry. OK so it was a human mistake
and nobody begrudges that.
After all the ATO did the same sort of thing with our ABN's.
But how many addresses was it?
Just 277 by our count. It went from A to Z so we know it was the whole
list and not just part.
So much for the 5,000 they keep claiming.
Seems a bit like that other claim about overthrowing Chairman Jeff.
Maybe truth is a bit less exciting than fiction?
As for the original e-mail we sent about the books being unlawfully banned
last month– well we have no remorse. Why should we?
Censorship is a matter of deep public interest and bearing in mind the
story was D-noticed by the Age and Herald-Sun we thought it should get
out.
Furthermore Crikey refused to publish it – even in spite of an earlier
call to us to write the story for them. So we thought we'd put democracy
into action and let people know what was happening.
Oh and based on the response we got, most of the recipients of the e-mail
agreed.
The result so far:-
Over 50 people e-mailed us back in support of us trying to get the illegal
ban on the books lifted.
3 people (including Con at Crikey) complained.
There's always a whinger in every group.
The story has since been taken up in the Sydney papers – they too summed
up what it stood for – the battle for free speech and the public right
to know. Other news media have also publicized the illegal ban as a matter
of deep public interest.
The 5000 oh sorry 277 crikey subscribers are "safe" with us.
We won't be spamming the list every day. Our own existing mailing list
is several orders of magnitude greater, and using e-mail gathering programs,
such as "Desktop server 2000" (or http://www.marketing-2000.net)
we could collect a mailing list of about a million within a day or two
if we wanted!
However if Stephen and Con choose to vilify us by calling us nutters and
tell other lies at the same time, and then use their own "forum"
to deny us access or right of reply, we will reserve all rights to defend
our good names and correct what is factually incorrect.
The ball is in Crikey's court.
Yours sincerely for truth and freedom of speech.
Raymond Hoser and the crew at Smuggled.com
(BTW for the very small number who don't approve of our seeking for truth
and justice, may we humbly suggest that you use the DELETE key on the right
hand side of your keyboard - try it – it works).
Crikey's Porkies - 2
Crikey's Porkies - 3