''One of the things that so disappoints me about the election result is that I am the standard bearer for values and ideals which matter and which are important and ... as the leader of the Coalition, millions and millions of people invest their hopes in me and it's very important that I don't let them down.

''When I am unfairly attacked, I've got to respond and I've got to respond in a tough way.''

Tony Abbott - Australian soldiers in Afghanistan thrown to wolves

from Crikey .....

Meet Bob Katter, aka B Joyce ... and Andrew Robb, aka J Hockey

Glenn Dyer writes:

from getup .....

It's hard to believe this is happening in Australia. On Tuesday a young couple from Cairns will go on criminal trial for attempting to have an abortion.

Teagan was just 19 years old when she was charged under archaic 111 year old laws that classify abortion as a criminal 'offence against morality'. If found guilty, she faces up to 7 years imprisonment.

How can this happen in Australia? Because in Queensland, and in other states, abortion is still illegal in the criminal code. And despite the fact that 90% of Australians believe early-term abortions should be legal, an extreme minority has our politicians scared into inaction.

In a recent Rolling Stone magazine interview, you spoke of this administrations commitment to civil rights while simultaneously insulting the intelligence of those who are concerned with civil liberties. It is this administrations actual record on civil liberties, a record that is in fact worse than the preceding one, that is both clearly inexcusable and dangerously irresponsible.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday summoned the Australian High Commissioner over the racist email scandal involving top Victorian police officers joking about an Indian train passenger's electrocution.

In a shocking incident, top Australian police officers were caught in a racist e-mail scandal joking about the electrocution of an Indian train passenger and suggesting that it could be "a way to fix the Indian student problem" in Melbourne.

China is now the largest importer of Middle Eastern oil and the largest exporter to the region, replacing the United States. Trade relations are growing fast, doubling in the past five years.

The implications for world order are significant, as is the quiet rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes much of Asia but has banned the U.S.-potentially "a new energy cartel involving both producers and consumers," observes economist Stephen King, author of Losing Control: The Emerging Threats to Western Prosperity.

Westpac has ruled out raising interest rates before the Reserve Bank meeting next month, putting pressure on rivals to also commit to a freeze on mortgage pricing.

A surprise decision by the central bank to keep cash rates on hold has proved a setback for the big four, which had been looking to push through additional rate rises on mortgages to recoup higher funding costs.

The Australian dollar plunged nearly 1¢ to US95.74¢ after the Reserve opted to keep rates unchanged, the biggest fall in six weeks as investors lowered their expectations of future interest rate rises.

I have been having a running dialog with one Dr. Elias Akleh. My last post in response to one of his can be read by clicking on the following... ZIONISM vs JUDAISM ... AND THE DEMONIZATION OF THE JEWS

I did some searching on the Net and found three excellent videos that deal with the question of zionism and Judaism.... THERE DEFINITELY IS A DIFFERENCE!

I invite Dr. Akleh, as well as all of my readers to view these videos and come to your own conclusions.

The Liberal Party has said - predictably - that Australia should send more troops to Afghanistan. The party should learn more from past mistakes.

The Australian commitment is already much greater for our size than that of most NATO countries. As each month passes, Afghanistan reminds me more and more of past failures in which we have supported the US militarily.

The first was Vietnam. It was not an obligation under ANZUS. It was specifically stated that ANZUS did not apply. The bare bones of the ANZUS commitment is limited geographically and is also limited to a commitment to consult. It is not a commitment to defend. It is a markedly different treaty to NATO.

from Crikey .....

Barns: the legality of sending Afghanis home

Greg Barns writes:

Sometimes it's the little things in the big stories that catch your eye.

It's official - we hate them: more than ever.

The primary vote splintered on August 21 to reveal two politicians deeply disliked by the country. In terms of the proportion of the Australian electorate each major party leader convinced to vote for them, we're at historic lows.

As former ACT pollie, Michael Moore, calculates, Tony Abbott, with a primary vote of 38.4%, ranks 39 out of 50, measuring the two-leader vote from the last 25 federal polls. The proposition that Tony Abbott has run 'the best campaign as opposition leader never to win government' is so ludicrous it is outrageous.

Let's not beat about the bush: putting a price on carbon means asking people to pay more for electricity and other carbon-intensive activities. So how much are we willing to pay?

Tony Abbott thinks the answer is nothing. The opposition imagines it has discovered the political equivalent of Mortein: just one spray about ''a great big new tax on everything'' will knock any policy proposal dead.

I suspect most Australians want to have their climate cake and eat it, too; we want action to curb climate change, but we don't want to pay for it.

from Crikey .....

Climate committee is better without the Coalition

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

If Israel's stranglehold over U.S. foreign policy is to be broken, Americans will need to be informed about the harm that Washington's unconditional support for the Jewish state is doing to American interests, say leading analysts of US-Israeli relations.