US President Barack Obama has slammed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's September 11 conspiracy theory comments at the United Nations as ''offensive'' and ''hateful''.

In his first comments on the Iranian leader's statement that the 2001 terrorist attacks on America may have been orchestrated to bolster the US economy and ''save the Zionist regime'', Mr Obama told BBC Persian that ''for him to make a statement like that was inexcusable''.

US and European diplomats walked out of the UN General Assembly hall on Friday when Mr Ahmadinejad delivered his remarks about the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

from Crikey .....

The Usher of the Black Rod is displeased

Andrew Crook writes:

from Crikey .....

Bolt in court: freedom of speech v the prohibition of race hate

Margaret Simons writes:

from Crikey .....

Two detainee deaths 10 years apart ... what have we learned?

Crikey intern Inga Ting writes:

Celebrations have taken place in Israel to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary organisation which paved the way for the establishment of the state of Israel and the Israeli Defence Forces. A headline in the Jewish Chronicle refers to "the generation that established Israel" above a photograph of some elderly veterans rather sadly wearing military uniforms.

In writing Diet for a Small Planet, I learned one simple truth: Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy. But that realization was only the beginning, for then I had to ask: What does a democracy look like that enables citizens to have a real voice in securing life's essentials? Does it exist anywhere? Is it possible or a pipe dream? With hunger on the rise here in the United States - one in 10 of us is now turning to food stamps - these questions take on new urgency.

News Ltd bias this year never approached the levels of 1975 when, for the only time in our history, the company's journalists went on strike to protest against editorial distortion.

Bill Hayden joked that if Gough Whitlam had walked across Lake Burley Griffin, The Australian's headline would have been ''Gough can't swim''.

Pope Benedict XVI expressed his ''deep sorrow'' yesterday for the ''immense suffering'' of children abused by Catholic priests, in a homily on the third day of his state visit to Britain.

''I think of the immense suffering caused by the abuse of children, especially within the church and by her ministers,'' he said during Mass at the Catholic Westminster Cathedral in London.

''Above all, I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes, along with my hope that the power of Christ's grace, his sacrifice of reconciliation, will bring deep healing and peace to their lives.

''I also acknowledge, with you, the shame and humiliation which all of us have suffered because of these sins.''

I referred to the opposition's manager of business in the House of Representatives, the South Australian Liberal Christopher Pyne, as "that yapping poodle". I confess the analogy wasn't original; Julia Gillard called him a mincing poodle in the Old Paradigm Parliament last year.

On reflection, I would like to withdraw the remark. It was a cheap and thoughtless shot that offended a number of Herald readers. Quite a few emailed me to protest that poodles did not deserve it.

So criminal within itself, it flinches from upholding the rule of international law. So corrupt, it happily outsources its foreign policy to terrorists in Tel Aviv. The idea that America acts as an honest broker for peace between its fellow cut-throat Israel and their victim, Palestine, on whose neck the Zionist jackboot is firmly planted, is a joke that is only funny in the hysterical sense.

The idea that any country, let alone America, would promote talks where one party is expected to make concessions to another which is bent on land-theft and whose government can only survive if it continues to defy international law, is madness. But Barack Obama is up for it.

America prides itself on religious freedom, the Constitution's First Amendment stating:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Back in 1995, Benjamin Netanyahu published a scary book called Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat the International Terrorist Network that says that radical Islam is trying to conquer the west and extend Muslim rule. I carried a copy out with me to Jordan. From page 121:

"The best estimates at this time place Iran between three and five years away from possessing the prerequisites required for the independent production of nuclear weapons. After this time, the Iranian Islamic republic will have the ability to construct atomic weapons without the importation of materials or technology from abroad."

The war criminal, Tony Blair, is to receive an award for his alleged global human rights work.

The ex-Prime Minister will be presented with Liberty Medal by former US President Bill Clinton even as his newly published memoirs reignited debate on his political leadership.

The medal is given annually by the National Constitution Centre to individuals or organisations whose actions aim to bring liberty to people worldwide.

Mr Blair is being honoured for his work with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which promotes religious tolerance, and for his initiative to improve governance in Africa.

from Crikey .....

The day Free TV Australia didn't like a bit of free speech

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Political staffer:

"Hey, Rob I'm just going to the parliamentary canteen. Did you want the pasta or the salad roll?"

Rob Oakeshott:

"Well, look. I mean, yikes. I'm not pretending this is easy. It's been line ball, a points decision, six to one half a dozen the other, it really could go either way, in fact it's going right down to the wire. I mean, I like pasta. I like it a lot. Over the years I have eaten a lot of pasta, it's, you know, it's a carbohydrate, and you can have it with a variety of sauces.