from Crikey .....

Steve Fielding is just a media torte. Sorry, tart.

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

from Crikey .....

Four to one: our lobbyist to MP ratio

Terrorism as defined by the U.S. and other organizations is: activities that involve violent... or life-threatening acts... that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State and... appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping...."

Americans have lost their ability for introspection, thereby revealing their astounding hypocrisy to the world.

US War Secretary Robert Gates has condemned the Associated Press and a reporter, Julie Jacobson, embedded with US troops in Afghanistan, for taking and releasing a photo of a US Marine who was wounded in action and died from his injury.

In recent days the state Labor Government has been likened to the last years of the Roman empire, what with fornication, plotting of coups and attempted overthrow of emperors.

But on the coffee table of the Premier, Nathan Rees, this week sat a book not about an empire in decline but about one's construction: Niall Ferguson's Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World.

Today marks Rees's first anniversary in the job. People doubted he would make it this far, so determined were some within the parliamentary Labor party to have him bumped off.

It must also eventually come to an end, and this could become a problem for the newly-elected Democratic Party government in Tokyo. The negatives for Japan in this institutionalized subordination to the United States have become heavy to bear, not only politically but in certain ways psychologically, and even spiritually. Japan, after all, from its brilliant successes early in the Meiji era, in its 1904-1905 war with Russia, to its defeat by American nuclear bombs in 1945, was probably the most dynamic, ambitious and nationalistic country on earth.

It sounds like the plot for the latest summer horror movie. Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been allowed a third term as president, had run and had won or stolen it, and that we were all now living (and dying) through it. With the Democrats in control of Congress but Bush still in the Oval Office, the media would certainly be talking endlessly about a mandate for bipartisanship and the importance of taking into account the concerns of Republicans. Can't you just picture it?

Two weeks ago, a Libyan intelligence agent, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was serving a life term in Scotland for the destruction of an American airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, was released on compassionate grounds by Scotland's justice minister. Megrahi was dying of cancer. "Devolved" Scotland enjoys considerable autonomy from London in legal matters.

A huge international furor erupted that was rich in hypocrisy and double standards.

What has been Rees's solution to the state's problems in almost 12 months as Premier?

Every week he comes up with another ridiculous plan, such as closing down the Harbour Bridge for a day, covering it with astro turf and inviting Sydneysiders to have breakfast on it. Apart from the inconvenience to motorists, it's the least attractive picnic venue in town. For one thing the railings are so high no one sitting on a picnic blanket will be able to see any of the view, just railway tracks and anti-suicide wire.

Doubts have emerged over whether the giant $50 billion Gorgon gas project can safely bury its greenhouse gas emissions deep beneath the Barrow Island nature reserve off Western Australia, despite the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, backing the plan.

Technical experts working with Gorgon's developers, Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil, found it was possible that carbon dioxide could leak from faults in the geological formation under the island which is supposed to act as the burial site.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he is deeply disturbed and troubled by the alleged domestic violence attack on Tasmanian MP Jodie Campbell.

Mr Rudd spoke with 36-year-old Ms Campbell last night to convey his wholehearted support and that of the parliamentary Labor Party.

"Acts of violence against women, in my view, are cowardly acts by men and have no place in modern Australia," said Mr Rudd.

"The only attitude we can have is zero tolerance and, as a nation, we need to embrace that."

"Sure, I, I always seemed to have faith in the government and honestly, I didn't really care (laugh).  Umm, I had other things going on - ya know, getting married, having children - it just, it wasn't a priority in my life, and, ya know I really didn't start even watching the news at all I think until maybe 1991.

Suddenly they were all over the place, arriving not as singles but in battalions. Many, like Maryland's 5th District Rep. Steny Hoyer had been to Israel nearly a dozen times; career stalwarts once more showing fealty to Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine while lamely telling their constituents that they were on a legitimate 'fact finding mission.' For many, their real purpose was to signal their President that there must be no change in the US policy of coddling Israel's increasingly Apartheid regime.