You see, today the American government tells us that it can spy on us whenever and however it likes.

It can read our e-mail and postal mail, track our financial records, pry into our medical histories, force libraries to turn over lists of the books we read, force internet service providers to turn over records of our surfing habits, and tap our phones and record our calls.  

from Crikey  

"Me Too" gibes still not hurting Rudd 

Minister for Vocational and Further Education Andrew Robb knows a thing or two about losing unlosable elections. He was at the helm of the John Hewson Liberal Party campaign when Paul Keating came from behind for Labor's "sweetest victory of all."

White 'not interested' as Jones firms for Wallabies 

Former Australia coach Alan Jones has formally applied for the vacant Wallabies post, but South Africa's World Cup-winning boss Jake White is a non-starter. 

from the Centre for American Progress 

Candidates 'should declare sexual preference' 

Not to stoke any of the inane conspiracy theories running wild on the Internet, but if Osama bin Laden wasn’t on the payroll of Lockheed Martin or some other large defense contractor, he deserves to have been.  

Critics Turn Out To Protest Media Consolidation 

In a written response to questions from Senate Democrats yesterday, Attorney General nominee, Michael Mukasey, refused to say explicitly whether he believed waterboarding to be torture.

from Crikey .....

Alex Mitchell writes

Liberal federal Cabinet ministers, backbenchers and hard-heads in the Liberal Party organisation were dismayed and annoyed by the pathetic performance of Treasurer Peter Costello in yesterday's live debate with Labor’s shadow Treasurer Wayne Swan.  

Apologise to asbestos campaigner, Abbott told 

The Federal Opposition is demanding that Health Minister Tony Abbott publicly apologise for not meeting with noted asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton yesterday. 

In what world do these people live?  

True, there'll be no public executions outside Buckingham Palace when His Royal Highness rides in stately formation down The Mall. We gave up capital punishment about half a century ago. There won't even be a backhander – or will there? – which is the Saudi way of doing business.  

In America's darkest hour, Franklin Delano Roosevelt urged the nation not to succumb to "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror." But that was then. 

Today, many of the men who hope to be the next president - including all of the candidates with a significant chance of receiving the Republican nomination - have made unreasoning, unjustified terror the centerpiece of their campaigns.