There is more
to the Prime Minister's family history than modesty, honesty and hard work,
writes David Marr. 

‘The corner of Ewart Street and
Wardell Road in Sydney's Dulwich Hill is sacred ground for John Howard and the
modern Liberal Party. For nearly 30 years, the Prime Minister's father ran a
service station on this spot, setting an example his son thinks Australia
should follow. 

All the usual cocks were crowing yesterday at the reported
death in Iraq of the alleged al-Qaeda terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. 

Our little rodent positively salivated at the news, along
with his co-conspirators, “aussie tony” & the great decider. 

Howard claimed: “The reported death of Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi is great news for the people of Iraq, the real victims of his
murderous behaviour. 

‘The Bush administration invaded Iraq claiming Saddam
Hussein had tried to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger. 

As much of Washington knew, and
the world soon learned, the charge was false. 

Worse, it appears to have been
the cornerstone of a highly successful "black propaganda" campaign
with links to the White House.’ 

Former Iraqi hostage Douglas Wood has revealed his expertise in nuclear reactors and wants to be a prime player in the Australian nuclear inquiry.  The former Bechtel nuclear power plant designer, whose release was used in US military propoganda, recently announced his divorce from his American wife to the Australian media without bothering to tell the woman first.

 I've been a keen follower of Wood's progress since the night that Alexander Downer announced Wood's release and have followed his media trail from the lofty heights of the NBC Today Show to the crevasse of the Shepparton Football club, where a uncooperative CD player refused to provide the backing music for Wood's rendition of "I did it my way"  I've laughed at Wood's attempts to win product endorsements for Coonawara red wine, lamb roasts and VB, and cried with him as, one by one, his media deals failed.  His aspirations to give motivational talks on the lucrative U.S. public speaking also appear to be fading dreams.

 
‘Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has written a brilliant new article
about the biggest political story in the history of the United States: An
American politician illegitimately took the office of president by outright
theft and fraud. Although such high crimes and misdemeanors have been rumored
in previous elections, none in the history of the republic have been so
thoroughly documented. George W. Bush is not the legitimate president of the
United States.’ 

Stand Up For Democracy

In his Opinion piece in
yesterday’s Australian, In
A Limbo Beyond The Laws Of War, Neil James arrogantly criticises the Law
Council of Australia for speaking out on the continuing cruel & illegal
incarceration & torture of David Hicks.

Whilst an academic debate on the
meaning & applicability of the “laws of war” in the Hicks case is bound to
fascinate military buffs & the occasional lawyer, it would be of greater
value to the specific debate if it were relevant: which it isn’t. 

From the ABC …..

Stanhope to appeal to G-G to save civil unions law 

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope
will appeal to the Governor-General to try to save the Territory's civil
union legislation. 

Prime Minister John Howard and
the federal Attorney-General have announced they will advise the Governor-General
to disallow the law. 

‘The Cross-City tunnel's 50% discount ends today, and will
be replaced with a permanent reduction of just 17c. People had started to use
it because they felt that it was quite a good deal at $1.78. But now that it's
going back up, guess what'll happen, Cross City Motorway Pty Ltd? We'll stop.
It doesn't matter how much advertising there is. Sydney has made its position
to the operators entirely clear: with all due respect, we contend that it's a
bloody a rip-off. And we simply aren't going to use it. So there. We'd rather
sit in an interminable traffic jam, thanks all the same.  

‘“Power,” Harvard Professor Joseph Nye, Jr. tells
us “is the ability to alter the behavior of others to get what you want.
There are basically three ways to do that: coercion (sticks), payments
(carrots), and attraction (soft power).” Today’s American soft power—our
ability to influence others overseas through who we are and what we do—is
shrinking, as poll after poll shows. This loss of soft power reduces
America's ability to shape global developments in ways favorable to the
national interest. What can be done about this? 

 It is unfortunate that the battlelines between the dominant fundamentalists of two religions are being drawn.  As far as logic and common-sense go, the Iranian leadership is lightyears ahead of the Bush Administration of America.

The Iranian point of view is that the U.S. is interfering with the rights of a sovereign state, while America believes that it has the right to eliminate a situation out of which a "threat" might arise.While the US and Australia are threatening sanctions, Iran is capable of serious damage to American energy supplies, and  will do so in retaliation to a military act against it. 

Australia seems to be getting
along quite nicely without an American Ambassador. 

This month will mark the 16^th
month that the position has stood vacant, with former Ambassador, John Thomas
Schieffer, having packed-up his BBQ & headed-off to Japan back in February
2005. 

After forgetting about the
position for more than a year, the Bush administration announced the
appointment of Robert McCallum as its Ambassador Extraordinary &
Plenipotentiary to Australia, back in March. 

from tonight’s 7:00PM ABC
News Report ….. 

‘A United States military probe
has exonerated US troops in the deaths of Iraqi civilians in the town of Ishaqi
in March, finding American forces followed standard procedures and committed no
misconduct, defence officials say. 

The defence officials, speaking
on condition of anonymity, say an investigation found no wrongdoing by US
forces.  

‘With an arrogance bordering on intimidation, the
administration of George W. Bush wishes to impose its will onto Chile's
sovereignty and force that country to impede Venezuela's admission to the
United Nations Security Council. 

That attempt came to light on
Sunday, April 28, when the Chilean daily La Tercera published a report - based
on Chilean diplomatic sources - titled "White House Ultimatum."
Progreso Weekly has translated that report and summarizes it here. Words [in
brackets] are PW's clarifications. 

 
Lawyers refuse to
undergo new security clearances .....

Lawyers representing a group of
men charged under the Federal Government's anti-terrorism laws say they
may go to the High Court to fight a requirement that they undergo security
clearances. 

Up to 50 lawyers representing the
men are refusing to submit to the clearances that are required under the
new laws.