‘The US National
Security Agency has been tracking the calls of millions of Americans and
constructing the “largest database ever assembled in the world,” USA
Today revealed on May 10. The nation’s biggest telephone
companies have apparently turned over masses of personal records to the feds,
allowing Uncle Sam to build up a database of the phone numbers of incoming and
outgoing calls of Americans. The revelations blew to smithereens the Bush
administration’s story that only international calls were being tapped without
a warrant as part of its so-called “terrorist-surveillance program.”  

Liberal? A very confusing word? or a word used confusingly? In the US the liberals are associated with the desire of real freedom in social policies, in Australia, the only liberalism being applied is for the rich to make more money on the back of everyone else... The rest is stuck in the dark ages of deliberately misunderstanding the moires of humanity. In the US, the fight is between the Liberals and the conservatives... In Australia the Liberals are the conservatives... And they hug the cream-cake like uncle Scrooge.

Quote from Wikipedia:
""Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. Broadly speaking, liberalism seeks a society characterised by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on power, especially of government and religion, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports relatively free private enterprise, and a transparent system of government in which the rights of minorities are guaranteed. In modern society, liberals favour a liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law and an equal opportunity to succeed...""

Judicial Watch, the U.S. public interest group that
investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that
the Department of the Army, per order of U.S. District Court

Judge
Ricardo M. Urbina, has released to Judicial Watch approximately 100
pages of documents which detail the multi-billion dollar, no-bid
contract awarded in 2003 by the Army to Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a
subsidiary of Halliburton Co.

One document uncovered by Judicial Watch
suggests the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) may have
publicly lied regarding the involvement of the Vice President’s office
in awarding the contract.

‘Two cases of mad cow disease in
Texas & Alabama seem to have resulted from a mysterious strain that could
appear spontaneously in cattle, researchers say.

Government officials are trying
to play down differences between the two US cases & the mad cow epidemic
that has led to the slaughter of thousands of cattle in Britain since the
1980s. 

It is precisely these differences
that are complicating efforts to understand the brain-wasting disorder, known
medically as “bovine spongiform encephalopathy”, or “BSE” for short.

I'd like to show you the levels that My Fine DFAT Friend will go to
protect his reputation.  Given the opportunity to effectively ban a
movie that made his point of view look wrong, Downer leapt at the
chance.

This entry was originally posted  on my private blog in early May 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[From News.com.au]

From the ABC …..

Bush talks up progress in Iraq 

Americans can expect steady
progress in Iraq but it would be unrealistic to hope for "zero
violence", President George W. Bush said after a surprise trip to Baghdad
to bolster the new Iraqi Government. 

From the ABC

Howard should convert to Islam: Bashir
By Geoff Thompson in Solo, Central Java

Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir says Prime Minister John Howard should become a Muslim if he wants to avoid going to hell.

The cleric was speaking after his release from a Jakarta prison where he had been serving a sentence related to the 2002 Bali bombings.

While holding a late night press conference in his Ngruki religious boarding school, Abu Bakar Bashir was asked by the ABC if he had a message for Mr Howard when the Prime Minister visits Indonesia later this month.

"I think John Howard should convert to Islam," he said.

‘The presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is considered a
greater threat to Mideast stability than the current government in Iran,
according to a new poll of European and Muslim countries.

The poll found that people in Britain, France, Germany,
Spain and Russia rated the presence of troops in Iraq higher than the
government in Iran as a threat, according to polling by the Pew Research Center
for the People & the Press. Views of U.S. troops in Iraq were even more
negative in countries like Indonesia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Pakistan.’  

This map from the South Australian Defence site holds a thousand word painting picture- a line through the middle of Australia, owned by Halliburton, along which every freight container leaving Darwin needs to pass. 

South Australia - the Transport Hub of Australia

" Completion of the line increases accessibility to the Cultana Training Area and positions it as a major asset both for South Australia and the Australian Army." proclaims the website.  It doesn't say that every tank and  every boxcar of uranium waste will line the pockets of the company once run by the U.S. Vice President.

‘The US-led "war on terror" is increasing the
risk of terrorist attacks and distracting governments from greater threats to
global security such as climate change, a think-tank warned in a report. 

The Oxford Research Group urged
countries, especially the United States and Britain, to rethink their security
policies to counter future instability. 

"The war on terror is a
dangerous diversion and prevents the international community from responding
effectively to the most likely causes of future conflict," a press
statement about the report said. 

This week, Alexander “don’t
know, didn’t see, no-one told me” Downer told Lateline’s Tony Jones that
David Hicks might have some back
ailment but otherwise he was fine – according to Australian Consular
reports. 

Last night, Alfred McCoy,
Professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, told Jones that: 

‘Gandhi once said if Christians lived according to their
faith, there would be no Hindus left in India. He knew how powerful the
fundamental tenets of Christianity - fighting poverty, caring for the least
among us, loving your enemies, eschewing materialism and embracing humility -
could be if everyone who called themselves a Christian truly followed them. 

The new documentary, Jesus Camp,
which chronicles a North Dakota summer camp where kids as young as 6 are taught
to become dedicated Christian soldiers in "God's army," is an
illustration of this sentiment in the extreme. 

 
Meanwhile in the parallel universe of conservative
bed-time history for right-wing raised kiddies... 

From the New York Times 

Bush Discusses Iraq With Top War
Commanders ….. 

CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) -- President
Bush declared Monday to a nation weary of war that democracy in the Middle
East is worth the high price to the United States. He also said Iraq's
neighbours should be doing more to help.

The author of this missive is a
kindred spirit: 

Fear US Down
Under  

I am sitting
at my computer in Melbourne, Australia, and I just read this archived article a
friend forwarded to me about Casey Sheehan. It's oddly moving. The author
is to be commended. (See “Casey
Sheehan,” by Neil Freese, August 26, 2005.) 

A classic example of sneaky al-Qaeda asymmetrical terrorist
attack: one stretcher-strapped terrorist 'takes out' three defenceless Guantanamo guards.