Scary times, in which a man is arrested in for the crime of protesting against Halliburton.  I wasn't aware that legislation had been already been proclaimed.

Six Federal police and immigration officials were needed to arrest Houston history teacher Scott Parkin at a Melbourne cafe. Parkin was on his way to present a workshop about the U.S. peace movement and companies involved in the Iraq war. Australian Greens leader Senator Bob Brown has claimed that orders for Parkins' arrest and presumably imminent deportation orignated from the U.S. Government. The Howard Government will do anything the U.S. Government asks... because he's a thorn in the side of of Dick Cheney, Halliburton, and profit making deals that apply in Iraq"

On the 4^th anniversary of September 11, more than 200 detainees at the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay are continuing a hunger strike to protest their ongoing treatment.

 
Among the Guantanamo Bay inmates is Australian, David Hicks, who has been held by the US for nearly 4 years: tortured; denied his legal & human rights & abandoned by his own government.

 
In the face of strenuous opposition from Bush administration lawyers, 3 federal appellate judges yesterday expressed doubts about the US government's assertion that hundreds of foreign nationals imprisoned indefinitely in Cuba have no right to challenge their detention in US courts.

‘Bush told Mahmoud Abbas, "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did."

But, did God also tell Bush and company to exaggerate and lie about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaida?

Was it God who rendered so many Americans stupid enough to believe such lies and exaggerations? And why did God, who supposedly told Bush to invade Iraq, then trap American troops in a quagmire that exposed Bush and company for the rank amateurs they are?

‘There are deeper explanations for the New Orleans catastrophe than anyone has dared suggest, writes Andrew Stephen. The roots lie in America's deluded self-image

We know, now, that there was not even a Prescott in charge in Washington. President Bush was exorcising heaven-knows-what demons by furiously riding his mountain bike in Texas - nobody, not even the Secret Service or a visiting Lance Armstrong, is allowed to pass him - while Vice-President Cheney was fly-fishing in Wyoming.  

The federal government yesterday released details of its proposed new anti-terrorism measures.

The proposals include empowering police agencies to restrict our basic freedoms, including rights of communication, association, travel & privacy, based on suspicion, & individuals subject to the new ‘control orders’ would be required to wear tracking devices.

The proposed ‘control orders’ (shades of apatheid) would be issued as a result of secret court hearings & not as a consequence of charges having been laid or as a result of a trial & conviction.

The concepts that were considered in relation to regime survival in Latin America in political science professor Andrea Scheller's 2001 paper on democratic consolidation,  can be applied to John Howard's methodology in creating his personal legacy.

The thrust of the argument was that for a democracy to be deemed sufficiently culturally entrenched to survive indefinitely it would need to demonstrate the ability to endure signifigant levels of attack.

 This line of reasoning is not far removed in ideaology from the aggressive proliferation of US democracy that the globe is currently experiencing.

The Editor,

Sydney Morning Herald.                                                           September 9, 2005.