Brazil's Government is unwilling and unable to halt destruction in the Amazon rainforest despite emergency measures it announced last week to curb rising deforestation, environmental expert say. 

High commodity prices and increased land use elsewhere in Brazil are driving ranchers and farmers deeper into the Amazon in search of cheap land, environmentalists say.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared his support for John McCain's presidential bid, handing the Republican front-runner a prized endorsement ahead of the state's key primary.

Governor Schwarzenegger told a press conference he was backing Senator McCain after touring a solar technology plant in Los Angeles together with the Arizona senator and former Republican contender Rudolph Giuliani.

from Crikey ….. 

Look at Mick Keelty's new 5 year contract negotiated just before the election - making sure he was a winner either way.  

Giuliani expected to endorse Florida winner McCain 

Rudy Giuliani is expected to throw his weight behind John McCain's campaign for the Republican nomination after the senator for Arizona won a convincing victory in the Florida primary to become the clear front runner. 

from Crikey ….. 

A sorry tale of politics, pragmatism and principles 

Editor of The National Indigenous Times Chris Graham writes: 

The Republican contest for Florida ended in acrimony on Monday as the two leading candidates traded attacks, aggressively courting voters across the Florida peninsula in a primary battle that could produce a clear front-runner for the party’s presidential nomination before a virtual national primary next week.

In delivering his seventh & final State of the Union address, bushit faced a steep challenge in persuading Americans to heed his words on the war, economic policy or any other issue, according to administration officials, lawmakers & outside observers, according to the Washington Post.  

Openly celebrating George Bush's last state of the union address, Democrats in Congress last night dismissed his entreaties on tax cuts and government wiretaps but left the president some room on a $150bn economic aid package.  

Economy, War To Dominate State of Union

Bush's Challenge May Be Getting People to Listen

For years, President Bush and his advisers expressed frustration that the White House received little credit for the nation's strong economic performance because of public discontent about the Iraq war.

"Your papers please" has long been a phrase associated with Hitler’s Gestapo. People without the Third Reich’s stamp of approval were hauled off to Nazi Germany’s version of Halliburton detention centers.  

Today Americans are on the verge of being asked for their papers, although probably without the "please."  

Economic Woes Again Batter Global Stocks 

Persistent fears about the world economy battered global stocks again on Monday and drove investors towards safer assets despite expectations of more interest cuts from the Federal Reserve to bolster growth. 

A thousand years ago and one hundred years ago and again today, there has always been confusion between terrorism and resistance.

As it was for mainstream Islam, it is a point of view for today’s US administration that sees terrorists under every rock, that blames every failure on largely unidentified terrorists, and justifies each of its own nefarious crimes on generic terrorism.  

The former president of Tanzania Julius Nyerere once asked: "Why haven’t we all got a vote in the US election? Surely everyone with a TV set has earned that right just for enduring the merciless bombardment every four years."  

To pay for World War II, Americans bought savings bonds and put extra notches in their belts. President Harry Truman raised taxes and cut non-military spending to pay for the Korean conflict. During Vietnam, the US raised taxes but still watched deficits soar.

But to pay for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has used its credit card, counting on the Chinese and other foreign buyers of its debt to pay the bills. ... 

Real faith makes us humble and mindful, not of the faults of others, but of our own. It makes us less judgmental, as we see others with the same frailties we have. Faith gives us strength in the face of injustice and motivates us to do our best for "the least of us." 

Our nation was birthed in a spirit of faith - not a prescriptive one telling us whether to believe, but one acknowledging that a providence pervades our world.