Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has brushed aside Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce's calls for his salary to be tripled to $1 million.

Yesterday the Government accepted a remuneration tribunal recommendation to give federal politicians a 3 per cent pay rise.

The Greens say it should be rejected because lowest paid workers are not getting an increase.

But Senator Joyce says politicians should be paid as much as business leaders.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in his first ever address to the United Nations, on Wednesday accused the veto-wielding powers of the Security Council of betraying the principles of the UN Charter.

"The preamble (of the Charter) says all nations are equal whether they are small or big," Gaddafi said through an interpreter. He received a smattering of applause.

Reading from a copy of the UN Charter, Gaddafi said: "The veto is against the Charter; we do not accept it and we do not acknowledge it."

From Chris floyd, read more of Chris Floyd...

It is all too easy to get dazzled by the facades of high politics and state policy, to be taken up with tactics, metrics, movements, trends, with ideologies and philosophies, as if the life of the world was actually conducted on this elevated plane.

from the ABC

From the ABC

The Federal Government has issued an ultimatum to the Opposition in a bid to break the deadlock over its stalled emissions trading legislation.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has written to Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull from the United States, setting out a timetable for negotiations over the scheme.

The increased pressure on the Opposition comes as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd overnight played a leading role at the United Nations leaders forum on climate change.

Afghanistan's much ballyhooed recent election staged by its foreign occupiers turned out to be a fraud wrapped up in a farce -- as this column predicted a month ago. It was as phony and meaningless as U.S.-run elections in Vietnam in the 1970s.

Canada played a shameful role in facilitating this obviously rigged vote.

from Crikey .....

A week in the life of Australia's greatest living political hypocrite ...

September 20, 2009

Article from:  Australian Associated Press

The US has no "grand expectations" from the summit of Israeli and Palestinian leaders which President Obama is to host on Tuesday, the White House says.

The talks in New York are to discuss the possibility of re-starting the Middle East peace process.

But both Israeli and Palestinian leaders have accused each other of blocking the initiative.

Israel has rejected US and Palestinian demands for a total freeze before a new round of talks can take place.

from Crikey .....

Blair's mission from God rings hollow

Alex Mitchell writes from London:

Angus Houston seems like a nice enough bloke .... his quiet, calm demeanour almost suggests that he is a thinking man's soldier & not the big, bold warrior that we might normally expect in an Air Chief Marshall or the person of our Chief of Defence Forces.

But, as always, first appearances can be deceiving .....

The other night, on the SBS Dateline program, the benign facemask of military discipline, coupled with polished media relations training, slipped for a moment & we caught a glimpse of the steel warrior lurking beneath the soft appearance.

from Crikey .....

Allan Kessing: my side of the story

Whistleblower Allan Kessing writes:

I joined Customs in 1990 and retired in 2005. My first three years were on the wharves then two at Sydney airport. In January 1997 I was approached to join a new intelligence section analysing sea and air cargo where I remained until returning to the airport in 2001.