As I was preparing a stinging attack on Devine's article yesterday — (well, I was going to "agree" that "the [Liberal] Party is far from over", unfortunately...) — that this morning editors at the SMHerald have hopefully seen a bit of light and gave the right of response to John Hyde, a fellow who is writing something called "The Education of a Young Liberal" to be published soon...

Quote from John Hyde in the SMH:

""""""""Anything goes in this factional fight
John Hyde Page
July 21, 2006

NOBODY is likely to be calling Miranda Devine a wuss anytime soon. All sorts of other things, perhaps, but not a wuss, for her defence of branch stacking and political intimidation in yesterday's Herald was breathtaking in its openness and candour. Her argument is doubtless one that has already been made, but only in the most smoky backroom of Australian politics, and by the most hardened of hacks.

Devine says conservatism has been a minority viewpoint for too long in Australia. For her, it is acceptable behaviour, apparently, for Young Liberals to disrupt a speech by an Aboriginal tribal elder by singing God Save the Queen, and if they want to chant "we're racist, we're sexist, we're homophobic", that's fine, too.

It follows that branch stacking, physical assault, intimidation, the hang-up phone call and the anonymous threat in the mail - all the things that I describe in The Education of a Young Liberal - are justified because of the paramount importance of raising conservatism to its rightful place as the governing philosophy of Australia. And bad luck if "a few little old ladies in blue-ribbon branches [are] trampled"."""""""

Read more at the SMH
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Has Ms De-vile lost her marbles?

One of the stupidest attack also made by Devine was blaming the ABC for exposing the inner bum fights of the Liberal party in NSW... Yes Miranda, these fights are too ugly to be seen, but they are designed to destroy anything "liberal" in the Liberal party and turn it into an ultra-conservative machine... for zealots in jack-boots.

To say the least, the Liberal party has shifted to the far right of Hitler (Hitler strangely enough was a "socialist" — sure, a dictator at that) in less than a couple of years, and these new Liberals are working on similar Hitlerian tactics — yet not too deadly. Even Peter Debman — the current leader of these out-of control up and coming Liberal thugs — the other day was advocating the NSW police arrest anyone of middle-eastern appearance in wherever and charge them with whatever...!!!

And this fascist fellow is likely to be elected?

Yes, I missed the boat with my sharpened pencil... But this fellow Hyde did it for me...

Thank you sir, you deserve a medal.

Here's a short streaming video of Bush's Bad Touch at G8 Summit. 

I wonder of any of the good fellows who saw that bothered to protest. He'd be welcome at a Young Libs feelfest.

Thanks T.G. for the link... I went through the German channels and links to "grab" a smidgin of it and to gather the horror news reaction to the grope...

Dubya was lucky Ms Germany did not punch him back in the groin in a reflex action... now that would have been a MASSIVE headline and brought down his poor polls showing down to zero...

One has to note he did not try this one Mr Chirac or Mr Blair-of-the-peerage...

From the ABC

New US ambassador [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1725734.htm|defends] Hicks's detention
The new United States ambassador to Australia has defended the treatment of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, David Hicks.
After a delay of more than a year, Robert McCallum has taken up his new position in Canberra.
The previous ambassador, Tom Schieffer, is now based in Japan.
At his first media conference in Australia the former lawyer has praised the relationship between the two countries.
But on the ongoing detention of Hicks, who has been at Guantanamo for more than four years, Mr McCallum defends the US position.
"The law of war allows the detention of enemy combatants during the course of hostilities - there is still a war on terror," he said.
Mr McCallum says one option for Hicks is out of the question.
"He will not face the death penalty," he said.
Mr McCallum says while he does not plan to interfere in domestic politics, he will not avoid issues.
"When I am asked a question, unfortunately again I refer to my lawyer background," he said.
"I will bring to it an advocate's zeal."
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Gus: so sorry Mr McCallum but advocacy in this case does not need "Zeal" but simple Justice.... That your government has re-defined justice to suit its dirty purpose still does not stop that its definition of justice is a lot of crap. Go and smoke that. The "war on Terra" that the little mongrel in Washington declared is now longer than World War II!! And it looks it will never be won... since terrorism started as far back as 2000 years ago... Go and tell him to put it back where it belongs... In the grubby machinations of the CIA and MI6, but not at the forefront of the general public's life...

From the Guardian
....
Yesterday, Ernesto struck Cuba close to Guantánamo Bay after causing devastating floods and mudslides in Haiti, destroying dozens of houses and claiming at least one life. Authorities in Ile-à-Vache, a tiny island off Haiti's south-west coast, said an elderly woman died when huge waves crashed on her house.
.....

Gus: pity. The storm did not destroy that infamous prison but took the life of and old woman... May she not have died in vain. Her free spirit might come back to haunt the guards of Guantánamo and torture their souls, including that of the US president.

From the ABC

PM raises Hicks case with Bush
The Prime Minister, John Howard, has told United States President George Bush he wants David Hicks's case dealt with quickly.

Hicks has been held in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for five years.

Mr Howard raised the matter with Mr Bush on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Vietnam.

He says he would have preferred if a resolution to Hicks's case had been reached earlier.

President Bush could not say when there would be a trial under the new military commission process, but he hopes Hicks will be one of the first to be dealt with.

"The Prime Minister brought it up," he said.

"He was pleased that I was able to sign the military tribunal bill - in other words, a way forward for somebody like Hicks to be able to get a day in court.

"And he was asking me, do I have a timetable in mind as to when Hicks's trial will be coming forth.

"I told him I didn't, although we hope that Hicks is one of the early people that will have a day in court.

"Interestingly enough, as I understand, Hicks has lawyers that may be trying to appeal certain aspects of the law we passed.

"If that's the case, he's having his day in court, in an interesting way. But I believe Hicks deserves a trial and is going to get it."

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Gus: So far, the only only two things the Australian government has done is sit on its hind-legs like a good dog and, from time to time, slid around in curved zigs and zags like a slippery slug, leaving a slimy trace of slow inaction and abandonment of an Australian citizen to a "Kangaroo-court" in the US... And after five years of "we-don't-do-torture-but -we-do-sleep-detravation-and-solitary-confinment-and-water-boarding-and-subcontract-the-torture-bit-to rendition-countries", the US swings like a dumb-monkey and the UnAustralian government Galah now wants to speed up the "deserved" Kangaroo?...

“The U.S. military called no witnesses, withheld evidence from detainees and usually reached a decision within a day as it determined that hundreds of men detained at Guantanamo Bay were ‘enemy combatants,’ according to a new report.”

meanwhile …..

‘The US military on Friday said it plans to build a $125 million compound at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base where it hopes to hold war-crimes trials for terror suspects by the middle of next year.

The compound, designed to accommodate as many as 1,200 people, would include dining areas, work spaces and sleeping accommodations for administrative personnel, lawyers, journalists and others involved in trials at the isolated detention center in southeast Cuba.

It would create a total of three courtrooms on the base to allow for simultaneous trials, and a separate high-security area to house the detainees on trial.

"We need to build more courtrooms, and we want to do multiple trials," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman. He said the government hopes to begin construction as soon as possible to be ready for trials no later than July 1.

Human rights groups and foreign governments have called on the Bush administration to close Guantánamo, saying detainees are being held illegally, but the planned construction of new facilities underscores its permanence.

"This is a huge waste of taxpayer money," said Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents hundreds of Guantánamo detainees. "They've been trying to try people for five years, and until they try somebody according to the Constitution, nothing's going to happen there."’

US Military Plans Gitmo Legal Compound

whilst back at Democrat central …..

Democrat Senator, Chris Dodd, introduced legislation yesterday to amend the Military Commission Act of 2006, the law governing military tribunals of detainees. Dodd's bill restores habeas corpus protections to detainees, narrows the definition of "unlawful enemy combatant" to individuals who directly participate in hostilities against the United States who are not lawful combatants, bars information gained through coercion from being introduced as evidence in trials, and empowers military judges to exclude hearsay evidence they deem to be unreliable. "The bill goes back and undoes what was done,"

Dodd told The Hill. Dodd will be the second ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he hopes the legislation will be taken up when the 110th Congress begins.

"I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting this country from terrorists," Dodd said. "But there is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this. It's clear the people who perpetrated these horrendous crimes against our country and our people have no moral compass and deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But in taking away their legal rights, the rights first codified in our country’s Constitution, we’re taking away our own moral compass, as well."