"It is convenient (Gerard Henderson, SMH, 13/11/07) to depict those with whom you disagree as liars - because this challenges their motives in addition to their policies. But the truth is that those who make erroneous statements are not always liars. Moreover, those who accuse others of dissembling frequently do not have a good record for accuracy. The driving seat in the Truck of Truth is invariably occupied by holier-than-thou types."

Yes Gerard... Maxine is not a liar even if she "erred", should I believe your twaddle... But knowing Maxine, I can say she's genuine in her ideals and has the clout to make things happen. She is also very very smart, unlike the present Prime Minister who is very clever... John Howard has lied and is lying cleverly. The first and biggest offender "who accuse others of dissembling frequently [thus] do not have a good record for accuracy" is the Prime Minister himself, John Howard — the master of fudge who hides behind elastic statements that make Pinocchio at his prime of wooden debauchery look 100 per cent innocent. Sure John Howard knows precisely what history has given him but he will fudge its records deliberately — and that is lying. Throw a few more children overboard, on the barbie, mate...

When John Howard decided to join "the coalition of the willing" — that gross rampaging nuttery through Iraq to appropriate its oil for the US multinationals (yanking the Iraqi oil away from the Russians and the French) — he fudged, hummed and erred cleverly, that he was not committed to war, blah blah... But he was. Sure Australia's Howardian contribution to the war has been a token weeny effort — costing a packet mind you, with a certain amount of economic returns and grease monkey from the mad kid in the White House. But bugger the drought. One would be making a killing selling more wheat to the Iraqi, although at the price wheat fetches — nearly ten times what it did a couple of years ago — the coffers still fill up. Facilitating payments may still operate, more hidden, unlike the bribes (oops, tax deductible kickbacks paid to Saddam by AWB). Yes, John Howard has lied about the reasons for war. And war is the ugliest form of human behaviour, specially when it is avoidable. Unless he is a dork (which he is not) John Howard had to know that there was no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I knew that. And my sources did not include ASIO, MI6 or the CIA... But I had very solid information, plus some very sound analysis. John Howard had solid information that there was no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but he chose to lie. He choose to go with the lie coming from the White House... Downer, his flat-footed Minster for foreign bits and beads, publicly repeated at least 8,500 times that "Saddam has weapons of mass destruction" in a mantra worthy of Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda con-man... We knew Howard and Downer were lying. Big time.

The Truck of Porkies parking every night at Kirribilli House, has been travelling this land for too long... If John Howard had done his job properly and incrementally as he should have, there would NO NEED to shower the honest people of this country with massive promises of dollops of dollars and soured cream... Yes, John Howard has been lying for too long, tight-arsing for too long, demolishing good public services to prop up too many shonky private enterprises with public funds... Basically eliminating accountability by the growing new mantra, coming directly from the US, of "commercial documentation in confidence" or such ways to hide the swindles...

To paraphrase you, Gerard: "The driving seat in the Truck of Porkies is invariably occupied by clever deceitful types..."

Throw John Howard out with his moneys for monkeys... we are worth a lot more than that. we are worth the truth, even if sometimes it can appear to be wrong. John Howard is never wrong. He just lies. Even when he says "sorry", he does not... and admits to it!

As Gerard writes in regard to someone else: "But a broken promise is a broken promise."... Yes Gerard, John Howard has broken more promises that I have had left-over dinners...

Throw John Howard OUT... schnell! Out!

From the ABC

"Journalists use a range of different ways to get their stories," she said in a statement to the program.

She pointed to another exchange with Ms Ecuyer on a recent bad day for Health Minister Tony Abbott, in which she told the candidate he needed her preferences, even though that would be impossible.

Ms Ecuyer says the journalist was trying to cover her tracks.

The Australian's editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, is standing by his reporter.

"Ms Overington is a colour writer and her correspondence with Ms Ecuyer seems no more than colourful," he said.

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Gus: amazing... "colour writer"!!!... Hey, "colour-writing" does not make one a journalist... But many a "journalist" has been used to promote government technicoloured porkies...

Case in point: the Iraq war... I know I harp on this far too often, but not often enough.

Many people have died because of this war, many people suffer because of this war. In four years, the US administration has helped the killing of more than three times the number of people Saddam the despot was supposed to have killed in 20 years... And as the truth comes out, "the war was mostly about oil...". We knew.

Many journalists were cultivated by governments here, in the US and in Pommyland to "promote" the concept of war... Some were even spoon-fed by various companies, secretly run by the CIA, that were giving exclusive interviews with "agents" disguised as Iraqi defectors to push the case... The disinformation was permeating everything... Lucky, I keep a lot of stuff, including headlines and articles... It ain't pretty. The amount of twaddle pushed by journalists then was phenomenal and not many, if any, did a proper investigation of the daily swill they were fed by the crooked governments (Bush should be impeached)... "Could they have done a proper investigation when so much apparently "reliable" stuff came from official sources?" is part of their excuses... Yes. They could have sunk the idea of war. Not hard if you analyse and dig below the surface of crap. And get proper info which, amazingly, was completely available... but ignored.

The New York Times apologised to its readers for having led them up the garden path after the NYT realised it had been had by the White House and its Bushit antics... Journos had not really done their homework... Basically, most had gone with the lazy way of rewriting US government press releases...

But more often than not Journos have an agenda and so they should, as long as they are truthful and expose trickery, corruption and abuse. But when they become part of the department of dirty tricks and fake moustaches, journos become vile — instruments of their own trumpets or that of a corrupt system.

True journalists do not use a variety of tricks to con people ("Journalists use a range of different ways to get their stories")?. True journalists may be wrong or may not have all the facts at hand but they do not lie. Lazy journos will get things right or wrong according to the press release they are rewriting or in some cases passing off as their own work. Sometimes they can't ever rewrite a press release without making silly mistakes, like getting names wrong.

Bad journos will lie.

Throw Malcolm and Johnnee out.

Jail term for Texas oilman Wyatt
American oil tycoon Oscar Wyatt has been sentenced to one year and a day in prison for conspiracy in the UN oil-for-food programme scandal.

The Texas oilman, aged 83, had agreed last month to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

He admitted he agreed to pay $200,000 (£97,000) into an Iraqi bank account.

Under the oil-for-food programme, some companies paid bribes to officials in Saddam Hussein's Iraq in order to secure contracts to buy oil.

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Gus: in regard to proportionally ($200,000 versus nearly $300 millions) for paying Saddam some "tax deductible" kickbacks, the AWB executives responsible for it would have to serve 15 years in prison.

But we should be a semi-forgiving nation and be lenient. Divide these 15 years in prisons by the number of culprits in this saga and they all might serve six month each or less in a suspended sentence if they are ready to all confess to the deed. End of saga... Clean sheet. No smell. No fuss... repent... blah blah... 

With former AWB executives possibly facing criminal charges over their dealings with Saddam Hussein's corrupt regime, the wheat exporter's former chief financial officer has described his frustration and disappointment at how he has been treated. 

Paul Ingleby, one of six former AWB executives being sued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties, said he had been harassed since 2005, when revelations emerged about how AWB covertly breached UN economic sanctions against Iraq. 

"I have done nothing wrong other than doing my role," he said outside the Victorian Supreme Court. "And I have been hounded." 

I've Been Hounded, Says Former AWB Executive