Queensland’s anti-bikie laws – a misnomer because they can apply to any group deemed to be a criminal association – are draconian. They also have a long history in Australia.

As a special church service was held in Springwood, in the lower Blue Mountains, near Sydney, one can only decry the futility of praying for rain... More effective of course would be to plead to Tony Abbott to keep the carbon pricing...

It's not going to improve unless we reduce our emissions of CO2... It's as simple as this... And we have to reduce these emissions to NIL, NADA, NOTHING, ZIP... We have to find ways to stop using fossil carbon. If one does a comparison between the past and now, global warming has removed about two months of winter and added two months of summer in this country...

The United States has temporarily avoided federal default. As the Republicans lick their wounds, the Democrats are triumphant. But no one should be happy, because the debacle has exposed just how broken the American political system truly is.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Symptoms

After a year of travelling, I had planned a last, short trip. I was going to take the train from Montreal to New Orleans. The travels I had been undertaking earlier this year had brought me to places that were meant to form the background of my second novel.

Dear idiot in chief...

One of Kevin Rudd's strongest supporters has questioned the former prime minister's judgment, reportedly describing his election policies as cruel and idiotic.

from the shovel …..

Australian authorities are gathering more than 300,000 contact lists a day from personal email and instant messaging accounts, on behalf of the US National Security Agency, a new report has claimed.