from Crikey .....

As Attorney-General Nicola Roxon prepares to head to the United States to further integrate Australia's role in the War on Terror into the American security apparatus, the powerful Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security has knocked back her terms of reference for an inquiry into the further widening of intelligence-gathering laws, including the controversial data retention proposal.

The Australian Labor Party is against the wall... It's time for Labor to fight back.

Anyone, especially anyone in Greece, hoping for a Franco-German showdown over “growth” when François Hollande meets Angela Merkel today will be disappointed.

Former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks and her racehorse trainer husband Charlie have been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the phone hacking scandal.

Ged Kearney 

from the Power Index

from Crikey …..

Did Joe Hockey and Barry O'Farrell watch Packer on 60 Minutes?

from Crikey …..

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

JULIA Gillard's carbon tax budget bribe has backfired spectacularly, with the majority of voters believing they will be worse off despite thousands of dollars a year in extra handouts and tax cuts.

from Crikey ….

Coles aren't missing many in bombing out their new Flybuys cards to every man, woman and child. But just how they're getting the information is an interesting question. One mum offers some interesting clues:

from the Drum …..

Can somebody tell me what happened? Can someone explain how in the space of just a decade our public discussion has been hijacked by the ignorant and the bigoted and their boosters in the mass media?

Let’s imagine this scene: eleven Palestinian youngsters under the age of 18 demonstrating with Palestinian flags and posters at the north-west entrance of the Ariel settlement, demanding that the old road which leads to Salfit be reopened. Let’s assume that these youngsters aren’t attacked by the Ariel residents. After all, this is not a hotheaded settlement, its zealotry is limited to land fever.