from Crikey ….. 

Bringing down Henson: Police, politicians and pester power join forces 

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan continued to press his case Thursday that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war in Iraq, and responded to a growing chorus of criticism from other former administration officials.

All those pundits out there who have been saying construction of the Gunns pulp mill is a foregone conclusion obviously forgot something. ANZ has pulled out of financing the controversial project.  

As President Bush’s press secretary, Scott McClellan was a dutiful practitioner of the swift, efficient and highly coordinated strategy the White House typically employs to take on Mr. Bush’s critics.  

from Crikey ….. 

Camden: a tale of cowardice and mortgage belt bigots 

Alex Mitchell writes:  

International Space Station astronauts are eagerly awaiting the arrival of shuttle Discovery - it is bringing a new pump to mend their broken toilet. The station's urine collection unit, as opposed to its solid waste unit, has been malfunctioning for several days.  

NASA said it thought a separator pump was at fault, and the three male crew members were operating it manually.  

Does Kevin Rudd have a butler?

Poor is the new rich. 

So 'Bare-Arse' Brendan Nelson and his shadow treasurer, Malcolm 'Totally Broke' Turnbull, did everything they could yesterday to expose Kevin 'Rolling In It' Rudd and Wayne 'Squillionaire' Swan as mean and out of touch. 

The Pentagon's core budget – already a staggering $300 billion when George W. Bush took the presidency – has almost doubled while he's been parked behind the big desk in the Oval Office. For fiscal year 2009, the regular Pentagon budget will total roughly $541 billion (including work on nuclear warheads and naval reactors at the Department of Energy).  

It is not news that the United States is in great trouble.

The pre-emptive war it launched against Iraq more than five years ago was and is a mistake of monumental proportions—one that most Americans still fail to acknowledge. Instead they are arguing about whether we should push on to “victory” when even our own generals tell us that a military victory is today inconceivable.

Federal Liberal frontbencher Joe Hockey says petrol prices will always be lower under a Coalition government.

Mr Hockey says Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's pledge to cut fuel excise by five cents a litre will guarantee lower prices for motorists. 

Tomorrow a number of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay will finally get their day in court - although, alas, not literally. Thirty-five Americans who were arrested at the US Supreme Court last January during a demonstration protesting the illegal detention center will go on trial in Washington.

They are charged with "causing a harangue." Instead of entering their own names, each defendant will enter the name of a prisoner held at Guantanamo. 

Former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer says he is still to make up his mind about his political future. 

Mr Downer was widely expected to retire by the next election, but newspaper reports today suggest he has told his colleagues he is considering staying in Federal Parliament with an eye on Malcolm Turnbull's current job as treasury spokesman. 

As of May 20, the website for the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), the American neoconservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., is no longer operating. 

A digital vault containing information about every email, internet visit and phone call made in Britain is to be created in a European bid to battle terrorism. 

The plan, which will widen legislation governing the record-keeping responsibilities of telecommunications and internet companies, has alarmed civil libertarians who are already anxious about a proposed ID card scheme.