I know the subject of citizens initiated referenda  has been discussed before on this site. But it is important that we as fair thinking Australians keep the pressure on Governments to strengthen the democratic process.

There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. 

Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior.  

It has been known for months that the Bush-Cheney administration and its allies have been manuevering to strengthen their political control of Pakistan, paving the way for the expansion and deepening of the “war on terrorism” across the region. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto does not change this agenda. In fact, it simplifies Bush-Cheney’s options. 

My friend, the late Fr Percy Church MSC wrote a dramatic description of his Christmas in Bethlehem:   

The resolution I propose for Labor back in power - and for the Opposition once again in opposition, the courts that have dithered on the issue and those newspaper pundits who never understood what was involved - is to make 2008 the year Australia stops messing around with habeas corpus. 

The right to have the courts - not the Crown, governments, ministers or public servants - decide who languishes in the clink, was not easily won.

The NSW Ombudsman has failed to follow through on threats he would review the state's Freedom of Information Act despite latest figures showing that NSW continues to lag behind the rest of the country in releasing documents sought under the law. 

The NSW Ombudsman's annual report reveals that the percentage of freedom-of-information applications released in full in NSW dropped from 81 per cent in 1995-96 to 52 per cent in 2005-06.

Pakistan was teetering on the brink of civil war last night, following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto by suspected Muslim extremists. 

Ms Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest by a suicide bomber who then blew himself up, moments after the former prime minister addressed supporters in the city of Rawalpindi. 

Isn't it lucky that Hicks is being released during the slowest news period of the year? Last Christmas season they hung Saddam, no doubt propping up othewise sagging newspaper sales. This year it appears that a media scrum following a man who is legally prevented from speaking to them, vieing for shots of a pissed-off terrorist, that are going to help sell the discount laptops at department store sales.

The Adelaide Advertiser has just posted a story explaining how some of David's schoolmates have told how the ex-Guantanemo inmate "dabbled in Satanism" during his formative years. The only corroboration to the story I can find is a similar phrase in a piece from a few months back. The only reason I can think of for publishing such a piece of information is to incite suspicion of an "Agent Of Satan" being released into the community.. Maybe we can be inflamed into a lynch mob?

Gather ye now among thy tribes and among thy families and then shalt thou rest, for the year runneth its course.

Put aside therefore thy labours and place thy trust in thy investments, and possibly thy investments in thy trust. 

For it came to pass that there were great changes in the land.

Police were forced to block the entrance of a public meeting in Camden last night when up to 800 people showed up to attend a protest against plans for an Islamic school in the suburb. 

The meeting was also attended by Fred Nile of the Christian Democratic Party. 

At least four top White House lawyers - Alberto Gonzales, Harriet Miers, John Bellinger & David Addington - "took part in discussions with the" CIA "between 2003 & 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations."  

In about turn, Bush signs climate change bill 

President George Bush, after years of holding out against proposals to combat climate change, yesterday signed into law an energy bill establishing higher fuel-economy standards for new cars and other conservation measures. 

Sixty percent of Americans believe that the next generation will be worse off than their own.

A majority of Americans have no confidence in the government's ability to solve the nation's problems.

Greenspan predicts recession in US  

As the credit crisis continues to bite around the world, two eminent economists have predicted the United States will most likely fall into a recession next year.