from Crikey ….. 

Torture for Dummies: a US Justice Dept primer 

Jeff Sparrow writes: 

In his bleakest economic assessment to date, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said Wednesday that the American economy could contract in the first half of 2008, meeting the technical definition of a recession, and he encouraged Congress to help homeowners caught up in the mortgage crisis. 

With an occupying army waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with military bases and corporate bullying in every part of the world, there is hardly a question any more of the existence of an American Empire. Indeed, the once fervent denials have turned into a boastful, unashamed embrace of the idea. 

Much of what lines supermarket aisles is not food. It's merely foodlike, and it's making us sick. 

When NATO leaders meet in Romania on Wednesday to decide whether to put U.S. allies Georgia and Ukraine on a path toward eventual membership, they will find themselves uncomfortably wedged between Washington's firm backing of the former Soviet states' bids and a Kremlin digging in its heels against any further eastward expansion by the alliance. 

If you think Americans in general have a strong preference for peace, you have not been paying attention; nor have you been immersing yourself in history books.

The country in which Americans take such pride today is the product of people who were willing, and often eager, to kill anyone who obstructed what they presumed to be their Manifest Destiny.

Hillary Clinton has vowed to fight on in the contest to be the Democrats' presidential candidate, comparing herself to the film character Rocky. 

Speaking in Philadelphia, where the film Rocky was set, she said: "When it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit." 

The US Congress, the US media, the American people, and the United Nations, are looking the other way as Cheney prepares his attack on Iran. 

If only America had an independent media and an opposition party. If there were a shred of integrity left in American political life, perhaps a third act of naked aggression – a third war crime under the Nuremberg standard – by the Bush Regime could be prevented.  

Abdul Qader's suffering is part of the human toll of the worst violence in months in Iraq.  

from Crikey ….. 

South Australia: The Authoritarian State 

Greg Barns writes: 

In his September 19, 2006 address to the United Nations President Bush said: "My country desires peace. Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false, and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terrorism..... We respect Islam". In the same speech he went on to say: "Every nation that travels the road to freedom moves at a different pace, and the democracies they build will reflect their own culture and traditions".  

Despite Abbott's repeated declarations that nobody is above Texas law, he has prosecuted no Republicans. 

While Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tours the United States, Europe and China, Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has launched a 'Listening Tour' of Australia with a message on YouTube. 

Dr Nelson's YouTube message promotes his three-week tour, where he says he will meet with Australians in service stations, shopping centres, farming communities and at barbeques and morning teas. 

Dear Kevin, 

Was it only four months ago that we woke up to the clean sweet air of a Howard-less Australia?

Americans are a proud and patriotic people. They live in the world's only superpower. They have the highest standard of living in the world, measured by per-capita income. Today, however, they are perplexed, anxious.