Mahler's Prodigal Son

30 years on from Watergate and only a few years since Bill Clinton was "in trouble" news out of Washington suggests that George Bush may not end the year - or start the new one - without the possibility of Georges' impeachment being on the agenda of some congressmen and senators. Read this interesting take on possible impeachment in this article from The Nation. Who knows where this may all end.....

George Bush speaks, often, of democracy and democratic values. He is determined, he says, to bring all those democratic values - whatever that might be! - to the Middle East and elsewhere. Pity is, that people in glass houses ought not to throw stones. With the revelation of Bush authorising secret wire-taps [and not resiling from it - just to the contrary] Bush has thrown down a gauntlet to US legislators. Is the President above the law? Read this interesting article in The Nation on the whole subject and what it throws up for consideration - and the challenges to US lawmakers and Americans in general.

Israel is always held up as the only democracy in the Middle East. That may well be a moot point in some respects. Be that as it may now comes news that Israel is trying to prevent East Jerusalem Arabs from voting in the upcoming Palestinian elections if Hamas takes part. Hey? This excellent editorial in the New York Times makes it clear as can be that what Israel seeks to do is totally unacceptable. On another front this article from the IHT on Israel's attempts to impose checks for Palestinians along the West Bank and Jerusalem - less restrictive on one level but more so on another - highlights, yet again, that Israel's actions, on the ground, are totally the opposite of what it espouses publically. If the article is correct then Israel is seemingly putting in place a permanent border - not one open to negotiation.

With the Xmas and New Year holidays upon us this blog [er, blogger] goes walkabout - well, travelling overseas. So, in wishing those stalwarts who come aboard this blog regularly, or on the odd occassion, all the very best for 2006 stay tuned as reports of travels and events around the globe will continue to be posted from here and there even if not regularly........

The so-called race-riots in Cronulla have surprised many and brought into sharp focus what tolerance actually is - as also multiculturism, even if the PM seems to soldier on in ignorance about the scope of what Australia is and the real make-up of its people. Public opinion poles clearly show how out of step John Howard is about racism and related subjects. Tolerance! One word which encapsulates some many things. Check out this web-site of Tolerance.org to read about 10 Ways to Fight Hate. Pass it along to others.....

The US had expectations for the outcome of the recent Iraqi election. It didn't work! All the latest indications are that what was a hoped-for secular government will not eventuate. In fact the religious parties will dominate - and to boot will, most likely, pursue a policy of a timetable for Coalition forces withdrawing from the country. It might just be what George Bush wants - or needs electorally! Read the latest news on the poll, and the probable consequences, in this article from The Guardian. Meanwhile the IHT reports, here , that Sunnis have characterised the vote in Iraq as unfair. Another report , this time in The Independent, declares that Iraq is disintegrating.

General Odom is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. He is also an adjunct professor at Yale University. His most recent book is called America's Inadvertent Empire . The above statement about Iraq being the "USA's Stalingrad" was made by the General in a fascinating and incisive interview on the Breakfast program on ABC Radio National this morning. In fact, some weeks ago on America's Newshour program on National Public Radio, the General stated that he thought "the army is already broken" in Iraq. Listen to the entire interview here .

George Bush steadfastly asserts that he has done no wrong in eavesdropping on US citizens. He has even gone so far as to suggest that had the US been able to eavesdrop that 9/11 could have been avoided. Never mind that a Congessional investigation post 9/11 established that any limits on any powers available to the President, CIA or FBI did not contribute to preventing 9/11. There are many in the US who say that Bush has acted illegally - despite that Bush and Condi assert otherwise. It is therefore interesting that this article in AlterNet today puts a case for impeaching Bush for breaking US laws. Shades of Richard Nixon on the horizon? On the same subject-matter this piece "Spying and Lying" in The Nation is also worthwhile reading.

"The Bush Administration uses double barrel propaganda today, with Mr. Bush using a prime time television address to say things like "My fellow citizens: Not only can we win the war in Iraq - we are winning the war in Iraq," and responding to negative news by saying "It does not mean that we are losing." Meanwhile, Mr. Cheney, while on a heavily guarded tour of the "Green Zone" and other locales in Iraq said today, "I think the vast majority of them think of us as liberators." "While the Bush Administration portrayed Thursday's Iraqi elections as a resounding success, Iraqi political parties are complaining of violations ranging from dead men voting to murder in the streets as accusations begin to fly from all political corners of rampant fraud and violence bringing the results of the vote under suspicion". Much has been written about the supposed succes of the recent Iraqi election. So, was it? And what are the facts on t...

Amid all the hype which is being written about the convening of the first Parliament in Afghanistan in 30 years it seems to have been overlooked who these "new" parliamentarians actually are. "The New York-based Human Rights Watch estimated that, although nearly a third of the deputies were women, more than half were warlords or their proxies, who are suspected of bullying or bribing their way into the parliament. Their presence bodes ill for efforts to crack down on the opium trade that sustains the fragile Afghan economy". If this be the fact [as referred to in a piece on TimesonLine then things are destined to go radically askew very quickly. Photo-ops are one thing! Reality quite another! Read the entire piece by way of informative background to the composition of the newly "elected" Parliament here .

We have all heard and read about obesity in the US and here in Australia. Remember the movie Super Size Me? Children are said to be increasingly overweight - with a significant problem in years to come as what are now adults suffer from diabetes and heart issues, etc. etc. This item on BBC News today puts the obesity in America into sharp focus. It makes for frightening reading. So, perhaps as you sit down to Xmas lunch or dinner or confront New Year's Eve pause a moment - and cut back on all that food and drink. Better still make all the right resolutions for 2006.....

"The last time President Bush delivered a prime-time address from the Oval Office was the night he launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, back when he expected a decisive victory and gratitude from a liberated people. Thirty-three months and more than 2,100 U.S. fatalities later, Bush last night was still predicting victory -- but sounding a more subdued note. As he stared again into the cameras from behind the 125-year-old presidential desk named Resolute, Bush this time found himself arguing with those who "conclude that the war is lost." The president who enjoyed strong public support as he fired the first missiles at Baghdad was by last night chastened by the subsequent travails on the battlefield abroad and the political freefall at home". So begins an interesting analysis [in the Washington Post here ]of George Bushs' talk to the nation from the Oval Office. Whether it is a true shift in Bushs' views is questionable. It all smacks too much ...

The New York Times - and the IHT - carries an opinion-piece by Eva Sallis on the race-riots in Cronulla. Sallis has entitled her piece " Australia's Dangerous Fantasy". The article is an interesting take on the Oz scene as it relates to what is a multicultural country - whatever PM Howard might say.

The revelation in today's Australian newspaper [see the article here ] that Treasury warned the Government, in particular Peter Costello, that lower-paid workers would be "hit", certainly in the short-term, by the new IR laws will hardly come as a surprise. Nor, the fact that Costello appears, yet again, to have misled the House when he replied in the negative to a question whether such a Treasury Report on the IR laws existed. The fall-out of the now passed IR laws is, interestingly, analysed by, by Glenn Milne in an opinion-piece in today's Australian. If Milne is correct, and in particular the survey-figures he cites, the Government is in trouble at the next election. His statement that it will only take 28,609 voters in key seats to see a change in Government is interesting when one reflects on the fact that the present Government holds such a clear majority. No doubt coincidentally, but in an interview with Dr. John Falzon, Social Policy National Dire...

The Iraqis have gone to the polls - and one has the impression that the world has, with a degree of smugness, concluded that, see, all is well in Iraq. It isn't, as todays continuation of killings clearly shows. And what has become of Falluja? Well, the Times Online has a report from the last Western journalist to leave Falluja in November 2004 and now, in cloak and dagger style, re-visiting. Read the report here . It makes for sober reading.

Mike Moore, he of the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 fame, has a web site / blog too. Needless to say it has material on which one might expect from the gad-fly Moore is. Moore's latest column / piece is on the Mavericks of '05. Read it here and reflect on the year just drawing to a close. Moore's piece is certainly close to the bone - but near-enough spot-on for the year [2005] that was!

One week on from the ugly race-riots in Cronulla and things seem to have quietened down somewhat. It is most heartening to read of and see the turn-out at the anti-racism rally in Sydney today - and incident-free too! So, what does our PM do in the current climate?.... when keeping one's mouth firmly shut would be best policy - unless one was going to solidly condemn racism of any sort. No, John Howard comes out and encourages shopping malls to have more nativity scenes and generally abhors any down-playing of Christianity. Read the report here . How very insensitive, if nothing else, especially in the current climate. He just does not get it! Just watch out for Alan Jones jumping on the band-wagon on the same subject with you know who as a guest on his program.

Interestingly, a bipartisan group of US law-makers defeated George Bushs' plan to keep the Patriot Act in place. An analysis of the background to all of that can be read in this article in The Nation. What is interesting to reflect on is that both Republicans and Democrats defeated the measure - in other words even Republicans were prepared to stand up and be counted against "their" President. Sad to say that apart from the odd occasion when Barnaby Joyce has taken some sort of position, it would seem that all Australian Coalition members are basically a pack of sheep. No questions, no second thoughts, no reservations, no conscience........

It is said that there are presently 22 million blogs out there worldwide. According to this article in Forbes by 2010 there will be 1 billion blogs! Talk about a changing landscape. Meanwhile just about every day sees a report from somewhere that newspapers are laying off large numbers of staff. Meanwhile look out for the other interesting stats in the Forbes article.

"THEIR idols are Angelina Jolie (what a brand) and Donald Trump (what a businessman). If they have their way, their first car is more likely to be a nifty runabout than a Ford, nothing too flash, a Peugeot maybe. Roughing it is a takeaway mocha latte and chilling out in the park with their iPods. And, they truly believe that one day the lifestyles of the rich and famous they eagerly follow in the gossip mags will be theirs". It is difficult to know whether to be appalled or take Generation Y'ers by the scruff of their collective necks and enlighten them to the facts of life! The view [rose-tinted glasses] of Generation Y as found by ad agency George Patterson Y & R reflected in the above quote and this article from the SMH today makes for "interesting" reading on a number of levels. Aspirations? Money and unrealistic expectations about many things.... Dumbing-down? Absolutely! Oh deary, deary me.......

John Howard has in the last days made some statements on the events in Cronulla and the attititude of Australians to racism and racist acts. Nothing too meaningful or definitive, mind you, and certainly, not reflective of a leader of a nation [whose population comprises some 43% foreign-born or first-born of newcomers] with such a diverse mixture of immigrants. What needs to be borne in mind here is that Howard's track-record on matters relating to racism is appalling. By his actions and words he has nailed his flag well and truly to the masthead. This opinion piece in the SMH yesterday [no author but evidently sourced from Justinian] details and catalogues Howards deeds, and non-deeds, as well as his words, going back many years. No more need be said!

"Two and a half years into the war in Iraq and we still know so little about the Iraqis on the ground and how they survive and die each day. News reports are dominated by coverage of American fighters. Our visual understanding of the war is almost exclusively American: our soldiers atop tanks racing to liberate Baghdad, suffering heat and sandstorms, their faces bathed in an orange glow; American Marines in full battle mode charging across the Diwanya Bridge; and the shock and awe over Baghdad, almost like Grucci fireworks -- as long as you don't see what happens when they hit their targets. And that's the whole problem. We rarely see who is at the receiving end of a hellfire missile, or a 50-caliber rifle, or a 500-pound bomb. The politics of that destruction and the anger and desperation it fuels, remains hidden." As Iraqis go to the polls today this revealing article in Alternet tells it like it is "on the ground" in Iraq - and is not written by embedde...

It's that time of the year!!! What to give someone who is a thinking person? Another cd or book? - like last year? No, the ideal present this year for anyone who really wants to know what is going on in the world, and be engaged in it, is a subscription to either Crikey [check it out here ] or New Matilda [check it out here ] Both on-line publications are a must ! In fact, why not at the same time as purchasing the gift sub. do yourself a favour and get one for yourself!

One cannot be left with any impression other than that the Sharon Government in Israel is orchestrating a spin of gigantic proportions. On the one hand an impression is sought to be conveyed of reasonableness - like, withdrawing from Gaza, "allowing" a border to be opened [well sort of!] etc. etc. Dare anyone criticize. Hey, look, we are faced with people like the Iranian President and his continued outrageous statements. The reality is that despite the spin and hype, on the ground Israel is going ahead full-bore in building settlements in the West Bank, and apparant to anyone giving it an ounce of thought, building a wall along what Israel regards as its new borders. Read this article on how Israel is moving right along and where it is so obviously headed.

This letter to Crikey [which appeared today in its daily bulletin / issue] from broadcaster Mike Carlton says it all.... "Alan Jones's week of ranting wog-baiting which preceded the Sydney riots was the most disgraceful episode of broadcasting I have encountered in my 40+ years in the media. It was vulgar, vicious and racist, and an unmistakable incitement to violence. "I'm the person that's led this charge here. Nobody wanted to know about North Cronulla, now it's gathered to this,” he screeched, as listener after listener phoned to declare war on Muslims in general and Lebanese in particular. “ A community show of force!” he shouted. Hitler's Brownshirts would have loved it. In a sea of radio filth, Jones's most disgusting act was to broadcast, and to repeat, the SMS phone message calling for violence: “Come to Cronulla this weekend to take revenge. This Sunday every Aussie in the shire get down to North Cronulla to support the leb and wog bashing da...

"The military commission ... is itself an entirely unsatisfactory and potentially unjust means of trying and possibly ordering the very lengthy imprisonment of the claimant," Justice Collins said. It is clear that English law regards the detention and proposed trial of the claimant to be contrary to the rule of law." These compelling and strong words of Justice Collins - in a judgment overnight - are part of the judge's decision that David Hicks should be granted British citizenship. See a reasonably full report on the decision report ed in today's AFR. A-G Ruddock, John Howard and Lord Downer of Baghdad will no doubt ignore the judge's damning indictment of the continued detention of David Hicks. As Lex Lasry QC has commented on ABC Radio's PM program tonight, it is near enough to fanciful that the Federal Government maintains that all is in order in relation to the way Hicks has been, and continues to be, dealt with. It is interesting to note that A...

"Five years ago today Al Gore phoned George Bush to formally concede the presidency. Since then the United States has suffered it's worst ever terrorist attack, become embroiled in a disastrous foreign war and bungled the response to a natural catastrophe. So what is the Bush legacy after half a decade? Is he a ruthless Machiavellian or a bumbling puppet? A devout idealist or a cynical opportunist? A disaster or a mild disappointment?" The Guardian posed the question of George Bushs' legacy to six well-known American commentators - across the spectrum from left to right. Read the response as reflected in The Guardian's article here . It would be interesting to know what commentators outside the US think...... Weigh in with your own view.

George Bush has just assured everyone that he doesn't "live in a bubble" and that he does get out and about, talks to people and has advisers. He even said he reads newspapers even if not in depth. One has to wonder though. After giving a speech yesterday Bush, unusually, allowed questions from the audience. How many Iraqis killed he was asked. Some 30,000 he replied. Where did the figure come from? It's somewhat unclear as The Pentagon allegedly doesn't keep figures of Iraqi deaths. Then this statement as reported in The Washington Post - "Knowing what I know today, I'd make the decision again," Bush told a questioner after a speech here. "Removing Saddam Hussein makes this world a better place and America a safer country." And then this gem - "The year 2005 will be recorded as a turning point in the history of Iraq, the history of the Middle East and the history of freedom." Who on earth is George talking to? ...

"Fog facts are things that have been published or are easily known but have disappeared in the fog. And there are lots of facts that should disappear in the fog; they're trivia, they're nonsense, and we don't need to know them. I'm talking about things that are important -- that once you bring them to the foreground it changes your picture of reality". Larry Beinhart is the well-known author of the novel "Wag the Dog". Now, in his latest book "Fog Facts: Searching for Facts in the Land of Spin" he deals with what he describes as fog facts. With the media around the world under such scrutiny at the moment - and spin by politicians so topical - the interview with Beinhart in Alternet is not only timely but also most interesting and more than somewhat revealing. Read the interview here .

"It has been the strangest war. A thousand days ago, on 20 March 2003, the US and British armies started a campaign which ended a few weeks later with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. It seemed so easy. President George Bush announced that the war was over. The American mission had been accomplished. Months passed before Washington and London realised that the war had not finished. In fact it was only just beginning. Of the 18,000 US servicemen killed or wounded in Iraq, 94 per cent have been killed or wounded since the fall of Baghdad" Patrick Cockburn, in The Independent, reporting from Baghdad, undertakes an interesting analysis of what is Iraq now - from the days of Shock and Awe to the country on the cusp of an election.

John Howard has over the years set a tone in Australia which we are now seeing bubble up. Given the opportunity to "jump" on Pauline Hanson's comments in her maiden speech in Federal Parliament years ago all that our PM could say was that she was entitled to speak her mind. In fact, the Liberal Party has moved rather close to adopting some of the policies of the One Nation Party. Then, there has been Howard's attitude to the aboriginal community and his refusal to acknowledge the use of the word "multiculturalism". Add to the above - the Tampa affair and the PM's statements at the time - the actions of Howard and Ruddock during the recent arrests of alleged terrorists - Howard's seeming endorsement of Alan Jones by appearing on Jones' program - notwithstanding Jones'racist and obnoxious views about minorities and the die is caste that, hey, perhaps it is ok to be intolerant and totally without understand...

With news that Arnie Schwarzenegger has rejected the plea for clemency for "Tookie" Williams the whole debate on capital punishment is ignited once again. To any observer of the US justice system, too many instances have arisen over the years where men on Death Row, some for many years, have been released and pardoned when it has been established that they ought not to have been convicted in the first place. Assuming this article in the Indystar is correct in detailing the facts and circumstances surrounding Williams' conviction, you be the judge in how "safe" you feel with the whole thing - conviction, sentence and now possible death. Maybe Arnie doesn't understand that "I'll be back" doesn't "work" for wrongly convicted, and executed, persons!

"JOHN Howard's final triumph for the year, the passage of his Voluntary Student Unionism Bill, came at a price the public never got to see: the worst trashing of the Senate I've witnessed in 20 years of covering federal politics". Coming from Glen Milne in The Australian that is some condemnation! Read his entire piece here. It is proof positive, yet again, that despite what Howard said about not abusing the "power" the Government had in the Senate, that he and his Party do the total opposite. Shame on all Coalition Senators and MPs who are so meek and mild in allowing the obvious trampling of parliamentary democracy.

This week sees the release of the George Clooney directed movie "Good Night, and Good Luck". It is a superb movie - and a must -see. It deals with Ed Murrow, and Fred Friendly, at CBS, in effect taking on Joe McCarthy in the early 1950's as McCarthy engaged in what can only be described as a witch-hunt of those said to be communists or communist-sympathisers. Read many interesting facts about the movie and the actual people here - and don't overlook the links on the site. See also the Warner Brothers web site here . The movie could not be more timely. What with the Patriot Act in the USA and our Federal Government having rammed through the anti-terrorism laws, including the sedition provisions, a clear and loud message can be learned from what McCarthyism, by that or any other name, brings in its wake. As a footnote to this piece, it is well worthwhile spending the time to read [ here ] the full transcript of the Murrow program on 9 March 1954. At lea...

George Bush and Co. must be wondering whether there is some sort of conspiracy against them - given the almost daily revelations from somewhere on how the the US Administration misled [lied?] the American public, and the world, about WMD's in Iraq, the alleged threat of terrorism from Saddam Hussein, the "link" between Saddam and Bin Laden, etc. etc. At long last the American press is beginning to shine a light under the bushel [no pun intended!]. Today's LA Times reveals in a report sourced from France that the French told the CIA many times in the year before George Bush kept on asserting otherwise, that there was no proof that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger. Read the article here . Meanwhile read this fascinating analysis by Nir Rosen in The Atlantic Monthly on what is actually happening on the ground in Iraq, what would happen if America quite the country and how Iraqis see things. You might just want to send the article to John Howard who keeps bangin...

"The media center in Fayetteville, N.C., would be the envy of any global communications company. In state of the art studios, producers prepare the daily mix of music and news for the group's radio stations or spots for friendly television outlets. Writers putting out newspapers and magazines in Baghdad and Kabul converse via teleconferences. Mobile trailers with high-tech gear are parked outside, ready for the next crisis. The center is not part of a news organization, but a military operation, and those writers and producers are soldiers. The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are one-sided and their American sponsorship is hidden. "We call our stuff information and the enemy's propaganda," said Col. Jack N. Summe, then the commander of the Fourth Psychological O...

"The new industrial relations legislation is supposed to be about flexibility, choice and the creation of thousands of jobs. There's no doubt it will give employers more freedom, but, in the time-honoured phrase, what about the workers? The repeal of the unfair dismissal laws, for instance, certainly makes the workplace more flexible, but for whom?" So starts an excellent opinion-piece in the SMH by Hugh MacKay, well-known psychologist, social researcher and writer - and hardly a radical. More depressing is his analysis of what the outcome and fall-out of the IR legislation will be for ordinary workers and those most vulnerable in the community. It certainly gives the lie to the Government's pronouncements - spin, if not downright lies - that the new IR laws will be family-friendly and advantageous to all Australians. As if MacKay's piece isn't sobering and depressing enough another excellent opinion piece , also in the SMH, by Adele Horin, spells out ...

We all know that politicians spin the facts or truth. Just think of Peter Costello this past week. Oops, Peter, caught out? Spin, and whether there has been active lying by politicians in relation to the Iraq War is an ongoing and active discussion-point in Great Britain [Tony Blair] and in the USA [Bush & Co.]. Sadly, there has been little if no discussion in Australia. Is that because Australians believe they were lied to and there is nothing to debate? QED! Be that as it may, The Washington Post's Media Notes columnist, Howard Kurtz, undertakes an interesting analysis of spin and, that word politicians take umbrage to, lying - not only that of the Bush Administration but its predecessors. Read it here .

Martin Walker is an Editor of United Press International. You will often hear him being interviewed on ABC Radio or ABC's Lateline program. He also writes a column Walker's World. This week's column addresses the Consensus on Iraq. It makes for interesting reading by an acute and seemingly accurate "reporter" of the scene in the US.

David Pogue is a writer and reviewer of things technical. You will often find his reviews of various new gadgets and gizmos in the New York Times. Perhaps in time for the holiday season Pogue has put out his Wish List of 10 things he wants for us customers - like, for instance, manuals in readable English. Read his complete List here and reflect - is that your teeth grinding as you concur and think of your own experiences? - on what we have all encountered. Or should that be endured?

It may seem ironical at the very time the world is actively "discussing" torture and mayhem around the globe - look at Darfur and reditioning amongst other topical subjects - that today is the UN's Human Rights Day. A sad and sobering reflection of where the world is at. Perhaps of even greater concern is that whilst we are quick to accuse "them" [that is, others] of human rights abuses, "we" are absolutely no different in what we allow to happen right in front of our very own eyes. With the US slowly having dragged out of it that it might have engaged in torture, is not Australia, as an ally of America, and in relation to which our PM is happy to tell us that there is a sharing of intelligence-information between the 2 countries, complicit in what is happening? And then there is David Hicks, the new security laws, the way the arrests of suspected terrorists was carried out recently, etc. etc. In fact Alan Ramsay's column in today's SM...

You probably read the title of this piece and thought - eh? Well, Rumsie did meet with Saddam back in the 80's when the US had good relations with Iraq. In fact, 11 months after the 2 met in Baghdad, the US resumed diplomatic relations with Iraq. Remember, too, that it was the US which in the 1980's supplied chemicals [aka poison gas] to Iraq for use in its war with Iran. Read this most, most interesting background piece by Norman Solomon on the relationship of the US and Iraq - and the photo of Rumsfeld meeting with and shaking hands with Saddam. Interestingly, American newspapers are evidently reluctant to publish the photo. On the other hand you can readily pick it up by doing a Google search.

"When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933 and proceeded to carry out their savagery, many in the outside world asked how this could have happened in the land of Goethe and Beethoven. Would the people of other societies as readily accept tyranny? Sinclair Lewis, in 1935, imagined Americans turning to dictatorship under the pressures of economic distress in the Depression. He called his novel, ironically, It Can't Happen Here ." This is the opening paragraph to Anthony Lewis's extremely compelling article in The Nation. Lewis cogently puts a case for how the US Administration has clearly sanctioned torture and been actively involved in it. It makes for sad reading - and highlights the hypocracy, and dishonesty, of George Bush and his Administration. Meanwhile, for an intersting take on how things are travelling for Bush & Co in Washington listen to this most interesting interview by Fran Kelly on ABC National Radio's Breakfast program this morning...

Paul Wolfowitz was well known for many years going back to the late 1980's as a leading neo-con in Washington. Before being appointed to his current position as President of the World Bank he was US Deputy Defence Secretary. Wolfie and his cohorts pushed the WMD in Iraq line loudly and clearly. That aside, they had a seemingly grander design for the Middle East. Democracy for all, etc etc. Today comes news that Wolfie says that perhaps the US would not have gone to war had it known there were no WMDs. Read a report here from The Huntington Post. It is interesting to reflect on whether Wolfie, George, Dick, Condie and their fellow-travellers will now "apologise" - for what that is worth! - to the families of those killed and maimed in Iraq and to the general American people for the extraordinary cost to the taxpayer of what is increasingly a debacle in Iraq.

It is hard to believe that a week has passed since the hanging of Van Nguyen in Singapore. This last week saw the funeral service for Van Nguyen here in Melbourne with what was reported to have been some 2000 attendees at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Much has been written and said about whether there should have been such a high profile funeral and the attendant publicity. It will be recalled that in what many see as PM Howard and Lord Downer of Baghdad engaging in a lot of hand-wringing but little real effort made to spare the young man, that both men made mention of some 26,000 people who might have been affected had the drugs sought to be imported by Van Nguyen reached Australia. Richard Ackland, in his excellent weekly opinion piece in today's SMH, highlights the falsity of much of Howard's and Downers actions in the whole issue, and more importantly, that the figure of some 26,000 potential "users" of the drugs which would have ben imported is plainly wro...

Condi Rice is still trying to somehow address the direct question - has the US engaged in renditions and then in what countries? Her answers, if they can be described as such, are all over the place and obviously are obscure and not truthful. Human Rights Watch has today issued a Statement on the US Policy of Torture - and how Condi has to come clean. Big ask perhaps, but the questions won't go away. Just tonight Ozs' own Mamdouh Habib has, on the BBC, outlined what he describes as the torture meted out to him as part of the rendition process. Will Lord Downer of Baghdad take any notice? Nah! He will almost certainly be dismissive of the allegations. Then, where was Mr Habib during the time he was "away"?

Australia is often spoken of as a multi-cultural country. In fact Australians pride themselves on the country's diversity. Lattes, a variety of foods readily available, etc. etc. John Howard dislikes the term multi-culturalism and shies away from using it. Whatever it means, in its broadest sense, Australia has seen an influx of immigrants resulting in something in the region of 43% of the population being either foreign- born or first generation foreign-born. As against that just reflect on the fact that with an aboriginal community - said to be the oldest in the world - here long before the white man we haven't adopted one of that culture's foods as that of Australia - but rather the pizza! A rather revealing article in todays The Independent details the UK experience of that country's race laws after 40 years. It would be interesting to see how this all compares with Australia.

"On person dies every 2 seconds from neglected diseases like malaria and TB" "An estimated 12.5 million people of the world's poorest die every single year from curable diseases". So says Medecins Sans Frontiers / Doctors Without Borders - in a letter seeking donations for the work it undertakes worldwide. Like almost everyone I receive various letters and brochures seeking financial help for this or that worthwhile cause. Clearly everyone can't hope to receive a donation. MFS is a cause which assists the sick and disadvantaged in the poorest of countries. It is a deserving cause and worthy of support - especially as so many sit down to celebrate the Xmas festivities. It is also fair to say, I believe, that MFS has been above reproach in the work it undertakes. Check out MFS here . Finish off 2005 on a "good" and worthwhile note - or then again, start off 2006 on the same basis!

In the continuing propaganada war waged through the media Israeli PM Sharon has been portrayed as "brave" in withdrawing from Gaza and allegedly striving toward some sort of peaceful accommodation with the Palestinians. If only it were the fact! Most independent analysis would suggest that things haven't really gotten any better for the Palestinians and that peace is as elusive as it ever was. Gaza is a basket-case and the West Bank is now peopled by some 420,000 Israelis in the various settlements there. Not a recipe for peace! Now come this report [in todays Guardian] from visiting British MP Gerald Kaufman [seemingly Jewish] - as part of a British Parliamentary delegation to the Palestinian Authority. It makes for depressing reading.

In a recent post on this blog I noted that Donald Rumsfeld [US Secretary of Defence] might be accused as being delusional and out of touch with reality. Today's AlterNet has an article which is more extreme in its description of Rumsfeld - as "a nutter". Read the basis for the allegation here .

As Condi travels around Europe her explanation about renditions [strange word to start out with anyway] she sounds more and more like Bill Clinton. "I did not have sex with that woman". It all depends on your definitions - and use of language. Whatever Condi and her spin-doctors might come up with it will be hard to overcome one very salient matter - this report in the NYT of what happened to a German man snatched up off the street, detained, taken to Afghanistan and then released when the military realised they had made a mistake. Oops! Now there is going to be court case to follow. Watch this space. Read here how The Independent deals with the US court case - and the background to it. Meanwhile, another dimension to renditions appears in this interview re-printed in AlterNet.

Last night the Governmnent rammed through the welfare-to-work legislation. Informed critics say that this will see single parents with some $29 per week less income - and over all, some 150,000 vulnerable people affected. Two other facts revealed yesterday make for stark reading alongside what the John Howard and Co have just done. First, the Brother of St. Laurence released research showing that parents were feeling financially more stressed this year than last. 15% of parents said that they could not afford tickets for the movies for their children and 12% said they were unable to buy new clothes for their children during the past year. Read the full Report here . Second, a Senate Committe revealed yesterday that the Howard Government spent an average $127 million a year in taxpayer's money on advertising - 48% more than the Labour Government averaged in the preceding 5 years. So, there you have it! The priorities of the Government. What an indictment of ...

With the execution of Van Nguyen last Friday as also, on the same day, the 1000th US citizen since the death penalty was re-introduced in America, the whole debate about capital punishment and the mode of it remains extremely topical. Only today comes news that 2 QC's in Victoria are seeking to have the so-called Bali 9 charged in Australia so that they might be extradicted to Australia and escape the risk of a death sentence in Indonesia. The statistics with regard to capital punishment in the USA do not make for happy reading - as this piece here clearly highlights.

189 nations are presently meeting in Montreal to discuss global warming, Kyoto and the like. Hard as it is to believe, global warming and the effects of it - on a variety of levels - remains the subject of some debate and questioning. Just look at the US and Australia, 2 countries which have not signed up to the Kyoto Agreement. I don't think anyone has ever really challenged the integrity of the World Health Organisation. In a report presented to the Montreal Conference the WHO paints a grim picture of the health effects of global warming, especially in Europe, if action is not taken to address and curb the problem.

Condi is this morning trying to fudge what the Americans are doing in relation to rendition and "using" sovereign States to engage in what can only be described as torture. One ex US State Department official on ABC Radio Breakfast this morning spoke of Soviet-like "gulags". Meanwhile, ever "reliable" Rumsi was this morning complaining about the way the American media, wrongly he says, portrays what is happening in Iraq. Its all negative he claims. He can't understand why! Perhaps someone should email Rumsi and Co this article "The Iraq Index" from the current edition of The Nation. Then, perhaps, he might get to understand. As for Condi's denials see these questions which The Independent has posed to Condi today.

As the Senate is set to pass the new IR laws today - debate having being truncated due to the Government, scandalously, gagging debate or applying the guillotine - Australia looks to 2006 with an industrial scene almost certain to create significant unrest. To describe the legislation as Work Choices is downright misleading and deceptive - a breach of the Commonwealth Government's own Trade Practices Act. Apart from Howard and Andrews - and the ever pliant backbench agreeing to anything seemingly without dissent or voicing a contrary view to the Government line - almost all informed opinion has been critical of what the legislation will bring in its wake. It has always been know that the large accounting and legal firms pay well - but in return expect a 25 hour day and 8 day week in return. Large companies are no different. As we head into 2006 consider this - Mallesons, a major legal firm, allows for email feedback on its web site. It certainly would not have expe...

Condi Rice [US Secretary of State] is about to visit Europe. She will probably be working overtime to placate European countries through which the US has been transporting prisoners as part of its so-called rendition program. Yesterday's Der Spiegel revealed that some 437 flights had been operated by the CIA over German air space. The Independent reports today that Condi will probably have her work cut out in explaining away the blatent and uninvited intrusion into foreign air space - aka sovereignty - by the US military. If the IHT is right [see the article here ] the US plans on taking a strong stand on its actions.

At first there were the usual denials... But then the US admitted that, yes, it was writing news articles for Iraqi newspapers. Needless to say the spin in those articles had been predictably positive - even if it did not accord with fact. Why let the truth get in the way? Perhaps not surprisingly, a former aide to VP Cheney defended the practice as "entirely appropriate" in presenting images. Anyone with half a brain and reflecting on the tactic would readily realise that propaganda is one thing but re-writing the facts or giving them a slant totally out of whack with reality is just not gonna fly! - as this Newsweek piece so clearly spells out.

One in six children in Australia lives in a household where no parent is in paid work - a staggering half a million children. So says the Brotherhood of St. Laurence here . What a shocking indictment on Australia and all Australians - in the so-called lucky country! Not for some. The Report could not be more timely. For today the Government is under severe criticism from welfare groups as debate gets underway on the welfare-to-work proposals. It is said that what is proposed will lead to single parents losing some $29 a week in benefits. Another family-friendly policy of the Howard Government?

We have become accustomed to Bush, Cheney, Rumsie and Condi all spinning a line on how well things are progressing in Iraq. It's just that the actual facts on the ground tell a quite different story - as we witness every day in one way or another. Now, perhaps for the first time, a senior US official - no lesser person than the US Ambassador to Iraq - openly acknowledges the fiasco that has become the Iraq War. For instance, there was no exit strategy. I already heard that in late January 2003 when viewing a PBS current affairs program the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee [senior Republican Luger] admitted as much - and that was before the invasion got underway! The Ambassador, and the Administration, may well have their own agenda for the admissions now being made - hard to believe otherwise! - but what is being said should be read nevertheless. Read it here from AlerNet.

Anyone who saw the Walkley Awards on SBS the other night would have seen Mike Carleton, radio personality and columnist, at his very best when being one of the presenters. Carleton could never be accused of taking no prisoners! As he said, let's throw "the rodent" into the harbour - to thunderous applause. Wow!!!! Again, his weekly column in the SMH yesterday - sadly his last for 2005 - is a must read!

Almost from the beginning of the Iraqi War private contractors have been "operating" in Iraq. They have, in large measure, been something of a shadowy presence although involved in, and being paid for, fairly vital work. Virtually the entire "operation" of feeding US personnel has been contracted out - with the resultant reports of companies [principally Haliburton, Cheney's "old" company] ripping off the American taxpayer for multi-millions of dollars. Today the LA Times reports that an investigation undertaken by it has revealed that private security guards have, in effect, operated with little suprevision or being brought to account for deaths and injuries to Iraqis. Read the report here . Yet another dimension to the Iraqi War! - which continues on with , again today , countless deaths. The report would not seem to support any view, so often peddled, that US and its allies are winning over the hearts and minds of the Iraqis.

What a sad day today is as we end the week and head into the weekend... - Sad, because today we have seen the hanging of Van Nguyen in Singapore. Vale Van Nguyen. What else can one say? - Sad, because the face of Australia is to be forever changed with what we now know will be the almost certain passage of the Government's Work Choice legislation today - Sad, in yesterday seeing democracy trashed as the Government applied the guillotine and gag to any debate on the Work Choice legislation - Sad, as the Government has successfully pushed through its anti-terrorism laws including the laws on sedition - despite a Senate Committee earlier this week detailing at least 52 issues in the proposed legislation which required amendment or deletion altogether - Sad, that the Government is intent on changing the laws with respect to work requirements for welfare recipients - disadvantaging the most vulnerable in the community - Sad, how the Government has clearly dem...

Last night saw the awarding of the 2005 Walkely Awards for those in the media. There were many worthy recipients among the winners. Thank God for the ABC and SBS. TV would, otherwise, be a wasteland. At the same time as the annual Awards are being handed out we now know that the Federal Government's anti-terrorism laws are a matter of fact - sedition laws and all. We enter unchartered waters but the apprehension the media will now face will undoubtedly reflect itself in what we are told and see. True free speech, if we ever had it, will almost certainly be a thing of the past. With Ruddock as Attorney-General one would not feel comfortable that our rights are being preserved nothwithstanding the platitudes from John Howard and Ruddock. As always, Richard Ackland, has an insightful article in today's SMH, on the whole topic.

As Singapore seeks to defend itself from the criticism of hanging young Van Nguyen it has sought to paint a picture of a society bound by the rule of law. If this Report from Amnesty International is correct - and there is no reason to think not - then the realities which exists in Singapore in relation to drug-related offences and the rule of law otherwise, is quite something different. It is hard to accuse Singapore of not being a First World country when the mighty USA continues to condone and give effect to the death penalty but all Singaporeans should hang their heads in collective shame.

As controversary swirls around whether George Bush did, or did not, threaten to bomb Al Jareeza, it is noteworthy that Sir David Frost and some noteable TV people previously with CNN and the BBC have agreed to work for Al Jareeza. Today comes news that the people at Al Jareeza have started their own blog called - surprise, surprise at the name - "Don't Bomb Us". What might be described as the credo is interesting too. Read all about it here .

With time running out it seems most unlikely that Van Nguyen will be saved from the gallows in Singapore early tomorrow morning. Singapore's High Commisioner's letter in newspapers yesterday and his interview on ABC Radio's AM Program this morning didn't throw up any valid, let alone reasonable or reasoned arguments, for going ahead with the barbaric death penalty. One "argument" the HC put forward was that Singapore wanted to "save" and protect many from getting into drugs. If that argument had any validity Singapore would have readily agreed to Van Nguyen being available to give evidence against those up the chain [bear in mind Van Nguyen was a mere "mule"] in selling and distributing drugs. Father Peter Norden [Prison Chaplain and successor to Father Brosnan - the priest who was Prison Chaplain at the time of Ronald Ryan being hanged] was interviewed on ABC Radio's Breakfast program this morning. It is a reflecti...

George Bush made, what was described as an important speech, today, on where the USA stands in relation to its on-going commitment to Iraq. Quit? No way! The US will stay the course, whatever that means. "Victory" is the key word. "Victory" of what? - and to whom? Robert Scheer has a perceptive analysis of the whole Iraq situation in truthdig.com well worth reading. Pity that George, Dick, Rummy and Condi and Crew [Blair and Howard] probably won't read the article. Then again, would they get it? 3.30pm update 1/12/05: This interesting analysis from The Huffington Post when read alongside the Scheer article couldn't make it clearer where the Bush Administration stands - nor how it chops and changes in its use of words / language.

To listen to Rumsfeld speak is to listen to someone who [a] can't speak lucid and coherent English, and [b] who increasingly lives in in his own little world - wherever that might be. If there is any brain-power behind what Rumsfeld ever utters is probably questionable too. Today's article in the SMH dealing with a press conference held by Rumsfeld and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the other day sheds some insight into Rumsfeld's "mind" and "thinking". Just despair!