When was the last time you heard a Labor leader declare him or herself ''the most progressive leader the ALP has ever had''? When was the last time you could be confident that a Labor leader would challenge powerful interests - especially economic and corporate power - and not back down? When was the last time you could be sure of what a Labor leader stood for, and be proud of him or her?

Strange problems make for strange solutions.

In a country where people of good conscience are ignored in favor of megalomaniacs like Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, our society has been well-trained to sit up and pay rapt attention in matters regarding the military.

We worship at the altar of the armed forces, and for two basic reasons: 1. Average people pay respect to those in the military because that service to our country is worthy of praise; and, 2. A few very influential people - in the defense industry, the oil industry, and the media - make vast fortunes off the defense budget and the wide coverage any military engagement is given.

from Crikey .....

And we now cross live from London's Green Park Royal Wedding media compound (housing over 8000 broadcast journalists and technicians) to veteran US television journalist Dan Rather...

Although Superman never actually renounces his citizenship in the story, conservative commentators reacted with disgust.

In a blogpost at The Weekly Standard, senior writer Jonathan Last questioned Superman's beliefs, now that he seems to have rejected the United States. "Does he believe in British interventionism or Swiss neutrality?" Last wrote. "You see where I'm going with this: If Superman doesn't believe in America, then he doesn't believe in anything."

Posters on comic book discussion forums drew parallels between the superhero's doubts about his citizenship and the conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's nationality.

Weather records are falling as rapidly as the rain in Sydney, meteorologists say.

Sydney has experienced its wettest March and April in 21 years, with a total of 371 millimetres of rain - nearly 30 millimetres of which fell in the last 24 hours, Josh Fisher of weatherzone.com.au said.

A third of the average annual total of 1213 millimetres of rain has already fallen this year, with the wet weather expected to persist for the next one or two months as the La Nina pattern tapers off.

'The Independent' has a proud tradition of covering royal matters less slavishly than its rivals. We have loosened up a bit since our early days, when the 1988 birth of the Duke and Duchess of York's first child was marked with a single grudging sentence in the News In Brief column.

from Crikey .....

The bureaucracy of Gitmo: Franz couldn't have made it up

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Misrata has come under attack by Libyan government forces attempting to retake the besieged city.

Three people were reportedly killed as missiles slammed into the city's port, a lifeline for those seeking to escape to the rebel stronghold Benghazi.

Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians in Libya amid a two-month revolt inspired by other uprisings in the Arab world.

The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss a statement on the unrest.

BEIJING: The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has emerged from top-level talks to declare ''the relationship with China is in good shape'', despite pushing Australia's concerns about businessmen detained in Chinese jails.

Ms Gillard squarely raised questions about the Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu and tourism entrepreneur Matthew Ng, who has been charged but not prosecuted in Guangzhou, and also won plaudits for stabilising the relationship and focusing on its economic strengths.

''My argument today is that we can be positive about our relationship and that we should be ambitious for its future,'' Ms Gillard told business leaders in a speech last night.

China has urged the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to study its ''tremendous progress on human rights'' and ''show basic respect'' as she begins her most testing outing on the international stage.

Ms Gillard, who arrived in China last night for her first visit in a decade, said she was confident of extending economic and practical co-operation while pressing human rights concerns.

But returning to a pragmatic, Howard-like balance will not be easy in an environment where the Chinese state's willingness to assert its own political interests appears to be growing at least as fast as the Chinese economy.

The decade after the 9/11 attacks has seen the creation of a profitable cottage industry of self-styled "experts" on Islam. As Sarah Posner recently noted in an article on Religion Dispatches, anti-Muslim fear-mongers, ranging from politicians to national security experts, have "cultivated a wide-ranging conspiracy theory that totalitarian Islamic radicals are bent on infiltrating America, displacing the Constitution, and subverting Western-style democracy in the U.S. and around the globe." 

Judging by recent news, dictators had better get good lawyers. First, Ivory Coast announced that it intends to hand over Laurent Gbagbo, its recently deposed strongman, to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Then the Tunisian authorities announced that they have prepared 18 charges against former ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. He may have fled to Saudi Arabia, but Tunisians have a warrant out for his arrest and they will be ready, if they ever get the chance to prosecute him.

DARNAH, Libya — For more than five years, Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu was a prisoner at the Guantánamo Bay prison, judged “a probable member of Al Qaeda” by the analysts there. They concluded in a newly disclosed 2005 assessment that his release would represent a “medium to high risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests and allies.”

The head of the Australian Christian Lobby and former special forces soldier Jim Wallace has "unreservedly" apologised for commenting against gay marriage and Muslims on Anzac Day.

Jim Wallace, the managing director of ACL, wrote on Twitter this morning: "Just hope that as we remember Servicemen and women today we remember the Australia they fought for - wasn't gay marriage and Islamic!"

Mr Wallace was heavily criticised on Twitter for his comments.

The Crown Prince of Bahrain was last night forced to pull out of attending the wedding, hours before he had been due to fly in to London, amid anger over his role in the Gulf state's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Human rights activists had pledged to disrupt Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa's stay in Britain with a series of protests, insisting that he is the chief architect of the Saudi-backed security forces' violent response to the demonstrators, which has left up to 31 people dead...

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