from Crikey .....

Lessons in History: asylum seeker fear is in the fabric of our nation

Mike Stuchbery, a Melbourne author and teacher, writes:

from Crikey .....

Battle for Melbourne: how Gillard's tougher solution will play in the city

Andrew Crook writes:

Ever since a group of ordinary people from more than 40 different countries came together and set sail for Gaza have we seen various world leaders scramble to persuade Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza. Why? To honour the memory of those martyred by Israeli soldiers who shot nine unarmed peace activists at virtually point-blank range? Hell no!

Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.

Statement in the House on funding the war in Afghanistan, July 2, 2010

In January 1991, we went to war in the Middle East against Saddam Hussein, Iraq's dictator who was our ally during the Iran-Iraq war. A border dispute between Kuwait and Iraq broke out after our State Department gave a green light to Hussein's invasion.

Israel's prime minister is flying to Washington DC for talks with the US president as the two leaders look to downplay reported tensions between the allies over Israeli plans to build housing settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

Barack Obama will host Binyamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, with discussions expected to focus the deadly raid on an aid flotilla, the blockade of Gaza, talks with the Palestinians, Israeli settlements and Iran.

from Crikey .....

Found in my letterbox today a Liberal pamphlet spruiking Tony Abbott and 'Bennelong is my second choice' Liberal Candidate John Alexander. The set photo shot has the two of them pointing at a map of the Bennelong electorate.

Such a shame that the focus of both their attention is an area outside the electorate -- if fact if you look closely enough the two of them seem to pointing at an area inside the seat of Bradfield.

And yes, can it be?

They seem to have spotted Wolseley Road in Lindfield - where I understand Alexander still resides, despite promises at his pre-selection that he would move into Bennelong.

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI

The inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa is due to report by the end of the year. It will detail how Mousa died in Iraq in September 2003, allegedly brutalised by British soldiers in a "free for all"; and how it was that he and nine other men in the same incident were allegedly hooded, forced into painful stress positions, and deprived of sleep, food and water.

Ongoing since its May 14, 1948 "Declaration of Independence," Israel systematically reigned terror against Palestinians and neighboring states, always claiming self-defense - bogus then, bogus now, historian Ilan Pappe describing Israel as a "settler Prussian state: a combination of colonialist policies....manifested in the dominance of the army over political, cultural and economic life," then adding:

Much was made of al-Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan, the target of American bombers. But these were kindergartens compared with the world's leading university of terrorism at Fort Benning in Georgia. Known until recently as the School of the Americas, it trained some 60,000 Latin American soldiers, policemen, paramilitaries and intelligence agents. Forty per cent of the Cabinet ministers who served in the genocidal regimes of Lucas Garcia, Rios Montt and Mejia Victores in Guatemala are graduates.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is refusing to back the deal made between the Federal Government and the resources sector over its redesigned resources tax.

Mr Abbott is not rescinding his calls for a new tax on the mining industry to be dumped and has declared that the next election will be a referendum on it.

The Government has backed down on several key areas in a bid to end the damaging stoush with the resources sector, dumping its Resource Super Profits Tax for the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).
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Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says the new regime will be the most complicated in the world.

The Federal Government has agreed major concessions with the mining industry in a redesign of its controversial super profits tax.

The changes, announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard this morning, include reducing the headline rate of the tax from 40 per cent to 30 per cent.

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to receive a prestigious US medal and $100,000 (£67,000) prize for his work in conflict resolution.

The National Constitution Centre is awarding him its Liberty Medal for "steadfast" efforts to broker peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East.

Previous winners include Nelson Mandela and former US presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush senior.

Mr Blair said he was driven by values of "freedom, liberty and justice".

Mr Clinton, the centre's chairman, will present the medal in Philadelphia on 13 September.

'Dedication and creativity'