The Prime Minister has let us all down, particularly young people ....

Some things transcend politics and policy and the lust for power. Truth, honesty, integrity, decency and fairness are immutable values. They are the ethical substance of life. They ought to be cherished. To sell them out is to sell one's soul. It is even worse when a leader expediently betrays these values, because it undermines the entire community.

When you listen to street interviews with people in the troubled countries of the euro zone, a common complaint emerges: whereas some people waxed fat in the boom that preceded the crisis, it's ordinary workers who suffer most in the bust, and they and even poorer people who bear the brunt of government austerity campaigns intended to fix the problem.

In other words, achieving a well-functioning economy is one thing; achieving an economy that also treats people fairly is another. Economists and business people tend to focus mainly on economic efficiency; the public tends to focus on the fairness of it all.

The genesis of the tennis grunt is disputed. Some say the grunt was invented in Nick Bollettieri's tennis laboratory where, convinced a noisy expulsion would help a player hit the ball harder, the famed coach played soundtracks from pornographic movies near the test tubes in which his ''Deci-belles'' were incubating.

Others are adamant the shriek was secretly encouraged by the WTA Tour marketing department, which hoped to keep spectators awake during early-round matches.

For better or for worse, unlike most commentators, my judgments about Australian politics are generally formed not by conversations with Canberra insiders but almost solely by reading history books, listening to radio, watching current affairs television and following the newspapers. As it happens, opinion polls are among my most valuable sources of information. They provide, for example, the only reliable evidence about the question I want to discuss in this blog: the relative popularity of our two most recent Prime Ministers - Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

What is it about Australia that makes it the greatest place on earth to live? It is very easy to reflect on your homeland with rose-coloured glasses. When living in the US, I would reminisce about Australia's magnificent beaches and national parks, the irreverent humour of Doug Mulray, the natural beauty of Australian girls. I conveniently forgot about the Sydney traffic, the tall poppy syndrome, the flies in summer and the hidden and sometimes overt racism.

The use of unmanned aircraft belies America's rhetoric about its values.

The CIA recently launched its first drone attack of 2012. Three people in North Waziristan were killed. If you haven't yet heard of these Terminator-style US drones, it is likely you will soon. Their usage in surveillance, modern warfare and covert ''counter-terrorism'' measures is rapidly expanding.

It is hard to know what was more surprising for the average online file-sharer - that sleepy New Zealand was home to the likes of Kim Dotcom, the corpulent magnate behind the Megaupload website; or that the FBI had hunted him halfway around the world and arrested him in the panic room of his $30 million mansion.

But we should be surprised on neither front. The US will go to the ends of the earth to protect its big entertainment corporations and Australia could be the scene of a bigger coup in coming months.

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, sought yesterday to defend his party's renewed policy of turning back all asylum boats at sea as the approach was attacked by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Indonesian authorities and a former naval chief as dangerous and breaching international law.

As usual when musing about a particular sample of the TSA’s evil, it’s tough to decide which detail most infuriates.

The Case of the Strip-Searched Seniors offers a perfect example. What angers you most: the TSA’s shaming frail, elderly invalids by compelling them to disrobe for a governmental goon’s inspection; its lying about these atrocities; or its "apology" that continues smearing the grannies as prevaricators?

Australian comedy performer Barry Humphries has won the title of Australian of the Year in the UK.

He opened his acceptance speech by quoting Rupert Murdoch's comments in front of a British parliamentary committee on phone hacking last year.

Slippery Slipper props up Julia Gillard Government after Andrew Wilkie withdraws support

Slipper is effectively the man holding up the Gillard Government. And the Sunshine Coast turncoat is set to come under renewed pressure from local voters over his move to accept the Speaker's role now that key Independent Andrew Wilkie has abandoned the Labor ship over pokies' reform.

The government faces renewed pressure to announce tough measures on bankers' pay this week as data shows that the average remuneration for 1,265 senior staff was £1.8m in 2010.

The analysis of regulatory disclosures by eight leading banks comes as the business secretary, Vince Cable, prepares to announce on Tuesday how he will tackle the issue of executive pay.

ONE of the state's most senior police officers has been forced to step aside from an investigation into the alleged police beating of a cricket fan after it emerged that the officer involved was his son.

When NSW Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch fronted television cameras on Friday, he defended the actions of an officer who was captured on video punching a cricket fan.

What he did not realise at the time was that the officer in question was his 24-year-old son, Thomas.

from Crikey ….. 

Civil liberties groups to A-G: ASIO refugee assessments unjust