’In a previous article in "The Independent Australian", Issue 5, 2005, I compared the Eureka Stockade of 1854 and showed how the death of many of the miners at the Stockade at least led in the long run to democratic reforms. I also showed that now, in this year of 2005, the democratic gains of the Stockade, including such rights, which the Eurekans and their democratic heirs, expected would remain in place, such as trial by jury, innocent until proven guilty, the duty of the State to prove guilt, freedom for arbitrary arrest, and the accountability of government to the citizen, to mention but some of these rights, had now been destroyed. In a mood of Doublethink politicians still use the word "democratic", but it has become an empty, hypocritical symbol used to lull the sheeple into capitulation to the rise of globalism and the extinction of personal freedom. That move towards personal slavery, of which David Hicks, is only one symbol, is continuing to mount, and shows little sign of stopping. As a proponent of civil liberty, naturally I am concerned, as all citizens should be, unless they have been hypnotized into a mood of apathy. 

‘Surely the most telling indictment of the lack of fair trial inherent in the proposed military commission process is that no US citizen can be subject to it because of the US constitutional guarantee of a right to a fair trial. John Walker Lindh was whisked out of Cuba to face trial before US civilian courts, as was his right. The Bush Administration consistently rails against the International Criminal Court because it allegedly fails to meet the necessary standards of fair trial guaranteed to all US citizens.  

I found this on Utterly Boring today.  Some days I know the feeling.  Click here and enjoy.

 Thanks to ABC-891 Adelaide's David Bevan for mentioning this pic on air.. made my day!

‘President Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals.  

But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash.  

A source said: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it." Al-Jazeera is accused by the US of fuelling the Iraqi insurgency. The attack would have led to a massacre of innocents on the territory of a key ally, enraged the Middle East and almost certainly have sparked bloody retaliation.’  

Thanks to Rove MacManus (as President Bush) for the title.

Trevor isn't with us. Trevor is against us-
From out of his playground, Trevor has fenced us !
First thing in the morning is
when Trevor looks more scarier.
We will Win The War On Trevor,
and his faithful dog, his terrier.

Where is Trevor hiding?
No-one knows for certain.
Is he under the bed? Is he in the fridge?
Look- he's hiding behind the curtain !
Curse the day that Trevor's mother
let his father marry 'er!
We will Win the War on Trevor,
and his faithful dog, his terrier

‘Among the fundamental conceits of the architects of the Bush administration's war on terrorism is that heavy-handed interrogation is useful, even necessary, to get any information that will protect the American people, and that such interrogation techniques are devoid of negative consequences in dealing with real or suspected terrorists.  

One way this notion has played out in practice is the CIA's use of "extraordinary rendition," in which terror suspects overseas are kidnapped and delivered to third-party countries for interrogation - which, not uncharacteristically, includes some measure of torture, and sometimes fatal torture. 

Adelaide, the Australian home of Star Wars, Halliburton, Global Hawk and the Joint Strike Fighter Project, has begun building a global-standard data transfer system that will allow local activities to be co-ordinated internationally.

Today's Adelaide Advertiser announces the commencement and construction of a major fibreoptic network, connencting defence, science and educational facilities at speeds enabling synchronisation with global projects.

[excerpt] 

SABRENet will cut the time to transfer a terabyte of data to just 17 minutes, compared with about three months using business broadband.

‘Last week's events give further proof of what the Right do best.  

They divert and distract our attention from what they are up to with wars, and rumours of wars. 

Last week should have seen an assessment of Whitlam's policies and his legacy. Free university education, a rich robust ABC, an empowered, resurgent Aboriginal minority, an empowered union movement, an artistic renaissance, a new film industry and so on should have been discussed and praised and criticised.  

‘You stood with your back to the concrete wall and had the audacity to say to the Palestinians people, "This wall is not against the Palestinians. This is against the terrorists. The Palestinian people have to help to prevent terrorism. They have to change the attitudes about terrorism."

Your words proved yet again that neither you nor anyone else in our government has any grasp of reality of what is actually happening in the ground in Palestine.  

I have a few cartoons to upload but I am having some technical difficulties with the etherblog.... Be patient...

Interesting day at the Rumsfeld rally (nothing huge, around 600 I'd guess) particularly to watch the level of covert security.

Came into town by train at 4 o'clock... a couple of police on the platform, fifty people with backpacks heading in different directions.

Up to the main street. Immediately to the right is the Halliburton-constructed barrier blockading the Hyatt from the world, a few constabulary behind it- nothing major.

Strolling up past the Casino, you see a few more parked at the outdoor cafe, a couple across the street, three or four at the front of Parliament House.

As Prime Minister Howard does an "about face" calls for an inquiry into Australian bribes in Iraq, it appears that knowledge of suspicious financial transfers by the
Australian Wheat Board's trucking company has been available for
several months, possibly well over a year.

According to a LA Times article in June this year, U.S. Embassy offoicials were aware
before this year that Jordanian trucking company Alia may have been
acting as a "front" for bribes to the Saddam regime.

I wonder how much "unravelling" is going to occur at the Australian end of the Bush fiasco? A few more problems like the Australian Wheat Board's Bribes to Saddam, David Hicks' mistreatment "on Rumsfeld's Watch", and the "loopholing" of US foreign aid funds through Australian (specifically the Adelaide offices of Halliburton/KBR) bookwork, could show a level of inter-cabinet complicity that runs much deeper than the Ausmin meeting in Adelaide.

I wonder if Rupert Murdoch, "back home" this week to open his new SA Headquarters, will hang around Adelaide for another day to shake hands with Rummy?

 A planned Adelaide protest against U.S. Secretary of Defence has been cancelled by South Australian Authorities, and those gathering at Parliament House without permission wil be "moved on" by police.

Protest spokesman Mr Mike Khizan said in a media release tonight that “Donald Rumsfeld, a man whom many millions of people around the world see as an international war criminal is coming to Adelaide, and in the name of ‘protecting’ him, free speech is being denied and the right to dissent attacked.