From Peter Costello

Fresh back from the United States where she announced her undying love for America, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, let us in on a secret no one could have guessed. She is an old-fashioned traditionalist.

In an interview for Australian Agenda on Sky News, Gillard declared she opposed euthanasia, opposed gay marriage, and wanted people to study the Bible. She doesn't sound too different from Tony Abbott. He is a one-time Catholic seminarian - now married with children - who deeply opposes euthanasia and abortion. She is an atheist who keeps her unmarried partner in the Lodge. But when it comes to traditional family values Gillard wants you to know they are Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/born-again-gillard-on-the-old-fogy-bandwagon-20110412-1dcip.html

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Environmental activists in Cambodia are opposing a multi-million dollar agribusiness proposal by a company associated with former treasurer Peter Costello.

They say the project will close off an internationally significant wildlife corridor.

But the company behind the banana plantation and reforestation project in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains says it will be sustainable and provide jobs and export income.

The mountain forests have been regenerating for the last 10 to 15 years after previously being selectively logged.

For the last decade, the Wildlife Alliance has been protecting the area from poachers, illegal settling and logging with its own rangers and government backing.

Now the NGO's founder, Suwanna Gauntlett, is opposing the Australian proposal for a 5,000 hectare banana plantation and 20,000 hectare reforestation project.

"As you can see it is a forest with grassland and bushland. It was indeed a former logging concession," she said.

The company planning the development says there is no forest of value on the site, but the unbroken tree link between the two mountain ridges is clearly visible from the air.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/12/3189689.htm?section=justin

Yes Peter... No Peter... Three bags full Peter... Julia, the Love child of Bob Brown and Tony Abbott? You're nuts... simply nuts...

Julia is more like a tight-rope walker...

At one end, there is a stupid clown (Tony Abbott) doing all he can to make her fall off by shaking the elastic cable, without rhyme or reason apart for being an annoying silly shitty little brat. At the other end there is a big old green frog waiting to be kissed. Below, look at the crowd of unwashed baiting for blood... Most people are holding on to the crosses of moralizationing they don't really believe in anymore, while the furnace of global warming is fuelled by their air conditioning units energy consumption... The ceiling batts programme was a success nonetheless for 99.9 per cent of people who have been insulated, but Tony-the-clown (my apologies to the real clowns) still blurts indecencies about the idea so the ingrates poopoo their own blessings.

Running end to end on Julia's balancing pole there are the Rudds and the Keatings and the Labor Party Machine Men telling here what to do — not to mention they placed a blindfold on her eyes...

Meanwhile Wilkie is tying her shoe laces together and a few others men and women are trying to pull her pants down...

She is doing well so far... but should she fall, of course all would blame her for doing so...

And did I mention many journos in the media?... Just taking pot-shots at her from the comfort of their shock-jockery and the saddle of their high horses — those with two butts and no head....

A toon like this one would take several days...

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says he has no recollection of allegedly ordering teenage Army cadets to salute the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's rise to power during his time at Duntroon Military College.

The claim, in News Limited newspapers today, comes after Mr Wilkie claimed he was the victim of a dirty tricks campaign because of his calls for more regulations on Australia's gaming industry.

Today's Herald Sun says Mr Wilkie was part of a group which allegedly ordered teenage army cadets to salute the 50th anniversary of Hitler's 1933 rise to power in Germany.

The paper says that when one junior cadet refused to stand at attention, Mr Wilkie allegedly allowed other senior cadets to abuse and punish him.

Mr Wilkie says he has no recollection of the alleged incident but he has made no secret of being involved in a bastardisation scandal at Duntroon in 1983, the year of the alleged incident.

He says the fresh allegations are part of a deliberate smear campaign over his push to crack down on poker machines.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/15/3192083.htm

Clubs Australia is calling on independent MP Andrew Wilkie to apologise for claiming his past at the Duntroon Royal Military College is being brought up as part of a smear campaign against his push for poker machine reform.

A former cadet at Duntroon has told News Limited newspapers that while Mr Wilkie was a senior cadet at the military college in the 1980s, he made teenage cadets salute the 50th anniversary of Hitler's 1933 rise to power in Germany.

Mr Wilkie says he has no memory of such an incident, although he has previously confirmed he was disciplined over a bastardisation scandal.

This morning he apologised to anyone he may have hurt and went on to say he was also the victim of bullying during his first year at Duntroon.

Mr Wilkie says the reports - and death threats he has received - are part of a campaign to stop him following through with poker machine reform.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/15/3192834.htm?section=justin

Gus: what Andrew Wilkie should be aware of is that many media outlet — especially the grubby ones — keep a tab on people — especially politicians... This "file" of stuff includes all they did since childhood, their first masturbation as gathered from indiscreet friends, their only fist fights from staunch enemies and their cholesterol level as stolen from doctor's files... ASIO leaks (though quite rare) can also augment this bounty TO BE ONLY USED AT TIMES TO EMBARRASS THE MOST... and voila. Many poliies on the right have naughty files bigger than the bible but these are rarely used (see the way some right wing pollies got dumped by their own mates in NSW) as most media outlets see the Libs (conservatives ratbags) as the side to support AT ANY COST to reality and to proper governmental values... All the media outlets need to gather on the left-hand side of politics to stir the possum is a couple of hear-say lines written on toilet paper... or a whisper from the Liberal (conservative ratbag) leader....

That the way the beast works... The honchos at Club Australia may not "have done anything"... But the media wheels who loves biffo and supports money grubs would have done it on their beloved behalf...

Most of the information is often kept in a ready-to-go "obit" article. With computering, this is a piece of cake.

Australian internet whiz Daniel Tzvetkoff, who has become a prized FBI informant in a bid to avoid a 75 year jail sentence in the US, may have brought down the multi-billion dollar American online poker industry.

The FBI announced on Friday it had charged 11 people, including the founders of three of the largest internet poker companies in the US, with bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offences.

The three poker sites - PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker - have been shut down.

It is believed Gold Coast entrepreneur Tzvetkoff's decision to turn super-grass and reveal to authorities the secret schemes used by poker companies to illegally launder billions of dollars via phony bank accounts and shell companies helped the FBI and New York prosecutors build their case.

"These defendants, knowing full well that their business with US customers and US banks was illegal, tried to stack the deck," FBI assistant director Janice Fedarcyk, in announcing Friday's charges, said.

"They lied to banks about the true nature of their business."

It seems the R18+ game rating debate is "descending into farce", because Minister for Home Affairs Brendan O’Connor wants to consider the employment opportunities and economic impact of not having an adult rating for games.

If you've followed this debate over the years you'll know it's been heavy on hysteria and light on facts. The crux of the matter is that Australia is about the only western country without an R18+ rating for computer games - even though we have such a rating for movies and other content. The lack of an R18+ rating hasn’t stopped such games coming into Australia, it’s just ensured they almost all get rated MA15+ with little or no changes. So the lack of an R18+ rating is actually making it easier for children to get access to inappropriate games because they’re not locked behind glass alongside the adult movies, where they belong.

Debate over an R18+ game rating has been stifled for years by the state Attorneys General, but now South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson is gone we’re getting closer to a resolution. The federal government has also threatened to step in and sort it out - thus the comments from Brendan O’Connor.

The gaming industry is one of the largest money spinners in the world and Australia is well-placed to get a slice of the action. O’Connor’s attempt to look at the economic impact of the debate has been shot down by the Australian Christian Lobby as an act of desperation.

http://digihub.smh.com.au/node/2037

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Using another measure of psychological distress, the Kessler 10 scale, the study found that 31.1 per cent of problem gamblers were experiencing such distress at likely severe levels, compared to a general population level of 3.1 per cent.

The study's authors were at pains to point out that their study reports associations - not causality. The gambling industry's spokespeople are usually at pains, however, to point out that problem gamblers are afflicted with a range of psychological and physical health problems, frequently suggesting that these are the underlying causes of problem gambling. This may be so, for some. But it is certainly not the case for all, and in any event, preying on vulnerable people with cunning, expensive, and highly toxic machines designed to induce 'zoning out' amongst those most susceptible is hardly an ethical business decision.

As far as the clubs and pubs are concerned, gambling reform is all about them, or to be precise, their revenue stream. Yet by their own admission, 23 per cent of the money that goes through pokies comes from problem gamblers (the Productivity Commission reckons it's 40 per cent). Either way, 62,000 new problem gamblers every year is a high price to pay for propping up that revenue stream, as golden as it is.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2785862.html

Gus: as one club CEO told me the other day, "responsibility and regulations are making business difficult"... Yep... the alcohol and gaming business is about profit, while keeping an eye on responsibility, not intoxication beyond a limit... But that limit is presently an undefined zone in which some will loose their trousers...

Federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie has hit back at criticism from Collingwood Football Club president Eddie McGuire over changes to poker machine laws.

AFL club presidents will meet on Monday to discuss their concerns over the Government's move to introduce mandatory pre-commitment technology on poker machines.

They say the technology, which bars gamblers from playing the machines once they have lost a pre-nominated sum of money, will slash poker machine profits relied on by clubs.

Mr McGuire has labelled the move a "footy tax".

However, the AFL's media and communications department tweeted late Sunday: "For anyone in any doubt, the AFL is NOT starting a campaign this week around proposed pokie legislation. Any suggestion to that is incorrect."

Mr Wilkie is behind the push for the pre-commitment technology, and is supporting Julia Gillard's minority Government on the basis that it is introduced.

He says Mr McGuire's claim is "patently ridiculous".

"Eddie is a good man, he's a leadership figure in the community, he should know better," he said.

"He knows this is not going to be a tax on football, and he shouldn't use such inflammatory terms.

"It is not in the public interest and it is not the sort of behaviour we need from a leadership figure in the community and from the AFL."

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has backed Mr Wilkie, and says football clubs are being misleading in their campaign against pre-commitment technology.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-25/wilkie-hits-out-at-mcguire-over-pokies-laws/2941508

see toon at top...

The ABC has uncovered evidence that criminal networks are recruiting problem gamblers into the drug trade.

A study of the parole records of Vietnamese drug offenders in Sydney's south-west has revealed almost three-quarters of them blame problem gambling for their crimes.

The investigation by the ABC's News Online Investigative Unit found criminal networks are actively recruiting problem gamblers playing poker machines at pubs and clubs, to traffic heroin and cultivate cannabis.

Of the more than 600 ethnic Vietnamese drug offenders surveyed, 72 per cent said they were enticed into the drug trade to pay their gambling debts.

But the recruitment of problem gamblers to carry out criminal activities is not isolated to Sydney's south-west and is occurring in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

The ABC News Online Investigative Unit has spoken to offenders, police, defence lawyers and psychologists about this common pathway to drug crime and can reveal:

• Organised crime networks observe gamblers in pubs and clubs and cultivate friendships
• They watch a problem gambler lose large sums of money and offer a cash loan
• They continue lending money and do not seek repayment
• They call in the loan once the debt is built up and cannot be repaid
• The problem gambler is asked to engage in criminal activity to repay the loan

This week, police in Sydney's south-west have continued to raid homes as part of Strike Force Zambesi, which has seized hydroponic cannabis worth an estimated street value of $25 million since March.

So far, half of those interviewed by police blame gambling debts for their crimes.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-28/gamblers-recruited-into-drug-trade/3025290