bush to savour sydney and side-step election debate

US President George Bush has told of his excitement about visiting "beautiful" Sydney - and dodged suggestions ally John Howard could be defeated at the coming election - in an interview with Sky News today.

"I'm looking forward to coming to one of the most beautiful cities in the world," he said.

Darwin insider Henri Ivrey writes:

Brough's takeover targets: a shopping mall, a car yard, a pipeline ...

Earlier this year, Aboriginal MP Karl Hampton opened extensions to the Yeperenye shopping centre—the largest shopping complex in Alice Springs. It was a proud moment for the Territory’s youngest MP: it was a building he’d grown up with, shopped at, or just hung around with his mates in the air conditioning.

 

Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.

 

Prayers, protests and a lingering disgust with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina marked the disaster's second anniversary Wednesday, with a presidential visit doing little to mollify those still displaced by the storm.

Clarence Russ, 64, took a dim view of politicians' promises as he tried to put the finishing touches on his repaired home in the city's devastated Lower 9th Ward.

"There was supposed to be all this money, but where'd it go? None of us got any," said Russ, whose house was the only restored home on an otherwise desolate block.

from Crikey …..

Darwin insider Henri Ivrey writes:

Aboriginal assets to be seized, then rented back for profit

In moves seemingly impossible to reconcile with the protection of Aboriginal children on remote towns and communities in the Northern Territory, a document has come into the hands of Crikey that presages a federal government takeover of millions of dollars worth of assets owned by Aboriginal organisations.

George W. Bush has once again thrown down the gauntlet. The Mideast wars of the United States, he announced to the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention on August 22, must end only with a U.S. victory. He has not wavered in this position since September 11, 2001.

 

Tainted chief attorney felled by US political storms …..

US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales was one of President George W Bush's closest advisers and a chief architect of the country's tough anti-terrorism laws, accused of redefining the word "torture".

His uncompromising stand, which led him to argue that terror suspects held at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba had no rights under the Geneva Convention, drew fire from international rights groups.

Like the bloodthirsty un-dead of Transylvania, capitalism is essentially parasitic. Contrary to the inane mythology that anyone who dreams, comes up with a novel idea, follows Oprah “wisdom,” and works hard will eventually sport a net worth north of seven figures, there is very little true upward mobility in the United States. High regressive taxes, low progressive taxes, de facto monopolies, nepotism, cronyism, bribery, a legal system blind to economic crimes of the highest order, and a host of other factors ensure that the rich stay rich and that those in the working class have just enough to ensure their continued existence as hosts for their parasitic masters.

 

Kevin Andrews's CV was not playing it by the book …..

Kevin Andrews has fudged his CV. Both his parliamentary and ministerial websites claim he was "co-author" of three books in the days before he entered Parliament. All appear to have been pumped out by the then Melbourne barrister in a remarkable creative outburst in 1990.

 

Sir David Attenborough: Saving life on our fragile planet earth …..

In the fifty years since his first documentary for the BBC, Sir David Attenborough has seen thousands of species on earth. Now his thoughts have turned to the impact of climate change on the natural world.

 

 

Racing industry may sue over horse flu …..

The Federal Government may face legal action over the horse flu outbreak which has brought Australia's lucrative racing industry to a standstill.

This morning the virus appeared to have spread to racehorses for the first time, with three thoroughbreds from the stables of Bart Cummings and Gai Waterhouse at Sydney's Randwick track showing possible symptoms. 

While turd blossom attempts to justify his folly in Iraq by fabricating the outcome of amerika’s earlier foreign policy disaster in Vietnam, there are still those who think it wiser to learn from history, rather than ignore it.

'"When Iraq becomes strong enough in our opinion to stand alone, we shall be in a position to state that our task has been fulfilled, and that Iraq is an independent sovereign state. But this cannot be said while we are forced year after year to spend very large sums of money on helping the Iraqi government to defend itself and maintain order.”

I once had the pleasure of being the sole occupier of the Presidential Suite at the Sebel Town House. (don't ask...it was a private joke..bloody nice, though very brown( and so was wondering today what that level of motel room was like these days.

The Tele's Gemma Jones (wasn't she the one covering the break-in of Haneef's unit? Yep) went to what will be Bush's room for a test drive.. it sounds like the same sort of digs as I had.

I was struck, reading this piece, by the line:

The first thing the President will see when he steps inside the luxury suite is a stunning postcard view of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House.

Of course Bush won't see any nasty views of protestors. They're banned from his line of sight. That's what it's all about.. well, mostly.