from the ABC

The BBC has been accused of having a "total sense of humour failure" after banning its political editor, Nick Robinson, and other senior journalists such as Huw Edwards and George Alagiah from taking part in one of the corporation's own entertainment television programmes.

Goldman Sachs is heading for further public opprobrium today following claims that the firm managed $15 billion worth of bond sales for Greece after arranging a currency swap that allowed the government to hide the extent of its budget deficit.

No American leader has done more to advance a clean energy future than President Obama. Nor has any American president done more to invoke a mandate for stricter workplace safety and environmental regulations.

And yet, ever since President Obama first visited my native southern Illinois coalfields in 1997 on a golf outing with a fellow state legislator, he has seemingly failed to grasp the staggering human and environmental toll of coal mining and coal burning on our coalfield communities-and ultimately, the nation.

From Robert Fisk

from John Pilger

Why are so many films so bad? This year's Oscar nominations are a parade of propaganda, stereotypes and downright dishonesty. The dominant theme is as old as Hollywood: America's divine right to invade other societies, steal their history and occupy our memory. When will directors and writers behave like artists and not pimps for a world view devoted to control and destruction?

read more of John Pilger...

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from Crikey .....

Partisan teen becomes conservative idol -- and other Q&A mysteries

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Let me put American life in the Age of Terror into some kind of context, and then tell me you're not ready to get on the nearest plane heading anywhere, even toward Yemen.

The Salvation Army says it is worried by comments by Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that homelessness can be a choice for some people.

Mr Abbott made the comments to a meeting of social service providers last week.

Major David Eldridge from the Salvation Army says he hopes Mr Abbott was not trying to politicise the issue.

Am I on my lonesome to believe that for the last 60 years the US has been trying to stop the formation of Europe?...

A strong Europe would pose a "challenge" to the US.

Today, any who fight against or resist the invasion of the United States armed forces, whether in occupied territory or not, and even when they are defending their own homes and families, are called insurgents. But given the proper definition above, do these "insurgents" really exist?

Americans have been induced to believe that the Zionist state is an ally. We are not alone in viewing Israel as a legitimate nation and a noble experiment to provide a "homeland" for a victimized people. That alluring storyline victimized the broader Jewish community while also laying waste to the nation that was first deceived to extend to Zionists the hand of friendship.

from Crikey .....

Tony Abbott tells us why Peter Garrett should resign his portfolio:

MI5 faced an unprecedented and damaging crisis tonight after one of the country's most senior judges found that the Security Service had failed to respect human rights, deliberately misled parliament, and had a "culture of suppression" that undermined government assurances about its conduct.