The old Catholic-based Democratic Labor Party — a product of Labor's split of the 1950s — is "alive and well and living inside the Howard Government", Health Minister Tony Abbott says.

In what passes for democracy in Australia, the vilest of the vile has won.

Labor lost because for six years it ruled, just like the Liberals before it, for the big end of town and did nothing to advance the interests of its working class supporters.

from Crikey …..

Stimulating hypocrisy from Hockey: Joe's changed tune

It is 2013, right? Why then, is a woman's status as a mother still relevant to her career potential?

Stephen Fry is the kind of person to avoid debating against. He's basically a huge brain piloting a finely tuned public speaking machine. Please note that this clip isn't about Catholics being bad people. In my experience, Catholics themselves tend to be some of the nicest, most caring individuals I have ever met. Fry's anger is directed at the Catholic leadership and policy makers.

Today’s global economy is causing shortages of natural resources (both renewable and non-renewable) as we come to the end of what might be called the Age of Extraction. A true cost, steady state economy, on the other hand, would prevent resource problems by maintaining population and resource consumption well within the carrying capacity of the planet.

According to the line flogged relentlessly for the last six years by the federal Coalition and the mainstream media, the Howard-Costello years – 1996 to 2007 – were a period of wonderful money management.

Warning: This story is going to make you very angry.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)  has categorically refused in defiance of its own mandate to share evidence uncovered in Iraq that US military use of Depleted Uranium and other weapons have not only killed many civilians, but continue to result in the birth of deformed babies.

When I was a lass I was proud of my class, like my father and mother before me

They taught me to fight for my civil rights, but it’s always the same old story –

Our present leaders are paying the price for the dishonesty of Bush and Blair

Sonic waves from Queen's We Will Rock You are splitting the very air apart when I find the new senator at his country home somewhere to the north-west of Narrabri.

An empire is not a monolith. Humans are not robots.

The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures.