After failing to anticipate Hamas's victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs.

As J.G. Hülsmann stated in his seminal essay The Cultural and Spiritual Legacy of Fiat Inflation: "The government’s fiat makes inflation perennial, and as a result we observe the formation of inflation-specific institutions and habits.  

Professor Ian Harper is the part-time chair of the Fair Pay Commission, the body which increased minimum wages by a derisory amount last year (a whole $5.32 a week for those privileged bastards on $700 a week). 

It turns out he got a pay rise himself last year which was a bit more than the amounts his Commission awarded. 

Well, so much for our new government taking an even-handed position on Israel/Palestine.

Before our politicians even warmed their seats in the new parliamentary sittings, the Australian Prime Minister announced that he will lead a parliamentary motion to honour Israel on 12 March acknowledging Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day. The Opposition Leader will second the motion. Then, celebrations will take place at a reception in the Mural Hall of Parliament House. 

"As of 1940 hrs 29/02/08 I have been placed under an injunction preventing me from speaking publicly and publishing material gained as a result of my service in UKSF (SAS).

from Mike Carlton 

Very ugly developments in the genteel world of town planning ….. 

Frank Vellar, the badly shaven property developer, has not done any favours for the industry in which he has suddenly become such a colourful figure.

from Crikey 

Iemma's power privatisation to favour Chinese state giant 

Alex Mitchell writes: 

The Plan is for the United States to rule the world.  

The overt theme is unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination.  

It calls for the United States to maintain its overwhelming military superiority and prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge it on the world stage.  

The company behind a controversial development under Canberra Airport's flight path that was approved by the Planning Minister against the recommendation of an independent panel has emerged as a big donor to NSW Labor. 

Village Building Company, which pushed for several rural properties in Queanbeyan to be rezoned residential so it could build more than 4500 homes on it, donated $154,400 to NSW Labor since 2002, Australian Electoral Commission returns reveal. 

I have front row seats to the madness of post-9-11 Washington D.C.  

The overtly fascist overdrive of the U.S. government has twisted an already backwards nation into a Homeland of Terror.  

In a stunning turnaround, the former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay said Thursday he would be a defense witness for the driver of Osama bin Laden. 

This is shaping up to be the greatest expression of European unanimity and togetherness since Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974.

From Gdansk in the Baltic to the Straits of Cadiz, the citizens of this fractious and culturally disparate continent are at last united.

It is a remarkable achievement, when you think about it.

The Iemma Government was in full blown crisis last night as the Environment Minister, Phil Koperberg, prepared to quit the cabinet and the future of the Ports Minister, Joe Tripodi, was under a giant cloud as a result of the Wollongong sex-for-development scandal. 

The Premier was set to announce Mr Koperberg's retirement from cabinet this morning, senior sources confirmed.

from Crikey ….. 

Libs won't touch the Howard inner circle 

Christian Kerr writes: