keep power in our hands: campaign against NSW electricity privatisation …..  

By Dr Patricia Ranald 

A Pentagon office that claims to monitor terrorist threats to U.S. military bases in North America - and was once reprimanded by the U.S. Congress for spying on antiwar activists - has just awarded a multi-million dollar contract to a company that employs one of Donald Rumsfeld’s former aides.

“Australia has sacrificed the principles of science-based management and sustainable use that are the world standard (and which Australia uses in other international forums and for the management of its own wildlife) as a political expediency to satisfy the interests of non-government organisations. 

Surfer Swan hits heavy weather …..

English classic actor Michael Gambon once defended his right to keep some things private from an intrusive media by saying if an audience knew everything about a thespian say, perhaps, that he was a model railway enthusiast it would detract from the performance.

Sometimes, in a bid to appear human, aspiring politicians reveal just a little too much of themselves.  

A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes that foods from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as those from ordinary animals, effectively removing the last U.S. regulatory barrier to the marketing of meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and goats. 

Pope Benedict XVI has cancelled a planned visit to a prestigious Italian university after a protest by academics and students attacked his views on Galileo, the Vatican confirmed Tuesday. 

The pope had been due to give a speech at La Sapienza university in Rome Thursday to open its academic year. 

Romney wins in Michigan primary ….. 

Republican Mitt Romney has won the US state of Michigan's presidential primary, beating Senator John McCain. 

Giving a victory speech to jubilant supporters as the results came in, Mr Romney said the win marked 'the beginning of a comeback'. 

 It's taken me a day to realise how bogus the "Filipino Monkey" saga truly is.  I now believe that using the story has been a "safety hatch," an trustworthy escape from a failed attempt at starting a new war. 

Vainly, I'd arrived at the connection due to my  name (the story only really came to Australia yesterday), but was far from disappointed to find that many bloggers have made the connection between Monkey and the Tonkin incident.  For those who don't know, the Gulf Of Tonkin was the location of a confrontation that was used as vindication for starting the Vietnam war, and it's now widely believed that the event was faked.

We'd better start at the battlefront.  Here's a taste from Fox News:

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from the Washington Post .... 

from The Evening Standard (London) ….. 

There is something unedifying about Tony Blair's joining of investment bank JPMorgan and I don't just mean on the part of the former Prime Minister. 

the emperor ….. 

US President George Bush stepped up his war of words with Iran today, calling Tehran the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism in the keynote speech of his tour of the Middle East and the Gulf. 

Some nights I wonder how much of his visions Dick Cheney revealed to Howand and his cabinet. I'm still impressed how quickly after assuming power in '97, the year of Cheney's secondmost recent vist here (and the formative year of Halliburton Australia), the Australian space legislation was altered to fast-track plans for Woomera, and still wonder if the intended purpose was to use Kistler rockets to send troops into the middle east?

The American president came to the Middle East in an attempt to deliver peace.

Instead, George W. Bush's visit to the Holy Land has only deepened the divide between the Israelis and Palestinians. 

When James Cojanis heard the first rumblings of Armageddon, he was sitting in his San Jose home with the radio tuned to a popular Christian show called The Prophecy Club. Featured that day was a charismatic Texas oilman named Harold "Hayseed" Stephens.

Hundreds of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, senior security sources warned last night. 

As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source.