‘In 2002, Donald Rumsfeld famously called the detainees at Guantánamo "the worst of the worst." General Richard B. Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned they were "very dangerous people who would gnaw hydraulic lines in the back of a C-17 to bring it down." These claims were designed to justify locking up hundreds of men and boys for years in small cages like animals.

from Crikey …..

Doing Rudd slowly while the economy boils over

Christian Kerr writes:

If you’ve ever watched Jamie Oliver, you’ll know how all the different people in a commercial kitchen have to work in unison. And so it is running a nation. The economic Escoffiers and political patisseriers just can’t do their own thing.

‘Neo-cons have convinced themselves that nuking Iran will show the Muslim world that Muslims have no alternative to submitting to the will of the US government. Insurgency and terrorism cannot prevail against nuclear weapons.

from the ABC …..

Minister says Pell as bad as that 'boofhead Hilaly'

Alexandra Smith and Linda Morris

June 7, 2007

The Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, could be compared to "that serial boofhead Sheik al Hilaly", the NSW cabinet minister Nathan Rees has said in an explosive speech in Parliament.

Liberal leadership speculation absurd: Downer

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has described the latest bout of Liberal leadership speculation as "absurd".

With the Coalition trailing Labor in the polls, there has been renewed speculation that it is time for John Howard to hand over the leadership heading into the Federal election campaign.

Little rattus is lying when he says that his new AWA fairness test is 'no different' from the old no disadvantage test.

The deceit of the prime rodent is evidenced by his assertion that it is 'silly' for workers to go to the High Court to appeal against the loss of penalty rates or other conditions under an AWA individual contract, whilst he refuses to give workers any alternative means of appealing a 'fairness test' ruling.

The fairness test is inferior in four key ways:

from the SMH …..

Foreign debt - Australia's black hole

Jacob Saulwick

June 6, 2007

AUSTRALIA'S current account deficit improved slightly in the three months to March following a blowout at the end of last year, but the picture is marred by ballooning foreign debt.

from the Centre for American Progress …..

An Inconvenient Summit

Media Release:
Houston-based KBR, formerly the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co., has been selected by the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command to compete for future task orders under the Anti-Terrorism Force Protection (ATFP) Ashore program contract vehicle. KBR will be part of a Lockheed Martin-led team. Three other companies were also selected to compete for tasks throughout the contract period. KBR will be providing the full range of design-build services for facilities infrastructure to the Lockheed Martin team.

The ATFP is a firm fixed price, indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract that covers one base year and four option years. The four companies selected will compete for tasks which, all totaled, have a contract ceiling of up to $500 million over the five-year time period.

Webdiary's last vestige of heart and soul, Craig Rowley has resigned as director and editor. His departure is only mentioned as a sentence buried in the site. Of the names mentioned as the Webdiary Management Team there is only one who is currently active- General Manager David Roffey.

I was honoured and proud to be invited by Margo Kingston to write there, and to start this blog which she and her brother Hamish helped me find my feet on. I'm glad that John is keeping things alive here.

The idea, championed by Margo and Hamish (founders of Your Democracy) of creating a platform for people to write and exchange their ideas was and is a good one

High-speed broadband to woo voters

Lisa Murray

June 5, 2007

THE ROLL-OUT of a multibillion-dollar high-speed broadband network in the cities could be rushed through as the Federal Government tries to seize the upper hand in the debate before the election.

At the same time, it will spend $900 million - $300 million more than expected - on improving internet speeds and access in regional and remote areas.

from Crikey …..

The hitch that might have freed Hicks

Greg Barns writes:

 
Putin Cautions US Over Missile Defense Plans

By Michael A. Fletcher

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, June 4, 2007; 4:24 PM

PRAGUE, June 4 - President Bush arrived here Monday to begin an eight-day visit to Europe, at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin is threatening to retaliate against U.S. plans for a European missile defense system by aiming some of Russia's weapons at new targets on the continent.