From Our ABC .....

Westpac outsources 77 Adelaide jobs to India

A major investment company owned by Westpac has denied that the outsourcing of more than 70 South Australian jobs to India is a cost-cutting exercise.

The BT Financial Group argues the redundancies are aimed at improving customer service.

Workers at the BT office at Bedford Park, in Adelaide's south, were told yesterday that 77 administration jobs would go offshore.

‘Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the world faces "a new type of fascism" and warned against repeating the pre-World War II mistake of appeasement.

Rumsfeld alluded to critics of the Bush administration's war policies in terms associated with the failure to stop Nazism in the 1930s, "a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among the Western democracies."

Without explicitly citing Bush critics at home or abroad, he said "it is apparent that many have still not learned history's lessons." Aides to Rumsfeld said later he was not accusing the administration's critics of trying to appease the terrorists but was cautioning against a repeat of errors made in earlier eras.’

Whilst proponents & opponents of the federal government’s move to slap a restriction order on “Jihad Jack” argue up hill & down dale as to whether restricting freedom of citizens is justified on the basis that they might commit a crime, the cynic in me suspects that the majority of Australians support the government’s move, provided, of course, that the same arbitrary principles & secret processes are not used against them.

Whilst I’m just as sickened by acts of terrorism as anyone-else, irrespective of whether they are perpetrated by religious zealots, alleged patriots or armies fielded by wicked politicians, I’m more concerned by the success enjoyed by our politicians in spinning their fear meme; to the point where we seem to have totally lost our perspective.

From the ABC .....

Ruddock accused of vilifying Jack Thomas

The defence barrister for Victorian man Jack Thomas has accused the federal Attorney-General of vilifying his client in the media.

Mr Thomas had his terrorism-related conviction overturned earlier this month but was yesterday put under a 12-month control order.

‘George W. Bush has been faulted in some quarters for taking an extended vacation while the Middle East festers. It doesn't much matter; the man running the country is Vice President Dick Cheney.

When historians look back on the multiple assaults on our constitutional system of government in this era, Cheney's unprecedented role will come in for overdue notice. Cheney's shotgun mishap, when he accidentally sprayed his host with birdshot, has gotten more media attention than has his control of the government.

From the ABC .....

Howard rejects warning on greenhouse emissions

Prime Minister John Howard has dismissed calls for Australia to cut its greenhouse emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 in order to combat the effects of global warming.

The suggestions were made in a report commissioned by the Business Roundtable on Climate Change, comprising companies such as BP, the Visy Corporation and Westpac Bank.

 
‘Furious at Iran's decision to test-fire surface-to-surface missiles and push forward with its nuclear program, President George W. Bush today named Iran to a newly-formed "Axis of Eviler."

The president said that he had invented the new Axis specifically for Iran because "evil does not describe just how evil these folks really are."

Mr. Bush singled out Iranian Mahmud Ahmadinejad for special condemnation, calling the provocative head of state an "evilerdoer."

From the ABC .....

Govt has learnt lessons from Katrina, Bush says. 

As the first anniversary of hurricane Katrina approaches, US President George W Bush has promised Americans that his administration has learnt its lessons from the storm.

US authorities have warned that if the same storm were to hit New Orleans today, the city's levees would again fail.

‘Poor Wal-Mart just can't seem to catch a break. There they are, the monks of Bentonville - who, according to company legend, share hotel rooms on business trips rather than drive up the price of pantyhose - toiling away to make the good life affordable to the impecunious masses. And what do they get? Nothing but grief. The Democrats are running against Wal-Mart in the fall congressional elections, and not just the wild-eyed progressive ones. Centrist Hillary Clinton returned a $5,000 donation from the company, citing its inadequate health benefits, and Joe Biden just attacked it because he doesn't see "any indication that they care about the fate of middle-class people." ……………

107 building workers and their families face $28,600 fines under the new IR laws .....

Dear friend,

107 Western Australian building workers face jail and personal fines of up to $28,600. Their crime? Participating in a stoppage in support of a sacked workmate and refusing to accept persistent safety breaches in their workplace.

 
The Editor,
Sydney Morning Herald.                                                             August 25, 2006.

The Editor,
Sydney Morning Herald.                                                             August 25, 2006.

Surely it’s a simple matter for airlines to resolve the dilemma of competing rights & interests of paranoid air crews, fearful members of the flying public & those unfortunate individuals not blessed with an anglo-celtic heritage (‘Police arrest 12 passengers after jet turns back’, Herald, August 25)?

‘In the long run, we're not safer because we're still operating on the assumption that we're hated because of our freedoms, when in fact we're hated because of our actions in the Islamic world.

There's our military presence in Islamic countries, the perception that we control the Muslim world’s oil production, our support for Israel and for countries that oppress Muslims such as China, Russia, and India, and our own support for Arab tyrannies.