‘Government officials & American media officials have repeatedly denounced the al-Jazeera network for airing grisly footage of Iraqi war casualties & American prisoners of war.

The legal fight over whether to release the remaining photographs of atrocities at Abu Ghraib has dragged on for months, with no less a figure than Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Meyers arguing that the release of such images will inflame the Muslim world & drive untold numbers to join al-Qaeda. But none of these can compare to the prospect of American troops casually bartering pictures of suffering & death for porn.

How to disassociate Parkin from Halliburton?  Don't mention the comany's name any more.

As this story continues to play throught the media, where once you'd see at least one mention, if not several, of the company Parkin had been protesting in Australia against. instead we see, at the end of two weeks of print and airplay, the man but not the cause.

It will be interesting, in the new Howard Government, to see if Bob Brown's motion for a Senate inquiry over the Parkin incident results in any action.

Referring to the activities of the “coalition of the willing

In the wake of the July terrorist attacks in London, a group of Church of England bishops today issued a report criticising American foreign policy, the US war on terror & the misuse of biblical texts by some Christian groups to shape American thinking & to support the Bush administration’s political agenda in the Middle East.

The report accuses the US of using illegitimate & dangerous rhetoric, describing some millennialist views as “deeply worrying & illegitimate

“More however, could have been achieved.  And there has been understandable disappointment & criticism at the lack of language on disarmament & non-proliferation, particularly given the risk of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.

Sorry about the title length, but this needs to be google-screamed!

You can hear the iParkin's Houston Community Radio interview here (MP3 download)  I'll transcribe tomorrow.  Sorry, but I need to sleep.

Labor counterterrorism spokesman Arch Bevis said in a media release today "The detention of any citizen for an extended period of time must be based only on sound intelligence of a credible threat and be authorised by a judge, not a bureaucrat or politician."

Why weren't The Federal Opposition making more noise about Parkin's detention?

Hurricane Katrina's financial impact could be reduced by US$10 billion through a tax on windfall profits from the oil industry, according to calculations by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. 

Since the oil industry anticipated much lower prices when it made its investment and production decisions, it can cover its costs and make a normal profit at prices that are less than half the US$60-US$70 a barrel price now seen in world markets.

Yesterday the prime meanster pulled one of the meanest & shallowest stunts of his career.

Our little johnnie proudly announced that Australia intended to increase its overseas aid allocation to about A$4 billion a year by 2010. Such an increase would represent a doubling of Australia's overseas aid from 2004 levels.

Australia’s foreign aid in 2004 amounted to 0.18% of GDP & with the great benefactor’s latest generous announcement will effectively double our contributions to around 0.36% - if the commitment is met.