"The London Times reports that the British government and the United States government had secretly agreed to attack Iraq in 2002, before authorization was sought for such an attack in Congress, and had discussed creating pretextual justifications for doing so."

US Congressman John Conyers has written to President George Bush seeking his response to these explosive revelations.

Thank God for ‘truth, justice & the American way’.

It is now clear that the diminutive US Private, Lynndie England, aided & abetted by half a dozen of her erstwhile comrades, cunningly perpetrated an obscene reign of terror, torture & murder on unsuspecting US detainees across the globe: all without the knowledge of her chain of command superiors.

In the coming period we need a method to shadow individual MPs from issue to issue, as Howard's only check on power is the possibility of a Senator crossing the floor. Although Howard has more power than ever, he relies on the complete solidarity of his Senators, and Liberal solidarity has looked better.

As a tool to achieve this the Dome of Conscience shows great promise. It is a place where individual MPs and candidates can make their views known from issue to issue. So if a politician makes a public statement about an issue, I think we should get in the habit of telling that politician to place the view in this transparent, public domain.

Blood Rivers of Babylon...

The “legend of Sardanapale” Words and names vary from language to language and for the purpose of this short historical analysis I will use the word “Sardanapale” for the King of Nineveh back in 612 BC. The legend or what has been the “recorded history” for many years (and is still peddled in many modern history book and some web sites) is that “Sardanapale” the King of Nineveh died when the Babylonian, with the help of the Medes, besieged Nineveh until it fell in their hands.

Happy May Day?

What does that have to do with building a better democracy? May 1 is about trade unions marching with their flags and banners. It is the day when communists and socialists get together and dream about their version of a better world. It's the day when Euro Anarchists come out to play. It was also the day of those bizarre grotesque soviet parades. How is commemorating this day relevant to Australia in 2005?

May day grew out of the Haymarket Riot in Chicago in 1886 and subsequent protests and marches. Six people were shot for protesting for an 8 hour working day and May Day became their day of commemoration as well as becoming a rallying day for 40 hour week campaigns all around the world (Interestingly enough only Queensland's Labour Day coincides with May)

I'm keen for us to begin the development of Pollie-Watch with Senators. Senators are not only a smaller target for us to begin with than Lower House MPs, but in the coming political season they will be stategically paramount. With Howard only just controlling the Senate, every Senator's view is relevant, from issue to issue.

Can you imagine the BBC & other major broadcasters apologizing to a rogue regime which practices racism & ethnic cleansing; which has “effectively legalized the use of torture