As I mentioned in "of our empty brains" in the history of invasion, not just Afghanistan, despite the devastating impact from the fighting, the result on the general populace is only a gradual shift, never an immediate change of beliefs nor direct change of allegiances, despite the new pressures, dangers, torture and deaths. Even the Romans, during the Pax Romana, had to fight against insurgencies. Insurgencies and invasions from Huns and other tribes that eventually led to the downfall of Rome, rather than its debauchery...

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...

"I promise that if I am elected, Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out," Benjamin Netanyahu said before the elections. In other speeches Netanyahu described Iran's nuclear program as "an existential threat for Israel," and warned that it risked a second Holocaust.

Benjamin Netanyahu

April, 2009

A day after an effigy of the Grim Reaper stalked his speech in Edmonton, Canada, former President George W. Bush was on the defensive over his personal salvation.

Speaking to a $400-a-seat crowd in Montreal, Bush told the roughly 1,000 attendees that his presidential decision-making was principled and moral.

"I am confident that I made decisions based on principle, that I made calls as best I could, and I did not sell my soul," Bush said.

For 470 years, since Henry VIII broke with Rome, the Church of England has been walking a careful middle line, halfway between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. This week it has effectively given up the struggle, or, more to the point, been manoeuvred into defeat by the Vatican.

DISTRICT recreational hunters have defended a bill that will give shooters entry into the state’s national parks should the controversial legislation be passed by lawmakers this week.

A Shooters Party bill before the NSW parliament would permit the hunting of native and non-native animals including kangaroos and 28 species of birds like galahs, cockatoos and swans in most of the state’s 780 national parks and reserves.

Mt Trafalgar, Kimberleys. Picture by Gus.

An environmental group says an oil spill in the Timor Sea off the West Australian coast is worse than it feared.

The World Wide Fund for Nature has completed a three day boat trip of the area and says the spill is having a significant impact on marine life.

The West Atlas oil rig operated by PTTEP Australasia has been leaking oil for nine weeks.

A team of engineers will make a fourth attempt to plug the leak today.

Tony Blair had to be rescued by bodyguards as he visited a West Bank mosque yesterday when a Palestinian man approached him shouting: 'You are a terrorist!'

The security breach occurred as the former prime minister was visiting an ancient mosque during an official trip to the city of Hebron.

The protester, a local man carrying a bag who was praying when Mr Blair and his entourage entered, was backed into a corner by guards who tried to shut him up.

Anti-fascist protesters are now gathering outside BBC Television Centre in London ahead of his arrival later today, amid fears of clashes with BNP supporters.

Mr Griffin claimed the BBC was 'institutionally biased' towards him but praised the corporation for allowing him to appear: 'Thank you, Auntie.'

He also said the BNP had enjoyed its 'best ever single day' with telephone donations on Tuesday after he compared Britain's military generals to Nazi war criminals.

The party's website attracted 77,000 unique visitors, second only to the day he was elected to the European Parliament in June. 

'I thank the political class and their allies for being so stupid.

An email is doing the rounds at the moment...

Here is part of it:

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from the Guardian

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Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has launched a blistering attack on Britain's banks, describing the £1tn government support given to them as "breathtaking".

In an outspoken speech last night, in which he made his clearest call yet for the banks to be broken up, King warned that the British people will be paying for the cost of the financial crisis for a generation.

from Crikey .....

Tax Office won't prosecute Australia's worst tax cheat

Tax consultant and former ATO audit manager Chris Seage writes:

The winners of a quiz organised by Somali Islamists have been given weapons and ammunition as prizes.

Prizes included AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades and an anti-tank mine.

The quiz ran during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in the port city of Kismayo, and included questions about the Koran and Somali geography.

A representative for the al-Shabab militant group said the quiz aimed to stop young men from wasting their time and focus on defending their territory.