There's a famous mermaid statue here on the waterfront in Copenhagen.

The Angry Mermaid website tells a great story on just why she is not happy with the practices of these corporate climate obstructionists. Voting is open until midnight December 13, and on the 15th our allies will present the deserving winner with their very own Angry Mermaid statue.

Please take a minute to cast your vote in the Angry Mermaid competition, calling out the worst of the oil & coal lobbyists that are buying off our politicians & using their heft to prevent effective action on climate change:

To many human rights advocates, however , Obama's high-minded declaration rang hollow in light of fresh reports that his administration continues to operate secret prisons in Afghanistan where detainees have allegedly been tortured and where the International Committee for the Red Cross has been denied access to the prisoners.

Once upon a time there was a big bank called Westpac. One day the beautiful fairy princess who ran the bank - her name was Goldilocks - called all her gnomes and elves to a meeting.

"How can we increase our profits?" cried Goldilocks. "We made only $4.627 billion last year, a slump of 8 per cent on the year before. We need more, much more, if I am to justify my $10 million salary package!"

The gnomes and elves furrowed their brows, scrolled through their spreadsheets, and sipped the banana smoothies that Goldilocks had thoughtfully provided.

From the BBC

It would have been "right to remove" Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein even without evidence that he had weapons of mass destruction, Tony Blair has said.

The former prime minister said it was the "notion of him as a threat to the region" which had tilted him in favour of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Without WMD claims it would have been necessary to "use and deploy different arguments," he told the BBC.

Mr Blair is expected to face the Iraq war inquiry early next year.

From Senator Minchin website:

"Ensuring energy security is one of the great challenges we face as a nation, but it also presents exciting new opportunities across the energy sector including in the field of renewable energy.

'Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe that the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war.

That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America's commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions.

tweedling

From The Sydney Morning Herald supported Barry O' Farrell...

"It would put the public back in control. In the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, it would again ensure in NSW ''that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth".

----------------

Yes Barry... Good Barry... Sorry Barry... Bollocks Barry...

I read between the lines:

At its core, Zionism is fundamentally racist, extremist, undemocratic & militant:

* in espousing Jewish supremacy, exceptionalism & uniqueness as God's "chosen people;"

* in relying on occupation, oppression, violence & dispossession;

* in justifying a Jewish ethnocracy based on structural inequalities;

* in ruling by force, not coexistence;

* in choosing confrontation over diplomacy & the rule of law; &

* by denying Arabs & all others the same rights as Jews.

From the SMH

Like Uncle Fester, Abetz seems to carry an electrical charge and can doubtlessly light up a bulb in his mouth.

Then there is the notion that the old hands of the Howard era should be shown the door.

Poppycock.

Even though he himself admitted they had been, at times, both "polarising" and "controversial", Abbott seemed delighted to announce the resurrection of three political poltergeists: Philip Ruddock, Kevin Andrews, and Bronwyn Bishop.

One of the Coalition's most prominent climate change deniers and passionate advocates for nuclear power has complained bitterly about being left off of Tony Abbott's new front bench.

Dennis Jensen, the Western Australian MP who disputes man-made climate changes and led backroom efforts to convince colleagues, has expressed his displeasure on Facebook.

"Pretty damned disappointed at the lack of a frontbench guernsey," he writes.

from Crikey.....

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Abbott's Catholicism fair game

One allegation I'd never thought I'd make about Tony Abbott is that of being a sook. The bloke loves a stoush and has always seemed to readily understand that if you dish it out, you have to be prepared to take it.

By PETER BAKER

Since 2003, the IAEA has consistently failed its obligations towards Iran as defined by the 1974 Safeguards Agreement. It has failed to facilitate refueling of a small reactor in Tehran, used mostly for short-lived medical isotopes. It has cancelled several key technical assistance programs with Iran, some of them related to nuclear safety issues, under pressure from the US.

from the Mayne Report .....

The campaign to get Woolworths to clean up its appalling pokies operation is gathering pace after the major hit at the AGM in Sydney on November 26.

We had a special briefing session on Manningham's new gaming policy last week and, in an unrelated exercise, I've just submitted the following motion to be debated at the December 15 council meeting: