Howard 'happy' to change counterterrorism bill:
Contentious "shoot-to-kill" policy will become "kill-while-shooting" policy.

Prime Minister John Howard says he is not fixated on introducing the counter-terrorism laws next week or during the Melbourne Cup and says that he is happy to change the contentious shoot-to-kill provisions.

State and territory meek followers raised their concerns that police would be given the authority to use lethal force against a suspect being taken into preventative detention.

Mr Howard says he is confident a raw deal for the populace can be reached. "I've said I'm quite happy to change it, providing the situation is covered. I don't mind it being expressed in a different way," he said.

"shoot-to-kill" or "kill-while-shooting" are okay semantic alternatives for the same result according to the little LIARS (little Liberals Into Australian Rhetorical Supremacy) dictionary

A refreshingly funny heading in the Sydney Morning Herald:

"Costello adds to Howard's terror woes"

Look, folks, I'm with the Dark Prince.  There's been plenty of time for full and frank discussion about the new, and necessary, laws, since Mr Stanhope so helpfully posted them on his website for all to see. Bring it on, Cup Day or not.

If there happen to be, and I cannot see any problems at all,  a few quibbles over grammar and semantics, then we will be able to get a swift ruling from the appropriate higher authority. Who better to ask about matters of life and death, than a hang-em-high Texan, and his nominee for the US Supreme Court, Harriet Miers?

"Europe violates its own freedoms to fight against terrorism" is the headline in one of Europe most respected paper.

Yes ...
I am afraid to accept that it's not just our Johnnee-daddy who's gone wild bananas about "terrorising laws". It's a western world full-blown thingy.

I have this deep heart-felt suspicion that western countries have made a secret pact (via emails and diplomatic bag missives) to all implement very similar — too similar — tough laws to stem was is, at least in the mind of our wetting their pants leaders, possibly from the deep dungeons of "intelligence" gathering, an upcoming massive tide of terror.

These laws bluntly flaunt all the Human Rights ideals that we oh so strongly have defended for ourselves and purported to implement diligently in other countries.

While the Unite Nations Human Rights Commission is slowly "studying" these new proposed laws, the trail-blazing speed at which they are pushed forward everywhere suggest that these laws — that are shooting down the fundamentals of Human Rights like ding-along ducks at a fun fair — indicate a general brown-pants panic.

Amnesty International is basically our last bastion of organised sanity before we, individually, are left to fight these ludicrous laws. But Amnesty is overtly infiltrated by fast peddlers of these new laws. Our Attorney general, Phillip Ruddock, for example is a member of that organisation.

How have we come so far on along this insane road?
What has the West done wrong? What has the Muslim world done wrong?
Any chance of improvements?

The answers are complex and yet simple.

Although there was some terrorism before, the irrefutable catalyst to this greater mess was the war in Iraq under the guise of a greater stupid declaration of a "war on terror"... . Most sane European countries knew it was going to be dicey at best and a disaster at worst. Presently it's something bad in between. Iraqi people awaiting less and less patiently the departure of US troops that are going to stay there for another 12 years minimum according to latest admission by Ducky Rumsfeld. The plan is for 25 years. Easy roll over of Saddam's armies... Easy fooling of most people with WMD porkies... But the slog is getting more and more demanding.

In short, that war was the biggest deliberate cock-up since Hitler's invasion of Russia.

Sure, these invasions have different dynamics and power-play but the psychological result on the people is that of vengeance, organised and disorganised insurgency, religious fanaticism, deviousness of attack through our wide field defences since our military front-lines are blurred with our populace. Unless "we keep the front way over there" we will find it extremely difficult to manage but it's very late for that... Even impossible apart from reducing the terror impact by a notch. We've been infiltrated.

Europe — I would propose most of the western world — is awash with at least fifteen percent of Arabic Muslims. Nothing wrong with that.

But this sheer number of law-abiding Muslim citizens (moderate or not) can produce what we've seen in the London Bombing: a small number of home grown bed of terror.

And we keep shooting our selves in the foot at every corner of our panic on that subject.

The strange mix of many factors — including the need for cheap labour and of "Christian" guilt from stuffing up others lives as we were plundering their resources for not much in return to them — led to absorb refugees (very commendable) has led to creating this time bomb.

And we do not know where it's ticking.

We have given mixed signals, contradictory signals... We have played super-tough with many refugees but also let enclaves being built within our mist — Sharing of a bit of space rather than sharing our spirits... All this mostly because of our laziness lacking the trying to make proper human contact with other people (including making sure the understanding of our acceptance of refugees is also subjective to their acceptance of us as we are — this is not so obviously made as it appears). The resentment, envy and hatred from years of colonial exploitation by our direct support of tyrants and "accidental" maintenance of poverty — including the increase of poverty as we modified the traditional food supplies, modified the survival rates without understanding of management of population explosions — all these have contributed to the web of revolt...

In short we've fiddled big time. What is amazing is that we've copped so little.

With the war in Iraq, we've hit a sleepy hornet' nest with a stick... And we know what can happen in this situation....

This is why our leaders, including Johnnee-cool, want laws that will absolve police from any cock ups should innocent people be shot like de Menezes in London. They want the power to crack down, on everything that moves with a whiff of dissent. These tight-arse policies won't work, except to reinforce our fears and destroy our own castles...

We are going to be poorer for it.

Solutions?
There are many opportunities to defuse the problem even if there can be an unfortunate lag time of terror acts still performed while we actually do nothing more to attract attention, than go under ground with our "intelligence" gathering. We need to put the war on terror where it belongs: Back in the secret battles which have been the privilege of counter-terrorism organisations for centuries. We also need to remove the inflammatory words from our spruikings — words which can incite more people to join the ranks of terrorists. We need rhetorical restraint. We need less bumbling idiots as leaders.

Most people, 99.9999 per cent want peace... Why did we elect bumbling idiots who chose war?...

Unfortunately, our anti-terror laws will beef-up our war intentions....

From the ABC

“

From the ABC

States urged to drop GM bans
The Federal Government is calling on the states to lift their bans on genetically modified (GM) crops.

A review of the legislation governing GM crops has found state moratoria are detrimental to Australian agriculture.

Most states and the ACT have bans on commercial GM crops.

But Parliamentary Secretary for Health Christopher Pyne says state policies are putting Australian farmers at a disadvantage.

"While the moratoria is very much their business, the Commonwealth's view is that it is impeding agricultural expansion in Australia," he said.

"We at the national level do our part to licence genetically modified organisms, but it's the state's job to allow those GMs to grow and to be produced and to be exported."

He says it is time changes are made.

"The reason why we have a ministerial council of states and territories and the Commonwealth is to try and adopt a nationally consistent approach," he said.

"We'll use this review of the agreement and the Act as a basis for improving the national regulation."

But Bob Phelps, from GeneEthics, says GM crops would destroy Australia's clean and green brand, hurting agricultural exports.

"Some 15 per cent of the wheat industry for example would have its markets overseas cancelled if we went and genetically engineered canola," he said.

"So it demonstrates that a clean, green image and supply chain from Australia has actually got an advantage in world markets."

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

Yes Johnnee rides the donkey for a host of industrialists whether he's aware or not... And on the GM food he's off the planet... Listen to the bloke from GenEthics... and please encourage people to go "organic": Growers, suppliers and consumers... This is where the best future for Australia is... Otherwise we'll end up poisoning ourselves with more crap, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides that will end up killing the planet fauna and flora

From the ABC

Centacare pullout prompts welfare-to-work criticism
The Federal Opposition says a key agency's decision to withdraw from the Government's welfare-to-work management scheme proves the program unfairly punishes vulnerable Australians.

Catholic Social Services Australia, which took part in the plan through its Centacare offices, no longer wants to be part of it because its reputation as a compassionate charity is being damaged.

The organisation is concerned that vulnerable people are not protected under the program, which imposes eight-week no-pay periods for those who lose their jobs or fail to turn up to interviews.

Opposition workforce participation spokeswoman Penny Wong says it shows the Government's approach is extreme and incompetent.

"Certainly early results of the financial case management show that," she said.

"So it's not surprising that Catholic Social Services have said they don't want to be part of it.

"Why should churches and charities be responsible for cleaning up the mess of an an arrogant and out of touch Government?

"Clearly you do have to have compliance mechanisms but the Government's harsh regime puts many vulnerable families without financial support for two months and that's simply not appropriate."

Glad they've got their priorities right Gus .....

Work with the rodent's social police for a decade, screwing awstraylens up hill & down dale, & then quit because you're worried about your reputation?

What reputation is that ... your reputation for hypocricy?

It might come as a shock to the good cardinals to learn that the homeless, hungry & desititute don't give a fig about their reputations.  

Genetically Engineered Rice Wins USDA Approval
Grain Tainted U.S. Supply This Summer

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 25, 2006; A03

In approving the rice, the USDA allowed Bayer to take a regulatory shortcut and skip many of the usual safety tests by declaring that the new variety is similar to ones already approved, in this case two varieties of biotech rice that Bayer never commercialized because farmers did not want them in their fields. The department gave its preliminary approval Sept. 8.

"The protein in the company's herbicide-tolerant rice varieties . . . is well known to regulators, who have affirmed the rice poses no human health or environmental concern," said Greg Coffey, a Bayer spokesman.

Coffey said the company has no plans to sell the newly approved variety.

Joseph Mendelson, legal director of the nonprofit Center for Food Safety, said the quick approval shows that the USDA is more concerned about the fortunes of the biotechnology industry than about consumers' health.

"USDA is telling agricultural biotechnology companies that it doesn't matter if you're negligent, if you break the rules, if you contaminate the food supply with untested genetically engineered crops, we'll bail you out," Mendelson said in a statement.

"In effect, USDA is sanctioning an 'approval-by-contamination' policy that can only increase the likelihood of untested genetically engineered crops entering the food supply in the future," he said.

One of the latest battles in regard to GM crops is being fought fearlessly in Europe. Some serious scientific studies made in Italy on mice showed that GM soy modified organs such as liver, pancreas and blood. This lab where the study is conducted is soon to be shut down by the Italian government through starving of funds. Some of the European ministries like the French ministry for agriculture and fisheries have approved these GM crop for public consumption but many organisations, including Greenpeace are up in arms about this. A German court has ordered that the documents on this study, so far "hidden" from public be made public. Monsanto denied the documents were secret, but claimed they were confidential thus not for public release. Along the line of Monsanto, the French government claims that there is no risk for human or animal health, but this study clearly demonstrate otherwise and even some of the ministry's own scientists show alarm at the results.

In fact, the modification in the organs of mice showed significant decay mostly associated with older mice, a decay NOT SHOWN in the comparative study group of the same age that ate non-GM soy.

Also the complaint with GM crops, on top of all that, is that thousands of tons of GM food stuff has been provided by the US to African countries more or less without labelling or poor labelling, or indication that GM crops are okay. A really bad con-trick under the guise of aid and generosity since most of the crops are heavily subsidised, and compete unfairly with local produce, since GM food stuffs are "free".

It is my belief and conviction that every man and woman who respects life in general — or even only value their own — should fight tooth and nail against this dreadful incoming degeneration or gene modification, slight or large.

In the same way we need to go on a war footing against our government's inertia or complicity of intent not to do much against global warming —except talk a lot of hot air — we need to defeat the onslaught of GM manufacturing and profiteering from GM food. These crops will become the scourge of our future even before the sea levels start to rise for real due to global warming. These crops are designed so the entire planet's crops can be poisoned with stronger herbicides and stronger insecticides, as well most seeds being infertile (gene reproduction being terminated) so that fertile seeds can only be supplied by the manufacturer of seeds — the same "manufacturer" of the strong poisons... Mostly Monsanto. Beware.