Yes Gus, to add a further disturbing perspective …..

It is a chilling, dystopian account of what Britain will look like 10 years from now: a world in which Fortress Britain uses fleets of tiny spy-planes to watch its citizens, of Minority Report-style pre-emptive justice, of an underclass trapped in sink-estate ghettos under constant state surveillance, of worker drones forced to take on the lifestyle and values of the mega-corporation they work for, and of the super-rich hiding out in gated communities constantly monitored by cameras and private security guards.

This Orwellian vision of the future was compiled on the orders of the UK's information commissioner - the independent watchdog meant to guard against government and private companies invading the privacy of British citizens and exploiting the masses of information currently held on each and every one of us - by the Surveillance Studies Network, a group of academics.

UK 2017 Under Surveillance

Yes John,  the malaise is profound...

False silence has everyone talking

Gerard Henderson
October 9, 2007

Seldom in the history of public debate have the allegedly silenced been so vocal. Last Friday the ABC Radio National Australia Talks program ran a session from the recent Brisbane Writers Festival. It was one of those familiar taxpayer-subsidised events where members of the left intelligentsia gather to have their prejudices confirmed.

On this occasion the Australia Institute executive director, Clive Hamilton, essentially agreed with the social researcher Hugh Mackay who essentially agreed with the journalist David Marr about contemporary Australia. Needless to say, the audience had a ball. Especially when Hamilton argued that pokie taxes at the Rooty Hill RSL should be increased to fund 1000 public intellectuals. In certain circles, there is a lot to be said for redistribution of income which takes money from lower-income earners in the suburbs and uses it to fund inner-city types who like to describe themselves as public intellectuals.
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Thinkers of influence
Hamilton argues that right-wing think tanks have been "very effective at shifting the political landscape well to the right, and, indeed, making a very right-wing government look more moderate. And through that having a heavy influence on the Labor Party as well, its perceptions of what it can reasonably put forward. You wouldn't put it all down to think tanks, it's been part of a general shift, but they have played a very important part in the process."

The most influential Australian think tank, according to both its allies and its enemies, is the Sydney-based Centre for Independent Studies, which raised $2 million from private donors in the past year. Its funding, says founder Greg Lindsay, is "a matter between the individuals or the organisations that give to us, and us, and it's a private thing, it's nobody else's business".

Lindsay Tanner disagrees: "I'm a big fan of transparency as a general principle. Therefore I would always pay more regard to views that are being put in the public domain when I know who's paying for them. Private organisations are entitled to their own positions on these things, but if they want to influence public debate then transparency about funding, in my view, is a crucial element."
.....
Another organisation is the Sydney Institute run by Gerard Henderson. While not a think tank, it operates as a forum for debate. It does not commission research or have policies. Henderson, who was chief of staff to John Howard from 1984 to 1986 and has written a history of the Liberals, exercises influence through weekly columns in The Sydney Morning Herald, The West Australian, a weekly spot on ABC Radio National's breakfast program and regular appearances on ABC TV's Insiders. The institute is privately funded, with all papers delivered to it published in The Sydney Papers. It also publishes The Sydney Institute Quarterly, which includes a media watch section. Henderson, who used to write a column for The Age, declined to be interviewed for this article.
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Gus: public intellectuals versus private intellectuals... Left versus right? Not on your Nelly...
Hugh Mackay is more of a centrist. To shock a few people, I believe Marr is a "small l" liberal who does not like John Howard's far right polices. But Gerard Henderson is a pure Howard lover, mushroom, warts and all.
All these think-tankers are good to have, whether publicly funded or privately funded. The point is at least we know the one that are publicly funded. Those who hide behind a veil a secrecy as to where their funding comes could be funded by Genghis Khan for all we know...

And Gerard, there is a big amount of confusion brought out by the government in order to discredit proper research. My own research from "the man in the street" tells me that the government is hurting little people and the government has been addicting the middle class to immoral greed, via bottomless credit. We are spending the future as if it was already tomorrow. And the stock market has nowhere to go go but up and up and up... because that's the way the system is built. To consume more and more with little regard to the damage done on most fronts... including climate and little hypocritical wars for oil.

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Think tanks aim to create new terms and concepts, but they don't like being tagged themselves. Lindsay and Roskam reject the right-wing label. "Right wing in Russia is old communist. Right-wing in Australia is One Nation," Roskam says. "The moniker that I much prefer is free market or liberal or conservative or some combination of the three. Right-wing is fascist and there is nothing fascist about liberalism or conservatism or the free market. Call us radical free market, call us radical anti-Kyoto, call us radical choice, call us radical anti-government, call us radical small government, call us all those sorts of things, but none of that is right-wing."
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Gus: If I have read someone trying to muddy the waters of politics, as to confuse people including intelligent ones, is this thingy above... Not right wing? Okay I can buy that but I will put you into the "fascist-capitalist-far-ratbag-wing" basket... with con artists, vipers and shoot-first-ask-no-question-private-troops.

Capitalism has become the new fascism... Bow your head to the money-god or die. Become a greedy opportunist or die. Or slave for the rest of your miserable life...

Free market? as soon as the stock market gets a free kick we end up with subprime robbery situations (the tip of a massive iceberg of con-artistry) and speculations to corrupt sunsets into sunrises. Free market? As soon as the stock market catches a common cold, the fed bank in the US has to release funds via lowered interest rates to stop the stock market plunge into the sick reality. The market lives in its own fancy world of free illusions of the next free lunch... Sure, banks did their mea-culpa and did some write-offs but  many people die because of this illusion of "free market"... under the officially sanctioned plunder for profit routine.

Yes Gerard, the truth and the future are being silenced by poisoned arrows. but they're not coming from the intelligenzia. The arrows are from the bows of the ratbag-wing think tanks, funded by Ghengis Khan...

Fishing for compliments?

DFAT flies in foreign journos to report on intervention

The Foreign Correspondents Association has confirmed three European journalists will travel to Australia this week to report on the Commonwealth's intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says the reporters from Germany, France and Italy will arrive in Sydney in the next few days before travelling to Alice Springs.

The association's Urs Walterlin says the department regularly brings overseas journalists to Australia.

But he says it would be naive not to see the taxpayer-funded trip as a Commonwealth attempt to influence the way the international community views the intervention.

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Gus: er... Governmental propaganda for overseas?... Junket?

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Visitors programs

7.40 There are also shorter term programs designed to bring people from other countries to Australia for visits or to draw groups of people together to converse on particular subjects. For example, the Coolum Forum is an initiative of the Australian and Thai Foreign Ministers designed to bring together East Asian leaders from business, politics, government and academia for an informal meeting in Australia. It provides an opportunity for these young and emerging leaders not only to talk about concerns that their countries share but to network and establish contact with counterparts throughout the region.

7.41 The following section looks in greater detail at a few of Australia's public diplomacy visitors' programs.

International media visits program and special visits program

7.42 Under the International Media Visits Program, DFAT brings international journalists and commentators to Australia. In 2005–06, the program hosted 16 media visits involving 63 journalists. The aim of a visit may be very specific. For example, Mr Craig Burns, Executive Manager, International Division, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, noted that this program has given attention to the free trade agenda. He noted:

...groups of Chinese or Japanese journalists are brought to Australia, they travel around and see, in our particular area of interest, agriculture in Australia, to determine the level of threat that it might be to Chinese or Japanese agriculture or whatever the case may be. That is a clearly identifiable program within DFAT which does that directly by trying to get to the journalists in the other countries.[37]

7.43 A recent post report from Beijing not only referred to a similar visit by journalists from major newspapers including from Gansu and Henan provinces but recorded some of the public diplomacy benefits:

The visit resulted in 17 well-focused articles totalling around 17,000 words. The articles picked up on Australia's high-value, high-tech agricultural sector and our arguments that Australian agricultural output would not have the capacity to pose a significant threat to Chinese farmers, but would rather meet an existing gap in demand as well as supply new products to increasingly affluent consumers.[38]

7.44 DFAT's special visitors program is another activity designed to inform people from overseas about specific aspects of Australia. This program arranges for 'influential and potentially influential people' to meet Australian government, business and community figures. In 2005–06, DFAT organised 26 visits.

7.45 In addition, some visitors programs are run by agencies outside DFAT. Examples of these programs are discussed next.

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Gus: controlling the press by buying "them journos" lunch? Do I smell a dead rat?... a lot of bux for 17,000 words I would think... good words? "well-focused"... Sure...

THE High Court's most vocal dissenter, Michael Kirby, has lashed out at the backwardness of his fellow judges, identifying freedoms that he says would never have been won under the chief judge, Murray Gleeson.

In a bold speech, even by Justice Kirby's standards, he spoke out yesterday on behalf of "stirrers and troublemakers" and criticised a tendency by the Australian public to only recognise heroes after they died.

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Gus: Good on Justice Kirby to have helped Australia retain some decency and some human rights values... Without him, we'd be down the drain on these fronts...

from the BBC

BIG TYPE FROM GUS

Gordon Brown has told the Iraq inquiry the war had been "right" - and troops had all the equipment they needed.

THE WAR WAS WRONG AND THERE WAS EQUIPMENT SHORTAGE.

The PM also insisted he had not been kept in the dark by Tony Blair despite not being aware of some developments.

GORDON BROWN WAS KEPT IN THE PENUMBRA BY TONY BLAIR

His own intelligence briefings had convinced him that Iraq was a threat that "had to be dealt with", he said.

BEING CONVINCED BY SEXED-UP "INTELLIGENCE BRIEFINGS" IS NOT THE WAY TO GO

But the main issue for him was that Iraq was in breach of UN resolutions - and that "rogue states" could not be allowed to flout international law.

IRAQ WAS NOT IN BREACH OF UN RESOLUTION — THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT. THE US, THE UK AND AUSTRALIA WERE LYING ABOUT IT USING SKEWED UNRELIABLE "INTELLIGENCE" AND PLAIN PORKIES.

If the international community could not act together over Iraq, Mr Brown said, he feared the "new world order we were trying to create would be put at risk".

"THE NEW WORLD ORDER WE WERE TRYING TO CREATE..."???????? DID THEY ASK PERMISSION?.... WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

see toon at top

from the Independent

By Andrew Woodcock and Gavin Cordon, Press Association

Gordon Brown's claims to have properly funded the UK military mission in Iraq were challenged today by senior military figures.

The head of the Armed Forces at the time of the 2003 invasion accused the Prime Minister of being "disingenuous" in saying that he provided military chiefs with everything they asked for.

G'day Gus,

"THE NEW WORLD ORDER WE WERE TRYING TO CREATE..."???????? DID THEY ASK PERMISSION?.... WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wholeheartedly agree - who the hell do they think they are indeed?  And of course that includes the yanks and their partners in crime the Morlocks.

As a 1930's Australian schoolboy, we were taught almost everything about Great Britain's history and their immense empire of that time.  Very little Australian content.

Yes, we too stood up for the Union Jack, even in the picture theatres, when God save the King was played.  It was almost an inherent knee jerk reaction but successive governments after two world wars gave us a flag of our own - the Blue Ensign.

It was after I left the Navy in 1960 that the English White Ensign for our Navy (under which I served) was changed to a White Ensign with a blue southern cross replacing the English cross of St. George but maintaining the Union Jack in the corner.

So, I have had a touch - and thankfully only a touch - of the hypnotized oath of allegiance that the Americans are brain washed with from childhood.  They are reminders of that vow of unqualified servitude by the "NAZI" style “flag of debt” waving everywhere and in the parades to please the plebes – during or between wars of choice.

Normal and decent people feel an obligation to support that flag - no matter what - and elections do not change the error of their ways.

Now, not so “Great Britain” is lowering its once proud name to that of the US Military/Corporate who was partly responsible for the destruction of their Empire in the first place.

Why is Gordon Brown so obviously lying?  To protect that idiot Blair? Or to stave off the guilt that the British government in 2003, flung their unprepared military into an illegal war by invading Iraq – and for what? To satisfy the US – the Jewish Lobby – or to help hang the witnesses to the fact that Britain and the US provided the gas to Saddam to murder the Kurds?

Change the names of the countries involved in that Iraqi crime and you find Howard’s “New Order” who also knew that there were no WMD’s.

I have spoken about the Australian flag.  Does anyone remember Howard’s attitude when the Australian Blue Ensign was burned by protestors?  He refused to care.

Well might this disgusting little “Rattus” immediately go to America after his disgrace in the 2007 election – to spit in our eye by being congratulated for services rendered and to sing “God Bless America”?   The media was silent.

I have some pride in the fact that the majority of the Australian public appeared to be against the war and did not believe the US/British and Australian governments or - the MSM in all of those countries.

Could we sometime have museums across the non-democratic western world showing the results of the US/British and Zionist illegal wars of choice?

Forget about the Military/Corporate claims of protecting democracy – there is no such thing and the only way to stop it is for the US to suffer mounting losses in manpower.  With unemployment so high – where do they go for a feed?

God Bless Australia Howard, now that you’re gone.  NE OUBLIE.