PM promises referendum

Prime Minister John Howard has announced his plans to hold a referendum to formally recognise indigenous Australians in the Constitution.

In a speech to the Sydney Institute Mr Howard promised to hold the referendum within 18 months of the election - if the Coalition is returned to office - which would incorporate a Statement of Reconciliation into the Constitution's preamble.

Mr Howard acknowledges he has often "struggled" with the issue of reconciliation during his time as prime minister.

Army Defends Recruitment Standards

from the washington post …..

The Army last year again increased the number of its recruits
who have prior criminal records by granting them special exceptions.

The Pentagon's top personnel official defended the policy, saying it's so
stringent that many in Congress would have difficulty getting into the
military today, too, because of things they did in their youth.

2007 Australian Citizenship test

* Do you understand the meaning, but are unable to explain the origin of, the term 'died in the arse'?

* What is a "bloody little beauty?"

* Are these terms related: chuck a sickie; chuck a spaz; chuck a U-ey?

"I often ask myself whether the Mabo decision in 1992 or the Wik decision in 1996 would be decided by the High Court the same way today," he said.

After listing a series of developments that emerged from dissenting judgments, including expanded freedoms of the press, free speech and rights to a lawyer, Justice Kirby said: "The answer to all of these questions of whether such cases would be answered the same way today seems to be: probably not.

If the hype about global warming is top of the charts for massive public deception and the public being completely led astray on hype, exaggeration and political opportunism, surely the argument about water can't be far behind.

On the one hand you hear about drought, well what could you expect.

We, after all, are a dreadfully dry continent.

The reality is Sydney gets more rain than London.

In fact it would be more truthful to say there's water everywhere.

But then we're told, well it's too dear to get it from A to B.

Vaile says NSW must commit on Hwy upgrade

Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile says the New South Wales Government cannot support any Federal Labor plan to upgrade the Pacific Highway, if it refuses to back the Coalition's proposal announced today.

Mr Vaile and Prime Minister John Howard have today promised $2.4 billion in federal funding to upgrade the Pacific Highway in New South Wales.

Defence to spend $8m on Eden-Monaro roads

The Federal Government has announced $8 million worth of funding for road upgrades in the marginal seat of Eden-Monaro and is challenging state and territory governments to chip in.

The money will come from the Department of Defence which is building its new headquarters near the town of Bungendore.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says it is unusual for Defence to fund road upgrades but it is part of preparing the area for the new command centre.

The "coalition of the willing" is over. One by one, its members have ceded the bloodstained ground to the battling Iraqis and the unyielding U.S. president. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's decision Monday to halve the vestigial British military force in Basra was inevitable; backing the U.S. in Iraq has become a political albatross for governments all over the world.

Australians too optimistic according to insurance company

A new survey has found Australians are optimistic about life, to the point that they are underinsured.

Insurer "AXA" has released the findings of an international study, that compared insurance rates and attitudes in 11 countries, including Australia, France, Germany, the US and Japan.

Not so long ago, the United States was a master in the use of soft power and the light touch: food for famine victims, medicine for sick children, visas for foreign students, radio broadcasts about the wonders of our country, diplomatic missions to beg, cajole and threaten wayward countries back into line.

As Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli has noted, the US Agency for International Development employed about 15,000 people during the Vietnam era. Today, it has about 3,000.

Now we use our billions, instead, to hire mercenaries.

Howard has no plans to make price fixing criminal

Prime Minister John Howard has refused to commit to making price fixing a criminal offence but said the government would continue to review the Trade Practices Act.

His comments come after billionaire businessman Richard Pratt yesterday admitted his company Visy was involved in price fixing in the cardboard market.

Debkafile is the website that posted the Al Qaeda warning that triggered the New York radiological deployment in August.

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[extract 8/10]

On Aug. 9, DEBKAfile revealed an al Qaeda Web site warning mentioning New York, Los Angeles and Miami as targets of attacks “by means of trucks loaded with radioactive material.” A second warning added Washington, Seattle and Texas to those targets.

Our counter-terror sources note that the very fact that the United States is conducting exercises this month to test its homeland readiness for a “dirty bomb” threat shows that US security planners have taken the al Qaeda threat to heart.

The Editor,

Sydney Morning Herald. October 9, 2007.

Sir,

A cynical, amoral & opportunistic creature is Brendan Nelson (‘Explosive device may have come from Iran: Nelson’, Herald, October9).

The loss of Australian Trooper, David Pearce, had hardly been announced before the Minister for Defence accused Iran of being responsible, brutally & dishonestly mimicking the latest attempts by the Bush administration to demonise its government, whist casually acknowledging that there was no “proof”.

Minchin 'surprised' by criticism of possible Parliament recall ....

Federal Finance Minister Nick Minchin has dismissed claims that it would be a waste for Parliament to sit next week.

The Labor Party is using today's three-year anniversary of the last election to again call on Prime Minister John Howard to set a date for this year's poll.

If Mr Howard calls the election before next Monday, Parliament will not return until after the poll.

The so-called war on terror has been a "disaster" and British military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan must be fundamentally changed if al-Qaeda is to be defeated, a report released today states.

The report, by the Oxford Research Group think tank, calls for major changes in foreign policy and warns of the dangers of military action against Iran.

Iraq has become a training ground for violent jihadists and British and US forces should withdraw from the country immediately, it adds.