‘Poor Wal-Mart just can't seem to catch a break. There they are, the monks of Bentonville - who, according to company legend, share hotel rooms on business trips rather than drive up the price of pantyhose - toiling away to make the good life affordable to the impecunious masses. And what do they get? Nothing but grief. The Democrats are running against Wal-Mart in the fall congressional elections, and not just the wild-eyed progressive ones. Centrist Hillary Clinton returned a $5,000 donation from the company, citing its inadequate health benefits, and Joe Biden just attacked it because he doesn't see "any indication that they care about the fate of middle-class people." ……………

107 building workers and their families face $28,600 fines under the new IR laws .....

Dear friend,

107 Western Australian building workers face jail and personal fines of up to $28,600. Their crime? Participating in a stoppage in support of a sacked workmate and refusing to accept persistent safety breaches in their workplace.

 
The Editor,
Sydney Morning Herald.                                                             August 25, 2006.

The Editor,
Sydney Morning Herald.                                                             August 25, 2006.

Surely it’s a simple matter for airlines to resolve the dilemma of competing rights & interests of paranoid air crews, fearful members of the flying public & those unfortunate individuals not blessed with an anglo-celtic heritage (‘Police arrest 12 passengers after jet turns back’, Herald, August 25)?

‘In the long run, we're not safer because we're still operating on the assumption that we're hated because of our freedoms, when in fact we're hated because of our actions in the Islamic world.

There's our military presence in Islamic countries, the perception that we control the Muslim world’s oil production, our support for Israel and for countries that oppress Muslims such as China, Russia, and India, and our own support for Arab tyrannies.

 Downer must be beginning to panic that his chief of staff might be implicated in the kickback scam... he's getting him out of the country pronto!

From the office of Lord Alex Of Australia- I have today announced the appointment of Innes Willox as Consul-General of Australia in Los Angeles.  He will succeed John Olsen.  Mr Willox is expected to take up his appointment in September 2006.

The Los Angeles Consulate-General takes in southern California and the adjoining south-western states of the United States, an area that is equivalent to the world’s fifth largest economy and a major centre for the global entertainment and technology industries. 

‘Don’t ever suggest that federal bureaucrats are not smart. Take, for instance, the DEA, the federal agency that has the responsibility of waging the war on drugs, a war that has obviously failed to achieve its objective after 30 years of warfare, not to mention all the collateral violence that the drug war has spawned.

Amidst growing discussion and debate in the mainstream media on the libertarian idea of ending the war on drugs by legalizing drugs, guess what the DEA is using as a way to distract people’s attention away from that solution.

from Buzzflash …..

‘When he was young, caretakers picked up his toys. When he was a dissolute adult, protectors covered up for his seedy, irresponsible behaviour and dereliction of duty. When he was old, his father's friends cleaned up after his business failures.

Someone has always cleaned up Bush's messes for him. He's never had to or been able to do it himself.

Now, through the power of Rove packaging, right wing mastery of the media, and a silent Supreme Court coup in 2000, he is playing with weapons of war and lives. And there is no one who can clean up his messes anymore.

The Editor,
Sydney Morning Herald.                                                             August 23, 2006.

Perhaps the assertion by US President, George Bush, that there “must be consequences if people thumb their nose at the United Nations Security Council”, might be taken more seriously if it wasn’t so blatantly hypocritical (‘Nuclear inspectors barred from Iran plant’, Herald, August 23)?

I've just seen the main story in today's Advertiser, of the commercial spaceport trials to be conducted by NASA at Woomera/. 

[excerpt]

In a boost to South Australia's credentials as the defence state, U.S.-based Rocketplane Kistler secured a $272 million NASA contract to launch rockets from Woomera, carrying cargo to the station.

 [excerpt]

After a trial of five launches, NASA is expected to decide around 2009-10 which company is capable of better servicing the space station. It is possible both could be selected, Rocketplane Kistler said.

If successful, the Woomera site would be used to launch cargo such as fuel and food to the station as often as every two weeks.

As NASA requires the K-1 to have crew transportation capabilities, however, the Woomera site could see the first astronauts leave from Australia.

‘It should be small comfort that the security establishments of the UK and the USA - and the "terrorism experts" who inform them and wheedle billions of dollars out of them for bomb puffers and face recognition gizmos and remote gait analyzers and similar hi-tech phrenology gear - have bought the Hollywood binary liquid explosive myth, and have even acted upon it.

We've given extraordinary credit to a collection of jihadist wannabes with an exceptionally poor grasp of the mechanics of attacking a plane, whose only hope of success would have been a pure accident. They would have had to succeed in spite of their own ignorance and incompetence, and in spite of being under police surveillance for a year.

Abbott remains unconvinced of stem cell benefits ….

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott says there is no convincing evidence that therapeutic cloning will lead to a medical breakthrough in the treatment of diseases.

Liberal Senator Kay Patterson is developing a Bill to overturn a ban on therapeutic cloning, and the Prime Minister says he will allow a free vote on the issue.

Mr Abbott has told the ABC's Insiders program that despite the findings of the Lockhart review on stem cell research, [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1719247.htm|hedoes not think changes should be made].