From the ABC

PM denies knowledge of AWB kickbacks

Prime Minister John Howard says comments he made in 2003 about the Iraqi oil-for-food program were not based on any knowledge of AWB's involvement in the payment of kickbacks.

‘It all began, as usual, with the
Greeks. The ancient Greeks were the first civilized people to use their reason
to think systematically about the world around them. The Greeks were the first
philosophers (philosophia – lovers of wisdom), the first people to
think deeply and to figure out how to attain and verify knowledge about the
world. Other tribes and peoples had tended to attribute natural events to
arbitrary whims of the gods. A violent thunderstorm, for example, might be ascribed
to something that had irritated the god of thunder. The way to bring on rain,
then, or to curb violent thunderstorms, would be to find out what acts of man
would please the god of rain or appease the thunder god. Such people would have
considered it foolish to try to figure out the natural causes of rain or of
thunder. Instead, the thing to do was to find out what the relevant gods wanted
and then try to supply their needs. 

 Reprint of Australian Council of Trade Unions Media Release, February 14

The ACTU calls on the Prime Minister to
intervene in Australia's immigration program to guarantee that
temporary work visas are not being abused amid reports that employers
are rorting the system by importing low-paid foreign workers to fill
job vacancies that should be filled by Australians.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow said today:

"There is mounting evidence that the Federal Government's migrant
worker system is out of control - leading to both the abuse of foreign
workers and Australians being denied job opportunities.

‘Tonight the SBS Dateline program plans to broadcast about
60 previously unpublished photographs that the US Government has been fighting
to keep secret in a court case with the American Civil Liberties Union. 

Although a US judge last year
granted the union access to the photographs following a freedom-of-information
request, the US Administration has appealed against the decision on the grounds
their release would fuel anti-American sentiment. 

‘The Pentagon’s plans for engaging in “virtual warfare”
are impressive. As BBC notes: “The operations described in the document include
a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief
journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts
and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to
destroy enemy networks.” (BBC) 

The enemy, of course, is you,
dear reader, or anyone who refuses to accept their role as a witless-cog in new
world order. Seizing the internet is a prudent way of controlling every piece
of information that one experiences from cradle to grave; all necessary for an
orderly police-state. 

Last week James Cook University announced it was closing the Library on it's Vincent (visual and performing arts) campus. This is part of a larger plan to restructure the facility, “...moving from a traditional form of art-making to a digital form of art-making.” Director of the Collage, Professor Des Crawley claims that this is because of the low employment rate of visual arts graduates.

There is a few important points in this. Firstly, is what is deemed to be employment. From what I can gather self-employment, ie working for commission, etc. isn't considered employment.

The second point is what do people expect out of a fine arts degree?

Senator Vanstone will need to look after Halliburton. They're the quickest way to generate a globally-competitive population increase.

I'm extrapolating from the story in tomorrow's Australian:

[extract]

IMMIGRATION Minister Amanda Vanstone has rejected claims construction company Halliburton Australia exploited Indonesian workers hired to work in the South Australian desert.

The Adelaide Advertiser newspaper reported that the company, a subsidiary of US giant Halliburton, had paid the Indonesians as little as $40 a day.

 With four weeks to the SA election, Rann will be busy convincing the
local citizenry how he's brought all ths defence work to the state. 
Unfortunately he's lying.

Annoouncements like this, even three months late, would be fine if the SA Labor Government had any involvement with Tenix's securing of this Defence contract. However, the decision would probably have been made by former Defence Minister Reith, who retired from the Defence portfolio into a Tenix consultancy

[from ABC News On Line]

Halliburton Australia. has a major part of South Australian business activities It's Adelaide office was fomerly the company's global headquarters for infrastruture.

Under the trading name of KBR it is employed by the State government and local councils. It has been involved in construction of the Port River Expressway and has proposed a development project for Lake Alexandrina.

Halliburton is also employed by the Department Of Foreign Affairs and Trade to carry out international aid contracts on Australia's behalf, and has many defence industry contracts.

In South Australia's outback, Halliburton has been flouting Australia's Industrial Relations laws by employing foreigners at wage levels inappropriate to Australian ethics.

Whilst Australian citizen, David
Hicks, continues to endure his 4^th year of illegal imprisonment
& torture in America’s Guantanamo Bay gulag, a new report by Joshua
Denbeaux, a law professor at Seton Hall, has found that, based on data supplied
by the Pentagon, that "55% of the detainees have not committed any hostile
acts against the United States or its coalition allies." Lawyers: Many
Guantanamo Detainees Not Accused 

‘Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Deputy National
Security Adviser Stephen Hadley led a campaign beginning in March 2003 to
discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson for publicly criticizing the Bush
administration's intelligence on Iraq, according to current and former
administration officials. 

The officials work or had worked
in the State Department, the CIA and the National Security Council in a senior
capacity and had direct knowledge of the Vice President's campaign to discredit
Wilson.'