US television and newspapers today are dumping the story into Middle America of how, at one particular army base, Halliburton have been dumping sewerage into a river and then using it to serve U.S. troops.

While on-the-ground KBR employees emailed thunderous complaints, from deep in the bowels of Halliburton Headquarters the stamdard response was trotted out- Halliburton stood firmly behind the statement that there was no problem.
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While bottled water is used for drinking, the contaminated water, reportedly twice as dirty as the river Euphrates, is used for everything else, including making coffee.

‘The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate "nuclear" weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. That weapon is the Iranian Oil Bourse slated to open in March 2006. It will be based on a euro-oil-trading mechanism that naturally implies payment for oil in Euro.  

 

In economic terms, this represents a much greater threat to the hegemony of the dollar than Saddam's, because it will allow anyone willing either to buy or to sell oil for Euro to transact on the exchange, thus circumventing the U.S. dollar altogether. If so, then it is likely that almost everyone will eagerly adopt this euro oil system:’ 

‘Britain has long been replaced by the United States as the world’s civilizing Santa. But aside from the Big Stick years of Presidents McKinley and the first Roosevelt, who left no natives unturned in the Philippines and South of the Border, it should be said that American imperialism had a decidedly Wilsonian bend for most of the 20 th century. It was too busy saving the world rather than conquering it (except, again, South of the Border, where American presidents have never been able to resist the impulse to act like Teddy Roosevelt gunslinging in his wildlife preserves). When the Soviet Union fell, it looked as if America ’s job as world’s sheriff was done. Finally, the West’s trillions could be invested in something more constructive than missiles and fearmongers’ dividends. Sure enough, Pentagon budgets quit sprawling under Bill Clinton.  

The Federal Defence Miinister, Senator for S.A Mr Robert Hill, is tipped to resign from Federal Politics today.

Mr Hill, the architect of the conversion of S.A. into the Defence State of Australia, has been offered the position of Australian Ambassador to the United Nations.

Senator Hill was Australia's longest serving Minister for the Environment where he was responsible for major programs in areas such as climate change and biodiversity. Senator Hill's major achievements in this portfolio were the passage of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, the biggest overhaul of environmental laws in Australia's history and the establishment of the $2.5 billion Natural Heritage Trust, the largest environmental rescue package ever undertaken by an Australian Government.

Australia's provider of international aid funding, AusAid, has no protocol regarding the reporting of allegations of foreign bribery!

AusAid is a major provider of Halliburton's international aid contracts from the Australian Government.  In Australia the corporation has been masquerading as a "South Australian Based Company"

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) has just announced that small bribes to foreign officials to encourage more beaureaucratic haste, known as "facilitation payments" are illegal under most Australian State laws

The Australian Government has been aware of bribe payments for Iraq wheat sales for five years, it has been claimed today.

The United Nations sent official warning to the Prime Minster and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2000, according to Opposition Foreign Affairs Spokesman Kevin Rudd.

Mr Rudd asked today:

What did [Trade Minister] Mark Vaile do in response to that cable?"

"What did [Foreign Affairs] Alexander Downer do in response to that cable given that it went to his office as well?

"What did John Howard do in response to that cable - it went to his office as well.?"

 In Australia, foreign bribes are tax-deductable

The  Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found Australia should increase fines for companies that bribe foreign officials

It's also concerned that lining the pockets of foreign officials to "grease the wheels of progress" will get you a discount at the Australian Taxation Office.  The ATO calls the bribes "facilitation payments"

The Australian-based company that the world knows best for bribery is Halliburton.  A subsidiary company, wholly owned by its U.S. parent, Halliburton organises construction projects worldwide from its offices in Adelaide, South Australia.  With many projects in many countries, many wheels could need greasing.

Australia’s Donald Rumsfeld, Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Robert Hill, offered a pious rebuttal of Kim Beazley’s call last week for the withdrawal of Australian forces from Iraq (‘No Question Of Walking Away’, Herald, January 12). 

 

Next to the UK, Australia was the most vocal supporter for the illegal war of aggression mounted by the US against Iraq, with Howard, Hill & Downer at times seeking to outdo each other with their hyperbole in support of the draft-dodging George Bush’s middle-east military adventure (two days before Hill’s piece was published, Lord Downer unpacked another of his shrill performances by declaring that pulling out of Iraq would be 'catastrophic').  

“In view of the uncertainties about climate change and possible effects, it seems premature to take major action either reacting to possible effects or to limit greenhouse gas emissions."

 - McFarlane (1990)

“It is not proven that climatic changes will occur and the effects are not predictable with our current state of knowledge… it remains to be proven that a greenhouse effect is, in fact, occurring.”

- McFarlane (1990) 

Ian McFarlane, Federal minister for Industry and Resources is founder of Central Pacific Minerals and South Pacific Petroleum and former oil company CEO.  Ian is one of the key delegates at the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate Change (AP6) argues for no caps on greenhouse emissions, stating that the private sector, with "incentives" will solve our greenhouse problems if we leave them to it.

 ABC Radio's AM has revealed that the Department Of Defence has made a secret compensation payout over copied equipment designs.

"It seems as though it's in the order of one million dollars that's been spent either in compensation or legal fees, perhaps a bit more than that, and that is money that could have gone to properly equipping our troops, Quite frankly it's a scandal."   Opposition Defence spokesman Robert McClelland told the ABC

Mr McClelland has called on Defence Minister Hill to investigate "systematic flaws, if not corrupt practices" within the defence force's procurment arm, the Defence Materiels Organisation.

 

Several Adelaide-based US Defence Corporations are disguising themselves  as small businesses to "loophole" US Legislation, according to a US Survey. 

In the chase for Australian Defence contracts, some of the same companies have subsidiariaries mirroring the questionable US practices.

Defense Industry Daily reported yesterday that that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ordered the U.S. Small Business Administration (USSBA) to release to the American Small Business League (ASBL) a draft report on the awarding of government contracts.

It is sorely tempting to accept Professor Mirko Bagaric’s thesis that Australians would not benefit from a Bill of Rights Your Right Not To Have A Bill of Rights 

 

The good Professor’s smooth but superficial arguments in support of his thesis range from the simplistic contention that we are already the happiest people in the world (whatever that is supposed to signify), through to an argument that our politicians can’t be trusted with the task anyway. 

Merry Christmas to all at Your Democracy...

What are we to do with this site in the new year? My thoughts are that it should be taken off my hands. I've been inconsistent in maintaining it at best, and am only getting busier with Webdiary.

John, Richard, Gus? You are the core of the continuation here. Nigel, David? You built this site. What do you guys want to do? This thread is for that discussion.

... and a beaut new year to all.