No matter how "badly" our water is managed, water HAS TO BE and stay a public utility... Any fool can privatise anything, but water HAS TO STAY in the hands of the public. It does not matter if the Poms have decided to sell their waters to some AUSSIE banks here and there, the crux of the matter is that water SHOULD BE FREE and regulated against pollution like the air we breathe... and protected for over-usage... OTHERWISE some some clever bastard will come and sell you your life... YOU already buy it in many forms from education to heath, but WATER? No way!...
Save our democracy... Protest at the privatisation of water... even if private enterprise can deliver it "better"...It is a public democratic and animalistic right.

It is an interesting coincidence that the offices of the Australian Electoral Commission's "Project Genesis" is right next door to Crosby Textor, Liberal Party lobbyists and pollsters.

The two offices are in the Engineers Australia building in Canberra, not far from the Liberal Party HQ in Barton.

Project Genesis involves updating the software used to hold the electoral roll and manage the logistics of election day.

AEC Annual Report 2005–06

‘Bechtel, the giant engineering company, is leaving Iraq. Its mission - to rebuild power, water and sewage plants - wasn't accomplished: Baghdad received less than six hours a day of electricity last month, and much of Iraq's population lives with untreated sewage and without clean water. But Bechtel, having received $2.3 billion of taxpayers' money and having lost the lives of 52 employees, has come to the end of its last government contract.

As Bechtel goes, so goes the whole reconstruction effort. Whatever our leaders may say about their determination to stay the course complete the mission, when it comes to rebuilding Iraq they've already cut and run. The $21 billion allocated for reconstruction over the last three years has been spent, much of it on security rather than its intended purpose, and there's no more money in the pipeline.

Somebody named FOSP added this to my Houston Indymedia version of the Parkin story.

 

Yep, if people start getting organised in their protests, the Bush Regime in both countries might indeed have something to fear.

I've just received this from Friends Of Scott Parkin:

Dear Friends-- Very exciting news!  Yesterday, Justice Ross Sundberg granted my lawyers access to the contents of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization's security assessment  which resulted in me being removed from Melbourne in September last year.  Furthermore, it grants access to the security assessments of my 2 co-plaintiffs, Iraqi asylum seekers Mohammad Sagar and Muhammad Faisal, who have been in an Australian detention centre for the past 5 years.

 
from the Centre for American Progress …..

Trials and Tribulations

'On Sunday, the nine-month trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants is expected to conclude, with the court delivering its verdict.

Should Hussein be convicted, it will be an historic and welcome development for the Iraqis who suffered under his rule.

‘Earlier this year, news broke that Halliburton subsidiary, KBR – the firm infamous for building prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay and for scandals stemming from work in the Iraq war zone – received a $385 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to build detention centers, according to the New York Times, "for an unexpected influx of immigrants" or "new programs that require additional detention space."

from The Guardian ….. 

Iraq a 'work of art in progress' says US general after 49 die

Julian Borger in Washington
Friday November 3, 2006

'An American general in Baghdad called Iraq a "work of art" in progress yesterday in one of the most extraordinary attempts by the US military leadership to put a positive spin on the worsening violence.

‘During an interview with conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh, US President George Bush expressed deep concerns about the possibility of the United States leaving the Middle East, raising fears that extremists could topple governments to "control oil resources."

"Give me a second here, Rush, because I want to share something with you," Bush said. "I am deeply concerned about a country, the United States, leaving the Middle East."

The Australian  Federal Court has announcedoday that deported activist Scott Parkin does have a right to know why ASIO deported him.  The court has granted Parkin access to the ASIO documentation used in his negative security classification.

On the day before Septemberr 11 last year Parkin was arrested and placed in solitary confinement amidst claims he was a violent activist.  He was portrayed in Australian September 11 media as a threat to Australian security.  Newsweek  reported in January that the Pentagon had kept a file on Parkin handing out sandwiches as a protest for Halliburton's food charges in Iraq.  It is likely Australian intelligence agency ASIO declared that Parkin was a potentially violent activist on the  strength of this file's existence, though it's unknown if ASIO were allowed to read it.

This week, Sir Nicholas Stern released his report which stated, if we tackle global warming NOW, it will cost about 1% global GDP, but if we leave it will cost us between 5 and 20% of GDP per year. This is really like any unserviced debt, if you let it build up, and don't try to pay it back, it will eventually bury you. In this report industry was identified as one of the major contributors to global warming, however their responses can be understood through simple economics. Producing large amounts of CO2 doesn't cost them anything, so they do it. We need to put a price on CO2 if we expect industry to respond. Hence the need for a carbon trading scheme. One of the most famous carbon trading schemes is the Kyoto protocol.

‘The United States upset the regional balance in the Middle East when it invaded Iraq. Restoring it requires bold initiatives, but "cutting and running" must precede them all. Only a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops — within six months and with no preconditions — can break the paralysis that now enfeebles our diplomacy. And the greatest obstacles to cutting and running are the psychological inhibitions of our leaders and the public.

Our leaders do not act because their reputations are at stake. The public does not force them to act because it is blinded by the president's conjured set of illusions: that we are reducing terrorism by fighting in Iraq; creating democracy there; preventing the spread of nuclear weapons; making Israel more secure; not allowing our fallen soldiers to have died in vain; and others.’

 
from the ABC ….

PM to announce $60m for clean energy projects

Prime Minister John Howard will announce more Government funding for clean energy projects, valued at $60 million.

The Federal Government has been facing a barrage of questions this week about climate change, amid the dire prediction about global warming in a British report by economist Sir Nicholas Stern.

I've got a theory as to why the inquiry findings into the death of Private Jake Kovco are not being released till next year.   In both Australia and the US sentiment against the war in Iraq has never been higher, and the control of US Congress may be decided on this issue, as it might in Australia next year.

The circumstances surrounding Kovco's death are being considered unfortunate by some and negligent by others.   Testimonies have referred to the inappropriate cleaning up of evidence and confusion in details of evidence by comrades in close proximity.  Then there's the accidental switching of bodies that led to the remains of a deceased Bosnian contractor being flown to Australia instead of the fallen soldier.

‘William Lind has written eloquently and with great knowledge of Fourth Generation War (4GW). 4GW is the preferred tactic of our opposing forces both in Iraq and Afghanistan, just as it was in Vietnam. The United States Military bases its strategy on a theory known as, Victory Through Superior Firepower; simply said, this is bringing concentrated and overwhelming firepower to the point of attack. Our Military Industrial Complex (MIC) mandates this battlefield philosophy. High-tech weapons and weapons systems require trillions of dollars to develop and produce. These trillions of taxpayer dollars line the pockets of those who lobby the government for war. Many of our career politicians rotate between leadership of MIC companies and positions in the government. Career Colonels and Generals find high-paying positions in the MIC when they leave military service. This money-eating merry-go-round is not only bankrupting our country but also systematically leads to the deaths of our soldiers on the 4GW field of battle.

‘While everyone is being distracted by the war in Iraq, Tom Cruise's impending wedding and George Clooney's deep concern for the people in the Darfur region of Sudan, the knuckleheads in Washington are laying the groundwork for a sure-enough war – a war we won't win.

The latest step was Little Emperor George's proclamation that nothing will be allowed to keep us from the militarization of space. The emperor and his crazy neo-conservative advisers apparently want to conquer not only the world, but outer space, too.