President Bush says the Iraq war is not about oil but his actions belie that claim.  

In the months before the March 2003 invasion, members of the U.S. State Department "Oil and Energy Working Group" met to plan how to open Iraq to international oil companies.  

Ousted Liberal leader Brendan Nelson has stood by his decision to hold a leadership spill and has pledged to get behind the newly-elected Malcolm Turnbull. 

At a media conference with his wife at his side, the at times emotional Dr Nelson also said he would not seek or accept a position on the frontbench. 

The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department struggled yesterday to contain the fallout from an upheaval among the country's largest investment banks as they moved on to their next challenge - engineering a $75 billion private rescue of the nation's largest insurance company. 

But if he is unworried about God getting a foot in the Royal Society's door, many other fellows find recent developments troubling. 

from Crikey ….. 

dead-end for lehman bros: what the pundits say ….. 

Belated applause for a stand up comic... 

I laugh sometimes at the SUPERB hypocritical aplomb of the Liberal Party's personnel....  

While Alaska Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is getting all the attention, the current vice president, Dick Cheney, was able to pontificate about Russia and Georgia with barely any notice from the media. 

courtesy of the Progressive Daily Beacon 

Palin appointed unqualified friends to high-paying government jobs, said scientists claimed global warming didn't threaten polar bears—emails prove she lied 

September 11, 2008

Try to laugh, please. The news is now officially parody and a game for all the family to play. 

It does not diminish Freddoso’s accomplishment to say that The Case Against Barack Obama is a perfect companion to Reason editor Matt Welch’s anti-McCain book, McCain: The Myth of a Maverick.  

from Crikey ….. 

Jeff Sparrow, editor of Overland writes: 

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are confronting a sharply abbreviated general election campaign season, the product of the late nominating conventions and a boom in early voting in tightly contested states.

This shortened timetable is forcing both campaigns to recalibrate the pace of television advertisements, accelerate voter turnout operations and tailor the candidates’ travelling schedules to accommodate states where voting is imminent. 

Americans used to have a love affair with intelligence. Parents and their parents and their parent's parents worked hard to provide funding for schools that ensured all children received the best possible education.

Reading a book was considered important. Writing skill meant something. The ability to comprehend math was considered vital.  

For scientists, today is D-day: the long-awaited moment when they fire the first sub-atomic particles round the world's largest particle accelerator in search of the keys to the cosmos.  

from Crikey ….. 

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes: 

That hissing sound is the Peter Costello bubble deflating.