2007 Federal Election Conspiracy

The Australian Government has conspired with the United States to devise a plan of freeing David hicks that will ensure the impact of his case has an absolute minimal effect upon the impending Federal election.

Bold words perhaps, but lets look closely at the facts:

Detention
Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in December 2001 and was among the first prisoners the United States sent to Guantanamo a month later. Washington defined Hicks and others as unlawful "enemy combatants" who could not be treated the same way as prisoners of war and would not have the same rights under the Geneva Convention.

PM Reacts to National Outrage

A poll in December (2006) on the Hicks case itself rocked the government. It showed that about two-thirds of Australians thought Mr Hicks should be returned to Australia, and only one-quarter supported Mr Howard's hands-off approach. Since then Mr Howard has changed his public tune, blaming America for the delays in bringing Mr Hicks to trial. That may not be enough to assuage public anger, which probably runs deep enough to affect elections in a few months' time.
The Economist, 29 March 2007

Charged and Convicted
A US military tribunal has sentenced him to seven years in jail but he will only have to serve nine months with the rest suspended. He will serve the sentence in Australia and the USA must send him home by May 29.

The Deal

Hicks's plea agreement bars him from speaking to the media for one year and says if he ever sells the rights to his story, the Australian Government will get the money. He was also banned from taking legal action against the United States. Hicks had previously said he was abused by the US military but said in his plea agreement he had "never been illegally treated while in US custody".
ABC Online, 31 March 2007

So clearly the government has one full year in which to be saved any embarrassment from Hicks' contact with media ... and the election will have been fought and won by then!

Bob Brown agrees

But Greens leader Bob Brown says Hicks's sentence is designed to keep him out of the political spotlight during this year's federal election campaign.
"This is an astonishing political fix between the Howard administration and the Bush administration," Senator Brown said.
"This is carefully choreographed to have Hicks shut up until after the election.
"That's because they know that this is an illegal process. It breaches Australia's standards of democracy, human rights, civil rights."
ABC Online, 31 March 2007

Teens uncover 55 year old lie!

Kiwi kids discover drug company lie!

International drugs conglomerate, GlaxoSmithKline, is facing court in New Zealand over misleading advertising, after two high school students discovered that Ribena, a blackcurrant drink it has been promoting for 55 years for its high Vitamin C content, contain very little of the essential nutrient.

The company has admitted to Australia's corporate watchdog, the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) that its marketing was misleading and its given an undertaking to explain the true nutritional makeup of Ribena on its packaging, its website and in future advertising.

And tomorrow the company's New Zealand subsidiary will be in court facing 15 similar charges brought by the ACCC's counterpart, the Commerce Commission, which carry a penalty of up to $3 million in fines.

According to another report in the Sydney Morning Herald it seems that the multinational got confused about the vitamin C content of blackcurrants (which is supposedly 4 times higher than oranges) and the vitamin content of its popular drink.

"Weight for weight, the 'four times' statement is factually correct but we accept that there is a potential for confusion among consumers and have taken the action to remove that claim."

In January, the Herald reported an analysis of popular children's snack foods and beverages by the independent consumer watchdog Choice, which found that Ribena consisted of little more than sugar and water. Its essential ingredient - blackcurrants - made up just 5 per cent of content, the study found, and was a processed product made from concentrate.

Fancy that ... a drug company lying to us! What is the world coming to? LOL!

Walk the walk ... like an Egyptian

Speaking of conspiracies ...

What's the chance that the USA is behind the massive constitutional changes underway in Egypt?

Human rights group Amnesty International has called the changes the greatest erosion of human rights in 26 years

Meanwhile, the USA has only expressed "some concerns" about some of the amendments.

The 34 ammendments will provide, amongst other things, a permanent invocation of emergency laws that have been in place since the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981, technically ending the longest "emergency" in history. The changes will also:

• give police wider powers of arrest and surveillance.
• ban all religious-based political activity and parties
• remove judicial supervision of elections
• change the previously socialist state into one based on "freedom of economic action"
• give the president powers to refer terrorists to any judicial authority - including military tribunals, which are not subject to appeal
• allow authorities to override articles protecting individual freedoms and privacy

Anyone arguing against these changes are, of course unpatriotic and unAmerican ... I mean unEgyptian!

Climate Conspiracy?

I've always loved a good conspiracy and continue to believe that every theory has its foundation in an element of truth, no matter how minute it may seem.

The death of Marilyn Monroe always had a fascination for conspiracy theorists linking her "suicide" to the Mafia, the CIA or even directly to the Oval Office. Now it comes out that even the FBI believed there was more to it than a simple overdose by a desperate woman.

Perhaps we'll hear more about President Kennedy's assassination or Harold Holt's underwater journey in a Chinese submarine as time goes by? ;-)

Meanwhile, over at the Washington Times, debate continues about the cause of climate change. This time the suggestion is that the United Nations is part of some conspiracy to promote human activity as the leading cause of global warming.

For the purposes of ... what, exactly? I have no idea!

Ali Sevin writes that

Two separate NASA landings on Mars showed the ice cap at the southern pole (frozen CO2) has been receding as a result of solar activity. If the sun is warming Mars it should also be warming the Earth unless some unknown phenomenon directs any increase in solar radiation only toward Mars.

Further to this "evidence" is the airing of a documentary called "The Great Global Warming Scandal" on London's TV Channel 4 which, according to film reviews not cited by Sevin,

is a devastating blow to the U.N. report and to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"

Sevin has a point - maybe unusually large and frequent solar flares are to blame for the increase in world temperatures!

But if Earth is like a pot of soup sitting on a stove (the sun) that can't be turned down, surely you'd want to lift the lid a bit to allow some ventilation, rather than adding extra gases that will only serve to build up the heat! Wouldn't you?? Derrr!

Global warming or climate change by any other name is still a slow road to extinction just the same.

If I were a rich man ...

According to recent global research, I'm an above-average wealthy person - considerably wealthy in fact, when you bring things into perspective.

The report by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University proclaims that the richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth. This excludes business, organisational and government wealth.

Further statistics demonstrate how the richest 1% of adults accounted for 40% of household assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total. In contrast, the bottom half of the world adult population owned a mere 1% share.

Whichever way you say it, there is no doubt that we have a massive skew in the distribution of assets and personal wealth across the globe. I'm going to keep the argument of lifestyle, quality of life, health and happiness out of this for moment, and make the assumption that each of these has a significant correlation to the relative income and assets of an individual. Money won't make you happy, but it certainly can take a few worries away from a starving family living in the dirt in a developing nation!

The report also found that just $2,200 of assets per adult placed a household in the top half of the world wealth distribution. To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world required just $61,000 in assets, and $500,000 qualified you for entry to the richest 1% along with 37 million others worldwide.



It was also noted that

many people in high-income countries have negative net worth and—somewhat paradoxically—are among the poorest people in the world in terms of household wealth

Facsinating reading - it really does put your own life into perspective!

Australia Deliberated ... and, what now?

I've been asked why I haven't reported further on the recent deliberative poll in Canberra.

It isn't because of laziness, although I am a major procrastinator at times. And it isn't because of any disinterest in the topic or a dwindling motivation to see the issues resolved.

My silence has primarily been due to a critical lack of direction or sense of conclusion. I left Canberra feeling at a loss and with some disappointment in how the proceedings were brought to a swift and insalubrious end.

"Fill out a survey, here's a cheque for $100, buses will leave at the appointed times and thank you ... now go and have lunch and listen to Bob Hawke sing Waltzing Matilda"

Ummm! But, excuse me ... What should we do now?

We had several dozen groups of people from all over the nation, brought together as strangers, all leaving with a sense that more needed to be done. Our work wasn't complete. We couldn't just send everyone away without some conclusion, some closure, some sense of a future direction. Yet, that's exactly what happened.

Most of us want to help break down these barriers; to keep the media accountable for their biased reporting; to educate others and facilitate harmony and interaction and pursue the goal of a truly multicultural society where no-one was abused for their beliefs or threatened by the beliefs of others.

Come in, spinner!

Alas, this weekend was not about developing solutions. It had very little to do with Islam in Australian society, and it certainly had nothing to achieve except to promote a system of political polling and facilitating some behavioural research.

It has taken me all this time to admit to myself the futility of this process in facilitating change on a large scale. Certainly, there were many individuals who were inspired to be better people; to take the message of unity back to their local communities, their families, workplaces and schools. But very little can be accomplished on a broader scale when the participants were swiftly dispersed without so much as a brief discussion on taking "the next step".

Perhaps I misled myself into thinking that a forum such as this would be a catalyst for change. No-one promised me that the weekend would provide answers, yet I went fully expecting to be part of the grand solution. Nobody suggested that this was an exercise in negotiation or diplomacy, but still my expectations were high for an outcome of significant proportions.

Three weeks after this extraordinary weekend, I am left sullen and void of satisfaction. It was a great holiday and an awesome opportunity to visit Canberra. It was also a wonderful way to meet some colourful characters and interesting individuals, partake of some excellent education and stimulating discourse. However, it was merely a talk fest amidst a series of research projects - nothing more!

Of course, there is a lot that I can do (and will do) as an individual, but I really feel that without some groundswell of support from the wider community, there will be little to achieve in pushing this barrow.

C'est la vie!

The Gender pay gap - fact or fiction?

Every year the same questionable report gets trotted out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and every year the media lap it up without so much as a blink!

human Resource magazine was one of publications to spew forth the recycled hyperbole Australians have heard year after year. In their article, Women behind in pay stakes, they claim that "There is a significant gap between male and female earnings, according to a recent Australian Bureau of statistics (ABS) report".

Fair call, one might say after skimming the superficial statistics. But sit and think and ask yourself the following questions before coming to a conclusion ...

• Is gender THE differentiating factor, or do elements like time in the field, capability to be a slave to the job, and career drivers play more of an important role?
• Why does the media only report the average earnings, knowing that women are more commonly employed in lower paid occupations (e.g. hospitality) while highly paid occupations (e.g. tradespeople in mining) are predominantly male? This in itself will skew the survey results!
• What factor does significant time away (e.g. maternity leave & child rearing) from a technical occupation, such as accounting, have on the remuneration afforded to women?
It seems that some voices are asking that employers pay equal remuneration on a gender basis regardless of all other factors! The fact that a woman may take 5 years away from her career seems to mean little to the lobbyists, who just want equal pay, end of story! Isn't it funny how we don't have cries from young people seeking pay that is on par to the nearly retired!

As a recruiter the arguments don't wash with me. I see men and women getting equal pay everyday in my job, however the issue is that the majority of CFOs tend to be male, while the majority of accounts support staff tend to be female. Notwithstanding that there are some exceptional cases of sexism, I believe that the majority of pay disparity is due to decisions made by the individual and very little to do with glass ceilings or gender disparity.

But then again .. I am, more than likely, a sexist male!

Attitude, stupid!

So, I was telling my folks about my weekend in Canberra and my Father asks "Are they going to run one for New Zealanders in Australia?"

... Ummm, No Dad ....

"What about Pakistanis in Australia?"

... Ahhh - nooo (waiting for it) ...

"Well, why are they running one for fucking Muslims?"

*sigh*

Because of exactly that kind of attitude, Dad!

Muslims and non-Muslims in Australia

This coming weekend will see me join 350 other Australians from around the country in old Parliament House, Canberra for a another epic forum under the banner of "Australia Deliberates". This will be the third such event to be held on a national basis, following on from the success of the republic and reconciliation issues.

I've given up my planned party weekend in Sydney (Mardi Gras and the amazing Toybox Luna Park *sob sob*) to attend this event and am very excited to be a participant.

I really don't know what to expect, but I'm under no illusions that I will be confronted by ignorance and arrogance, fundamentalist views, religious indoctrination, fear, and a range of emotions and reactions to some mighty important issues that will be discussed this weekend.

I'm also keeping an open mind - I don't think that I'm immune from having my views challenged, my perceptions altered or my opinion changed for the greater good.

More reports at the end of the week, or check out www.ida.org.au for details of the event.

Australia's core beliefs

Here's a draft of a post I was working on last year ...

Apparently average Australians have seven core beliefs, at least according to our moral-driven upstanding Prime Minister.

In a speech at the launch of The Conservative in September 2005, Mr Howard claimed that the following were our common beliefs:

We live in a very successful nation.
Tell that to hundreds of thousands who live below the poverty line, and especially our indigenous peoples who are battling to survive

We do not have much to be ashamed of
True ... except for our poor record on indigenous health & welfare, our cow-tailing to the USA, and our arrogance towards the Kyoto protocol

Australia was well-regarded around th world
see above comments

Individuals should be given a fair go if down on their luck but, once helped, should not expect continued community support
a fair comment unless it is advocating only helping people once and then writing them off for the rest of their life

Traditional institutions like the family were central but people with alternative views should not be persecuted
well ... should they be faced with discrimination too? And whose definition of family are we using anyway?

People should be very tolerant, but also believe in unity when facing a common threat
Stuff tolerance ... how about respect, acceptance and understanding ... and what if the threat is John Howard or the Liberal Party?

Society should be classless where a person's worth was determined by personal character and hard work, and not religion, race or social background
Newsflash!! How about if a person's worth was equalto all others and there were no determining factors at all?

Clearly, Mr Howard is now the spiritual leader of 20 million Australians, or at the very least considers himself to be a modern-day Moses in direct communication with a burning Golden Wattle tree!

A little remiss of me!

April Fool's Day 2006 - my first post of the year!

Many of you would have something poignant to say about that :-)

I guess it is about time to do some blogging.

Meanwhile, here is something to fill in those bored moments in front of the screen:

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm

have fun!!!

Big Brother is getting bolder

The paranoia besetting the Western world is bringing out the worst in humanity and infringing upon many civil liberties.

While I have no problem with governments implementing CCTV surveillance for the benefit of society I implore that more questions need to be asked about such moves as the UK plan to monitor car rego plates and store their movements for a period of 2 - 5 years.

see this article

Is this going to provide a safer world or just provide Big brother with more tools to invade our privacy?

Tis the season to be spending

Only an accountant or financial institution would dare to commercialise Christmas to the extent that northeastern USA bank, PNC, has gone to over the past 21 years.

The favourite yuletide song, "Twelve Days of Christmas" is being used as a benchmark for inflation calculation. If you want to know how much it would cost to present your "true love" with all of the 12 gifts on the appropriate days, then head along to www.pncchristmaspriceindex.com for an unusual take on the cost of giving.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New year to all.

Anything happen lately?

Apologies for the lack of posts these last 3 months, but life has taken some interesting turns.

Firstly I have commenced, and am entirely enjoying, a new career in recruitment. What an amazing feeling to be doing a job that you love and helping so many people and businesses in the process.

Secondly I have been kept quite busy with parties, events and travel as well as reorganising the home office.

I am looking forward to getting my teeth back into the blogosphere. So much has been happening that it would take several long entries to try and catch up with everything. I won't even attempt it.

Having said that I wish to express my heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the family of Van Nguyen, who was murdered by the Singaporean Judiciary at 6am on the 2nd of December at Changi Prison. A very sad day for Australia, but also just another example of the horrific behaviour of which humanity is capable.

In addition, the passing into law of the industrial relations and the anti-terrorism changes, as well as the incomprehensible riots experienced in Sydney recently, and it is quite clear that the plug has been pulled, the toilet has flushed, and Australia is spiralling down the gurgler at an ever increasing rate.

Bring on the next election!

The price of reality TV

An excellent report in The Australian this week raises the spectre of the ethical implications of relaity television programs.

James Bone reports on the tragic demise of some participants of relity TV experiments and questions whether the producers are living up to their moral and legal obligations by ensuring that the mental and physical wellbeing of the "stars" is of foremost importance.

Of particular interest to viewers and the industry alike is the significant and tragic effect that being in a "goldfish bowl" has on some people. While it could be argued that the examples listed were people who may have been suffering from low self-esteem, depression or a more serious mental illness, the fact remains that had it not been for the sudden and extreme public nature of their lives, many, if not all of them may have continued coping with a relatively normal and fulfilled life, with or without the issues and burdens they carried with them.

In essence it was, arguably, the media spotlight that stripped them bare, leaving them naked amongst the world. Embarrassment and shame are emotions that we find extremely difficult to overcome. Anger and joy pass us by on a daily basis and we give very little thought the last moment we expressed those feelings. But shame etches its memory in our mind and body and gnaws away at our self-esteem like a parasitic disease.

We have all had that moment when we goofed up or a self-truth was revealed unceremoniously to the world. At that moment our face blushed, our senses were heightened and we wanted to crawl under a rock away from the peircing stare or laughter of those around us. We may even have thought, or later jested to others, that "I wished I was dead".

For some, those feelings have presented themselves so strongly that they have been able to act and their fatal wish came true. For others it meant lashing out at others with equally tragic consequences.

Reality TV may simply be a fad of the times, but if it is set to haunt us over coming years, then producers of such shows need to take responsibility for the people they select and the selection process. But more importantly proactive care needs to be available from appropriate health professionals before, during and after each new media experiment.


[+/-] show/hide this post

What the ... ?

Some interesting news items hit me today as I was scanning blogs, google news and mainstream sources. The following three news items are clear examples of how one-sided journalism has become. It is so bad that items requiring further investigation are glossed over or given a positive spin to alleviate any awkward public questions.

I refuse to ever be part of that whitewash.

The first was North Korea's agreement to cease nuclear armament in exchange for a watered down USA non-aggression pact and ample supply of oil and electricity. Yet, as I write this new reports suggest that the North will not agree unless it is given nuclear reactors to generate power.

It concerns me that all this tension could be alleviated with some horse-trading of energy issues. It seems a little too easy and unrealistic. My bet is that something more substantial is hidden in the detail of the negotiations, and that the latest development seems to point to a continuation of nuclear development.

In another development, NASA has revealed plans to launch expeditions to Mars from the Moon. The strategy involves a number of manned missions to establish a lunar launch facility. Again it's the detail that bothers me, with plans to explore whether "resources, such as oxygen, hydrogen and metals, are available for use in NASA's long-term lunar exploration objectives". That seems to be a careful way of saying that the Moon has been targetted for mining operations! Under whose authority, I ask?

And in a bizarre situation in Iraq, two British soldiers were working "undercover", (dressed as Iraqis) and were arrested by Iraqi police after shooting at a traffic policeman. They were later "rescued" by British forces, who "used an armored fighting vehicle "to gain entry" to the police station to release them".

It begs the question why army personnel were "undercover" in the first place, and how is it that they are somehow above the laws that they should be trying to enforce.

Iraq is in total chaos, on the verge of civil war, and every day that allied forces are asked to remain in that country perpetuates an unnecessary living hell for both the military and the civillians.


[+/-] show/hide this post

Iraq's missing billions

The question on everyone's lips over the last few months has been "can things get any worse in Iraq?". Apparently they just did.

A report via The Independent claims that at least one billion dollars (US$ value, I'm guessing, though the article doesn't stipulate the currency), but possibly double that amount, has gone missing from the nation's ministries.

The funds disappeared over an eight-month period in the previous financial year. Comparisons are being made about the fraud and the oil-for-food scandal during Saddam's leadership, which lost $1.8 billion dollars.

While the United Nations has felt the scathing pressure of world opinion for its lack of policing and accountability of the oil-for-food program, USA forces and diplomats were in a much better position to prevent this significant episode of theft, fraud and corruption. The fallout is expected to be severely damaging to the US.

According to the report, the money was siphoned away through a series of unscrupulous deals to purchase arms from Poland and Pakistan. The deals were peculiar because they were:

"awarded without bidding ... signed with a Baghdad-based company, and not directly with the foreign supplier ... the money was paid up front and ... paid at great speed out of the ministry's account."

Instead of receiving quality weaponry and machinery, Iraq was left with inferior equipment with some of it past its useful life, such as 28 year old soviet-built helicopters that the manufacturers claim should have been scrapped after 25 years.

No doubt these revelations will add to the woes of the Iraqi and US administrations and any hopes of an early pull-out by allied forces are all but dashed as Iraq is now clearly incapable of adequately training its military or providing the necessary infrastructure to protect itself from insurgency.

The USA is now here for the long haul, its feet stuck in a quagmire of corruption, mismanagement and insurgency that seems futile to try and stop. Nothing short of a miracle could stop the country travelling further down the path of chaos and soon the USA will be beyond its own capability to protect its own interests.


[+/-] show/hide this post

Baghdad's Burden

It was the worst single day of civillian deaths in Baghdad since the invasion over two years ago.

According to a report in the Independent more than a dozen coordinated attacks took place killing about 150 people and injuring nearly 4 times as many. The worst occurred when a suicide bomber enticed hundreds of labourers to his van with promises of work before detonating explosives inside the vehicle, killing 114 and injuring 156 others.

The deaths mark a new point in the war, with some reporters going so far as to foresee the escalation in attacks as the beginning of a civil war. However, Robert Fisk takes a refreshingly honest look at the spin here.

I've reintroduced the Iraq Body Count banner above to highlight the continued suffering of this nation at the hands of insurgents and fuelled by the presence of the USA and its allies. It is a reminder that the invasion was wrongful and continues to be a great injustice to the Iraqi people.

The current reported death toll lies between 24,712 and 27,963 civilians.

Clarke won't be stoppedr

Anyone willing to take an award from Fred Nile and his cronies can't expect anything but to be labelled as an extremist. Clarke is either very naive or he believes the public are stupid. Perhaps there's a bit of truth in both explanations.

Conservative MP vows not to be silenced
NineMSN/AAP, 15 Sep 2005

Conservative NSW powerbroker David Clarke has hit back at media criticism of his views on abortion and homosexuality, saying he is not going to be silenced by his critics.

Mr Clarke has also been accused in recent times by some members of his own party of being an extremist and a religious zealot.

On Wednesday night, he received an award for "Parliamentary Service" from Christian Democrat MP and morals crusader Fred Nile's Festival of Light Organisation.

Mr Clarke, a Liberal member of the NSW upper house, played a key role in Peter Debnam's rise to the NSW Liberal leadership following the resignation and subsequent apparent suicide bid by former leader John Brogden.

Mr Clarke, a supporter of the Catholic Opus Dei movement, attacked the media for reporting what he said were anonymous and false claims about him, including that he had said women who have abortions should be charged with murder and that homosexuality should be outlawed.

He said he would continue to argue for the values he believed in.

"I want to tell you good people that I'm not going to be cowed by these types," he told about 100 Festival of Light Members at Parliament House in Sydney.

"I came into parliament to speak out on issues and that's what I'm going to continue to do.

"I'm not going to be stopped, I'm not going to be slowed down, I'm just going to continue to keep going on."

Some members of the audience, which included Nationals leader Andrew Stoner and Liberal MP Malcolm Kerr, responded with comments such as "That's right," and "Amen".

Mr Clarke praised the Festival of Light, which has staged protests against the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in recent years.

"I'm going to try and live up to the good values for which the Festival of Light stands," he said.

Mr Clarke outlined his political philosophy, saying he was a conservative, pro-life and supports the Christian constitutional monarchy and Australia's current flag, but rejected claims he was an extremist.

"I find myself in the mainstream," he said.

"There's nothing extreme about that."

He also supported the rights of non-Christians and people who did not believe in God.

Sky News gets it right

BUSH: One of the worst disasters to hit the U.S.