I Hate Howard!

This is why I am changing the name of this blog (again):

Mr Howard said hate is a strong word and should not be used flippantly.

"That word is not used sparingly enough and I suppose the alliteration appeals to some people - hate and Howard - but I think it's rather juvenile," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

"The people who use that language have got the problem, not the object of that language."

I hate the arrogance of this little man, who has overseen the deaths of more than half a million people in Iraq, forcing 4.5 million more to flee their homes, but still cannot even admit he lied.

I hate the cynical opportunism of this racist, who has withdrawn funding from Aboriginal programs and watched their communities plunge further into poverty, alcoholism and despair, yet still cannot even say "Sorry".

I hate the smug satisfaction of this greedy Fascist tool, who has abolished Australia's unfair dismissal laws and other fundamental workers rights, but still seeks to vilify his political opponents a danger to our country's economic well-being.

I hate the blind, willful ignorance of this corporate business stooge, who pretended for so long that global warming does not exist, even blocking scientific evidence to the contrary, until now we are all faced with a planetary emergency.

I hate Howard.

No, it is not too strong a word. Say it with me:

"I hate John Howard!"

That's my election slogan right there.

"I HATE HOWARD!"

UN To Warmongers: "We Told You So"

Maybe the reason it took so long to finally close down the U.N. WMD Inspection Team is that certain people did not want to see the publication of the team's final report:

"Despite some skepticism from many areas within the international community, in hindsight, it has now become clear that the U.N. inspection system in Iraq was indeed successful to a large degree, in fulfilling its disarmament and monitoring obligations," said the unit's 1,160-page summing-up report.

"The UN's verification experience in Iraq also illustrates that in-country verification, especially on-site inspections, generate more timely and accurate information than other outside sources such as national assessments."

And get this:

In other sections, the report said UNMOVIC had found that from the mid-1970s to 1990, more than 200 foreign suppliers had provided Iraq with critical technology, equipment, items and materials used in banned weapons programs. U.N. officials said the report's authors had decided not to name the suppliers.

Your Fat Faced Foreign Minister In Action

Alexander "Baby Face" Downer just made a lightning-fast trip to Baghdad, where he warned, err, I mean... promised al-Maliki that Australia's massive troop presence will never, ever be withdrawn:

"The Labor Party is saying the Australian Government's thinking of just pulling the troops out [of Iraq] before the election for political reasons. We're not doing anything of the sort. I made it very clear to the Iraqis while I was there that we wouldn't abandon them."

Did you hear that, all you 100,000 plus insurgents? Our 1,370 brave Diggers will NEVER abandon you! Never! Bwaaa haaa haaa HAHA HAHA!!!

So, err... why was John Howard recently reminding everyone that his original understanding with the USA "was that after the sharp end was over we were not going to have any troop presence"? I guess it depends how you define "the sharp end". First 50 years of occupation, perhaps?

Downer ploughed on with his interview:

"I was heartened by some of General Petraeus' analysis, which was that the Americans feel they are making very good progress now against al-Qaeda."

Mr Downer said it was too early to make a judgment about the success of the US troop surge, designed to lift security in Baghdad and surrounding provinces. He said the US was only now getting all the troops in place.

"They haven't finished deploying the troops. We will have to give it plenty of time. It's not a time at this stage to make that judgment."

Well, actually, Alex, all the US "surge" troops in Iraq are now fully deployed. Even President Bush says so:

The president ordered 21,500 additional U.S. combat troops to Iraq in January. With those troops finally all deployed, Bush ticked through the details of operations in several areas, declaring with the aid of maps and charts on screens that flanked him that progress already is being made in many places.

He said sectarian murders, after spiking in May, are now down substantially from January levels. Car bombings and suicide attacks continue, but declined in May and June. He cited "astonishing signs of normalcy" such as soccer matches and crowded markets.

Downer just received an honorary degree in Israel, where he pledged another $7 million of Australian taxpayer money to prop up the (previously isolated) pro-Western Fatah Palestinians against the popularly elected Hamas government. Obviously the man is a veritable dove of peace, spreading his message of love across the Middle East:

"I made the point to the prime minister that it is very important that the Iraqis take this whole process of reconciliation further forward and do it more quickly than they are the moment. They have got a lot of work to do, in particular reconciling between the Shia and the Sunnis."

Reconciliation? I thought we'd abandoned that "old politics" in favour of Howard's New Militant Paternalism? Maybe we should declare a National Emergency in Iraq? Oh, wait...!

According to Ha'aretz, Downer is the world's longest-serving Foreign Minister, with over 10 years on the job. You have to wonder how he does it, don't you? Certainly competence, compassion and coherence don't seem to be important criteria for continuing in his post.

Job Vacancy: Massive Salary, Fascists Welcome

The head of the IMF is resigning to spend time with his family. Why have the global media never pointed out that this man is an avowed Fascist?

Mr. Rodrigo Rato, Mr. Aznar's Minister of Economy, [was] responsible for the dismantling of the Spanish welfare state.

Mr. Rato is of the ultra-right . While in Aznar's cabinet, he supported such policies as making religion a compulsory subject in secondary schools, requiring more hours of schooling in religion than in mathematics, undoing the progressivity in the internal revenue code, funding the Foundation dedicated to the promotion of francoism (i.e., Spanish fascism), never condemning the fascist dictatorship, and so on.

Tony Blair's Minister of Economy, Gordon Brown, was Rato's main advocate for the IMF position. Let's see who they come up with as a replacement.

The Revolution May Be Televised After All

Mika's not the only pissed journo in Bush's USA today. The LA Times' Managing Editor has abruptly quit the paper, saying he "would like to return to being a reporter."

And Wall Street Journal reporters across the country chose not to show up for work today, citing threats to their independence and credibility. Never mind that Rupert, poised to gain control of the WSJ editorial as well as the paper, is promising that the new WSJ Page Three girls will have MBA's.

More at the Wendi Deng Watchers Club.

Realization: Paris Hilton is not news

Is It Impeachment Time Yet?

Things just got very ugly in Washington. Yesterday, Cheney got subpoenaed for information on his warantless wire-tapping program. White House press secretary Tony Snow called it "an outrageous request". But that's just one of many snowballing Democrat investigations. And today the White House is point-blank refusing to co-operate with the subpoenas:

"With respect, it is with much regret that we are forced down this unfortunate path which we sought to avoid by finding grounds for mutual accommodation," White House counsel Fred Fielding said in a letter to the chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees.

The White House is invoking executive privilege, even though Cheney argues he is not a member of the Executive branch.

This is going to end up in the Supreme Court,as many of us have long predicted. And the Republicans have diligently stacked the court in their favour, and kept Bush's discredited Attorney General in place, in preparation for just such a day. Is it impeachment time yet?

Even Fox News now has Bush at record lows, and in some states he is polling as low as 14%. But Bush is still pleading for patience in Iraq. And you'll never guess which state he has picked as the new "model":

He cited Israel as a possible model for Iraq, signalling that success for US forces there should not be defined by a complete end to attacks, but by creation of a "functioning democracy" despite continuing violence.

NB: Cartoon above by Ted Rall.

Gandhi Saves The USA From Darth Cheney

I know I shouldn't get pissed about this sort of thing, but...

I wrote this post at Bush Out way back in February 2006:

Bush Executive Order 13292 was released on March 25, 2003 - just five days after the US went to war in Iraq.

As superbly explained by Byron York at the National Review Online, the order is basically a handover of powers from a lazy, ignorant President to a ruthlessly power-hungry Vice President...

The 2003 Invasion of Iraq began on March 20. This order was released just five days later!

Now just try to tell me that the Iraq War was not pre-planned... Cheney and the PNAC neo-cons had this document ready to push right under Bush's nose just as soon as they went to war!!!

So just what has Cheney been keeping secret from the USA?

More importantly, perhaps, what has Cheney been keeping secret from Bush himself???

Did I get hits? No. Did I win Blogger Of The Year award? Not. Did the world change? Nah.

Now, with all the heat suddenly coming down on Cheney, I thought it would be a good idea to forward the link to the good people at Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo site. Couple of days later, and here's Spencer Ackerman at TPM:

The order, known as Executive Order 13292, gives the ISOO the authority to ... That's President Bush's language: he amended the executive order on March 25, 2003.

Clearly, Ackerman is presenting the document in a different light to my post, and focussing on other areas of text. But this could be a big weapon against Cheney. And, after four long years of relentless blogging, a little credit would be nice. Yes, yes, I know...

The dudes at TPM are a very busy bunch, and we are all working towards the same goal, and all that.

But I'm tired and I want my Mummy.

Know what I mean?

Actually, what I want is a real job, where I can do this sort of thing for a living, like the TPM mob. Any offers?

Maybe I'll just go write a book. Or something.

War On Aborigines: Nation's #1 Child Abuser Rides To The Rescue

Just over a year ago, the head of the Australian Medical Association in the Northern territory called for the Army to be sent into the Aboriginal community of Wadeye, where violent abuse of children was commonplace. Howard ignored the call for help, and Mal Brough insisted it was a Northern Territory police matter. Brough instead called an Indigenous Violence Summit, rejecting Clare Martin's demand that the problem be escalated to the Prime Minister's COAG meeting. Influential officials ridiculed Brough's summit as a yet another talkfest.

Last night on the 7:30 Report Mal Brough admitted that, if not for Howard's dramatic intervention, "this would have been yet another report that came and went." And there have been plenty of missed opportunities:

KERRY O'BRIEN: Have you asked one of your predecessors Philip Ruddock why he didn't act on the warnings from senior Aboriginal leader, Mick Dodson who at the National Press Club down the road from the Parliament four years ago... when he warned in the starkest terms of child violence in Aboriginal communities, of incest, of paedophilia and rape of youths?

"Our people are experiencing sexual abuse beyond comprehension."

Couldn't have been much more specific than that...

KERRY O'BRIEN: When Senator Heron, another of your predecessors, when he was Aboriginal Affairs Minister right back in 1996 when he announced cuts of $450 million over four years he said, "We want programs that benefit individuals and families in the community. We will deliver results not lip service."

Eleven years later, you deliver a national emergency... declare a national emergency and blame the Territory. You would acknowledge there have been so many reports, surely the Federal Government must front up to some of the blame?

MAL BROUGH: Kerry, I have no issue on personally taking the blame.

While it is a refreshing surprise to see a Howard government minister accepting blame for anything, the person who should be bearing most of the blame for this current situation is the man who has overseen all such failed programs for the past 11 years: the Prime Minister, John Howard.

The more one looks into the details of this latest plan, the more bizarre it becomes. Last night Mal Brough repeatedly refused to answer a simple question: "Are children going to be physically examined for signs of sexual abuse?'

MAL BROUGH: Well, Kerry, it's very interesting how we are having this discussion because, let's turn it around. Let's do nothing.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Mr Brough, that's not...

MAL BROUGH: No, Kerry. No, Kerry.

AFP officers have now arrived in the NT and will get just one week's training before they are sent out into the communities. It sounds very much as if their duties are being made up as we go along.

Bye-bye, Bush's Poodle

UPDATE: Brown immediately elevates a few Iraq War critics to cabinet.
What a typically stupid thing for Bush to say:

"I’ve heard he’s been called ‘Bush’s poodle’. He’s bigger than that.”

A golden retriever, perhaps? But wait, there's more:

"Somehow our relationship has been seen as Bush saying to Blair 'Jump' and Blair saying, 'How high?' But that's just not the way it works. It's a relationship where we say we're both going to jump together."

Bush also said: "Tony's great skill, and I wish I had it, is that he's very articulate.

"I wish I was a better speaker. This guy can really . . . he can talk."

What an idiot. Those comments came in a Murdoch Sun exclusive interview with Bush, by the way. And it was recorded a month ago. I am curious that Bush doesn't have more to say today. Maybe the "special relationship" is not what it once was?

And what a strange thing for Blair to say:

For the first time, he used the word "sorry" in relation to Iraq. While he still believed the war was right, "I am truly sorry about the dangers they [British soldiers] face today in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Why should he be sorry, if (as he still insists) he has done nothing wrong? Are we finally going to start hearing the truth from Bush's poodle? If so, where will that leave Howard?

Gordon Brown is already promising some major changes. In fact, he uses the word "change" at every opportunity. Is that just spin, or will we be seeing some real change? His comments to readers of The Independent don't seem to signal a radical shift:

In an answer of one word, and with the benefit of hindsight, was it wrong to invade Iraq?

No.

You were the one person who could have stopped Blair signing up to the invasion of Iraq, either by threatening to quit or publicly opposing it. How do you feel about putting your career ahead of the lives of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of British soldiers?

I don't doubt that you hold your views about the war sincerely. We know it has been a divisive issue for our party and our country, but I hope you'll accept that I hold my views sincerely too. There's no doubt that mistakes were made in our planning for what happened after the removal of Saddam, and I think it's important to learn the lessons and to go forward knowing that proper procedures are going to be in place that will command the confidence not just of Parliament but the confidence of the public. We will learn all the lessons that need to be learnt.

Do you ever wake in the night and think of all those dead Iraqi children?

Any such loss of life is a tragedy. As Prime Minister, I will work tirelessly for peace and security for all the children in Iraq, and for the safe return of our armed forces once their job is done.

So there is still a "mission" for the troops, and the only mistakes being acknowledged are related to the post-invasion planning, not the manipulated intelligence used to justify the invasion. Still, any new revelations or shifts in policy could pose major problems for Howard.

As for Blair's farcical new role as Mid-east envoy, this post from Antony Loewenstein tells you all you need to know. Little wonder Arabs are not impressed. If Blair is looking for redemption, he has a very, very long road to hoe.

War On Aborigines: Don't Panic Until I Say So!

After declaring a national emergency, sending in the military, and calling this Australia's version of Hurricane Katrina, Howard is now telling the locals not to panic.

A letter sent to the local elders "polititely advises that a small contingent of federal and territory officials, together with at least one Federal Police officer, would like to visit and talk to them this morning." Never mind that the troops are already on the way and the locals' right to deny them access has already been abolished.

And can you believe this:

A three-week investigation of allegations of abuse in the community by a joint police task force last year — including over 100 interviews with local people — failed to find evidence of abuse capable of prosecution in this community, local elders say.

Or what about this:

In one of the many intricate, interwoven dramas complicating the political story of the Howard intervention, the Mutitjulu community administration was tossed out eight months ago by Canberra and replaced by a Perth firm which, only a month back, the locals succeeded in dumping through an appeal to the Federal Court.

No wonder the locals think this is all about Uluru tourist revenues. (Alex Mitchell suspects it could have more to do with the mining industry).

Don't get me wrong - if there are kids in danger, we should do whatever is necessary to help them. But this whole thing stinks to high hell of media spin and political opportunism.

War On Aborigines: Fear-Mongering Meets Reality

A lot of the Aboriginal mothers out around Uluru have personal experience of the Stolen Generation, a state-sponsored crime for which Howard still refuses to apologise. Little wonder they are terrified and panicking:

Some families have already fled the first community to be targeted, Mutitjulu at Uluru, but the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, blames "liars" who have something to hide from police and military personnel for terrorising people and spreading hysteria.

"The reason people are scared there at the moment is because people are putting around that the army are coming to take their children away, that the army is coming in to shoot the dogs and the Government is going to take away their money and make them sit there and do what they're told," Mr Brough said...

Lesley Taylor, one of the Territory's most experienced child abuse workers, said: "They are scared stiff … This is creating very stressful environments that could lead to even more children being at risk."

Sixty to 70 communities will be targeted, and small teams of police, military and government officers will begin arriving today to audit people's needs. They would be replaced by teams who would stay to meet those needs, Mr Brough said. Public servants will oversee the programs, with a manager in each community responsible for what happens.

Credibility is a bitch, isn't it? On the basis that anything the government denies must be true, here's Howard:

"There's no reason to flee, it's quite the reverse. People are going there to help, going there to save and protect, they're not going there to scare people and steal children."

Righto. But surely the standard government policy on sexually abused children dictates that they must be immediately removed from their parents? Make no mistake: children WILL be removed from their families. And who is going to decide on that action? Howard's chosen few, come from afar.

Meanwhile, out in the hot desert sun...

Mutitjulu leader Bob Randall said the community was waiting to see what happens next.

"It appears to be high security, all we are doing is waiting to see what happens but we all think this is a terrible way to go about it, I mean this is heavy stuff," he said.

"It is quiet as always, this is always a quiet little community.

"We haven't seen anything different yet but we are expecting something to happen today."

As this week's Bulletin says, it is all rather theatrical.

"Well, you just had that terrible running-on-the-spot feeling," says Howard. "You put a lot of effort and a lot of resources into the dysfunctional character these communities, I watched what Noel Pearson was doing in the Cape and it made a lot of sense."

The view from abroad is a little different, as one might expect. South Africans take the Aboriginal perspective (how novel) and see the intervention as 'a land grab':

Indigenous leaders presented a letter bearing more than 90 signatures to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Mal Brough on Tuesday condemning the plan, which involves Canberra taking control of leases on Aboriginal land for five years.

Pat Turner, who was once Australia's most senior Aboriginal bureaucrat, said Howard's conservative government was trying to reverse hard-fought indigenous land rights.

"We believe that this government is using child sexual abuse as the Trojan horse to resume total control of our land," she told reporters.

Funny how Turner's voice is not being heard in the Oz media, isn't it?

And I am just going to quote Howard's ridiculous Hurricane Katrina analogy here because I am sure I will be coming back to it soon:

"Many Australians, myself included, looked aghast at the failure of the American federal system of government to cope adequately with Hurricane Katrina and the human misery and lawlessness that engulfed New Orleans in 2005. We should have been more humble. We have our Katrina, here and now. That it has unfolded more slowly and absent the hand of God should make us humbler still."

Notice the "five year" lease-grabbing, which will just take us through the next election comfortably. Cynical? Moi?

What a fucking blatantly transparent farce. Shame on all those who refuse to call it for what it is: a desperate election stunt from a morally bankrupt racist who truly doesn't give a fuck.

Global Military Spending Hits $1.2 Trillion - Guess Who Is Paying For It?

As the Cold War fizzled to an end in the late 90's, who would have believed that global military expenditure was about to rise by 37 percent in a decade? The latest figures show that world military expenditure rose 3.5% to $1.2 trillion in 2006, with Bush's USA accounting for nearly half the total figure.

“The United States and the European Union countries continue to supply vast quantities of arms to the Middle East, despite the knowledge that it is a highly volatile region,” said Siemon Wezeman, SIPRI’s arms transfers project leader...

Among the top 10 importers were five Middle Eastern countries. While arms exports to Iran put Russia under the spotlight, deliveries from the United States and European countries to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were significantly larger, said the SIPRI report.

“Especially worrisome are deliveries of long-range conventional strike systems to these states and the effects this may have on regional stability. Because the development of large weapon systems is becoming increasingly costly, nearly all countries have become, or soon will become, dependent on other countries for weapons or weapon technology,” said the report.

What a scam. And we Australian taxpayers are up to our necks in it:

The 2000 Defence White Paper committed the Government to increase Defence spending by an average of 3 per cent real growth a year from 2000-01 to 2010-11, adding a further $28.5 billion of resources to Defence over that timeframe.

Now, the Government has decided to continue to increase Defence spending by 3 per cent real growth a year until 2015-16. This will mean an additional $10.7 billion for Defence over the period 2011-12 to 2015-16.

These commitments mean that the Defence budget will grow from $12.6 billion in 2000-01 to $26.7 billion by 2015-16...

A 15-year commitment to an average of 3 per cent real growth in Defence funding is unprecedented in our history.

War On Aborigines: The Troops Will Be Home For Christmas!

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough let the cat out of the bag when he revealed that all states except WA are sending police to the N.T.

"I think Alan Carpenter has been bloody-minded towards his neighbour," Mr Brough said...

WA is the wealthiest state and the federal government is not asking him to pay "one red cent", but only contribute 10 officers who will be returned in six months, Mr Brough said...

"WA is on its own in denying these kids a better future and it appals me to think he would be playing politics with this issue."

Gosh, here we are less than six months from a federal election, and Howard has already decided that he will be declaring Mission Accomplished as soon as the election's over. What a bloody farce.

War On Aborigines: Time To Invade QLD

Twenty years ago, I worked as a teacher on a cattle station about 300km west of Mareeba, in Far North Queensland. Racism was rampant in the area. In fact, it's the reason why I quit my job after just two months. The locals referred to sex with the black girls as "black velvet", a term which I also heard when I got back to Sydney. Even one of my uncles, married with four kids, told me there was "nothing like it".

The Aboriginal "ringers" I worked with would labour for months on the local cattle stations, then head into town on a Friday night, with a few hundred dollars in their pockets, and blow the whole lot in a couple of days. On Mondays, white farmers would drive up to the Chillagoe pub in their 4WDs, pick up half-paralytic black bodies from the side of the streets, and drive them out to their stations for another few months' work.

One of the older Aboriginals I worked with still had scars on his back from childhood beatings with a chain by white property owners. He told me how they used to have leg-irons in those days.

"Not so bad these days, mate," he said.

A younger bloke called Francis complained that he used to enjoy school, but he and his friends frequently went bush, and the government had a policy of never allowing Aborginals to repeat a year of classes (it would look bad on government stats, you see). After a few years he just couldn't understand what the teachers were talking about any more, so he dropped out.

Twenty years later, nothing has changed. Peter Beattie is telling Queenslanders not to worry about yet another black death in custody:

Mr Beattie said the death would be "fully and properly investigated".

"We've demonstrated here that none of these get covered up," he said.

Yeah, right. Tell that to the Mulrunji family, Pete.

So far the "facts" indicate that the latest victim just upped and died all by himself. He just happened to be in the back of a police van at the time:

Police said the middle-aged man was being transported to the Mareeba watchhouse for questioning when he was found dead in a police vehicle.

Obviously the problems so recently detected by John Howard in the Northern Territory are widespread. Given that Howard's preferred solution involves military and police action, it's surely just a matter of time before he sends dozens of cops into Queensland, and then WA, and western NSW, and South Australia, and a few other areas too. I would like to nominate Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley as leader of a new national force. If we are short of cops, I'm sure Howard's friends at Blackwater could help out.

What a bloody farce, what a national disgrace.

US Media Goes After Murdoch

A couple of big Murdoch-watching stories from the New York Times and the New Yorker today, with even more juicy stuff still to come. Details at The Wendi Deng Watchers Club.

Uh-oh! The Banker's Bank Says We Are Headed For Another Great Depression

Not good:

In its annual report the Bank for International Settlements noted that the conditions which led up to the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Asian crises in the 1990s were reflected in the current environment.

"Each downturn was preceded by a period of non-inflationary growth exuberant enough to lead many commentators to suggest that a 'new era' had arrived," the bank said.

The BIS, the central bankers' bank, pointed to a confluence of worrying signs, citing mass issuance of new-fangled credit instruments, soaring levels of household debt, extreme appetite for risk shown by investors, and entrenched imbalances in the world currency system.

The BIS has robust criticism for China, but only "thinly veiled" criticism of equally irresponsible profiteering from the US Federal Reserve. Oddly enough, there is nothing at all about the Howard-Costello economic "miracles" of the past decade. Funny, that.

WaPo Shines A Bright Light On Dick Cheney's Dark Corner

Yesterday the Washington Post started running a major four-part series investigating US Vice President Dick Cheney. This really is Pulitzer-quality journalism, which should permanently shape the US public's low view of the criminal Bush White House. Here's a taste:

In a bunker beneath the East Wing of the White House, Cheney locked his eyes on CNN, chin resting on interlaced fingers. He was about to watch, in real time, as thousands were killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

Previous accounts have described Cheney's adrenaline-charged evacuation to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center that morning, a Secret Service agent on each arm. They have not detailed his reaction, 22 minutes later, when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

"There was a groan in the room that I won't forget, ever," one witness said. "It seemed like one groan from everyone" -- among them Rice; her deputy, Stephen J. Hadley; economic adviser Lawrence B. Lindsey; counselor Matalin; Cheney's chief of staff, Libby; and the vice president's wife.

Cheney made no sound. "I remember turning my head and looking at the vice president, and his expression never changed," said the witness, reading from a notebook of observations written that day. Cheney closed his eyes against the image for one long, slow blink.

Three people who were present, not all of them admirers, said they saw no sign then or later of the profound psychological transformation that has often been imputed to Cheney. What they saw, they said, was extraordinary self-containment and a rapid shift of focus to the machinery of power.

Part One here.

Part Two here.



"We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we're going to be successful. That's the world we operate in, and so it's going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective."

- Dick Cheney, just days after 9/11.

*

"Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a nice way to operate, actually."

- Dick Cheney

Howard's Iraq "Withdrawal" Strategery

A headline like this has gotta make you sit up and pay attention:

US military bets all on Iraq campaign

Under mounting political pressure at home, the US military is betting all that a summer-long campaign against Al-Qaeda in Iraq will leave it in a position to begin drawing down US troops by early next year.

General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, has only three months to bring about a major change in security conditions, a goal that has eluded all his predecessors.

Should he fall short, analysts say, an angry Congress is almost certain to act to take matters into its own hands.

I think this explains how Howard will approach the Iraq War issue during the election campaign. Indeed, he has already begun hinting at an Aussie withdrawal scenario:

Recently an Australian soldier in Iraq told the Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, that Australia was "not pulling its weight" and said its forces were "being withheld from actual combat roles".

When this was put to Mr Howard on Channel 10 yesterday he referred to Australia's understanding with the US. He had "made it very clear that … if we did commit forces, they would be committed for the sharp operational stage, the invasion stage, if you like, and then after that we would not be leaving forces on the ground".

It was not until April 2005 that Australia sent ground forces to Iraq, Mr Howard said.

Well, that last bit is certainly not true. Howard himself has previously admitted that Aussie troops were on the ground in Iraq even before Bush's cowboy-style deadline to Saddam had expired:

MATT BROWN: On Melbourne radio 3AW the Prime Minister has confirmed this morning that Australian troops entered Iraq before the deadline George W. Bush set for Saddam Hussein to surrender expired.

JOHN HOWARD: I think Senator Hill has indicated that that did happen.

INTERVIEWER: But it was denied at the time.

JOHN HOWARD: Well, I think what we said at the time was that we did the right...that we went in, in...

INTERVIEWER: I remember asking you whether troops went in, after we'd been told they were, and you said no.

JOHN HOWARD: Did I say that?

INTERVIEWER: "Not to your knowledge", yeah.

JOHN HOWARD: "Not to my knowledge". Well, that could well have been the case at the time.

INTERVIEWER: How early did they go in?

JOHN HOWARD: Well, certainly after the ultimatum was rejected.

INTERVIEWER: No, but did they not go in before the deadline expired?

JOHN HOWARD: Yes, but once an ultimatum is rejected the deadline is irrelevant.

Never mind. We are all accustomed to Howard's lies these days. Right?

Seems to me that Howard will be going into the election with the US military pumping out good-news stories from Iraq to support his "nearly there, not quite" thesis. After the election, it will be entirely up to Howard and his US masters whether we actually withdraw or not.

Same goes for the US politicians: they just want to get through to November 2008 without a complete withdrawal of forces, then the US military-industrial complex can carry on doing what they like for another four years.

The War On Aborigines: Howard's Wedge At Work

The wedge hath been planted! All must choose sides! As Howard says:

"These questions about who spoke to who when and whether it's going to happen in the next two hours or the next five days is really missing the point. The point is whether what we're doing is right or wrong, and what we're doing is clearly necessary and overwhelmingly needed given the scale of the problem."

And yet, there are dissemblers who desist from this stark choice...

Malcolm Fraser, for one, is not impressed:

"There is an emergency but people have known of it 10 years, for every year of the life of the current government. One could ask 'why now?'," he told ABC radio.

I agree with weez at Machine Gun Keyboard - this is Tampa 2007:

If you could reasonably (and constitutionally) shut off the booze and send in the Army to Vaucluse to stop their abuse problems, you should reasonably be able to do it to aboriginal people - but not before. HoWARd couldn’t get any traction demonising migrants, diseased or otherwise, so aboriginals are the Liberals’ election wedge for 2007.

Rudd has taken the bait, however. Kim at Larvatus Prodeo highlight's Rudd's feeble response:

Rudd says a Labor Government would create a bi-partisan ‘war cabinet’ to deal with the national emergency in indigenous communities.

Kim concludes that the Rudd Labor Party deserves to lose this election:

If it hadn’t been for WorkChoices, buddy, you couldn’t even count on a preference from me now. Wedge, meet target. Same dynamic as Tampa - the left deserts Labor, and swinging voters return to “strong leadership”. But, honestly, it took Beazley longer to cave, and he did it with more embarrassment. Mr Howard is a very clever politician. But Mr Rudd stands for nothing.

Frank in the LP comments compares Rudd's response with that with WA Premier Alan Carpenter:

"This is not any plan from the prime minister, this is just a thought bubble that erupted when he needed something to run as an issue on for the federal election."

Mr Carpenter queried the prime minister's commitment to the issue when he was cutting funding to programs in WA which deal with domestic violence, child abuse and alcoholism.

"Why is the federal government pulling funding out of programs right now, the funding will come to an end at the end of June, if he is serious about his intentions?"

The WA premier said if Mr Howard really wanted to stop pornography going into indigenous communities he should ban the sale of the material in Canberra.

Carpenter also says Howard's grog ban won't work:

"If Mr Howard is serious on the alcohol ban why is it only for six months? What's that going to achieve?" Mr Carpenter told the Nine Network.

"Most of the big Aboriginal communities in Western Australia are dry communities, but these issues are still happening in those places so there are other things that you have to be looking at."

Here's the NT Government's original Wild-Anderson PDF report into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse (via Leftclick).

Do you think this wedge will have legs as an election-changing strategy? Seems to me that there is a very good chance that the draconian police deployment, along with other harshly authoritarian decisions, will provoke a violent backlash from some Aboriginals. And I think Howard is counting on exactly that. Get the TV cameras out into the outback, film some anti-police violence, cut to the poor kids quivering with fear in the background... Bingo! Then back to the studio for comments from our paternalistic PM.

PS: More about the rather interesting image above here.

Lawsy: One More Election, Then I'm Done

Looks like Mr Golden Tonsils doesn't know the election date either:

"I'm staying here until November I think, I don't know. I mightn't stay that long. It certainly won't be any longer than November."

...

A spokesman for the Prime Minister, John Howard, confirmed that Mr Howard would be making a live call to Laws this morning to congratulate him on his 50 years of radio work.

Before we say a tearful goodbye, let's pause to remember how Laws was found guilty of "cash for comments" when promoting companies including Optus (now Howard's #1 choice for wireless bush broadband) and Foxtel (who gave Laws his own TV show, which was launched by John Howard). Might be a good time to review that Enough Rope episode...

UPDATE: Irony:

The retirement of veteran radio identity John Laws has been greeted by the financial markets, with shares in his employer, Southern Cross Broadcasting Ltd (SBC), climbing quickly.

By 1049 AEST, SBC shares were up by nine cents to $15.80...

Have We Become A US State Yet?

An Aussie convicted of software piracy is deported to the USA and jailed. A US soldier tries to lure a 14 year old Aussie girl into sex, but the US military insist they should take over handling of the case.

"The US military is asking for jurisdiction in this case, but they will investigate the matter and take appropriate action,'' said US military spokesman Lieutenant Chris Maddison from the US embassy.

He said such a move was allowed under a bilateral "status of forces agreement''.

What have we signed up to?

The War On Aborigines

It's not political, OK? Howard is just blaming the NT Labor government for a decade of neglect, and then refusing to meet with other State governments.

[A] spokesman for Mr Howard says the public has had enough of meetings and now is the time to act on Indigenous child abuse.

Just as 9/11 "changed everything", so has this new report:

Mr Howard says the Federal Government is taking over because no territory based approaches have worked.

"The reality is that the old approach hasn't worked, that's why we're acting," he said.

"Everything that was done in the past was within the old paradigm and the old approach, now I don't want to criticise people about the failures of the past - that's not the purpose of this exercise - it is to do something about the problem now and into the future.

"For this government to stand by and let that go on without intervening would be a terrible dereliction of duty."

Sure, let's not talk about the failures of the past. What good would that do? People might even start talking about who's been in charge of this country for the past eleven years, and how his attention has been on the world stage rather than his own backyard.

Do You Think God Will Forgive Us For What We Have Done?

A must read:

A few streets over, dried blood is still visible on the front step of one home. A Shiite woman named Iman was shot there as she was returning from a trip to the store for bread. Her 7-year-old son, Mohammed, had rushed through the front door and cradled his mother in his arms.

No one had stopped to help until Amal Mohammed Thaifa saw her friend's body bleeding on the ground, and she rushed to the little boy.

She took him inside. "Let's clean you up," she recalled telling him.

"No, I want to stay covered in my mother's blood," he replied. "Auntie, just wait until I grow up. You will see what I will do."

Let's Remember How This Whole Thing Began

Howard seems to have decided that a militant approach to Aboriginal issues will be a vote winner, a passion-churning big issue that could turn his electoral fortunes. So let's remember how this all began:

The Federal Government has announced a response to the report into sexual abuse of Indigenous children in the Northern Territory, including widespread bans on alcohol sales on Indigenous land for six months.

Prime Minister John Howard says the Federal Government is not happy with the NT Government's response to the issue.

He says the widespread child abuse in Territory communities, as outlined in a recent report, is a national emergency.

All Indigenous children in the Territory are to undergo a medical check.

"We will provide the resources and we will be appealing directly to the Australian Medical Association to assist," he said.

"We will bear the cost of medical examinations of all Indigenous children in the Northern Territory under the age of 16."

The Commonwealth is to link welfare to school attendance, and 50 per cent of welfare to parents of children in the affected areas will be quarantined for food and other essentials.

The Federal Government will take over the running of townships using five-year leases.

There will be a special session of Parliament if needed to amend land rights legislation and self-government legislation.

"The Commonwealth Government will take control of townships through five-year leases to ensure that property and public housing can be improved and if that involves the payment of compensation on just terms as required by the Commonwealth Constitution, then that compensation will be readily paid," he said.

"We will require intensive on-ground clean-up."

Mr Howard says the changes are a dramatic and significant Commonwealth intervention.

"We're doing this because we do not think the Territory has responded to the crisis affecting the children in the Territory," he said.

Mr Howard says he will also scrap the permit system for entry to Aboriginal land.

There will also be a ban on x-rated pornography in the affected areas, and an increased policing presence.

"It is interventionist, it does push aside the role of the Territory to some degree," he said.

"I accept that but what matters more - the constitutional niceties or the care and protection of young children?"

There's your classic Howard wedge there, and you classic straw man argument.

So was this unprecedented Federal intervention really necessary? Every decent person in Australia is delighted to see something - anything - finally being done about this disgraceful situation, but Howard's rush to blame the NT state govt seems misplaced:

One of the authors of the child sex abuse inquiry, Rex Wild QC, says... the Prime Minister's criticism of the Northern Territory Government's response time is unfair.

"They've only had the report for a fairly limited time," he said.

"To my knowledge, they've already sent the report through to the relevant departments and I understand they are working on the recommendations."

I smell a rat.

Who's Sorry Now, Ya Bastard?

After more than a decade of willful neglect, the problems of Aboriginal poverty and disenfranchisment have blown up in Howard's face.


Howard is looking to dump the blame on the NT government. But that ignores the fact that such problems are endemic in other states as well.


Since the first days of colonisation, this has always been a Federal problem, and has always required a Federal solution. Unfortunately, the racist, insensate and greed-driven mindset of successive Australian governments, which has consigned Aboriginals to over two centuries of misery, has been alive and well in the Howard government.


A man who cannot even bring himself to say SORRY for past abuses is never going to provide the solution for future generations. What is urgently needed is not just plain, ordinary, human compassion, but a change of leadership.

How Low Can He Go?

Bush is now polling at 26%. But don't worry, George - John Howard is with you all the way!

Only 23% of US citizens now approve of the way Bush is handling Iraq, with 73% disapproval (an 8-point jump since the last Newsweek poll). There are also majority disapproval figures (around 60%) for Bush's handling of immigration, the economy, and health care.

The only presidents who have ever gone lower than G.W. Bush are Nixon (23%) and Truman(22%). Jimmy Carter and H. W. Bush bottomed out at 28% and 29% respectively. Newsweek poll data here.

The conservative WSJ is normally pro-Bush, but even they have registered a five point drop this year, to a new low of 29%. The bad news for the USA (and the world) is that nobody has any confidence that Congress will hold Bush accountable, stop the war, and restore the dream that was America. So it looks like it's up to "we, the people" to fix the problems.

Meanwhile, Dick Cheney is claiming that procedures for the guarding of classified national security info do not apply to his office, because it is not an “entity within the executive branch.” If so, Cheney should get out of the White House.

Rupert Murdoch Under Investigation!

Oooh, yes! The New York Times is launching a multi-bureau investigation into Rupert Murdoch and his global News Ltd operations. The investigation will led by NYT managing editor Jill Abramson.

“Bill has asked me to lead an investigative project for the next month, which I’ll mainly do from home,” Ms. Abramson wrote at the time. “It involves a group of domestic and foreign reporters, but I obviously can’t tell you what it is.”

Well, the group includes one obvious choice: media reporter Richard Siklos, who authored Shades of Black, the 1995 biography of disgraced press baron Conrad Black.

Although Mr. Siklos is currently covering the Black trial in Chicago, he’s also been busy reporting on Mr. Black’s fellow media mogul, Rupert Murdoch: He has had nine bylined pieces, including a 3,300-word cover story in the Sunday Business section, since News Corp.’s bid for Dow Jones was announced on May 1.

The investigative project also includes, according to a source at The Times, investigative editor Matt Purdy and reporters Jo Becker (in New York), Jane Perlez (in London) and Joseph Kahn (in Beijing).

Murdoch is reportedly aware of the investigation. Gosh, wouldn't it be nice to see Murdoch spluttering and squirming in the dock like Conrad Black has been doing?

Remember, Murdoch is a chief enabler, if not architect, of the Iraq War. This is the man whose media outlets helped bring Bush, Blair and Howard to power. If the NYT's best reporters cannot find some big time dirt on him, they are just not doing their jobs properly.

The big question may be whether Sulzberger, who backed Judith Miller to the hilt, will publish the dirt on a fellow traveller. I'm thinking the latest Dow Jones revelations on Murdoch's sleazy China deals may have just tipped the balance.

Popcorn, anyone? This journalistic feast is going to make the Eric Ellis profile of Murdoch's wife (disgracefully spiked by Fairfax) look like a tasty hors d'ouvre.

Nigerian Grinds To A Bloody Halt

And it's all the unions' fault, obviously:

Streets in the main cities were deserted, but this was partly due to a five-day-old strike by road tanker drivers which has left most of Nigeria without fuel.

Very few buses were operating. Banks, schools and most government offices were closed. Unionists barricaded streets in many cities and ejected some workers who turned up at government offices in the capital Abuja.

Some international and domestic flights were cancelled because of a shortage of jet fuel and general shipping ports were shut. Nigeria is also the world's fourth largest producer of cocoa.

"There are no marine services so there are no vessels coming in or going out," a shipping line manager in Lagos said.

Many Nigerians support the strike because the majority lives below the poverty line. Fuel subsidies are seen as one of the few benefits they receive from a government that has failed to deliver power, water, healthcare or schools.

Nigeria's four oil refineries have been shut for months because of sabotage and mismanagement, and Africa's largest producer of crude oil is entirely dependent on imports to meet its fuel needs.

In fact, the problems driving poverty, violence and despair in Nigeria are identical to those in the Middle East: corruption at the highest levels, and Big Oil corporate executives happily greasing the palms of dictators and autocrats.

There's A Hole In The Bucket, Dear Johnny, Dear Johnny..

Not just one leak, either, but seemingly a bunch of leaks forming a steady trickle of unpleasant truths. Yesterday's SMH leak of Liberal Party poll data was just an appetiser. Today there's even more:

The documents, which were obtained by the Herald, reveal plans for the campaign are well advanced, with the survey groups shown scripts of four test advertisements: "Journey", "New Ways", "Independent Research" and "Unions".

"Unions does a good job of creating the threat and undermining support for the unions' position," the research says. "In spite of the claims that they don't like negativity, this ad works."

"New Ways" is "the stand-out of the positive ads", which prompted those surveyed to envisage such scenarios as "bosses and staff enjoying a drink".

Remember that Helen Coonan has launched a leak investigation into her own department. Alan Ramsay first noticed the problem a few weeks back:

The issue: Howard's proposed advertising campaign on what his Government intends doing about global warming. Howard dissembled outrageously. Yet Labor had caught him. It has a mole somewhere in the chain. It knows exactly what the Government is doing, almost step by step. Howard has not looked so threadbare, so less like a Prime Minister in control, since he got there 11 years ago.

The iceberg is getting nearer.

If Howard's own people are so sick of him that they would rather stick a knife in his back, let the truth be told, and regain a measure of self-respect, who are we to stop them? We could soon be approaching a situation similar to the current Bush GOP's "rats from a sinking ship" debacle, where top Libs start giving up the next election as lost, and actively distancing themselves fromt their Lame Duck leader. Watch how much leaks will come out THEN!

More popcorn, please!?!


UPDATE: Howard is clearly sticking with his favourite fear-mongering modus operandi and going in hard with the very negative "Unions" campaign:

"They are salivating at the prospect of a Labor victory," he told Sky News.

"You heard Mr McDonald talking about people working at Hungry Jacks, I mean what he's really saying is 'if Rudd wins, we'll be back in town, we'll be running the country again, and we'll make sure you don't have a job'," he said.

Western Promises of Transparent Justice Are A Shallow Farce

The USA is sending another six Guantanamo prisoners home without charges, including Abdullah bin Omar, a 50-year-old Tunisian who has been held without charge since August 2002:

Attorney Zachary Katznelson of the British human rights group Reprieve said bin Omar faces "grave risk" of abuse and torture in Tunisia for his involvement with Ennahdaha, which he described as a moderate, nonviolent Islamic political party.

"I hope and pray Tunisia is going to do the right thing but I don't know that we can rely on that," Katznelson said in a phone interview from London. "We are truly, truly concerned for Mr. bin Omar."

He said Reprieve tried without success to persuade the U.S. to halt or delay bin Omar's transfer after his family said he had been convicted in absentia and sentenced to 23 years in prison for his involvement with a banned political group.

Katznelson said he had only been able to meet once with bin Omar, who may not have known he had been convicted.

Chances are that bin Omar, who is married with eight children, will be arrested on arrival in Tunisia and sent to one of the same torture cells the US government uses for outsourced CIA renditions. And all because he joined a non-violent, democratic political party, just as the US government loudly encourages disgruntled citizens to do!

There are still "about 375" prisoners in Gitmo. 405 have been released. "About 80" have been cleared for release but are trapped in administrative hell. David Hicks, who made a deal with the devil to escape his hellhole, remains the only detainee to have been (cough! cough!) "lawfully" processed.

Western Promises Of Transparent Democracy Are a Shallow Farce

Eric Margolis looks at the fallout from The Mother of All Scandals:

One of the major reasons for the fast-spreading influence of militant Islamic groups like Hezbullah, Hamas, and Taliban has been their success in uprooting the Muslim world’s endemic corruption and nepotism. We are so used to Islamists being demonized as “terrorists” that their highly effective and popular social accomplishments are rarely noted. In fact, their appeal and popularity is based primarily on their welfare and incorruptibility.

Islamic militants insist the west exploits their nations by keeping deeply corrupt regimes in power. In exchange for protection from their own people and neighbors, and fabulous wealth, these authoritarian Arab regimes – always termed “moderates” by western media – sell oil on the cheap to the west and do its bidding. US-installed governments in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan are all noted for egregious corruption, including secret payoffs from Washington to their leaders.

No wonder Prince Bandar was always so amiable and accommodating. Or that he managed to fly out a planeload of Saudis the day after 9/11 when all US flights were grounded. Or that the Bush administration was trying to position the always amenable prince as the next Saudi monarch.

The Bandar scandal is hugely embarrassing for Blair and Bush, who claim to be leading a crusade to bring democracy and good government to the benighted Muslim world. It starkly confirms Islamists’ accusations that the west promotes corruption. And it dramatically exposes the dirty underbelly of the west’s much-vaunted “special relationship” with the Saudi royal family.

The Truth Will Out

Even if it takes five centuries:

The records maintain that a few hundred conquistadors, led by Francisco Pizarro, used their superior weaponry and horses to repel an attack by tens of thousands of Inca, led by Manco Yupanqui. After breaking the siege, the Spaniards tracked down and killed many of the Inca who had attacked them.

But the archaeological evidence casts the conquistadors in a less heroic light, making it clear that the Spaniards were accompanied by a large group of Indians who were fighting the Inca to escape subjugation.

And while as many as three of the Inca warriors were shot and others had injuries made by the Spaniards' metallic weapons, most of the 72 victims were bludgeoned with more primitive stone weapons wielded by other Indians.

One day we will find out what all those private contractors in Iraq have been doing.

Spot The Lie

Which of the following statements is not true?

(a) Phillip Ruddock's office is running a secret political 'dirt unit', or

(a) ASIO routinely vets journalists, or

(c) Federal MPs have just recieved a 6.5 per cent pay rise.

If you answered (c), congratulations! Yes, the payrise was actually 6.7 percent (more than double the rate of inflation). Mind you, Ruddock vehemently denies both (a) and (b) as well.

The Next Big Scandal: DFAT, Hoes, Suicide and Saudi Arms Dealers

Expect to hear a lot more about this story and this story very soon.

Another $11 Billion For Corporate Warfare

The rampant militarization of Australia continues apace. Howard has just announced that a much-anticipated Navy contract will be going to a company 100% owned by the Spanish government. Aussie taxpayers will be paying for three air warfare destroyers, at a cost of $8 billion, plus two landing ships for a further $3 billion.

Howard stressed the importance of these vessels for, umm... "disaster relief efforts":

"They will be able to land over 1,000 personnel along with their vehicles - the new M1 Abrams tanks, artillery and supplies, and using integrated helicopters and water craft."

Howard boasts that a quarter of the construction work will be performed in Australia, generating about 600 jobs and providing $600 million in revenue. Isn't that great news? We send $11 billion to the Spanish government, but we get $0.6 billion back, and six hundred people get a job for a few years.

The Adelaide consortium doing the assembly work includes notorious US-based company, Raytheon, the fifth largest military contractor in the world, who are currently building a heat-based weapon for urgent deployment in Iraq. At low intensity, the Active Denial System burns the skin of targets, forcing crowds to disperse. At higher intensities... well, nobody wants to talk about that. Expect to see them on the streets of Sydney by the next time an APEC meeting comes around.

It's interesting that Adelaide seems to be a growing hub of activity for the War Of Terror.

UPDATE: More analysis from Richard Tonkin at WebDiary. Tonkin notes that Howard stole the limelight by making the big announcement personally rather than leaving it to Brendan Nelson. Tonkin is surprised the contract did not go to Halliburton Inc and their US military-industrial buddies, but that's globalisations for you, innit? Nevertheless, while the actual ship is Spanish, "the technology that makes it so effective is to be installed by the Pentagon's favourite defence companies". The AEGIS system seems to be the critical part of the deal, as it will allow Australia to work more closely with US military units. And Tonkin thinks the Australian contract-holders in Adelaide could soon find themselves in foreign hands:

The ASC is due to be sold next year. "Local companies" BAE and KBR have experience in ship (and sub) construction in the UK. When KBR left the UK's Devonport dockyards recently, BAE was attempting to take it over with the help of everybody's friends, Carlyle.

I wonder who'll be sniffing around to buy Adelaide's "choc-full o' conracts" defence construction firm?

Your Government At Work For Big Business

Moir was spot on. Big business is launching a $6.5 million pro-Workchoices campaign, which will be designed and co-ordinated by... guess who? Yep, the federal government!

The campaign is sponsored by the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

It has since gained the support of the Minerals Council of Australia with the Master Builders Association also likely to join, Fairfax reports.

The document states the campaign will run for five to six weeks in July and August, comprising television, print, internet and billboard advertising.

The government's chief pollster, Mark Textor, will devise and coordinate the campaign.

Interesting, this news comes out as yet another leak to the Fairfax press. As Alan Ramsay noted a few weeks back, there appears to be a mole in the upper reaches of the Liberal Party, although in this case it could also be a quoted businessman who was not impressed by the approach.

In other news, Howard patches another abyssmal gap in the moral fabric of Australia by throwing money at senior Australians and carers.

The one-off, non-taxable payments will be handed out to about two million Australians in the next 10 days at a cost of about $1.7 billion to the commonwealth.

You have to wonder if such cash bonus payouts are deliberately left until just before an election, however much they may be needed years earlier.

Oh, and the AWB is facing yet another class action from the USA.

The complaint has been filed on behalf of Dennis Brothers.

The complaint alleges that, by reason of AWB's conduct in relation to the United Nations oil-for-food program, AWB engaged in conduct contrary to US antitrust laws and the US Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act.

UPDATE: There seems to be some confusion about the degree and form of collaboration between Big Business and the government on this ad campaign. The key point is that the planned business campaign will be 100% co-ordinated with the government's own campaign, because both campaigns will be run by one and the same person. Kevin Rudd spells it out:

Mr Rudd today said he welcomed and accepted the business community's right to campaign on industrial relations.

"But I find it interesting that the Liberal Party's principal pollster Mark Textor, based on this report ... is himself going to be the campaign director of this campaign on behalf of certain big businesses," he said on ABC radio.

"I would have thought, well it's a matter for the business community themselves, but if you're going to have a Liberal Party pollster running this campaign, I suppose it's a question of degrees of separation between the Government on the one hand and these various big businesses on the other.

"But Mr Textor, as we know, is the architect of the Liberal Party marginal campaigning techniques, he's Liberal Party through and through, and this therefore, is being run, it seems, based on this report, as a Liberal Party campaign."

A spokesman for the BCA would not comment on the report, saying only that the organisation was still considering whether to run an advertising campaign.

As we have seen in Iraq, the Howard government and their friends think that anything at all - even an illegal pre-emptive war - can be sold to the voters with the right amount of spin. And this big business campaign is just more spin. Can they really convince workers to vote for a system of laws that are inherently bad for them? How stupid do they think we are?

More to the point, given that Australians have already voted for Howard three times, how stupid are we?