A while ago E.L. Doctorow wrote a book called Welcome to Hard Times a short novel about an attempt to start a small town in the American inland that ended up failing. The Town itself was called Hard Times in the book. The modern version of that story is unfolding in Florida as thousands are [...]
Archive for August, 2010
Words of no wisdom in Israel
August 30, 2010
Why should the Palestinians sit at a table cap in hand when the following remarks reveal the true position,” During his Sabbath sermon last week, the 89-year-old rabbi, a former chief rabbi of Israel who is known for his rabble-rousing speeches, described the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Palestinian people as ”our enemies and [...]
An interview on the boycott movement and Israel.
August 30, 2010
The boycott campaign directed against Israel is extremely well explained in a video interview at the Real News site. You can view the video at link. Sanctions and boycotts have a sad history as far as the resident population is concerned, so you may remember the horrendous effects of sanctions against Iraq for instance. However, [...]
Wilkie’s List
August 30, 2010
Andrew has issued sent a letter to Gillard asking for certain things to happen in the event he is elected. The list has been referred to as a “wish list” which is just another way of paying it little heed. But it raises some very important concerns. The list has been published in The Age [...]
Boycott by Israeli actors in West Bank
August 30, 2010
It appears that Israel may have to deal with what it will ultimately see as the enemy within. A very recent article in the Guardian at link the position of Israeli actors starting their own boycott of theatres in Israel is something that the Israelis will find at least difficult to talk around. Usually Israelis [...]
Iraq and a false withdrawal
August 30, 2010
Ramzy Baroud well known author and editor of the Palestine Chronicle has written a splendid article on the so called end of the war in Iraq. As usual Baroud applies the basic rules of observation and logic to come to a view that can be relied on. You can view the whole article at link. [...]
Israeli arrogance and Discrimination
August 30, 2010
Very often the small occurrences show the real nature of the level of intolerance, bigotry and hatred that abounds in the Jewish State of Israel. In a recent report in the Miami Herald and also on the Sabbah site the following observation can be found,” Israel’s systematic discrimination against Arabs was highlighted recently when Donna [...]
Racism Report on Australia
August 30, 2010
There have been recent reports of a release from a UN committee on the inherent racist nature of Australian treatment of the indigenous population and other migrant groups. If you click on read more you can read the entire committee release rather than rely on Australian media reports on it. It represents yet another chapter [...]
The taking of the land the Palestinians live on continues
August 27, 2010
Whoever said life can be difficult at times was only partially correct. Consider this quote from a very recent Human Rights Watch article,” Israeli authorities razed 141 Palestinian homes and other buildings in July, the largest number in any month since at least 2005. Yet Israel continues to support and subsidize nearby Jewish settlements. By [...]
There’s no getting out of Iraq
August 27, 2010
An article in today’s SMH by Paul McGeough (link) contains a quote and a comment as follows, “Today, I’m pleased to report that … our combat mission will end this month, and we will complete a substantial drawdown of our troops,” Obama said. “As Iraqi security forces take responsibility for securing their country, our [remaining [...]
Stopping Australians killing and maiming Afghan children
August 27, 2010
When will the deaths or injury of five children at the hands of the Australian military be given the significance it really deserves? Collateral damage and phrases of similar import are often used to cover the basic criminality of war. The use of this logic is very much to the forefront in Afghanistan where such [...]
Mass Rape In Congo
August 26, 2010
There has been a mass rape in the Congo and even though there was a UN outpost within 20 miles of the event news of the happenings has only just surfaced. In a Reuters Report this appears,” The Security Council demanded on Thursday that all steps be taken to prevent a repeat of a recent [...]
The latest Wikileak about a CIA memo
August 26, 2010
The latest Wikileak material to come out is a CIA memorandum that deals with perceptions of the US as an exporter of terrorism. In a summary of the content at Wikileaks what appears is, “Contrary to common belief, the American export of terrorism or terrorists is not a recent phenomenon, nor has it been associated [...]
Anyone for eggs. Food contamination
August 25, 2010
If you are feeling like a plate of scrambled eggs a look at the Democracy Now site is very informative, there are video interviews together with transcript you can access at the site at link1, link2 and link 3. Perhaps a good starting point is the first statement of David Kirby when he talks about [...]
What happens when there is one runner in an arms race
August 24, 2010
The Tomdispatch site has produced yet another good article about US military intentions and the totally misguided nature of what has come to be known as an arms race. At the moment the US has several monopolies that relate to arms production itself and then what you can do once you have the first monopoly [...]
The fight to save the planet
August 24, 2010
In a very recent article in the Guardian George Monbiot concludes that,” Yes, man-made climate change denial is about politics, but it’s more pragmatic than ideological. The politics have been shaped around the demands of industrial lobby groups, which happen, in many cases, to fund those who articulate them. Right-wingers are making monkeys of themselves [...]
More oil how lucky are we?
August 24, 2010
For whatever reason there appears to be a need to be somewhat quiet about a claimed major find of oil in the Arctic. So sometime today there will be a quiet announcement made about some find near Greenland. The Guardian has a short article at link. Interestingly the article is underlined with the words, “Find [...]
A monster traffic jam heaven for the elite the daily grind for others
August 24, 2010
The price being paid for ridiculous notions of eternal 3% growth is enormous. The planet gets consumed, the atmosphere turns slowly to poison. Ultimately the brain becomes a non functioning part of a herd instinct, this is the ultimate success of what Bernays called social engineering and Lippmann called manufacturing consent. It is capitalism’s final [...]
Theft by Israeli Defence Forces
August 22, 2010
There is growing evidence of theft and other crimes by the IDF after the invasion of the Flotilla. The Commo Dreams site contains an article by a retired US Army Reserve Colonel with 29 years experience at link. There is also an article by Luren booth at the Gilad Atzmon site at link. Both articles [...]
A debate on Afghanistan
August 22, 2010
It appears that even the Defence Force Association is asking that there be debate on the Australian presence in Afghanistan. “Presence” is probably a bad word because what we are doing is assisting in the slaughter and murder of the local population by forces in Afghanistan that the Afghans themselves should be allowed to deal [...]
The method to Israeli Madness
August 22, 2010
Pepe Escobar in June this year wrote a very interesting piece for the Asia Times. You can view the whole article at link. Essentially concerned with the reasons for what seems the madness of Israel’s attack on the flotilla he then looks at some interesting developments particularly concerning Turkey in the Middle East. The main [...]
The next day
August 22, 2010
Here we are the day after the elections and there is still plenty of taking going on. Will Labor ever say what caused the loss of over 20 seats and when will Abbott shock us all with some statement about what a coalition government will or will not do. One thing is certainly missing and [...]
More on oil spill and the media assists the White House
August 21, 2010
In a further report at the Common Dreams site an article from the Huffington Post is quoted. For the purposes of providing material to assist you make up your own mind that report is below in full. It shows the type of concern and care you need to exercise when dealing with the media and [...]
All the talk continues in Middle East
August 20, 2010
If you have noticed some articles in the local Press about talks between Israel and Palestinian interests perhaps you should read a report at the guardian site at link. The thrust of that report by Ian black the middle East Editor talks of a position between the two sides as “poles apart.” Black observes that,” [...]
elections in action
August 20, 2010
In this dog eat dog world someone has to die, perhaps what is needed is the choice you are given at an election. Juliaicide…death by being forced to move forward until you can no longer keep moving then you collapse and die. Swanicide…death by stabbing any old mate or childhood school friend Garretticide..death from being [...]
Capture/Kill where do you sit?
August 20, 2010
The words may change but military thinking continues in the robotic kill and more kill routine. In a very good piece at the Tomdispatch site Pratap Chatterjee examines the latest ‘high tech’ jargon used by the military to explain killings, particularly of civilians. You can view the article at the site although it may not [...]
Oil, oil everywhere
August 19, 2010
A report from the guardian has found its way onto the Common Dreams site. You can read the short report at link. The article is about the oil spill and the US claims that would have its citizens believe that several months of being spewed into the ocean most if not all the oil has [...]
The future, capitalism-is there hope?
August 19, 2010
“Keep it simple stupid” is a phrase that deserves to be adhered to. In a very recent BBC Hard talk program Professor Harvey was being interviewed about Capitalism and the future. During the interview he was asked a question and he referred to discussions in the US. The reply from the interviewer was very illuminating, [...]
Murder on the Flotilla
August 19, 2010
Gilad Atzmon usually exposes Israeli lies and deceptions extremely well. His latest offerings are no exception. It is probably best if you look at the site and the videos yourself as you make up your own mind about the issues. You of course do not have to accept any assertion that Israel and the Zionists [...]
Gillard partner and lobbies
August 19, 2010
When you look at the corridors of power in this country you always encounter the strength of lobby groups. There could be no more influential groups in Australia that than the Jewish Lobby and the Development Industry Lobby. Whatever you may think of the legitimacy of either group to lobby the plain fact is that [...]
Julia Caesar and Bark Antony both lapdogs to the elite
August 17, 2010
The closer we get to the election the more a few matters will become excruciatingly obvious as they always have been. First is that Julia Caesar will probably be the most empty headed PM this country has ever had. Even her spin meisters do not seem to be able to draw a straight line. In [...]
The US Worldwide Presence
August 16, 2010
For those of you that think that the US is ever going to dismantle its presence in many countries you should give some thought to the amount of construction that goes into a US base. There is a joke that has done the rounds for some time that says that the two most visible structures [...]
Refugee Camps in Lebanon
August 15, 2010
There is another extremely informative article by Ramzy Baroud at link. After living in Brunei for about a year he is now in Lebanon for the specific purpose of looking at the refugee camps. You should remember that he is a refugee camp child from Palestine and the previous books and articles he has written [...]
The future of Capitalism
August 12, 2010
We recently had a ridiculous debate on Capitalism and to some extent how it is the only way we can seek salvation. Just in case you think that it is the only way to fly and like Lucy Turnbull you want to pontificate about how it is the only credible alternative remember a few facts. [...]
Russian Fires and Nuclear Content
August 12, 2010
The situation in Russia as far as the bushfires are concerned is presenting problems for more than just the local population. There are many different stories including trains in the Metro needing to turn on their lights because of the smoke in the underground system. However, the smoke and what it may or may not [...]
More on civilian deaths in Afghanistan
August 10, 2010
At the Guardian site you can read a short but insightful article on the increase in civilian deaths in Afghanistan. It commences,” A UN report says that the number of children killed or wounded has risen 55% in the first six months of the year. The number of civilians killed or wounded in the Afghan [...]
Afghanistan where Empires and reputations go to die
August 9, 2010
There is an old saying that Afghanistan is a place where Empires go to die, in a recent article at link, Dallas Darling comes to the view that it is also a place where reputations go to die as well. He looks at the latest McChrystal departure from the scene and notes,” When General Stanley [...]
Chomsky on “Containing the Threat of Democracy”
August 9, 2010
In 1990 Chomsky wrote a piece titled “Containing the Threat of Democracy.” That article with many others is reproduced in “Chomsky on Anarchism and was published in 2005. Chomsky starts with work by George Davie that looks a rational beliefs,” Davie examines the thoughts of Hume, in particular Chomsky looks at a particular Hume proposition [...]
A prostitute’s life in Rio
August 9, 2010
In a recent article and reference to another article on this page the position in south Africa while it had the World Cup football was examined. It became firly obvious that por and disadvantaged people had been uprooted from areas near the main playing parts of the country and a very bad situation had developed. [...]
More on an Israeli inspired US war with Iran
August 8, 2010
In a very useful article by Abdel Bari Atwan (see link) he sums up the US style of pre-emptive war as follows,” With the advantage of hindsight it is clearly Israeli and US practice to mobilize public approval before launching the first attack, finding pretexts for the onslaught as they did with the 2006 invasion [...]
Why are elections so much fun
August 8, 2010
Perhaps it is just something in the air, but these elections appear devoid of any worthwhile features. In one corner we have Gillard who has been moving forward for so long that the past is not even a memory. Everything she says has the mark of someone else’s hand, the strings on this puppet are [...]
Blair must be prosecuted
August 8, 2010
An article by John Pilger is a must read. for convenience the whole article is reproduced here. Following revelations of the multi faceted Blair as and adviser to some Middle Eastern countries and his undoubted loyalty to Gadaffi, which may or may not be a problem in itself. But his extremely smiling and overjoyed visage [...]
Ice Island breaks off Glacier
August 8, 2010
Recently a huge ice island broke off the Petermann glacier, which is the largest glacier in the Northern hemisphere. You can go to several sites on the net to read about the event the Herald Sun has a useful piece on in it as follows,” AN ice island more than 40 times the size of [...]
A letter to Obama about the killing
August 6, 2010
Ray McGovern has published a piece on what they all consider to be a dire situation regarding Iran, Israel and the Middle East, a letter was also sent to Obama. McGovern, the author of the article, served as an intelligence officer in the CIA for almost thirty years and prepared the President’s Daily Brief during [...]
Killing Civilians in Afghanistan
August 5, 2010
Tom Englehardt does a great deal of great deal of very factual analysis of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, his latest piece is yet another example. You can access the article at the Tomdispatch site at, link. Admiral Mike Mullen when talking about the Wikileaks said, “Mr. Assange,” Mullen commented, “can say whatever he [...]
Julia Caesar finds a horse
August 5, 2010
King Richard: A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse! Catesby: Withdraw, my lord; I’ll help you to a horse. King Richard: Slave! I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die. Well it seems that Gillard now has her horse, but is he a stallion [...]
Learning to care about ecology
August 5, 2010
In a recent piece at Tomdispatch Tom Englehardt asks the question regarding the US,” Do you realize just how rare are the stories in major papers or on the TV news that even suggest heavily covered weird weather in our nation and elsewhere could in any way be linked to global warming in a year [...]
Populate and Perish Myths
August 4, 2010
It is quite a sad event to see the so called ‘population debate’ receive a new lease of life. What we can expect to see are feelings of racism and associated sentiments being vented at every opportunity. Having been a member of the much despised ‘refo’ class back in the fifties there is little wonder [...]