Lotus Flower

Thank fuck for Radiohead.

It seems that if you live in this accursed world, you will either be killed by a catastrophic natural disaster or by your own leader.

Love to our mates in New Zealand.

And is Libya really so different to Tunisia and Egypt? Are anti-government forces merely capitalising on Western sympathy for protesters? Should Seif El Islam Gaddafi (the leader's son) get a speech writer?


Here are translated extracts of the speech by Seif El Islam Gaddafi.

 "Citizens tried to attack the army and they were in a situation that was difficult. The army was not used to dealing with riots," he says.

"Libyan citizens died and this was a tragedy.

"There is a plot against Libya. People want to create a government in Benghazi and others want to have an Islamic emirate in Bayda. All these [people] have their own plots. Of course Arab media hyped this. The fault of the Libyan media is that it did not cover this.

"Libya is not like Egypt, it is tribes and clans, it is not a society with parties. Everyone knows their duties and this may cause civil wars.

"Libya is not Tunisia and Egypt. Libya has oil - that has united the whole of Libya.

"I have to be honest with you. We are all armed, even the thugs and the unemployed. At this moment in time, tanks are driven about with civilians. In Bayda you have machine guns right in the middle of the city. Many arms have been stolen.

"No one will come to Libya or do any business with Libya.

"We will call for new media laws, civil rights, lift the stupid punishments, we will have a constitution... We will tomorrow create a new Libya. We can agree on a new national anthem, new flag, new Libya. Or be prepared for civil war. Forget about oil.

"The country will be divided like North and South Korea, we will see each other through a fence. You will wait in line for months for a visa.

"The Libyans who live in Europe and USA, their children go to school and they want you to fight. They are comfortable. They then want to come, like in Iraq."

Forty winks

Why is it that doctors never believe you when you say you can't sleep?

You walk into their surgery with the coordination of a troll. There are bags under your eyes a shade of purple that Grimace would envy (the least popular of the McDonald's characters).

Your speech has slowly disintegrated to that of a mid nineties rapper.

"Yo doc, I can't be catchin tha winx!"

"Hmm. Have you tried exercising before bed?"

Having walked four kilometres for the past few nights before hitting the hay I'm beginning to resemble Christian Bale from The Machinist.

 

Also, valerian root is fucking crap. Its like telling this bloke above that if he just has a glass of warm milk he'll nod off nicely.

But still, the man in glasses behind the desk frowns. He doesn't want to prescribe you any benzodiazepines in case you "get a problem".

Well, asshole, I'm pretty sure ten hours sleep over four days will soon send me crazier than Amy Winehouse on a crack binge, possibly giving me an insatiable hunger for newborn babies and an urge to publicly defecate.

Shit, I'd much rather be Ronald McDonald than Grimace. At least the clown has manners.

Oh, what a beatiful day.

Over my thankless, fruitless and largely unnoticed career as a decidedly unprofessional writer, I have come to one salient realisation.
People do not want to read about Middle Eastern politics. People do not want to read about the latest indie/electro/nu-wave pack of pretentious twats crashing instruments together. People certainly do not want to read about how to make a quilt, unless you actually want to make a quilt, and then I say good luck to you.
No, what people absolutely fucking love to read about is you.
And I mean this in the least narcissistic, self obsessed way possible (putting aside that in truth we really all are quite self obsessed, except for those outstanding people who actually do things for the world).
They want to peruse the woes of your life. They want to chuckle over what a fool you made of yourself when you decided that yes, jump suits are back in fashion. In short, the general public wants to know how crap your life really is, so they can feel better about being 52 and still living with their Mum and secretly loving Home and Away re runs from the eighties.
And the shitter the better. Got dumped by your boyfriend of five years after he announced he was gay and was going to live with his new lover Fabio, and could you please be his "best woman" at their civil union? Literary gold. Found out the only cure to your rare and disgusting toe fungus is to slather raw fish guts your feet every morning, making you both socially undesirable and suicidally depressed? You're the next Bryce Courtenay.
Unfortunately I can't share all the sordid details of my life with you. Number one, this could possibly lead to arrest and a long period of incarceration (I would most certainly be made the "bitch" in prison). Number two, some things are just far too embarrassing and graphic to tell another human soul and I would have very few real friends left.
I have had many mundane moments that mark my existence, but last night was not one of them.
With every ounce of my being, I wish it had been.
I journeyed to a popular "nightspot" in the cesspool of depravity and moral decay that is Sydney's Kings Cross. Defying the age old maxim that joy can not be found at the bottom of a shot glass, I became every mother's worst nightmare and more. A period of blackness ensued before I noticed that one of the straps on my beloved "stripper heels" had broken, making me the laughing stock of many a bleached blonde bitch on the dancefloor. I swerved out of the club and onto Bayswater road, which is infested with unsavory human beings at the best of times, but on a Saturday night resembles a lunatic asylum filled with stilettos and cigarette butts.
I found refuge in an alley and warbled my sorrows into the night, before being approached and then chased by a suspicious looking male. Me being me, I soon forgot why I was running away from the stranger and found myself talking amicably with him while I attempted to climb a children's slide. He told me that he was a member of the Bandidos and that tragically his mother had died the week before. I had no appropriate response to this except to vomit a short time after. He somehow placed me in a cab and gave the driver fifty dollars to take me home. Unfortunately I was still conscious enough to write what is now an extremely embarrassing four page treatise on love, money and the finer things in life to my completely gobsmacked sister, and by that time found it was almost eight in the morning.
I then took off my now stained and disgusting dress and found that yes, my "lady time" had decided to pay a visit at some stage during the night.
Thankfully no injuries this time, but as always, a healthy dose of humiliation.
Sometimes all you can do is laugh. And I don't mean in that "ha-ha-such-is-life!" way I mean in that "spine-chilling-cackle-of-insanity-brought-on-by-some-severe-trauma" way.
So I hope this has made you, the reader, feel slightly better about whatever shit time you may be going through at the moment, even if only fleetingly. Alternatively, you could be cursing the unfair degree of wealthiness that allows me to throw money away frequently on wasteful alcoholic binges while billions of babies starve in their mother's arms on the other side of the world.
To you I say, get fucked.

Send refugees to South America, says US

 

Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state under George Bush, suggested in 2008 that Palestinian refugees could be resettled in Chile and Argentina. Palestinians have expressed shock and dismay at the US suggestion to settle Palestinian refugees in Argentina and Chile rather than let them return to ancestral land in Israel. Representatives of the Palestinian diaspora said the plan to ship displaced Palestinians from the Middle East to a new homeland across the Atlantic clashed with their fundamental right to go home. "It's completely unacceptable. It contradicts our inalienable right to return to our own homeland," said Daniel Jadue, vice-president of Chile's Palestine Federation. "That right cannot be renounced. To make this suggestion shows the mediation was not honest. It was clearly tilted in favour of Israel. This is extremely grave." Condoleezza Rice, who was secretary of state in the Bush administration, floated the idea at a meeting on 28 June 2008 with US, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Berlin, according to minutes of the encounter obtained by al-Jazeera and shared with the Guardian. The suggestion dumbfounded South America's Palestinians – a largely Christian community which emigrated in waves over the past century and settled across the region, especially in Chile which is said to be home to more than 200,000. Chile's Palestinians would welcome compatriots who chose to settle in the Andes, said Jadue. "If a Palestinian accepted to come here that would be their right and we would show solidarity." But that did not justify a US proposal to funnel refugees from the Middle East to reduce pressure on Israel to give up land, he said. "That's wrong." Tilda Rabi, president of the Federation of Palestinian Organisations in Argentina, said the proposal violated the UN's affirmation of refugees' right to return home. "This is an extension of a long campaign of ethnic cleansing, of clearing people from their own homelands." She doubted many refugees would have accepted such an offer. "In the camps people still have keys to the homes they left behind." It is unclear whether the Bush administration lobbied Argentina and Chile to take Palestinians. The foreign ministries in Buenos Aires and Santiago did not respond to email and phone queries. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said it received no such request. "UNRWA has never been approached by any government to assist with the movement of refugees to South America," said a spokesman, Chris Gunness. "If such an offer was made refugees could accept or reject it," he said. "It would be their choice." Hillary Clinton, Rice's successor as secretary of state, played down the importance of the documents in her first comments on the leak last night. "I don't think it comes as any surprise what the issues are between the Palestinians and the Israelis," she told reporters in Mexico. "They have been well known for 20 years or more. They are difficult issues. They do not lend themselves easily to compromise." However, the state department spokesman Philip Crowley earlier acknowledged that the disclosure would have an impact on efforts to get peace talks restarted. "We don't deny that this release will, at least for a time, make the situation more difficult than it already was," he said. "None of this changes our understanding of what is at stake, or what needs to be done. We continue to believe a framework agreement is both possible and necessary. We continue to work with and engage the parties." The United Nations special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, said some of the interpretation of the documents conveyed an "inaccurate impression". The Palestinian negotiators were committed to reaching a deal in the interests of the Palestinian people, he said. "At this crucial time, I would urge both parties to show their readiness for a negotiated peace based on a two-state solution, and to deliver on the ground. It is to the genuine credit of the Palestinian leadership that they are doing so." Israel radio reported that Nabil Shaath, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team, said the documents released by al-Jazeera were authentic, unofficial and did not obligate the Palestinian side.

The Palestine Papers

“Are you serious about the two-state solution?” Abbas asked, according to Erekat. “If you are, I cannot comprehend that you would allow a single settlement housing unit to be built in the West Bank… you have the choice. You can take the cost free road, applying double standards, which would shoot me and other moderates in the head and make this Bin Laden’s region. Or say we are not against Israel but against Israel’s actions. If you cannot make Israel stop settlements and resume permanent status negotiations, who can?”
 This is an excerpt of the Palestine Papers, obtained by Al jazeera  in which the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

 told President Obama in June 2009 that peace could never proceed without a complete freeze of Israeli settlements.

Obama ignored this and accepted Israel's "concession" to suspend any new construction in the West Bank. This didn't last long.

The papers have also sparked mass outrage, revealing that PA negotiators were willing to exclude over 6 million Palestinian refugees from their homeland. In addition, Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister, proposed annexing several Arab villages to a future Palestinian state, which would force thousands of Israeli Arabs to choose between their citizenship and their land.

According to the Israeli Defence Forces Civil Administration, close to 500,000 Israelis now occupy settlements deemed illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. In November last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to build a further 1,300 homes in East Jerusalem. Earlier this month, the European Union expressed concern that the ever expanding force field of security and infrastructure required to support the burgeoning settler population would further splinter the occupied territory. In a statement to the Consuls General, the EU stated that settlements impinged on the lives of Palestinians and resulted in an inequitable education policy, difficulty in accessing health care and the inadequate provision of resources and investment.

Australian Family Reunion

The Australian Federal Police have arrested three men on charges of people smuggling in relation the the Christmas Island tragedy.
There has been no inquest into the disaster so far.
Go here to see the trailer for Australian Family Reunion, a short film about the El Ibrahimy family whose lives were ripped apart after 15th December when 23 year old mother Zman was killed with her two children.

Monday

I have been sucked back into the largely pointless and self serving occupation of online publishing. I like to call it this instead of "blogging" because it sounds far more intellectual, encouraging the reader to picture a "I'm sexy but smart because I wear glasses" kind of author rather than an overweight adolescent smearing Twisties seasoning all over the keyboard in their eagerness to play World of Warcraft.

Also, I have to return to my varied and far reaching audience (two people from Mauritania).

The usual symptoms of social malaise have infested national headlines since those expensive, airborne shards of glitter disappeared into the sky above the Harbour Bridge. A gushing body of water succeeded in wiping away a large part of Queensland and has now started work on Victoria. The PM has decided this is a unique opportunity for the people of Australia to pay for the effects of climate change. What has been a traumatic and terrifying ordeal for many continues to serve as a handy national narrative from which "true Australians" and "un-Australians" will emerge.

On the bus yesterday I sat three seats behind the beauty school drop out pumping the latest Ke$ha hit on her iPod and in front of the robust man scoffing a meat pie.

Then boarded two members of Sydney's finest sub culture. Young males from the wealthiest suburbs of the North Shore, they invariably sport Nautica polo shirts, Nike shorts, Adidas trainers... basically the entire alphabet of crappy sportswear never worn as casual street attire by any self respecting citizen. They enjoy adorning public transport with badly executed grafitti, especially employing witty catchesisms such as adlay eshay cuntsay etc etc.

After accusing a group of Asian teenagers of having bird flu (inexplicably squawking like chickens through swigs of VB) the lads disembarked the bus to go home and suck on their communal bong. I was reminded of coming arrivals on Sydney's streets over the next few days.

Lads are neither "hip", "jiggy" nor "down with it". But this song is

Rest in Peace

A wooden boat carrying as many as 100 Iraqis, Iranians and Kurds smashed against Christmas Island's Rocky Point in rough seas on Wednesday morning.

Authorities say there are 30 people confirmed dead and 42 survivors.

Among those who lost their lives are 13 men, nine women, four children and four babies

Catholic Church shuts down Aboriginal healing centre

by Millicent Caffrey

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney last month closed the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in Alexandria and the Aboriginal Healing House in Picton, ending the employment of two long-term workers.

Brenda McDonnell worked with the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in Alexandria for 11 years assisting in the welfare of the Aboriginal community. She says she was given no explanation for the termination of her employment.

“I honestly don’t know why this is happening,” Ms McDonnell said, describing her immense contribution to the Archdiocese. “I had to bring in $45 to $50,000 each year to maintain the house. It was a beautiful place for women, spiritual bonding and healing.”

Barbara Asplet worked for 25 years in the ministry and was co-ordinator of the Aboriginal Healing House in Picton, which provided programs for women suffering from trauma associated with the Stolen Generation and for victims of domestic violence, sexual, drug and alcohol abuse.

Supporters of Aboriginal rights stood in the rain on December 1, in front of the nativity scene at St Mary’s Cathedral, to protest the decision of the Catholic Church to close the Healing House and end the employment of these two women. They were blocked by security from entering the church, but a small crowd of visitors to the cathedral stopped to listen to their speeches.

Ms McDonnell described the Church’s actions as a “huge injustice” and said she it had made her lose her faith as a Catholic.

Director of Catholic Communications Katrina Lee said the Church’s decision was to reflect the changing needs of the community.

“We would like to introduce even more experienced professional people,” Ms Lee said.

Founding member of the Indigenous Social Justice Association Ray Jackson said the Church’s decision was “just another bastard act by Cardinal Pell.”

“I don’t know what another bastard act is.” Ms Lee said. “That is because I don’t know of any previous ones.”

In February of this year Cardinal Pell banned the Australian Reforming Catholics, a group partly focused on the spirituality and harmony of Aboriginal people, from using a Church in Rose Bay to hold their annual general meeting. Pell has also been criticised for stating in 2006 that the issue of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church was “obviously connected with the problem of homosexuality.”

According to the Archdiocese, the Healing House will be reopened in Sydney after Christmas. Mr Jackson, however, doubts this. “Once the Healing House gets sold, there is no trace on that money whatsoever. The Church can do what they like with it.”

Hungriest Place on Earth

 In this April 8, 2010 file photo, two-year-old Nyagod Kuel attempts to eat on her bed in a hospital ward in Akobo, southeastern Sudan. Two years of failed rain and tribal clashes in this Sudan region bordering Ethiopia have laid foundations for a humanitarian crisis the U.N. mission dubs the "hungriest place on earth." A recent survey found that almost 46 percent of children in the region are malnourished. Lise Grande, the top U.N. official in southern Sudan, said most humanitarian agencies regard a malnutrition rate of 15 percent at an emergency threshold. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

Funding illegal Israeli settlements? Priceless.

by Bernard Keane

 

Visa, Mastercard and PayPal all enable donations to be made to US-registered groups funding illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank in defiance of international law.

It appears at least one of the major credit cards also enables donations to an extremist Jewish group that has placed a bounty on the lives of Palestinians.

All three have in the last week ceased enabling donations to WikiLeaks. Neither Mastercard nor Visa have explained the basis for their decision to do so. PayPal has backed away from its initial claim that the US State Department told PayPal WikiLeaks had broken the law after the claim was discredited. This is the third occasion on which PayPal has suspended payment services for WikiLeaks.

Israel subsidises over 100 settlements in the West Bank in defiance of international law. Another 100+ are “illegal outposts” even under Israeli law. All benefit from extensive support from the United States, channelled through a range of Jewish and right-wing Christian bodies, all of which have charitable status under US law. The International Crisis Group’s report on settlements in July 2009 identified the important role played by US charities. Israeli newspaper Haaretz has investigated the strong support provided via US charities, and Israeli peace groups have also targeted the generous support provided via private donations from the US and Canada.

Credit card transactional systems play a key role in facilitating this support for illegal settlements. Here are some examples.

• The Shuva Israel group, an evangelical Christian group based in Texas, is accused by Israeli group Gush Shalom of channelling money to fund the illegal West Bank settlement of Revava. You can donate to it, says the Shuva Israel website, via Mastercard, Visa and Paypal.

• The One Israel Fund, used as an example in the International Crisis Group report, boasts of being “the largest North American charity whose efforts are dedicated solely to the citizens and communities of Yesha”. You can donate to the One Israel Fund, according to its website, via Mastercard, Visa and Amex.

• The website of another right-wing Christian group, the Christian Friends of Israeli Communities describes support for settlements like Argaman, which are illegal under international law. You can donate, their website says, via Mastercard, Visa and PayPal.

• One of the highest-profile groups is the Hebron Fund, the centre of a 2009 row when the New York Mets were criticised for hosting a fundraising dinner for the group. It provides extensive support for the extraordinarily aggressive Hebron settlement, described by one Israeli group as “an ongoing war crime”, while the Fund itself has been linked to praise for an Israeli mass murderer. According to its website, it receives donations via all major credit cards.

• Worst of all is the extremist SOS Israel group, which has incurred even the wrath of the Israeli Defence Force by rewarding Israeli soldiers who disobey orders to evict settlers from illegal outposts (i.e. inciting mutiny), and which has offered a bounty for Palestinians shot by IDF soldiers. The SOS Israel website describes a number of ways you can make your “generous donation” to it, including credit cards. Crikey’s token $2 donation via a Visa card was successful last night.

At this stage WikiLeaks has breached no international law and no laws of any country, but Mastercard, Visa and PayPal have all blacklisted it. All three continue to enable the support of settlements that are in breach of international law, in some cases of Israeli law, and in defiance of US policy on settlements under successive Republican and Democrat administrations.

Crikey invited Visa, Paypal and Mastercard to comment but none had responded by deadline.

Congratulations

To our dear Prime Minister Julia Gillard,

On behalf of the Australian people, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you.

As our first female PM you have truly transformed the perception of this great land as one filled with beer swilling, thong wearing, mosquito slapping ockers. You have taken us to an unprecedented level of recognition on the international stage. No longer will Australians remain confused with Austrians, nor will they be mistaken for strange sounding British people.

We are now known as a tough and uncompromising nation. We don't cut corners when it comes to the invasion of our land by undesirable and frankly malodorous "asylum seekers" on leaky boats.

The Labor government has done all it can, even putting some of these refugees up in a motel in Darwin! And those spacious facilities at Villawood are nothing to scoff at, so we can only roll our eyes when these so called asylum seekers start hacking at their wrists, climbing on roof tops and killing themselves.

What were they expecting? Human rights? This is Australia, for God's sake.

Now, from the recesses of that ginger coated head of yours, has emerged what can only be described as an ingenious plan.

Instead of having these foreign people commit suicide in our state of the art facilities, why not just send them packing back to where they belong and avoid the bad press? Who wouldn't like Afghanistan anyway? Sure, there a few hundred rather large craters and countless destroyed buildings from bombs dropped by our steadfast ally, the United States, but other than that, I hear the food is quite good.

And as an Australian citizen who holds complete trust in my democratically elected government, I have no doubts at all that you will honour the commitment which ensures a return agreement will contain assurances that deported asylum seekers not be harmed. Of course it will also include reintegration packages to discourage this cheeky buggers from ever hopping on a boat back to our fair country again.

Some might also say doing deals with a notoriously corrupt government isn't the best political decision, but hey, I'll trust you on this one!

Ms Gillard, I applaud you for setting a fine example to the rest of the world on how to treat those who dare to flee a country which we helped destroy.

I can only hope to be like you when I grow up.

Warmest regards,

Your fellow Australian.

Lomography from Ukraine

I want to go to (the?) Ukraine.
Check out lomography from this interesting little country here.

Queen Black Acid

Menomena are a band from the U.S. and have been around for ten years. They mix gui­tar, glock­en­spiel, bass, bari­tone and alto sax, keys, per­cus­sion and vocals, play­ing sev­eral instru­ments at once and swap­ping between songs to create a blissed out sound. I'm loving 'Queen Black Acid'. The lyrics are a beauty and the song smooths out your mind like a chrome plated iron.

 

I get so caught up in my ways
sometimes I overlook the simple plains
I feel like certain times in my life
are met with certain times for pain to thrive
you're five foot five, not a hundred pounds
I'm scared to death of every single ounce
and worst of all is when it's calm
cause I know the sea won't be calm for long

you bring me down

I walked right in through the rabbit's door
and walked right into the rabbit's hole
I made myself an open book
I made myself a sitting duck

I don't know how I missed the signs
I must have passed by them a hundred times
you barely notice what I say
you're busy looking round the room instead
I get so caught up in my ways

I walked right in through the rabbit's door
and walked right into the rabbit's hole
I made myself an open book
I made myself a sitting duck
I'm walking down this rabbit trail
my feet grow heavy with every step
I stop to eat and take a nap
and now I can't find my way back

you bring me down
so down 

VOMIT

There are parts of this interview, aired by the ABC on the 7.30 Report that make me feel so, so sick.
  

KERRY O’BRIEN, PRESENTER: Kurt Campbell is the US State Department’s most senior official, with responsibility for the Asia-Pacific region, and he asked to come on the program to counter the damage from today’s exposure in Fairfax newspapers of the US embassy cables critical of Prime Minister – or then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s foreign policy record. I recorded this interview with the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in our Washington studio.

Kurt Campbell, Australians woke up to a headline this morning that said “US condemns Rudd”. What do you say to that?

KURT CAMPBELL, US ASST SECRETARY OF STATE, ASIA-PACIFIC: Ah, I have to say we’ve been living over the course of the last two or three weeks with just enormous challenges. Every day we wake up, issues associated with WikiLeaks. It’s been extremely difficult for us. And to be perfectly honest, this is another one that causes us great heartache. No relationship’s more important to us than Australia. And to be perfectly blunt, I’ve worked with a lot of people over many, many years and I’ve really focused on Asia for most of my career. Few people have made such an impression, not only on sort of the foreign policy national security imperatives of a country like Kevin Rudd has done in Australia, but he has an enormous respectful following in the United States and throughout Asia. So I think these are just deeply, profoundly unfair and he’s just taken some very unfair shots and I think it’s important for both friends and admirers to stand up and speak out, and that’s what I’m doing here tonight.

KERRY O’BRIEN: But does that mean that your own embassy in Canberra is out of step with the sentiment at the State Department and the White House level?

KURT CAMPBELL: Well, look, you know, some of these cables come from a previous administration. I don’t know all the context. And frankly, the release of cables are in the tens, hundreds of thousands, so, I can’t speak to specific cables. We don’t know the validity of all of these in particular. All I can tell you is that in meetings talking about Asian architectural issues, about China, about how to think about security challenges of the 21st Century and climate change, in meetings with President Obama, with Secretary Clinton, with Secretary Gates, no leader I’ve encountered has the respect and level of when he speaks people listen, as Kevin Rudd has had in the American administration. And I say that with no bias. I’ve seen very clearly how much he punches above his weight and frankly how much Australia punches above its weight in our diplomatic undertakings.

 KERRY O’BRIEN: But everything you’re saying right now is going to be seen by a lot of people as an exercise in damage control, that these are the things you have to say to undo the damage?

KURT CAMPBELL: Look, all I can tell you is that this has hit us broadside in almost every country. I’ve not talked with Foreign Minister Rudd about this. It’s late at night. I can tell you that we have many of these challenges on really an hourly basis. I called you, I wanted to do this. I don’t see this as damage control, I see this as stating very clearly how I see it and how our government sees it. We were – when we look at what Kevin, what Foreign Minister Rudd has accomplished in terms of – we would not have joined the East Asia Summit if it weren’t for his prodding. He played a role that was enormous in trying to salvage a success last year in Cancun. He has played a critical role in how to think – how we should think about China’s role for instance on the Korean Peninsula. On almost every issue of consequence – Burma, South-East Asia, the role of India in Asia, we consult with Rudd on a very regular basis. There’s no foreign official that I spend more time with in quiet consultations. And so this is just a fact. And all I can tell you is if you have any doubts about this, take a look at the pictures from the AUSMIN that took place in Australia just a couple of months ago, or look at the US-Australia Leadership Dialogue. It’s not just respect, it’s true affection.

 KERRY O’BRIEN: He’s been painted in these US cables as impulsive, not consultative with the US. And if we go back to last year, I remember talking to you about what you had to say at your confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where your comments were interpreted as pouring cold water on Kevin Rudd’s call for a new strategic Asia Pacific community. Was that a case in point?

KURT CAMPBELL: No, no, I disagree with that, and in fact if you look at what I said, I tried to be very clear in my confirmation hearing where the United States stood and where I stood. Confirmation hearings are – you know, your whole life is hanging in the balance, and you’re stressed and you’ve been up for days preparing, and so sometimes things come out slightly different. And what I tried to convey to both Foreign Minister Rudd and to the mission here was that, you know, I think my tone wasn’t exactly right. The truth is that we came out with a slightly different position than the one Foreign Minister – then Prime Minister – Rudd advanced. However, the overall conversation in the United States – we weren’t even thinking about joining the East Asia Summit. We weren’t even thinking about engaging deeply in South-East Asia. His role was decisive. Everything I’ve seen in my interactions with him, he’s deeply consultative. He has his own views and he will advance them strongly, and frankly that’s what’s impressive.

KERRY O’BRIEN: You told me in that interview that Kevin Rudd was one of President Obama’s best mates. Can you say with confidence that that’s still the case?

KURT CAMPBELL: Yes, but I think as importantly today – remember, Kevin Rudd is now serving as Foreign Minister. I would say, today, when we had discussions with the secretary and her staff, she was very clear about how uncomfortable she was with these revelations, understood that it put Foreign Minister Rudd in a very difficult position. But what’s impressive over the course of the last several months is they have developed a very close relationship. They consult regularly. So, the depth of his engagement with our administration is not just at the presidential level. It’s with our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, key Asia staffers at the White House and also the Secretary of Defence.

KERRY O’BRIEN: What is the State Department’s current view as to what laws WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has actually broken by releasing the leaked documents and diplomatic cables? Because there’s been confusion about what actual laws the US believes he’s breached.

KURT CAMPBELL: You know, to be perfectly honest, I am not a lawyer. We have teams of lawyers that are working on this and there is lots of speculation in the public. I don’t think I can advance the case here in that respect. And so I best not talk directly about those issues. All I can tell you is that, as you well understand, they have been deeply challenging, embarrassing and they’ve created great damage. But I will also say we have enormous important work to do in the US-Australian relationship and I am proud of what we’ve accomplished and what we need to accomplish in the future and I stand by the relationship and I stand by our relationships inside the Australian Government.

KERRY O’BRIEN: Kurt Campbell, thanks very much for talking with us.

KURT CAMPBELL: Thanks very much.

Freedom and human rights in America are doomed

This is about four days old, but those studying International and Public Affairs at the University of Columbia were told to shut  up about Wikileaks or forget a job with the Federal government.

Yes, I paraphrase.

"[The alumnus] recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter," said the e-mail. "Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government."

The university later retracted this in a statement from SIPA Dean John H. Coatsworth:

"Freedom of information and expression is a core value of our institution," he said. "Thus, SIPA's position is that their students have a right to discuss and debate any information in the public arena that they deem relevant to their studies or their roles as global citizens, and to do so without fear of adverse consequences. The WikiLeaks documents are accessible to SIPA students (and everyone else) from a wide variety of respected sources, as are multiple means of discussion and debate both in and outside of the classroom." 

The Library of Congress has blocked Wikileaks and here is their explanation why.

This is the official stance of the U.S. government on Wikileaks:

"Wikileaks’ illegal, outrageous, and reckless acts have compromised our national security and put lives at risk around the world. No responsible company – whether American or foreign – should assist Wikileaks in its efforts to disseminate these stolen materials." 

Looking into the frozen eyes of Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Joe Lieberman is like looking into the pits of evil. 

Think I'm being dramatic? Read this press release. It explains why the senator has introduced anti Wikileaks legislation. Choice quotes include:

Julian Assange and his cronies, in their effort to hinder our war efforts, are creating a hit list for our enemies by publishing the names of our human intelligence sources.

WikiLeaks is not a whistleblower website and Assange is not a journalist.

Lieberman, you're just pissed off because Wikileaks has shown that your government's "war efforts" are disgusting, needless and costly. You rant on about how Wikileaks has put American lives in danger. Your government has killed its own people. You have killed thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians using murderous polices and horrifying weaponry.

The U.S. government is fulfilling Osama bin Laden's prophecy: "I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed.... The U.S. government will lead the American people into an unbearable hell and a choking life."

Go the the website for the U.S. government and see everything they have to say about Wikleaks.

"I could pick a good girl, but they're probably boring."

You know when you wake up with no concept of reality? You don't remember how you got into bed the night before. Then everything slowly comes back to you, or if you're really unlucky, reappears in short, sharp, painful flashes leaving you completely bewildered and more than slightly insecure about what you may or may not have said. You check the outbox on your phone and recoil in horror. To add to your complete confusion, you find $150 slipped under your bedroom door and what appears to be a black tutu lying on the floor. Your head feels like someone's doing roadworks on it and to make things completely unbearable the guy next door has decided to mow his lawn. You got told that if you yell at him again he'll file a complaint so you just roll into a ball and put the pillow over your head. Then you smell mint. That's right. Some motherfucker, probably you, has left chewing gum in the bed.

Last night is like a roll of film that's fallen out of the camera... take a quick look at the frames, then chuck it in the garbage because its no use to you now.

This is Melbourne based MC Ry who has a new release coming out next week called The Wonderkid. Check out Right Now (Chillin') below...

 

And download his version of the Kanye West track Devil in A New Dress right here, its pretty cute.

Man tasered 41 times by WA police

From The Age

Brutal video that shows corrective services officers in anti-riot gear Tasering Aboriginal man Kevin Spratt has finally been released.

The footage, which had been kept under wraps since the first evidence emerged of Mr Spratt being Tasered multiple times at the East Perth Watch House, was shown on the opening day of a Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry into the conduct of police and Watch House guards towards Mr Spratt.

Mr Spratt made headlines when it was revealed he was Tasered 13 times as nine officers surrounded him at the Watch House on August 31, 2008. It was yesterday revealed Mr Spratt was actually shocked 14 times in this initial incident.

 

 

Kevin Spratt and his partner Tayunna Schatkowski appear at the Corruption and Crime Commission hearing.

A week later, on September 6, Mr Spratt was Tasered 11 times when a number of helmet-clad corrective service officers, carrying riot shields, tried to "extract" him from his cell.

The shocking footage of this incident can now been viewed by the public for the first time.

It shows at least six guards dressed in anti-riot gear overpowering Mr Spratt, dragging him out of his cell after verbal warnings that he would be Tasered if he did not comply.

"Turn around and lay down mate, if you don't lay down I'm going to Taser you," a designated negotiator is heard saying upon entering the cell.

"I'm not going to ask you again, if I have to ask you again I'm just going to Taser you."

The footage then shows a Taser being discharged against Mr Spratt and the man dragged out of his cell and forced to the ground in an outside corridor. The officers then hold Mr Spratt on the ground and repeatedly Taser the small of his back while ordering him to comply with directives.

Mr Spratt is heard screaming to God and saying sections of the Lord's Prayer during the ordeal, and at one point he turns to his aggressors and yells, "Hello Devil".

This incident and the 14-Taser incident were just two examples highlighted where Tasers were deployed on Mr Spratt by Counsel assisting the CCC Peter Quinlan, with the inquiry told he had been Tasered a total of up to 41 times over a seven-day period.

On September 6 alone, he was hit 19 times by police and corrective services officers as he was being moved from the East Perth Watch House to Casuarina Prison. 

The inquiry was also told of a litany of other injuries sustained by Mr Pratt while in custody at the East Perth Watch House.

When Mr Spratt was assessed after the second Taser incident, he was revealed to have rib fractures, a collapsed lung, a dislocated right shoulder and a fractured arm, along with several cuts, abrasions and puncture wounds caused by the stun-gun darts.

Mr Quinlan told the hearing Mr Spratt was subject to force other than stun guns, saying the cause of his numerous injuries was yet to be determined.

"Mr Spratt was also the subject of restraints by a number of officers, including during a cell extraction by the DCS on September 6, 2008," Mr Quinlan said.

The lawyers of three police officers applied for their clients names to be suppressed but CCC Commissioner Len Roberts-Smith rejected all three.

Sergeant Aaron Grant Strahan and Senior Constable Troy Gregory Tomlin both discharged their Tasers on Mr Spratt in the East Perth Watch House, while Detective Constable Brett Andrew Fowler helped arrest him.

During the Watch House Tasering, Mr Spratt refused to move into another room to be strip-searched. CCTV footage showed Constable Tomlin discharging his stun gun seconds after speaking to him.

"Give us your hand or you're going to get f...ing Tasered, do you understand? Now," Constable Tomlin said.

Constable Tomlin and another officer each grabbed one of Mr Spratt's legs while he was stunned repeatedly.

Outside the hearing Mr Spratt was supported by his visibly upset fiancée, Tayunna Schatkowski.

"I am pleased that the footage of what has been referred to as my 'cell extraction' in September 2008 has finally been made public," Mr Spratt said.

"Much has been made by the police and others of my criminal record and manner which I conduct myself in the presence of police. They are matters which I deeply regret.

I would like to properly acknowledge the support I received from my family, my fiancée Tayunna, my employer and my friends."

'Lack of confidence' in police

Opening the inquiry earlier this morning, commissioner Roberts-Smith said there had been "community disquiet" over the incident, which had generated a "lack of confidence" in the WA police force.

The Tasering of Mr Spratt at East Perth Watch House first came to light with the release of a report by the CCC into Taser use in WA.

CCTV footage showed the unarmed and subdued now 41-year-old being Tasered 13 times as nine officers surrounded him.

No one was charged over either incident despite a police internal inquiry finding two officers had used undue and excessive force.

In his opening address, Mr Roberts-Smith said the inquiry would need to address allegations of misconduct by public officers and the conduct of internal investigations by the WA police and the Department of Corrective Services.

Mr Roberts-Smith said that following the release of footage showing Mr Spratt's Tasering, Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan gave several media interviews and the WA Police released a timeline of his criminal history.

"The public debate led to the revelation of other incidents in which Taser devices were said to have been used on Mr Spratt by police and Department of Corrective Services personnel," he said.

"Other serious allegations were made about police treatment of him, that police had been engaged in a 'cover-up' and that they presented a false statement of material facts about Mr Spratt to a court.

"Much of the political comment was inflammatory."

This poppy is way too tall

Clenching her fist in front of her, Prime Minister Julia Gillard declared yesterday, "the foundation stone of this Wikileaks issue is an illegal act. So lets uh, not try put any glosses on this."

Ms Gillard is essentially begging us not to look too deeply into the millions of cables released by Wikileaks detailing exchanges between international diplomats, causing politicians to freak out and the media to froth at the mouth.

And why would you listen to anything put forth by a rapist anyway? That's right, the man at the centre of it all, Australia's own Julian Assange has surrendered himself to police in London over allegations of sexual assault from two women in Sweden which he denies. He has been refused bail on the grounds that he has "weak community ties" in the UK and has the "means and ability" to abscond. However, the charges themselves are flimsy, if examined for more than two minutes. According to Assange's barrister, James D. Catlin, the basis of the charge is having consensual sex without a condom, which is punishable in Sweden as rape.

But with the word "rape" and Assange's name repeatedly appearing together, governments across the world are now breathing a sigh of relief in that the attempt to vilify and destroy Assange's attempts to create a more transparent and accountable world have partly succeeded. 

There have been many who believe that Wikileaks has brought no real revelations anyhow. We already know, for instance, that the US sees China as a threat, and that the war in Afghanistan is being miserably lost.
But Wikileaks has shaken the world like a snowglobe, politicians and corporations bumping around in bewildered outrage.
Most importantly, it has reaffirmed the militaristic and domineering nature of the US, and its intentions to rule the world by force.
Take for example classified US diplomatic cables which show that nine Nato divisions have been identified for combat operations in the event of an attack on Poland.
There is also no link between the rape charge that Julian Assange faces and Wikileaks, as Kevin Rudd has reminded the Australian public, despite the it being revealed by Wikileaks that the US ambassador to Australia dubbed former PM  Rudd a "control freak".
Many seem to be losing this salient point, and we are being told that Assange is a criminal and what he did was illegal (although Julia Gillard could not list one reason why) and he is a "dangerous anarcho-Marxist with paranoid tendencies and enough conspiracy theories to keep the Grassy Knoll Society busy for a month".
Pissing off conservatives worldwide, vitriolic attacks on both Wikileaks and Assange are being countered by claims that the Wikileak's editor-in-chief is the Ned Kelly of the Digital Age.
But the net around Assange appears to have finally tightened, and the future of Wikileaks and its ability to disseminate information that everyone deserves to know (not just elites in suits) is facing a great hurdle, challenging Assange's insistence that "the truth will always win".
Skip the bullshit from politicians and the agenda of the media and read the op-ed written by Julian Assange for The Australian today. Thank God its not 1984 yet.

In 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide’s The News, wrote: “In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win.”

His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch’s expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.

I grew up in a Queensland country town where people spoke their minds bluntly. They distrusted big government as something that could be corrupted if not watched carefully. The dark days of corruption in the Queensland government before the Fitzgerald inquiry are testimony to what happens when the politicians gag the media from reporting the truth.

These things have stayed with me. WikiLeaks was created around these core values. The idea, conceived in Australia , was to use internet technologies in new ways to report the truth.

WikiLeaks coined a new type of journalism: scientific journalism. We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?

Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption.

People have said I am anti-war: for the record, I am not. Sometimes nations need to go to war, and there are just wars. But there is nothing more wrong than a government lying to its people about those wars, then asking these same citizens to put their lives and their taxes on the line for those lies. If a war is justified, then tell the truth and the people will decide whether to support it.

If you have read any of the Afghan or Iraq war logs, any of the US embassy cables or any of the stories about the things WikiLeaks has reported, consider how important it is for all media to be able to report these things freely.

WikiLeaks is not the only publisher of the US embassy cables. Other media outlets, including Britain ‘s The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais in Spain and Der Spiegel in Germany have published the same redacted cables.

Yet it is WikiLeaks, as the co-ordinator of these other groups, that has copped the most vicious attacks and accusations from the US government and its acolytes. I have been accused of treason, even though I am an Australian, not a US, citizen. There have been dozens of serious calls in the US for me to be “taken out” by US special forces. Sarah Palin says I should be “hunted down like Osama bin Laden”, a Republican bill sits before the US Senate seeking to have me declared a “transnational threat” and disposed of accordingly. An adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister’s office has called on national television for me to be assassinated. An American blogger has called for my 20-year-old son, here in Australia, to be kidnapped and harmed for no other reason than to get at me.

And Australians should observe with no pride the disgraceful pandering to these sentiments by Prime Minister Gillard and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have not had a word of criticism for the other media organisations. That is because The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel are old and large, while WikiLeaks is as yet young and small.

We are the underdogs. The Gillard government is trying to shoot the messenger because it doesn’t want the truth revealed, including information about its own diplomatic and political dealings.

Has there been any response from the Australian government to the numerous public threats of violence against me and other WikiLeaks personnel? One might have thought an Australian prime minister would be defending her citizens against such things, but there have only been wholly unsubstantiated claims of illegality. The Prime Minister and especially the Attorney-General are meant to carry out their duties with dignity and above the fray. Rest assured, these two mean to save their own skins. They will not.

Every time WikiLeaks publishes the truth about abuses committed by US agencies, Australian politicians chant a provably false chorus with the State Department: “You’ll risk lives! National security! You’ll endanger troops!” Then they say there is nothing of importance in what WikiLeaks publishes. It can’t be both. Which is it?

It is neither. WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed. But the US , with Australian government connivance, has killed thousands in the past few months alone.

US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates admitted in a letter to the US congress that no sensitive intelligence sources or methods had been compromised by the Afghan war logs disclosure. The Pentagon stated there was no evidence the WikiLeaks reports had led to anyone being harmed in Afghanistan . NATO in Kabul told CNN it couldn’t find a single person who needed protecting. The Australian Department of Defence said the same. No Australian troops or sources have been hurt by anything we have published.

But our publications have been far from unimportant. The US diplomatic cables reveal some startling facts:

The US asked its diplomats to steal personal human material and information from UN officials and human rights groups, including DNA, fingerprints, iris scans, credit card numbers, internet passwords and ID photos, in violation of international treaties. Presumably Australian UN diplomats may be targeted, too.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia asked the US Officials in Jordan and Bahrain want Iran ‘s nuclear program stopped by any means available.

Britain’s Iraq inquiry was fixed to protect “US interests”.

Sweden is a covert member of NATO and US intelligence sharing is kept from parliament.

The US is playing hardball to get other countries to take freed detainees from Guantanamo Bay . Barack Obama agreed to meet the Slovenian President only if Slovenia took a prisoner. Our Pacific neighbour Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to accept detainees.

In its landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US Supreme Court said “only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government”. The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth. 

Julian Assange is the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.