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Legal advice provided by deputy Senate clerk Richard Pye confirms the Senate has ''undoubted power'' to force Infrastructure Australia to hand over the documents, which the state government insisted must remain secret to protect delicate commercial negotiations.

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This comment has been adapted and reposted as an article Senate has legal right to uncover the truth about the East West Link- Ed

Story on FaceBook was linked to from Twitter. Unfortuntely, it appears that Facebook blanks out the story after about ten seconds and requires a login.

Homs - troops fire at 2 suicide car bombers !!

Syrian Army Forces have foiled an attempt by two suicide car bombers to blow up a Military Checkpoint in the Town of "Al-Farklis"

Syrian Army Forces have foiled an attempt by two suicide car bombers to blow up a Military Checkpoint in the Town of "Al-Farklis", where a security Unit began firing at the vehicles approaching, causing the explosion of the cars before reaching their target, but sadly resulted in the Martyrdom of two of our brave Troops and the injury of another two ...

RIP to our brave heroes, your courage is legendary, peace to the families, and we pray for our wounded to heal fully ... - J

The image below was posted to Twitter on 1 September 2013.

By Steven Youngblood, director, Center for Global Peace Journalism

An American Secretary of State speaks to the world, accusing a dictator ₁ of using weapons of mass destruction, and warning of dire consequences for the dictator’s regime.

If you're experiencing déjà vu, you’re not alone.

The pronouncements this week by Sec. of State John Kerry are eerily reminiscent of the anti-Saddam assertions of then-Sec. of State Colin Powell. In 2003, Powell made a dramatic (and ultimately, incorrect) speech at the UN detailing Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.

This week, Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden are launching similar accusations against Syria, this time charging that dictator Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. Imbedded in those accusations is no small dose of threats and saber-rattling.

While the diplomats, generals, and weapons experts debate the veracity of the chemical weapons charges and desirability of military intervention in Syria, the media would be well advised to remember their own missteps leading up the Iraq war 10 years ago.

By their own admission, many in the media shirked their watchdog role in the run up to the Iraq war. They were largely content with parroting Bush administration propaganda (lies, some might say). In a mea culpa published in 2004, the New York Times wrote, “…We have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged — or failed to emerge.“

Yes, there were some stories that did question the administration’s propaganda. However, according to Paul Waldman on CNN.com, “Whenever there's a story that the media as a whole get wrong, there's always a reporter somewhere who got it right. The problem was that those voices were so much quieter, pushed so far to the edge of the national debate.” (CNN.com 3/19/13).

So, here we are again 10 years later, an administration vilifying a dictator and accusing him of horrible crimes against his own people. If the media have learned anything from the pre-Iraq debacle, it is that we must never be only the mouthpiece of an administration bent on intervention. We journalists need to be asking questions, and lots of them, seeking independent verification of the claims against Syria. We must be skeptical. We need to lead a discussion debunking the myth of a “clean, surgical strike”, and examine at length the number of civilian injuries and deaths that could occur.It’s our responsibility to make sure that peaceful alternatives, along with a complete understanding of all of the ramifications of intervention, are aired. It’s up to the public to let their leaders know if they believe military intervention in Syria is indeed the best option.

--Follow Steven Youngblood, author of Professor Komagum, on Twitter @Peacejourn or on his blog

Footnote[s]

1. Editorial comment In this otherwise informative and insightful article, I don't consider the labeling of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad a 'dictator' to be helpful or accurate. In a technical, pedantic sense, he could be labeled thus, because he has yet to face the Syrian People in the Presidential elections scheduled for 7 May 2014. However, given the bloody conflicts that have been imposed, externally and internally, on Syria by Israel, the U.S, and their allies since 1947, it is hardly reasonable to expect of Syria to have been a perfect model democracy before now.

If one were to read President Bashar Al-Assad's own writings and interviews with him, including by interviewers who are critical and inquisitive (and far more inquisitive than by the 'journalists' who interview the likes of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Bob Carr), it is clear that he is a deeply human, courageous and insightful leader. For examples of interviews, see What 'dictator' ever willingly faced such media scrutiny? of 1 June 2013 and Bashar al-Assad interview with Izvestia on Voltaire Net for examples. It is little wonder that even NATO admits that 70% of Syrians support him.

Roughly 14 years ago, Professor William Mitchell of the University of Newcastle devised a far-sighted scheme to provide a full-time job to every Australian who needed one.[1]. All the jobs identified would have provided useful services to other Australians or have produced useful artifacts or building. The scheme was fully costed so that it could easily have been run for, at most, a modest additional outlay in Government finances.

William Mitchell published his ideas in a large book and was able to attract a great deal of interest in, and support for, them. As a result, sufficient resources were obtained to enable him to set up what became known as the Center of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the University of Newcastle.

The program promoted by CofFEE was a program that any political party, which genuinely intended to advance the welfare of its constituents, would have grasped with both hands. Any party, with sufficient profile, would have had no trouble winning support for it, thereby increasing its own electoral support base.

However, all the political parties in Australia, with a profile sufficiently high as to be able to gain support for the CofFEE program from the electorate -- Labor, the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens -- have clearly been co-opted into supporting vested interests. So none of those parties took it up.

That need not have been the end of the CoFEE program. Eventually a political movement, which was truly interested in making Australia a better place, would have emerged. Such an organisation would have recognised the merit of CofFEE program and would have adopted it as part of its electoral platform.

However, it seems that those running the CofFEE centre have themselves become co-opted by vested interests. Rather than being an outgoing organisation, seeking to promote its program, for example in the current Federal election campaign, it has allowed its profile to drop to the point where it is barely visible.

Any who do learn of CofFEE, will not find it easy to participate should they want to. The CofFEE book itself, which I am sure could once be freely obtainable, seems only to be available through a UK bookseller and costs an extortionate £76.50 (not even $A?) as the cheaper "on-line price" or £85.00, otherwise.

Footnote[s]

1. I don't remember clearly when I first heard of CofFEE, I think, on a radio program. I suspect this is because of the diffuse axonal brain damage I suffered in a road accident in 2010, however, a page on the web-site the web-site implies that the CofEE, which is about to have its 14th National conference, started that long ago.

Confronting the Chemical Lies in Syria - Mother Agnes Mariam on GRTV

Also published on Global Research TV.

In an Intreview by Alex Jones on infowars.com, The Syrian Girl also confirms that the allegation that the Syrian Government murdered hundreds of its own citizesns with chemical weapons is a bare-faced lie, manufactured to convince some of the Western public accept a war of aggression against Syria.

This video also includes Alex Jones urging everyone to emulate the example of Johnny Appleseed (1774-1845), who at his own initiative, traveled all over America planting apple trees for to help provide free food for local communities. (That segment is somewhat marred by Alex Jones' ideological tirade against "big government". This prejudice is somewhat similar to the reasoning given by the likes of Paul Keating, John Howard, Jeff Kennnett, Bob Carr, Peter Beattie and Anna Bligh in recent decades to justify flogging off valuable public assets to private corporations.)

From PressTV, 26 August 2013

Italy has warned against military intervention in Syria, urging its international partners to "think about it a thousand times" before launching an attack.

Iraq will not allow its airspace be used in attacks on Syria

Also from PressTV, 26 August 2013

The Iraqi government has said it will not allow its airspace or territory be used in any action against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

For more information, See Bob Carnegie Defence Campaign.

The ABC reported at 1.20PM today, followed by Brisbane's Courier Mail and The Australian that "Contempt of Court" charges against Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) organiser Bob Carnegie were dismissed by Federal Court Magistrate in Brisbane.

The charges arose as a result of Bob Carnegie attempting to enforce a picket line at the Children's Hospital then under construction in Brisbane against an attempt by the anti-union employer AbiGroup to deny union rights to workers working there.

This is a monumental win for Australian trade unions whose rights have been eroded since former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser criminalised much trade union activity with his Sections 45D and 45E of the Trade Practises Act. Under the legislation, it became a criminal offence for workers to take industrial action against an employer other than their own. So, action by workers in one workplace in solidarity with another work place was forbidden.

(Incidentally, Malcolm Fraser, in recent years, has made great efforts to have himself depicted in the media as a "bleeding heart" friend of refugees, particularly refugees, who opposed trade unions, particularly the Australian Postal and Telegraphic Union (APTU) in Melbourne, and voted for politicians like himself as did many of the Vietnamese refugees who came to Australia in the late 1970's.)

The 'Labor' Governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, which ruled Australia from 1983 until 1996 and began the transformation of Australia into a neoliberal "free market" economy, failed to repeal these laws. As a result, Liberal Prime Minister John Howard attempted to break the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) in 1998 having little fear that other unions would give effective support to the MUA.

Fortunately, a determined campaign by the Australian community, including the families of seafarers and wharfies, defeated Howard's attempt to break the union. It was also helped by a the New Zealand Seafarers' Union refusing to work on on a ship which had been loaded by scab labour.

Sadly, as recorded in The Latham Diaries (2005) collaboration by unconscionable Labor politicians, including the current Australian foreign Minister Bob Carr, enabled John Howard to rort his way back into office in 1998, 2001 an 2004.

Following his 2004 election, John Howard made another attempt to break the trade unions when he introduced his "Work Choices" legislation, for which he had obtained no electoral mandate into Federal Parliament. He then spent $124 million of taxpayers' money on propaganda campaign to promote "Work Choices". (Described in Mark Latham's political gift to John Howard of 20 Nov 2007. Sadly, Latham acted no better in 2007 than those of which he was rightly critical in The Latham Diaries. He actually opposed the Trade Union movement's "Your Rights at Work" campaign against "Work Choices" and called on Australians to vote for Howard.)

Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands publicly unveiled his lab-grown burger at a high-profile London taste-testing event. Some people think they have to eat real meat, despite tasty soy and gluten convincing alternatives. Post made his by placing stem cells taken from cows into a culture dish and feeding the cells with fetal calf serum to make them grow. He says that one sample of muscle cells taken from a live cow during a biopsy could create up to 20,000 tons of cultured beef.

It uses stem cell technology to produce up to 10 kilos of beef. No harm is done to the cows. PETA is offering $1 million for the production of in vitro chicken meat to the market.

Animal rights group PETA supports this development. Besides eliminating the need to slaughter billions of animals every year, growing meat in a laboratory would end clear-cutting of forests for livestock production, conserve vast amounts of water and energy, and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions for meat production by 78 to 96 percent.

For those who insist on eating animal flesh, this lab-produced meat is an ideal alternative, environmentally and for a more humane society.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) is proposing to reduce the corporate tax rate from 30% to 25%.

To make up for lost revenue, company tax revenue would be replaced by increasing and expanding the GST so all Australians would pay more for our basic essentials such as food, education and health care.

The Grattan Institute estimates this would add another $3000 a year to average household costs.

They're also proposing to slash penalty rates and reduce the minimum wage for workers, meaning you would have less money in your pocket to pay bills and feed your family. This is to create more "prosperity" for Australia, and create a future surplus.

They would increase immigration too.

It's pure Ponzi economics, a way of getting working Australians to participate in the scheme so that more of their hard-earned saving and wages drift into corporate hands - those at its peak!

Only dodgy and questionable organisations rely on population growth for their revenues. It's about accumulating consumers, as business resources, to boost business profits and opportunities. There's no guarantee of jobs for the migrants they would like to import.

And homebuyers would be invited to pay even more, by introducing a new land tax on home owner-occupiers.

Mitigating an ageing population by adding would mean a further ageing deficit for the next generation. It's Ponzi demographics and is intellectually dishonest.

Financial and corporations, and collectives such as this business "council", make demands and create reports that suit their vested interests.

PERTH residents have vented outrage that their power bills will increase to an average of $2000 within three years.
State Budget papers reveal yearly "approved increases" of 7 per cent for electricity prices from 2014 through to at least 2016-17. They have already gone up 4 per cent this year.

This will take the average annual family power bill from $963 to $1998 under Mr Barnett's reign, despite his promise during the March state election campaign to keep electricity prices "at or around the rate of inflation" which is now 2.5 per cent.

Herald Sun: Fury over news that annual electricity bills will average $2000 by 2016

Perth has "enjoyed" solid and sustained population growth. Last year alone, 75,000 people moved to the city – and the people transport network catered for an extra five million boardings. Almost one in three renters in the marginal seat of Canning south of Perth, currently held by the Liberals’ Don Randall, are suffering rental stress, and almost 3000 households in Pearce, northeast of Perth are in mortgage stress.

“We have 500 community organisations saying (housing affordability) has reached crisis point, so it’s a national issue,” said Roland Manderson, Deputy Director of Anglicare. Not for profit organisations and charities should not be overwhelmed by demands, from the fallout of government mismanagement of population growth. They are becoming a fixture of our society, of "growth" that displaces people from the economy.

As for electricity, the main cost is the poles and the wires, and they need to be maintained and expanded for a swelling population - blowing out the electricity prices. Having power, water and gas are accepted amenities as a first world country, but now they are biting into hip pockets.

According the Climate Spectator, the state is heading for a major energy crisis in the next three or four years, and that will severely affect its future living standards and economic growth. The problem for NSW is this low-cost gas supply is disappearing. The demand for gas in eastern Australia will triple in the next three years.

A diminished gas supply means prices for goods and services will go up too. Additional flow-on effects are company closures and job losses as some industries become incapable of absorbing the additional costs.

The NSW Government introduced legislation to restrict gas exploration. Exploration is now excluded over much of the Sydney Basin, the part of the state most likely to yield CSG. The government can minimise risks using the knowledge already at hand to regulate the industry, continue to monitor the process, and take a longer term approach to fully understand the environmental impacts though research funding.

It's an admission of accepting the worst case scenario of lack of energy, and spiraling population growth.

CSG and New South Wales' looming energy crisis at http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/8/12/energy-markets/csg-and-new-south-wales-looming-energy-crisis#ixzz2blCnGxsQ

Read more: at http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/8/12/energy-markets/csg-and-new-south-wales-looming-energy-crisis#ixzz2blCnGxsQ
at http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/8/12/energy-markets/csg-and-new-south-wales-looming-energy-crisis#ixzz2bjPldmcB

There is a contrary opinion that it's all a fabrication of the CSG industry.
“This is a scare campaign with no basis in fact, the public is being completely misled with a lot of postulating and huff and puff from the coal seam gas (CSG) industry, which is desperate to develop as much gas as it can and ship it out to Asia at high Asian prices,” said Matthew Wright Executive Director of energy security think-tank Zero Emissions Australia.

Matthew Wright of Beyond Zero Emissions, says “NSW never supplied its own gas, was never self-sufficient and therefore cannot run out. The supplies that are already connected and available to NSW consumers from Victoria and South Australia aren’t about to run out any time soon either. “The push for developing more gas fields is about exports, fossil gas exports at prices that are 300-500 per cent greater than historic domestic prices and with an open, unregulated market (as exists with petrol) the price will no longer be set here in Australia.” -

“The future is clean zero emissions renewable energy, that doesn’t cost the earth,” said Mr Wright.

NSW gas crisis a fabricated myth of the export CSG industry at http://ccag.org.au/csg/nsw-gas-crisis-a-fabricated-myth-of-the-export-csg-industry/#sthash.sZy84xjp.dpuf

The standard of political discourse seems to have become so low that many politicians don't even feel the need to promise to do anything useful to win your vote

Kevin Rudd's promise to halve homelessness by 2020 also seems to be a promise to leave 50,000 of the 100,000 curently homeless Australians still homeless after 2020! In all probabilty Rudd will no longer be in politics to be held to account should he have failed to honour his first promise 7 years from now. How many of the other 'lucky' 50,000 will have to remain homeless until 2020 even if Rudd were to keep that promise?

The story, referred to by nimby is also in the Sydney Morning Herald of 11 August 2013 : Parties offer no real hope for the many homeless.

An older story is: Shame on us: Rudd pleads for homeless of 28 Jan 2010.

In the early years of the government of John Howard, who was elected to the office of Prime Minister in 1996, massive cutbacks were made to education and other government services in order to turn the previous Keating Labor goverment's deficit into Howard's much ballyhooed financial surplus.

In fact, these cutbacks created a massive deficit in the work skills of Australia's workforce. When employers discovered they didn't have sufficient numbers of workers with the required skills, Prime Minister Howard ramped up immmigration in order to fill this deficit.

Over the ensuing years, this has been extended to the more recent scam in which 'temporary' foreign visitors and workers with 457 visas are taking the jobs of even skilled native Australians.

The record budget deficit, which is filling Australia's news is almost certainly a result of record immigration into a country which has few vacancies in industries which produce export income earnings. Whilst our booming housing industry, for which many of the skilled migrants are brought in, cannot possibly produce export earnings, Federal, state and local governments all have to spend more to meet the needs of a growing population.

Should it be any surprise tha governments, which have also privatised many of their wealth producing assets in recent decades, now have huge deficits in their budgets?