Filed under: ABC, Australia, Dr Mohamed Haneef, Four Corners, Kevin Andrews, Media, Mohamed Haneef, Politics, Terrorism
ABC television in Australia will tonight broadcast an interview with terror suspect Dr Haneef. Tune in at 8.30 tonight and see who is the biggest liar; the Liberal Immigration Minisister, or the Doctor.
In news from the Iranian press agency IRNA, Iran has arrested 14 squirrels for spying.
An un-named official said ‘the squirrels were carrying spy gear of foreign agencies, and were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services.’
I wonder if the squirrels were CIA operatives, or worked for the Israeli agency Mossad.
Perhaps if the Australian Defence Forces recruitment drive falters, they might hire some possums
Filed under: Australia, Civil Liberties, Fascism, First They Came, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Mohamed Haneef, Pastor Martin Niemoller, Politics, Terrorism
I have become increasingly worried about the gentle erosion of Australia’s civil liberties. While the right to free speech is not entrenched in the Australian constitution, it is an implied freedom, as is the presumption of innocence. And our dear leader, John W. Howard is doing all he can to ensure these implied tenets are consigned to the pages of history. So as fascism creeps across Australia, and immigration detention is used punitatively because the courts of law don’t give you the result you want, I am reminded of anti-Nazi theologian Pastor Martin Niemoeller, and his poem “First they Came”.
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me–
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Pastor Niemoller’s poem is about apathy, and how in Nazi Germany many intellectuals sat by as freedoms were eroded and Jews were gassed. It is entirely applicable to Australia in 2007, as one by one, our way of life, our liberty is attacked by an increasingly evil government.
Welcome to neo-fascist Australia, where you can be locked up without charge, presumed guilty and deported, seemingly at (the Triumph of) Howard’s will.
Tis time to be heard people,lest they come and take you away.
At 6.55 am in Melbourne it is dark and cold and usually I am contemplating chucking a sickie and not going to work. At 6.55 this morning there was an explosion, somewhere close, but somewhere far away. I thought Al Qaeda had come to Melbourne. As such, I wasn’t going anywhere. I sat on my couch waiting for news. I sat waiting to hear the sirens. But there was no news and there were no sirens and I realised I must go to work. I showered and readied at the last possible moment. I walked to the tain station where there was still no carnage, apart from the wrecks of humanity asembled to catch the 7.59 Crapex train to Austwich.
I made it to work on time. There were no bombs and no dismembered bodies at Melbourne Central. I was disappointed that the big bang wasn’t a bomb, and that I would have to go to work.
But there had been an explosion. A truck carring a crane exploded about two kilometres away from my flat. At least it wasn’t Al Qaeda. Terror had come to the suburbs, but it was all in my mind. And that my dear friends is a victory for Mr Howard.
