Category: the fear trade
…just click the image to see Australian Greens plan…
The neat, tidy, orderly, church-going Tony Abbott facade belies the reality of the brutal narcissist and Murdoch confidante, with his salivating sidekick, the gutless faux-macho scott morrison – bullying and demeaning the defenceless whilst simultaneously spruiking ‘Christian’ values on his putrid website. They make me feel almost ashamed to be a man.
Here at the interpretOr, we’ve actually met and interviewed real refugees – fellow human beings – our sisters and brothers on planet Earth – and they have asked us why? Why? Why? Why? Why do they not understand our plight?
Here is a challenge to Abbott + Morrison, and K Rudd – have you not been briefed on the situation on the ground in Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq…? If so, why are you playing politics IN THE KNOWLEDGE that our fellow human beings have witnessed their friends and family members having eyeballs plucked out, genitals mutilated…Were you not briefed that in certain provinces of Afghanistan, if you don’t flee for your life, you may be captured and skinned alive?
Distressing to read or think about…
…but this is the real refugee dilemna.
The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism
Free Inquiry Spring 2003 5-11-3
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
They Thought They Were Free
By Milton Mayer
Tony Abbott needs a timely reminder of his craven form re demonising the defenceless. As he and his moronic inferno of negative shadows continue to peddle their mantra of “stop the boats”, fear and bile, let’s cast our minds back to October 2007…
…Abbott’s moral bankruptcy was displayed by his actions as Federal Health minister during the ghastly Howard era:
The Sydney Morning Herald, Age, ABC and other Oz media reported that in October 2007, whilst Federal Health Minister…
Abbott accuses asbestos fighter of political stunt:
THE Federal Government last night picked a fight with a national hero, after the Health Minister, Tony Abbott, attacked the dying leader of the campaign to win justice for the victims of asbestos poisoning.
Mr Abbott accused Bernie Banton, who three years ago received an Order of Australia for his efforts to get compensation from James Hardie, of being involved in a political stunt.
Mr Banton and members of the Construction Union protested outside Mr Abbott’s electorate office in Manly yesterday, because the minister has yet to approve a drug, Alimta, which can prolong the lives of mesothelioma sufferers, for the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.
Mr Banton, who is wheelchair-bound and dying of the disease, got off his sick bed to make the journey across Sydney yesterday but Mr Abbott left before the protesters arrived. Last night the minister told Channel Nine: “Look, it was a stunt, let’s be upfront about this. I know Bernie is very sick but just because a person is sick doesn’t mean that he is necessarily pure of heart in all things.”
But last night Mr Banton returned fire at the minister. “What a flea,” he told the Herald. “What a gutless human being. He wasn’t game enough to front up and face the very people his Government is denying treatment to.”
Andrew West, SMH, October 31, 2007
A health minister who attacks a terminally ill man becomes shadow leader and a stain on Oz politics. Why on earth should anyone cast a vote for the nasty, moral coward called Tony Abbott?
Refugee rights rally in Melbourne, July 27.
Below is an excerpt of a piece @ Green Left Weekly by Sam Wainwright
After promising not to “lurch to the right” on refugees if he returned as prime minister, Kevin Rudd dramatically did just that with his plan to send refugees to Papua New Guinea for processing and resettlement. He says no refugee who arrives by boat will ever be settled in Australia.
This is a draconian plan beyond the dreams of hardline racists like Pauline Hanson and John Howard. Yet despite this, leaders of the ALP left, such as Doug Cameron and Melissa Parke, have defended the policy.
Both piously claim to be concerned about saving lives at sea. Rudd’s policy won’t do that. But it will reinforce the racist poison that is a disaster for refugees and for the ordinary Australians whose lives will be worse because of it…
… click here to see more at Green Left Weekly…
“look…I never really left you Herr Murdoch” gushed Tony…
Realise that, realise that. You’ve been my little sleeper, eh Abbott? In actual fact, we errr, we were rather pleased with your stint with Australians for Constitutional Monarchy…
Why thank you, Herr Murdoch…I was Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy from 1993–94.
Yeah, the bloody Royals are always good for my circulation. Was around then that you, Abbott, caught my eye. Thought we’d give you a crack on the Australian.
Indeed, I wrote…as a journalist…for your august national journal…
Then we aided your ascendancy to the towering heights of Federal Health Minister, no less…
Indeed, Herr Murdoch. Indeed.
Guess somebody had to keep those moaning asbestos union lefties at bay. You were just the ticket. You and Julie, that is.
Look, why thank you…
Fast forward to Aug ’13 and you now have 70% of all Australian newspapers…MY 70%…articulating THE VALUES, DIRECTIONS AND POLICY PRIORITIES of my next coalition government!!!
Indeed, Herr Murdoch. Indeed.
‘nd NEVER FORGET, ABBOTT, NEVER FORGET WHAT WE LEARNED FROM BUSHES 1 & 2. NEVER FORGET that I DECIDE who will lead this country and the manner in which they lead it!!!
“…Spooked by tabloid scare-mongering, both major parties have chosen deterrent policies; treat them harshly, push them off to small, impoverished Pacific neighbours. The low point of this is the recent Coalition promise to bring in the military to deal with the “emergency”.
The spectacular cost of these measures passes without complaint because it is seen as a kind of protection. While it is difficult to separate out the various components of the cost, indefinite detention costs around A$110,000 per person as of 2011-12. The actual cost varies: metropolitan detention is cheapest. It gets more and more expensive as the place of detention is more remote. On current estimates, we will spend about $2.9 billion each year….”
This prescient piece continues @ the Conversation…click here to go on through…
Crackdown on Whistleblowers as ‘US SHOWS NO MERCY’ (SPIEGELonline…)
…Still, the fact that Manning wasn’t convicted of aiding the enemy in no way diminishes the massive pressure that US President Barack Obama has applied on the media and potential future whistleblowers. Recently, James Risen, an investigative reporter with the New York Times, was ordered by a federal court to testify against a confidential CIA source — with the threat of imprisonment if he refused to do so. Risen said he would go to jail if necessary to protect his source. Presently, the US is prosecuting six different people on allegations that they betrayed government secrets — more than under any previous president…
Crackdown on Whistleblowers as ‘US SHOWS NO MERCY’ (SPIEGELonline…)
By Nathan Fuller and Jeff Paterson, Bradley Manning Support Network. July 28, 2013 (US)
“The Government has pushed this case beyond the bounds of legal propriety. If the Government meant ‘information’, it should have charged information,” explains defense attorney David Coombs.
Two years ago, Army PFC Bradley Manning was charged with five counts of stealing government property, in violation of federal statute 18 U.S.C. 641. He faces 21 total charges for providing WikiLeaks with classified information at the court martial entering its final stage. After the Government rested its case against PFC Manning, defense lawyer David Coombs detailed how the evidence presented did not support those five 18 U.S.C. 641 charges. He appealed to military judge Col. Denise Lind to dismiss them outright; however, she let them stand. Shockingly, she then stepped away from her role as the “finder of fact,” and into a clearly partisan role by allowing the Government to significantly alter its charges on July 24, 2013–long after all legal arguments had been made.
“Because all of these critical ‘clarifications’ are coming after eight weeks of testimony, and because these offenses carry with them 50 years of potential imprisonment, and because the Defense was actually misled by the Charge Sheet, the Defense requests that this Court declare a mistrial as to the section 641 offenses,” declared Coombs.
…Please click here for this piece in full at bradleymanning.org…
G4S – Nauru detention centre manager – to be the subject of fraud probe – report Channel 4 News (UK)
To Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Immigration Minister Tony Burke:
We call on you to scrap the new policy in regard to asylum seekers reaching Australia by boat. This “hardline” approach is cruel and doesn’t make financial sense. We are the land of plenty — we call on you to treat people arriving in Australia by boat with compassion and decency and abide by all international conventions regarding the rights of refugees.
…CLICK here to GO THROUGH TO avazz and SIGN…
As cruel and sociopathic trampling upon refugee rights continues in Australia and beyond, let us counter the machine politicians’ mendacious, managerialistic, dehumanising rationale with a few human, reality-based perspectives…
Here’s a start in the form of a recent Human Rights Watch report, ‘Why They Left’ (Dec 2012), in which Iranian dissidents describe their plight – the complex, harrowing accounts of …WHY…THEY…LEFT…
The 60-page report, “Why they Left: Stories of Iranian Activists in Exile,” documents the experiences of dozens of rights defenders, journalists, bloggers, and lawyers whom security and intelligence forces targeted because they spoke out against the government. Some who took part in anti-government protests after the 2009 election had never been politically active before, but suddenly found themselves in the crosshairs of security and intelligence forces.
“The post-2009 crackdown has profoundly affected civil society in Iran,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The images of police beating protesters mercilessly may have faded from television and computer screens, but many Iranian activists continue to make the painful choice to abandon homes and families.”
- I see me, Scott Morrison, MP and…and Assembly of God leader…
- …I see a man who has balance and an ability to enjoy the fruits of an orderly, odedient and fair-haired community – heck, I’m a normal, dinkum Aussie guy too – heck, I can think of nothing better than to kick back ‘nd relax on a Saturday morning and catch up on highlights of the week’s Australian Traffic Network radio broadcasts!
- I see, I see….an obedient servant and stewardly-Godly-man…
- Look, quite frankly, I see a proud steward…a proud steward at ShireLive’s much trumpeted ‘WATER BAPTISM’ ceremonies…sorry about the plug, but as my great mate Sir Cliff would say…we’re ‘wired for sound’…
- I see a man who is on a proud highway, a proud highway to a more fair-haired and obedient Australia!
::: for more on Scott Morrison’s fair-dinkum values, why not click here to visit ShireLive :::
Feel free to click below for part one of this ground-breaking series…
new interpretOr series: ‘what I see in the mirrOr’ pt1: Tony Abbott
“No democratic Australia could ever impose penalties on refugees which could match the terror from which most of them flee. Our policies need to change. I believe the major parties’ policies are extreme.”
click here for piece in full at the Guardian
There’s a whopping great full page ad from Lockheed Martin International in today’s Murdoch owned national rag, the Australian, (02/03/13 p5).
Headline copy:
“Introducing Lockheed Martin International”
Partnering for Protection and Prosperity.
“We never forget who we’re working for”
A heck of a lot of space for a three-liner…
At the interpretOr, we never forget who they’re working for…nor does AlterNet…
"While contracts for supplying weapons for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a significant part of Lockheed Martin’s business, the new company that has taken form since the merger boom of the 1990s has a far wider reach. These activities include everything from involvement in interrogation and police training to profiting from the new post-9/11 wave of domestic surveillance activities. Of all the new ventures that Lockheed Martin has undertaken, the least well known may be its role in interrogating prisoners at U.S. facilities in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The fact that employees of private companies are even allowed to interrogate terror suspects came as a surprise to most Americans when it was revealed in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal. The revelations of the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques”—many of which were viewed by human rights analysts as torture plain and simple—rocked the world as pictures of naked inmates threatened by dogs and subjected to other serious abuses were disseminated in print and electronic media. The damage to the reputation of the United States as a country governed by the rule of law is still being felt, even as accountability has been limited to the low-level military personnel involved directly in the abuses."
William Hartung reveals how Lockheed Martin’s presence in the U.S. military goes far deeper than mere weapon supplying, AlterNet (11/01/11)
Booz Allen Hamilton: What You Don’t Know About Snowden’s Former Employer
Submitted by TommyPaine
Let’s take another trip down the rabbit hole, shall we? Lost in the Edward Snowden debate is a critical look at his former employer, the company doing the spying on Americans in the first place: Booz Allen Hamilton.
Booz Allen Hamilton is a government contractor, with 99% of its revenue coming from the US government. Not only does it receive money from the NSA, but also the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and … the IRS. In addition, Booz Allen is heavily connected to the CIA.
Booz Allen Hamilton is owned by…the Carlyle Group.
One of the big investors in the Carlyle Group was the Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia. Yeah … THAT Bin Laden family. And instrumental in being the “go between” for Carlyle/Bin Laden was a guy by the name of George H. W. Bush. Maybe you’ve heard of him?
The CEO of the Carlyle Group (remember, they OWN Booz Allen Hamilton) is Frank Carlucci. Mr. Carlucci has quite a resume:
Nixon Administration – Director of the Office for Economic Opportunity (the “War on Poverty” — and a great place to decide who gets government contracts)
Reagan Administration – National Security Advisor and Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld is Carlucci’s protoge)
He is or has been with the Project for a New American Century and a member of the Board of Trustees for the RAND Corporation, a CIA front that develops policies that the Military Industrial Complex then carries out.
Among the individuals involved in running BoozAllen Hamilton, we have:
James Clapper – current Director of National Intelligence (DNI), head of NSA, the man who lied to Congress about the fact that NSA is actively spying on Americans, is a former executive
Mike McConnell – a current executive of the company, had Clapper’s job (DNI) during George W. Bush’s administration (keep it in the family, eh?) — he worked for Booz Allen before Bush, then worked for Bush, then back to Booz Allen after Bush
James Woolsey – former CIA Director, current executive (see Jan Helfeld’s interview of Mr. Woolsey where it becomes clear that Woolsey has no interest in discussing principles, only war)
Melissa Hathaway – former executive, also worked for McConnell during the Bush administration
Ian Brzezinski – former executive, son of Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller, central figure in the NWO crowd, and mastermind of Operation Cyclone
Dov Zakheim – this character is … unbelievable:
1993 – His company, System Planning Corporation, had a subsidiary called Tridata Corporation, which was the company that “oversaw” the investigation of the 1993 WTC bombing
2000 – Part of the neocon Project for a New American Century, he is co-author of “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” in which he is credited with the infamous line, “… some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.”
For more on this story, click through here to Daily Paul…
…Presenting the award June 20th in London, John Pilger, the veteran war reporter described the bureau’s work as ‘extraordinary’ and ‘truly pioneering’.
The prize honours Martha Gellhorn, a renowned war reporter and humanitarian. She was one of the first reporters in Vietnam to reveal what she called ‘a new kind of war against civilians’. Her long career included reporting on the rise of Fascism in Europe and accompanying the first American troops into Dachau concentration camp during the Second World War, as well as filing dispatches from Panama, South Vietnam, Nicaragua and Brazil.
Judges look for reporting that reflects Gellhorn’s pioneering journalism. The prize seeks to recognise journalism that tells an ‘unpalatable truth, validated by powerful facts’ and in so doing exposes what Gellhorn described as ‘official drivel’.
Pilger said of the Bureau’s work on drones:
‘This was extraordinary work on Barack Obama’s lawless use of drones in a campaign of assassination across south Asia. Woods, Ross and Serle stripped away the façade of the secret drone ‘war’, including how it is reported and not reported in the United States: how civilian casualties are covered-up and how rescuers and funerals are targeted…
…as important, in many respects, as the recent leaks from inside Washington: remarkable work in the highest tradition of investigative journalism.’
The short-list was made up of seven other journalists including Andy Worthington, a London-based independent journalist and filmmaker who has covered the ongoing detention of over 100 individuals at Guantanamo Bay and Yemen-based Iona Craig.
Previous winners of the award have included Robert Fisk of the Independent, Nick Davies of the Guardian and Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. In 2010, an additional award was given to the late Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times.
The Bureau’s work on drones and the covert war can be read here.
…Earlier interpretOr drone posts include…
doodlebugs tO drones: terror from the sky
…just click above to access…more drone news too in our Fear Trade section…
The Australian Government has indicated breathtaking complacency in answer to Senator Scott Ludlam’s Senate question today about the PRISM surveillance program:
“A warrantless surveillance system that grants real-time Government access to emails, audio and video chats, photographs, documents, connection logs and location data, to potentially the entire Australians population, and today the Government shrugged it off as business-as-usual.”
“The Greens would appear to be the only party in Australia concerned by widespread surveillance of Australian citizens and the meaninglessness of Australia’s Privacy Principles,” said Senator Ludlam.
“While Australian authorities appear to have been fed some kind of tranquiliser, parliamentarians in other parts of the world are taking action over this warrantless real time mass surveillance…”
Sri Lanka, June 2013: intolerance and fear
“…A climate of intolerance and fear continues to sweep the island as the government’s stranglehold on the population grows ever tighter. In March, Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was impeached after declaring a government bill unconstitutional.
Lawyers working on torture and other human rights cases have been targeted and harassed. Meanwhile, the cases of Kumar, Poddala and the many activists who have disappeared have not been independently or credibly investigated.
Yet the authorities claim that their human rights record has improved – a claim reinforced by their selection as hosts of the November meeting of Commonwealth leaders. It is a whitewash of immense proportions, says Poddala.
“I can’t understand why the Commonwealth has decided to do this,” he told us, “because no civil society organization is allowed to function there. There are no human rights in Sri Lanka.”
…for more on this story, click through here to Amnesty International…
Special Report by Center for Media and Democracy and DBA Press
The report reveals for the first time:
- How law enforcement agencies active in the Arizona fusion center dispatched an undercover officer to infiltrate activist groups organizing both protests of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the launch of Occupy Phoenix– and how the work of this undercover officer benefited ALEC and the private corporations that were the subjects of these demonstrations.
- How fusion centers, funded in large part by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, expended countless hours and tax dollars in the monitoring of Occupy Wall Street and other activist groups.
- How the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has financed social media “data mining” programs at local law enforcement agencies engaged in fusion centers.
- How counter terrorism government employees applied facial recognition technology, drawing from a state database of driver’s license photos, to photographs found on Facebook in an effort to profile citizens believed to be associated with activist groups.
- How corporations have become part of the homeland security “information sharing environment” with law enforcement/intelligence agencies through various public-private intelligence sharing partnerships. The report examines multiple instances in which the counter terrorism/homeland security apparatus was used to gather intelligence relating to activists for the benefit of corporate interests that were the subject of protests.
- How private groups and individuals, such as Charles Koch, Chase Koch (Charles’ son and a Koch Industries executive), Koch Industries, and the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council have hired off-duty police officers– sometimes still armed and in police uniforms — to perform the private security functions of keeping undesirables (reporters and activists) at bay.
- How counter terrorism personnel monitored the protest activities of citizens opposed to the indefinite detention language contained in National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.
- How the FBI applied “Operation Tripwire,” an initiative originally intended to apprehend domestic terrorists through the use of private sector informants, in their monitoring of Occupy Wall Street groups. [Note: this issue was reported on exclusively by DBA/CMD in December, 2012.]
The report is authored by Beau Hodai, DBA Press publisher and Center for Media and Democracy contributor.
Read the full report and Appendix Sourcewatch.org.
Read the full report on DBA Press here and view the document archive on DBA Press here.
In addition to the report, PR Watch will be publishing articles extracted from the report throughout the week at PRwatch.org.
On 1 May 2013 a 35 yr old man arrived to Christmas Island with his 9yr old son. Hours later he complained of feeling unwell and died in the local hospital shortly later.
ChilOut fully expected the Dept of Immigration to act swiftly and bring this boy to the Australian mainland where family members await his arrival and are ready to care for him. Six days later and with no response to our request for information to the Minister’s office, we have gone public in the hope that bureacracy moves faster to support and help this little boy.
Following the 2010 Christmas Island boat tragedy, young Seena was orhpaned. A debacle played out around his treatment, re-detention, funeral attendance and more. We thought that lessons would have been learnt and procedures would be in place to act immediately in the best interests of children in such a tragic situation. Seemingly not. Click here for ChilOut press release
ChilOut is an Australian group that formed in 2001. Their position is that “all children regardless of race, religion, class or immigration status should be covered by child protection laws. There should never be a loophole for child abuse or neglect. ChilOut does not usually undertake individual advocacy but exceptional circumstances warrant it.”
Below is an extract of a recent opinion piece by Bruce Haigh, who has very kindly given the interpretOr the okay to cite and link to his pieces…
…To my mind the issue which has defined federal governments over the past decade and a half is the manner in which both major parties have chosen to handle refugees. Fearful of polls and lacking the quality most needed in politicians, that of leadership, they have chosen to demonise and bully the weakest amongst us, the one group requiring our care and compassion – asylum seekers.
Howard, Rudd, Gillard and Abbott have all used bullying as an instrument of politics. Their policies toward asylum seekers were and are not designed to protect and embrace those most in need, but rather to deter asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat.
The rhetoric of the Gillard government has been to claim that they are trying to break the people smuggler business model, and to assist they appointed an ‘expert panel’ to come up with policies to back their exclusionist boat policy. The government and opposition claim they want to stop people taking dangerous sea voyages, yet they stubbornly refuse to consider the option of processing on Indonesia for fear of encouraging more arrivals.
Current policies harm people. The victims are victimised, some incarcerated without hope of release because of fear they may engage in acts of terrorism. Advice tended to ASIO by a discredited Sri Lankan government, who happened to be the winner of a cruel civil war. The deal being if we detain their nominees they will prevent asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat. How low can we go as a nation?
Deterrence amounts to an unconscionable and prolonged act of state bullying…
…This piece can be read in full at Bruce’ site – just click here to go on through…
The desperate, human plight of refugees and asylum seekers.
Let’s reject the myths and embrace our empathy and compassion…
Join the conversation by adding#rethinkrefugees to your tweets…
a well founded fear…
“I was kept in detention for more than a month (in Sri Lanka). During this time, I was questioned and beaten up every day. They asked me about my activities with the LTTE in France. They brought pictures of my participating in antiwar protests in France and accused me of betraying the government. They asked me for the names of others who had organized the protests in France. I was locked in a dark room and my hands were tied in the position of a crucifix. I then was burned all over my arms in this position. I was beaten with hot metal rods on my back and thighs. I was sometimes poked with the end of a hot poker and they kicked my head with metal-toed boots. I was raped many times. Two men would come to my room and one would hold me down. They would take turns raping me.”
source: Human Rights Watch, “We will Teach You a Lesson” (Feb 2013)
Human Rights Watch has released “We Will Teach You a Lesson”
(February, 2013)
Sexual Violence against Tamils by Sri Lankan Security Forces:
(London) – Sri Lankan security forces have been using rape and other forms of sexual violence to torture suspected members or supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Human Rights Watch said in a report released February, 2013. While widespread rape in custody occurred during the armed conflict that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch found that politically motivated sexual violence by the military and police continues to the present...2013...
...Please click the image above to freely download the 144page report via HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH...
“Tramtracks” Tony. “Tramtracks.”
Look, Peta, I am recalcitrant. At the end of the day, easing off the throttle, errr, literally and metaphorically…has paid dividends. Dividends. There are even times when I think this “being nice” malarkey is my tramtrack…
…the rails, Tony, rails by which team negative shall emerge from the shadows…’nd into the dazzling daylight of our great and efficient mining monarchy. An enhanced brand proposition of trustworthiness, family connection and dare I say, increasing cosmopolitanism…‘K Tony, Brian and I had a nanosecond to confer at the gym Sunday and quite frankly, your tweet leading into the weekend of late exyooodid tramtracks. Andrew concurs, too…d’ya’remember it…
Friday night at the movies then Kam Fook Chinese for dinner with @TonyAbbottMHR @abbott_frances and mum #familytime pic.twitter.com/gPsfBjgf1a Retweeted by Tony Abbott
No mesothelioma people…
Oh Tony. No. No mesothelioma people. No…mesotheleoma people.
That’s all behind me now…
We’re moving forwards, with opportunity…with opportunity to win…
(…TBC…)
“..In climate policy, the US lags behind other countries. Quotes a current scientific review: “109 countries have enacted some form of policy regarding renewable power, and 118 countries have set targets for renewable energy. In contrast, the United States has no adopted any consistent and stable set of policies at the national level to foster the use of renewable energy” or adopted other means that are being pursued by countries that do have national policies. Some things are being done in the US, but sporadically, and with no organized national commitment. That’s no slight problem for us, and for the world, in the light of the great predominance of American power – declining to be sure as power is diversified internationally, but still unchallenged…”
(Noam Chomsky via AlterNet: March ’13 – click here for piece in full)
Abbott and Morrison are gutless, nasty and deeply foul conservative men who have craven form in demonising the defenceless for political gain – refugees, terminally ill former asbestos workers etc. What’s even more repulsive is that they press their buttons of fear and bigotry with the demented expectation that a majority of Australians support their views.
Well, come September, let us the people prove them WRONG.
(the interpretOr will also examine the timing of this latest burst of xenophobia, when our time permits. It may be no cooincidence that Morrison gushed his bile on 28th Feb, 2013…)
Iranian regime arrests scores more journalists, including bloggers and film makers, late January 2013.
IranWire, a project led by Maziar Bahari, produced this video calling for the journalists’ release.
Committee to Protect Journalists reports that Iran has maintained a revolving-door policy for imprisoning journalists, freeing some detainees on furloughs even as new arrests are made. In its December 2012 prison census, CPJ found that Iran was the world's second-worst jailer of journalists, with 45 journalists imprisoned in reprisal for their work. The threat of imprisonment has led scores of Iranian journalists to flee into exile in recent years. the interpretOr supports open media and we now reach over 90 countries (source: WordPress.com). Why not share this post or video and let the Iranian regime know that the world is watching.
“Look, good morning cadet Australians. This is none other than me…me, your leader…all rise for the flag” said Tony Abbott.
“I’m starting this morning’s national assemblies schools address series with the thrilling news….the thrilling news, cadets, that Don Voelte AO…Don Voelte AO is to become…look…Chairman of new ABC INC…cadet Australian’s, Don’s legendary partnership with another great Australian, none other than Sir Pete Gammell d’Bush-Family- Hospitality, saw him appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Seven West Media Limited, circa June 2012. A loyal Australian tower of moral courage across our rugged colony…Don’s been a director of Seven West Media Limited, and prior to the formation of Seven West Media Limited, West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited since December 2008…
…As you’ll know from your history books, significant experience in the global oil and gas industry is a prerequisite of leadership in our great colony…and, prior to his retirement in June 2011, Donny was the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the legendary Woodside Petroleum Limited, a position he had held since joining the company in 2004, cadet Australians. Appropriate comunications are a hallmark of my Abbott administration and will stand our great colony in good…”
(TBC…)
“The major energy-producing countries are still firmly under the control of the Western-backed dictatorships. So, actually, the progress made by the Arab Spring is limited, but it’s not insignificant. The Western-controlled dictatorial system is eroding. In fact, it’s been eroding for some time. So, for example, if you go back 50 years, the energy resources — the main concern of U.S. planners — have been mostly nationalized. There are constantly attempts to reverse that, but they have not succeeded…
….Take the U.S. invasion of Iraq, for example. To everyone except a dedicated ideologue, it was pretty obvious that we invaded Iraq not because of our love of democracy but because it’s maybe the second- or third-largest source of oil in the world, and is right in the middle of the major energy-producing region. You’re not supposed to say this. It’s considered a conspiracy theory…”
DAFOH Advisory Board:
Jacob Lavee, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery, Director of Heart Transplantation Unit, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, ISRAEL
J. Wallis Marsh, MD, Professor of Surgery, Specialist for Liver Transplantation, Pittsburgh, USA
Narinder Mehra, MD, Professor and Head of Department of Transplant Immunology & Immunogenetics (AIIMS), New Delhi, INDIA
Maria A. Fiatarone Singh, MD, FRACP, Professor of Medicine, John Sutton Chair of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Eric Jay Goldberg, MD, Senior Medical Director, Shire Regenerative Medicine, La Jolla, USA
Ghazali Ahmad, MD, Senior Consultant and Head Department of Nephrology Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Chairman of National Renal Registry, Head of Nephrology Services, Ministry of Health, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
the interpretOr 
