Frame grab shows an NBC News Exclusive interview with Brian Williams and Edward Snowden, excerpted from the May 28, 2014 TV primetime special. (AFP Photo / NBC NEWS / Handout)

“…You know, and this is a key question that the 9/11 Commission considered. And what they found, in the post-mortem, when they looked at all of the classified intelligence from all of the different intelligence agencies, they found that we had all of the information we needed as an intelligence community, as a classified sector, as the national defense of the United States to detect this plot,” Snowden said.     “We actually had records of the phone calls from the United States and out. The CIA knew who these guys were. The problem was not that we weren’t collecting information, it wasn’t that we didn’t have enough dots, it wasn’t that we didn’t have a haystack, it was that we did not understand the haystack that we have…”

‘…the Abbott government’s first budget is in a category of its own. The nation is reeling as people come to terms with the extent to which the Prime Minister has shafted and lied to people and lead those who believed in him like lambs to the slaughter. Before the recent Western Australian Senate election I said at the Press Club that people were frightened by the Prime Minister because they didn’t know what he would do next or who he really is, what he really believes in. But now the real nature of the chameleon has been revealed…

…It is breathtaking to watch the Prime Minister and his cigar-smoking Treasurer, together with their hand-picked commissioners of audit, aided and abetted by the Murdoch press, try to con the community into believing that everyone has a moral obligation to share the burden of a confected crisis, arguing that the burden is being shared fairly whilst making absolutely sure that the full weight is carried by those who have no power to fight back-the young, the sick, pensioners, students and those least able to shoulder it, not to mention the natural environment and future generations. If you are privileged, the Liberals will protect that privilege; if you are already struggling, they will stamp you down and make your life harder. Prime Minister Abbott, your heroes, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, would have been proud of you.’

Chrsitine Milne is Leader of the Australian Greens ::: click here for more on this story :::

Sam Wainwright, Socialist Alliance councillor for the City of Fremantle, via Green Left Weekly:

“This mob were always going to introduce a budget like this. The question is — how seriously are we going to fight it? The Victorian Trades Hall has called a mass meeting and demonstration, which is a good start. This has to happen in every town and city. This is the time for some serious resistance, not a token demo and then, ‘That’s it. We’ve done all we can.’

“If the government is intent on taking us down the path of austerity like we’ve seen in Europe, then we need to build a movement of resistance like that in Spain and France, where millions of people have mobilised against austerity.

“I think the Greens are wrong to support an increase in a regressive tax like the fuel levy, as it hurts the poorest while doing little for the environment. At the same time, they have announced they will oppose the deficit levy on high income earners. While this is a temporary and inadequate measure, it is still a more progressive tax.

“When you read that the top 75 earners in Australia paid no tax, you start to see where the revenue crisis really lies. We need to remove regressive taxes (especially the GST) and increase the top marginal rate and company tax.

“If the Greens are serious about resisting these attacks, they should commit to blocking the budget in the Senate, as should the ALP.

“Unless we can push the government back now, the budget won’t be the end of the pain. Worker’s rights and entitlements, including penalty rates are next. A full-bench decision by Fair Work Australia on May 14 means that hospitality workers will have their penalty rates cut by 25% now. Following a review of the Fair Work Act amendments due out in June this year, and the Productivity Commission inquiry, due to report to the government in April next year, further attacks on workers and penalty rates are a certainty.

Budget day may well have been the best day of Hockey’s life, but it’s up to us to make sure the feeling doesn’t last.”

::: click here for ‘The movement to stop the war on the poor’ @ Green Left Weekly :::