THE LIFE OF WHALES OVER-RIDES HUMAN LIFE:

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, has voiced his "respect" for the life of whales.

Mr Howard has warned Japan that it faces global condemnation if it kills whales. Mr Howard is often quoted as saying he cannot and he would not interfere in the business and laws of sovereign states. Whaling is a part of the Japanese culture. The death penalty is also a part of many countries culture.

However, unlike human life, the life of whales concerns Mr Howard. He has taken the unusual step of intervening personally, writing to his counterpart Junichiro Koizumi, strongly advising him to withdraw Japan's bid to hunt whales or prepare for a worldwide backlash.

"Whales bring great delight to 1.6 million tourists, domestic and international, who enjoy whale-watching. This is clear evidence of the extent of public interest in the continued health and welfare of whales and considerable public concern could be expected, not only in Australia, but across the globe," said Mr Howard.

Mr Howard seems to have his priorities messed-up. He refusal to voice opposition to the barbaric use of the death penalty in sovereign states is a sign of weakness. What he should be doing is taking action from the diplomatic niceties to a little more tough talk concerning the most fundamental right - the right to human life.

Animal rights groups have thanked Mr Howard for expressing his concerns against the killing of whales.

In the meantime ... human rights groups are still waiting, and calling on Mr Howard to express his concerns against the killing of human beings.

By ACADP posted 25 May 05

******************************************
AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
© ACADP Incorporated ¨
ACADP@ACADP.com
******************************************
The Premier Australian Internet
Resource on Capital Punishment

Ed: I think it's the tourism thing you know, the $20 billion a year for tourism and whale watching opposed to nothing for a dead drug trafficker accept some political posturing by John Howard, Phillip Ruddock and the AFP.

Just like convicting 'anyone' for a tourist crime regardless of proof like a weapon or a body or a true confession rather than arranging an alleged prison confession etc...

All alleging that the Australian Government is doing the right thing by letting the AFP (change the system) in relation to what information they are now prepared to give countries like Indonesia that harbour the DEATH PENALTY in relation to an Australian Citizen under an AFP investigation - and at all material times the AFP knowing full well that the maximum penalty and the likelihood for a drug crime in Indonesia is death by a firing squad.

Related:

THE DEATH PENALTY - WORLDWIDE
During 2004, at least 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries. At least 7,395 people were sentenced to death in 64 countries. These figures are only reported cases - the true figures were certainly much higher - many countries continue to execute people in secret.

WHY IS THE HOWARD GOVERNMENT PLAYING 'DEATH' WITH AUSTRALIANS:
There has been much controversy recently on whether the Australian Federal Police should have tipped-off the Indonesians over the arrest of the Bali Nine. Due to the fact that Indonesia executes convicted drug-traffickers, ACADP believes that any evidence collected by AFP should have been withheld from Indonesian authorities until they have a written guarantee not to pursue the death penalty for the Bali Nine.

Death penalty-free zone in Europe and Central Asia
A coalition of non-governmental organizations is calling for a death penalty-free zone in Europe and Central Asia.

THE HIDDEN TRUTH ABOUT EXECUTIONS:
For death row inmates in Indonesia, execution usually comes on a deserted beach or remote jungle at the hands of a paramilitary firing squad. And, it rarely comes fast.

DESTROY CHEMICALS OF MASS DESTRUCTION:
The Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty (ACADP) is (again) calling on U.S. President George W. Bush, to join the civilised world and destroy all chemicals of mass destruction, for the dignity and respect of every human life.

LIFE ON A THREAD:
The difference between life and death can rest on the whim of a president or the ability of a lawyer. Whether or not the death penalty can be justified is very much up for grabs.

THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK:
US: The American media reports that thousands of Iranians cheered, whistled and clapped as a serial killer was publicly executed in Iran last week.

USA - FEELING THE HEAT FROM INTERNATIONAL FIRE:
The United States of America has withdrawn from an international agreement that gives detained foreign nationals the right to seek assistance and talk to their consular officers.

Corby lawyer pleads for Australian help
Schapelle Corby, 27, is accused of carrying over four kilograms of marijuana into Bali and could be sentenced to death if she is found guilty.

OHIO: Appeals court tosses death sentence for U.S.-British citizen
In Cincinnati, a federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out the conviction and death sentence of a man with dual U.S.-British citizenship who was convicted of killing a 2-year-old girl by starting a fire in his ex-girlfriend's apartment.

THE INNOCENT SCOT ON DEATH ROW IS ALMOST FREE
If you haven't heard about it yet, you will. There's a celebration in the air: Kenny is an innocent man living on death row in an Ohio prison and the authorities may finally acknowledge what we've known all along.

EXPENSES FOR STATE-ASSISTED SUICIDE EXCEEDS $33,000.00
To prepare for Connecticut's first state-sanctioned killing in 45 years, the state Department of Corrections has spent more than US$33,000 on such items as training personnel, drugs (poison), intravenous catheters and tubing, portable restrooms, mobile offices, lighting and curtains for the witness observation room.

Child Offenders on Death Row
Recent Australian studies of alcohol and cannabis use show that girls are increasingly inclined to behave boldly. But boys out number the girls, two to one; and three to one in the juvenile justice system, mortality figures, speeding infringements and car crash statistics.

US death row numbers don't change policy?
The number of prisoners on death row in the United States appears to be falling, mostly credited to a single Governor who commuted the sentences of all the death row prisoners in his state.

Despite Drop in Crime, an Increase in Inmates
US: The number of inmates in state and federal prisons rose 2.1 percent last year, even as violent crime and property crime fell, according to a study by the Justice Department released yesterday.

How Denying the Vote to Ex-Offenders Undermines Democracy
For starters, hundreds of thousands of people who are still eligible to vote will not do so this year because they will be locked up in local jails, awaiting processing or trials for minor offenses.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

Our Two Priority Bills sent to White House
US: The 8th National CURE Convention last June lobbied on Capitol Hill the Innocence Protection Act in the Senate and the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 in the House. On Sunday, October 10th, Congress passed both bills and sent them to the President to be signed.

THE LAW IS AN ASS:
US: A Californian man who beheaded a german shepherd dog he had named after his girlfriend, has been sentenced to 25 years to life under California's three-strikes law.

SAVE THE LIFE OF NGUYEN TUONG VAN:A PLEA TO SINGAPORE PRESIDENT On behalf of the Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty (ACADP) and in the spirit of respect for human life, I make a heartfelt plea for clemency, compassion and mercy, to spare and save the young life of Nguyen Tuong Van, currently under sentence of death at Changi Prison in Singapore. Nguyen Tuong Van, is a 23-year-old Australian man of Vietnamese origin. Nguyen was arrested at Changi Airport in December 2002, whilst in transit from Cambodia to Australia. He was later charged and convicted of drug-trafficking. In March 2004 he was sentenced to death for his crime.

EXTRADITION ACT FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET
A long-standing convention not to extradite people out of Australia if they face the death penalty has been abandoned.

BIRTHDAY PROTEST BACKS INNOCENT MAN ON DEATH ROW:
Kids from 3 to 83 years old beat candy labeled "Justice" out of a big Texas-shaped piqata on Aug. 1 as dozens gathered in the Houston City Hall Park to celebrate the 30th birthday of Nanon Williams, an innocent person on Texas death row.

THE LAND OF BIBLES, GUNS, PATRIOTS AND THE 'WORLD ROLE MODEL' FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: The state of Alabama, USA, executed James Barney Hubbard. So what? ... you might say ... America executes prisoners almost every week!

Appealing a Death Sentence Based on Future Danger USA-HOUSTON, June 9 - Texas juries in capital cases must make a prediction. They may impose a death sentence only if they find that the defendant will probably commit more violent acts.

Clive Stafford-Smith: The Death Penalty
"In 1993, a federal judge ruled that, as the U.S. constitution has no ruling against killing the innocent, then it doesn't matter whether you are innocent or not, when you are executed. It's profoundly stupid - the constitution doesn't say the sun must set in the west, but it does.

Forensics? In proposing a new death penalty for Massachusetts last month, Governor Mitt Romney offered firm assurance that no innocent people would be executed: Convictions, he said, will be based on science.

Silencing the Cells: Mass Incarceration and Legal Repression in U.S. Prisons People without a voice are not people in any meaningful sense of the word. Silenced people cannot express their ideas; they can neither consent nor protest. They are reduced to being pawns in the schemes of the powerful, mendicants who must accept whatever is imposed upon them. In order to keep people in a state of subjugation, silencing their voices is essential. Nowhere is this clearer than in U.S. prisons.

U.N. Group Seeks End To Executions The United States, Japan, China, India and Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia opposed the resolution. Burkina Faso, Cuba, Guatemala, South Korea and Sri Lanka abstained.

US: Execution Dear Friends, this is so sad especially for our dear friend, San Nguyen. San who lives in Oklahoma worked very hard with the rest of the Vietnamese community to stop Mr. Le's execution. You may remember San from being at CURE's First International Conference in New York City in 2001. San also plans to be at the 8th National Convention this June in Washington. Charlie

Please contact the Governor The Vietnamese-American Community, the ACLU, and many others want the March 30 execution of Huang Thanh Le commuted.

Cherie Blair attacks US over death penalty in Catholic paper Cherie Blair has renewed her attack on America's use of the death penalty. In a book review in the Catholic journal The Tablet, under her maiden name Cherie Booth, she says: "Capital cases are uniquely prone to error and thus call into question whether we can ever be really sure of obtaining the just result.

Death penalty: a lawyer sees the light The observation "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" is illustrated by the two nations' differing reactions to the use of the death penalty as a legitimate punishment for murder.

OHIO: Judges join dissent on execution delay In Columbus, 5 federal appeals court judges say a convicted killer's request to delay his execution was illegally denied because 2 senior judges participated in the vote.

Stephen Romei: Death knell sounds for US capital law GEORGE Ryan gets my vote as Australian of the Year, even though he's the outgoing governor of the US state of Illinois. There's just no one I admire more right now, not even Greg's Kables Community News Newtwork..

Mexico Awaits Hague Ruling on Citizens on U.S. Death Row Sbaldo Torres, a convicted murderer on death row in Oklahoma, should have been dead by now, his appeals exhausted, his time up.

Jury Passes On Business Of Killing US: This drives the death penalty crowd in the legislature nuts. Yet another jury - another 12 men and women, tried and true, who had all attested to their belief in the death penalty - has refused to join in the killing business.

Ultimate Punishment Scott Turow has long juggled two careers‹that of a novelist and that of a lawyer. He wrote much of his first and best known legal thriller, Presumed Innocent, on the commuter train to and from work during the eight years he spent as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, and he has churned out another blockbuster every third year since joining the firm of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal in 1986.

A Question of Innocence Rubin Carter: Day after day, week after week, I would sit in that filthy cell, seething. I was furious at everyone. At the two state witnesses who lied, at the police who put them up to it, at the prosecutor who sanctioned it, at the judge who allowed it, at the jury who accepted it, and at my own lawyer, for not being able to defeat it.

Are you sane enough to be executed?
New York: The US Supreme Court has let stand a ruling by a federal appeals court in February that officials in the state of Arkansas had the right to force a convicted murderer to take drug treatment to make him sane enough to be executed.

Amnesty steps up campaign to abolish death penalty Human rights watchdog Amnesty International is urging people around the world to pressure countries to abolish the death penalty.

'LAND OF THE FREE' SET TO EXECUTE TWO PRISONERS BY FIRING SQUAD: Wanted: Willing executioners for two convicted murderers. Must be psychologically sound and familiar with .30-calibre rifles. No victims' relatives need apply.

TEXAS EXECUTES 300th PRISONER Keith Clay was executed tonight, becoming the 300th prisoner in Texas to die by lethal injection since the rogue state resumed the death penalty 20 years ago.

AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY " ... Our nation was built on a promise of life and liberty for all citizens. Guided by a deep respect for human dignity, our Founding Fathers worked to secure these rights for future generations, and today we continue to seek to fulfil their promise in our laws and our society.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Please note the following article carefully.....it shows clearly the hateful, uncaring and anti-human rights attitude as reflected by the Governor of Texas (and most other elected Texas officials).

Bush rules out death sentence review US President George W Bush says has dismissed any chance of a review of America's system of capital punishment.

Amnesty urges Bush to shut death row Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged US President George W. Bush to take a "moral stand" and abolish the death penalty after the Illinois Governor dramatically emptied that state's death row.

USA - A NATION IN TURMOIL: As the year 2002 draws to a close, little if anything, has changed in the United States in regards to state-sanctioned killing. Various campaigns, calls for clemency, petitions, and international condemnation, have failed to humanize U.S. politicians.

Here come de Judge - Time to Leave [266]
There have always been examples of rulings and interpretations that have supported the saying "The law is an ass". This is increasingly the case, because even the best intentioned judges are now facing an avalanche of new technologies and social change. But, it is no good making excuses for the judiciary and continuing to accept their strange interpretations. We must recognise that not only judges but the whole legal system will struggle more and more. In the end the whole system will become a farce. This is the way empires end.

Triumph of the Stonefish

The John HoWARd stonefish - a sluggish and rather stupid predator with neither flair nor dash; it waits for its prey to come to it and then kills by treachery.

On 9 October 2004, 13,098,461 electors were enrolled to vote for the federal parliament. The Australian Electoral Commission's website records 11,715,132 electors having voted for the House of Representatives on a two-party preferred result. So much for voting in a federal election having been compulsory since 1911. And not a few will have left the polling booth wondering, 'Why bother?'

Run Johnny, Run is Mungo MacCallum's personal account of the 2004 election. A Win and a Prayer is the latest in the UNSW Press's 'Briefings', 'a series of topical books exploring social politics and cultural issues in contemporary Australia'.

For those of us who grew up with Nation Review and MacCallum's ironic, humorous, partisan and occasionally vicious style, his political views come as little surprise. To MacCallum. The Hon John Winston Howard MP, prime minister of Australia since 11 March 1996, has various nick-names 'many of them scatological, a number pertaining to body orifices, others involving the lower genera of the animal kingdom, some ironic and a few merely insulting', But the nickname that most appeals is 'the Stonefish':

It captures the essence of the man, both in his lack of personal appeal; and his success as a politician. The stonefish is a sluggish and rather stupid predator with neither flair nor dash; it waits for its prey to come to it and then kills by treachery. And, time after time, it gets away with it. The secret, of course, is in its appearance; as the name implies it resembles a rock resting in the sand of the sea bed, totally harmless and ordinary, even boring. But behind the innocuous disguise is one of the most poisonous and lethal creatures on earth. The trouble is that by the time the victim realises the trouble he's in, it's too late, he is already at best stupidified and at wost beyond help.

For MacCallum, the prime minister, posing always as a modest conservative, has dealt destruction to the Australian tradition on an extraordinary scale, transforming the country in less than a decade from an open and generous nation, tolerant and optimistic in its role as a respected member of the world community, into a selfish and timid appendage of a crusading superpower caught up in the superstition of Armageddon and apparently quite happy to cooperate in bringing it about.

In the process the public service has been drained of its independence, the judiciary seriously undermined, the national parliament reduced to a farce and the office of the prime minister, once regarded as no more than the first among equals, turned into an unaccountable commissariat ruling by absolute fiat.

In much of the devastation Howard has been aided by a cowed and incompetent political opposition and some smug an acquiescent media. But this does not excuse or explain the way the Australian public, notoriously disrespectful of politicians as a class and sceptical about both their warnings and their promises, has continually returned him to power.

The alternative may not have been madly attractive, but surely it has had more offer than the dishonesty, the meanness, the divisiveness and the simple nastiness of the Howard regime.

MacCallum's thesis is simple. The electorate has consistently fallen for the oldest trick of all, the naked appeal of those most basic of emotions fear and greed.

The goal of the entire electoral process, indeed of Australian democracy itself, has 'become the re-election of John Howard. Nothing else mattered. The Stonefish rules.'

For MacCallum, Howard does not deserve to be prime minister, yet he has extraordinary political survival skills. Howard is now the longest-serving prime minister after Robert Menzies; he achieved a 1.79 per cent swing to the Liberal-National Coalition in the recent House of Represen-tatives election, when many thought he was past his use-by-date. He will be remembered for more than advertising Vodafone when out on his morning walk.

MacCallum is no Theodore White, author of The Making of the President series, but the analogy may not be too fanciful, Nor does he offer self-indulgent reflections in the style of Bob Ellis's Night Thoughts in Time of War (2004) or, Margot Kingston's Not Happy, John! (2004). MacCallum is irreverent, at times downright rude, and he seems to have spent a significant proportion of the election period debating the key issues with his mates in the front bar of the Billinudgel Hotel in the north of Byron Shire. But he is also an extraordinary well-informed, politically astute, witty, passionate man.

Love him or hate him (and there are probably very few political groupies standing in the middle of this debate), MacCallum's Run, Johnny, Run is one of the best books on Australian politics and society to appear in a long time.

A Win and a Prayer: Scenes from the 2004 Australian Election is a totally different publication. No laughter here, no scatological jokes, although the chapter on the farce of 'The Battle for Wentworth' cannot but make the reader smile. But can the media please stop referring to the three main candidates -- Peter King, Malcolm Turnbull and David Patch -- as all being barristers, Turnbull is not a barrister.

These short essays include ' The Dog That Didn't Bark', in which Geoffrey Barker makes the disheartening observation that 'Australians are easily distracted from security issues during election campaigns by politicians hurling fistfuls of dollars and shouting "Trust us!".

Equally worrying is Peter Mare's 'Unfinished Business', a sad account of a hard-working group of refugees from Afghanistan harvesting fruit and vegetables in the Victorian Mallee region and of the supportive local federal member, John Forrest, the National Party whip, who has received letters from constituents telling him that he was not representing their interests and calling him 'a mad loony lefty', and worse. Further north, in the marginal Queensland seat of Hinkler, where One Nation pulled in almost a fifth of the vote in 1998, Labor distributed an election pamphlet during the campaign that decried the 'illegal foreign workers' who were 'stealing Australian jobs'. As Mares points out, this fear-mongering is misplaced, and Labor has failed to appreciate the changes underway in rural and regional Australia.

The last tow essays Brian Costar and Peter Browne's 'How Labor Lost' and Rodney Tiffen's 'The Aftermath: Must Labor Lose?", will surprise many who believe that the surprising swing to the Coalition in the House of Representatives has made many marginal seats 'safe', and that Labor can expect at least two terms in the wilderness. As Costar and Browne argue, the 2004 result 'does not herald the end of the Labor Party; it does not mean the Coalition will rule forever; and it does not rule out a change of government in 2007', The Liberal and National parties lost five consecutive elections between 1983 and 1993. As Tiffen notes, Mark Latham is being blamed by some for the loss, but as Carmen Lawrence has asked, would the train smash have been worse with another leader?

Australia went into the election with a strong economy, low interest rates and a government running scared and throwing money around like a drunken sailor. Those promises (or were they 'non-core' promises?) now have to be met or there will be many disillusioned voters next time round.

Peter Browne and Julian Thomas (eds) A WIN AND A PRAYER: SCENES FROM THE 2004 AUSTRALIAN ELECTION UNSW Press.

Mungo MacCallum
RUN, JOHNNY, RUN

By Philip Selth posted 2 February 05

Australia: a presumption of guilt......
KAREN PERCY: Two of Australia's leading barristers have seized on the return of Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mamdouh Habib, to launch an unprecedented attack on the Federal Attorney General, Philip Ruddock.

Aust Community criticises Govt for 'crimes'!
Australia: The Law Council of Australia is warning that the Federal Government must learn from its mistakes over Guantanamo Bay? Now that's a mistake!

Australian Govt Guilty of Crimes: Community
Australia: The community says federal fascists who allowed the torture of its citizenry including Mamdouh Habib may be arrested when the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal address the War Crimes Indictment set out by the community.

Related:

HoWARd sunk and dead in the water
Since the neo-Liberal fascist's kicked Mark Latham out using the 'power,' and after they stamped on his head to make sure he stayed out, John HoWARd's Coalition and his media empire have maintained its mandate.

PM HoWARd still a great war criminal?
John Howard today becomes Australia's longest serving war criminal, with the latest poll showing he remains the corporate media's firm favourite.

Downer the warmonger sets record for war crimes
Warmonger Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer should have entered the record books after the attack on Iraq as Australia's longest serving war criminal in the portfolio and taken to the Hague for trial.

Warmonger Silent on Nuke Job
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is refusing to comment on whether he has been approached to replace Mohamed El Baradei as the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.

HoWARd Government intelligence cover-up
The Federal Opposition has described the Government's failure to release the final report into the claims of intelligence failures within the Defence Department as a cover-up.

'Pre-emption' Australia's ASEAN headache
ASEAN leaders pressed HoWARd to rethink his rejection of South-East Asia's non-aggression treaty.

UN panel proposes criteria for legitimate military action
With countries still bitterly divided over the war in Iraq, a high-level panel appointed by the United Nations has recommended a five-step guideline to determine when to use military action.

Govt support for uranium enrichment research alarms Greenpeace
Greenpeace has called on the Federal Government to end its support for research on uranium enrichment carried out by a private company at the Lucas Heights facility in Sydney.

US may trial dumb bombs in Australia? How smart is that?
The United States looks set to test new generation weapons, including dumb bombs, in Australia within three years?

Australia must not be subservient to US military objectives
In a speech to the Senate last night, Senator Bartlett said that the Democrats support the US-Australia alliance, the ANZUS Treaty and appropriate defence and intelligence cooperation but not subservience.

Australian leaders congratulate Bush? Shit!
War criminal John HoWARd congratulates co-offender George Dubya Bush. HoWARd can relate to that because George Dubya is his co-offender in the illegal and degrading war on Iraq and especially now after the killings in Fallujah!

Boycott companies profiting from war: peace activist
Boycott call: Roy says companies profiting from the Iraq war should be shut down. She says a group of rich nations falsely accused an impoverished Iraq of possessing powerful weapons as a pretext for invading the country to further their own economic interests.

Sydney Peace Prize winner urges Iraqi resistance!!!!!!
"One wasn't urging them to join the Medhi army [in Iraq] but to become the resistance, to become part of what ought to be a non-violent resistance against a very violent occupation," she said.

Iraqi civilian deaths put at 100,000
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violence since the US-led invasion last year, according to public health experts who estimate there were 100,000 "excess deaths" in 18 months.

Downer floats media tip-off scenario in Baghdad blast
US Foreigner Alexander Downer says he is investigating whether the media was tipped-off ahead of yesterday's car bomb attack on an Australian military convoy in Iraq.

How Howard Won
This is a small attempt to answer how we have ended up with an increased Liberal majority in government, when they have done so much long term harm to our country.

A Call to Action: re election of John HoWARd?
I am fed up with the political apathy of the majority of Australians and depressed about the outcome of the election. I need to do something about it. Does anyone want to help me.

Govt eyes control of Senate
Prime Minister John Howard "the rodent type" has begun his fourth term in office with a quiet day in Sydney after the Coalition's victory in the federal election.

Nothing will save us from gullibility and greedy self-interest
A small book turned up last week entitled How to Kill a Country. It was written by three Sydney academics about our "free trade" deal with the United States.

HOWARD NO REMORSE!
Australian caretaker Prime Minister John Howard 'a rodent type' does not need to apologise for the illegal and degrading war in Iraq despite a new report that has found Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction at the time of the US-led invasion.

Allies 'planned' Iraq war despite denials
The United States, Australia and Britain started to plan the invasion of Iraq months before the conflict, according to a report Wednesday quoting a leaked Pentagon document.

Hill primed for war!
Australian Caretaker Defence Minister Robert Hill has announced a multi-million dollar upgrade of the Pearce Air Force base in Western Australia. Hill says $87 million would be spent on a major upgrade of the base, which is Australia's main flying training facility.

Annan tells world leaders to respect law
United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan has made an impassioned plea to bring about the rule of law across the globe today. Mr Annan told world leaders to respect international law at home and abroad.

CO-OFFENDERS DO NOT REBUFF UN ON 'ILLEGAL WAR'
The 'coalition of the killing's' complicities - the US, Britain and Australia - have insisted that their countries' military action in Iraq was legal after they have committed war crimes against humanity.

Iraq war illegal, says Annan
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan says the United States decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 was "illegal". Australia was a key supporter of the war on Iraq and sent troops to join the United States-led invasion last year.

Australia will not Save Your Soul
The Federal Government will not Save Australian Soul's? Even if you're an innocent bystander caught up in it. Despite a group claiming to have kidnapped two Australian security guards? The alleged group, which allegedly calls itself the Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army, allegedly has given the Prime Minister John Howard 24 hours to end Australia's involvement in Iraq.

Apologise to children abused in care: report
A Senate report on children placed in institutional care has called for the Federal Government to apologise to those who were harmed by their experience.

Australian Govt human rights record 'worsening'
Community groups have given the Federal Government five out of ten for its record on human rights this year. Mr Purcell said the Government was also marked down because of the policy of holding children in immigration detention centres.

Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes
Complaint to Australian law officers about Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes.

Australia an unfair nation, say young and all!
Young people and older people think Australia is undemocratic and unfair. Young people cite their teachers as having the greatest influence on their political thinking, according to a provocative new national survey funded by the Government. Older people cite "injustice" amongst other things as a "bent legal system" favouring hi profiled superstars, corporations and politicians.

Downer guilty!
The agreement for going to war on Iraq carried with it and incentive and that was free trade with the US. The Howard Government knew about it and went along with it with the US under the guise of Iraq's WMDs. In criminal law this is commonly know as collusion to commit a crime.

John Howard blameworthy
General Peter Gration is the spokesman for a group of 43 ex-military leaders, diplomats and departmental heads who have criticised the Government, saying involvement in Iraq has put Australia at greater risk of a terrorist attack.

Court reserves decision on 'no war' protest appeal
Two men have asked the Court of Criminal Appeal to accept that they painted "NO WAR" on the Sydney Opera House, to defend people in Iraq and Australia from war.

PM's Fox Defence? Less the evidence?
The Fox went out on a chilly night. He prayed for the moon to give him light. For he had many a mile to go that night....

Australians to be sacrificed: Howard
Howard vowed hostages wouldn't sway policy? The Federal Government say they would not negotiate with terrorists if an Australian were taken hostage in Iraq.

PM Howard Morally Bankrupt
Prime Minister John Howard insists the war in Iraq was justified despite his British counterpart Tony Blair's concession that weapons of mass destruction might never be found.

Howard 'should be tried for war crimes'
Former Liberal Party federal president John Valder says Prime Minister John Howard should be tried and punished for war crimes over Australia's involvement in the Iraq conflict.

Troop deployment not a deepening of effort: Hill
Deploying an extra 30 troops to Iraq was not a deepening of Australia's involvement because they were being sent to protect those already there, Defence Minister Robert Hill said yesterday.

War on terrorism' could take a generation: Downer?
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has launched the Government's terrorism white paper, saying the "war" could take a generation.

JUDGEMENT: HOWARD'S WAR CRIMES
Howard Vs Regina in Canberra the Capital Territory of Australia- Friday January 30 2004.

'FACTOPHOBIA' HOWARD, BLAIR AND BUSH
Well think about this! Australia's intelligence agencies look set to receive a substantial funding boost in this year's Federal Budget, with the Prime Minister saying it is an obvious step to take.

Howard, where's your head at?
Australians living on the edge! Seems each time the bombs go off overseas Australians are living on the edge.

Should John Howard be locked up indefinitely?
Australian convicted mock terrorist John Howard is seriously considering appealing the precise time limit on detaining terrorist suspects.

Daily Terror rolled-over for Howard's war games
The DAILY TERROR is suspected of being the source of the news this morning that Willie Brigitte is a terrorist and that Sydney faces a bomb attack.