Showing posts with label identity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label identity. Show all posts

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Italy need passport to internet /PH/FX

ITALY: Anyone visiting Italy and wanting to use an internet point, or cafe, will need to take along their passport - and be prepared for a major invasion of their privacy.

Anti-terrorist legislation prompted by the [false flag] London bombings in July imposes a string of new obligations on the managers of businesses offering the public access to communications.

As of this week, they must obtain - and, according to some interpretations, photocopy - the identity documents of anyone wishing to access the internet, send a fax or make a telephone call.

Not only that. They must also supply the police with records of the times at which customers enter and leave the premises and which computers or telephones they use.

Owners now need a licence to run an internet point or call shop, and to get one they have to provide detailed information about their business, including a floor plan of the premises.

Commercial communications centres have repeatedly cropped up in investigations into international terrorism. The first arrests in connection with the 2004 [false flag] Madrid train bombings were [allegedly] made at a call shop in the Lavapies district of the Spanish capital, which has a large immigrant community. France is reportedly planning to introduce similar legislation. [Sure!]

Andrew Pitt from Liverpool, who runs a combined call shop and internet cafe in Venice said his business had already been hit by the Italian law. [State Terror.]

"The problem is that tourists come along without their passports. Today, we have lost at least 15 customers because they didn't have any identification", Mr Pitt said.

"About 70% of our customers are American or British and they're just not used to this sort of thing. Italians don't usually complain because its normal to be asked to provide identification here."

Illegal immigrants in Italy will be deeply reluctant to provide identification, if indeed they have any. Most arrive without passports to ensure they are not repatriated.

An internet point manager in a part of Rome which has a large immigrant population told the daily Corriere della Sera that since the law came into effect about one in five of those entering the premises had refused to provide identification and left. At the city's biggest internet point, a spokesman was quoted as saying he had lost Italian customers too.

But that was because they used the facilities to visit web sites that were "let us say a bit special". [Rubbish!]

By John Hooper posted 2 October 05

John Hooper is the Guardian's Italy correspondent

Related:

CCTV for illegal and degrading war
Prime loser john hoWARd says he is impressed with how effective closed circuit television cameras have been in identifying suspects in the London bombings.

Personal data 'being shared'
UNPRECEDENTED volumes of personal information on millions of ordinary Australians are being shared between federal government departments under dramatic extensions of a little-known "data matching" scheme, privacy advocates have warned.

Gov't Failure Card: Community
The Federal Government has dismissed renewed calls to revisit the idea of an Australia card. (His ABC) 14 July 05.

Australia Card-Identity plan: Community
Federal fascist Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says the Government has taken into account privacy issues while developing a new system to identify fraudulent documentation.

No ID Cards
There is already an ID card the tax-file number cross referenced with medicare card drivers license and or passport. Why not just have us implanted with micro-chips as that will be the most convenient for the State by whoever runs it...no those laissez faire tax-dodging Libs will split. Their bosses like BHP-Billiton owe $850 million in tax. Will they also do a Vizard ? Meanwhile in Britland....

Thank God they're looking out for me
That's the thing about Australians who look and talk funny, they don't respect our culture. Good Aussies ALWAYS carry ID in case the Gestapo, I mean, Culture Police pick them up.

More police powers for spyware
Federal and state police now have the power to use computer spyware to gather evidence in a broad range of investigations after legal changes last week.

Community seeks more power to interrogate ASIO suspects
Greens Senator Bob Brown does not think increased police powers are necessary. "We have enormous powers for surveillance, apprehension or punishment of people who are engaged in or intending to engage in or thinking about being engaged in terrorist acts in this country," he said.

Greens warn of 'politicised' terror trials
AUSTRALIA/CUBA?: The Australian Greens say they are concerned that new anti-terrorism laws being debated in the Senate allow for the "political black-banning" of defence
lawyers at terrorism trials.

A corrupt way to treat the community?
I seen the police bleeding on Nine's Sunday program arguing that promotion should depend on how many crimes police have solved and not how many brains they have and that was coming from police commissioner Ken Moroney and Police Minister John Watkins?

AFP: The unlikely CRIMINAL
It was born of a bombing and it made its name after a far more devastating act of terrorism. But for most of the 25 years in between, little was known about the Australian Federal Police force or the work it did.

Ruddock moves to give police access to emails
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Dictatorship under the crimes Act?
Attorney General Phillip Ruddock said yesterday under the Crimes Act Izhar Ul Haque committed a crime.

Standing up for liberties
When a federal Labor Opposition indicates it is prepared to agree to future government legislation even before its detailed content is known, alarm bells should ring.

Fascist wants more power for ASIO
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock wants to strengthen Australia's terrorism laws, to make it easier for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) to hold and question suspects without any evidence for three years and ban organisations.

Gulag bill: ASIO set to ignite blazing debate
The bill, due to be introduced into the Senate, gives ASIO officers new powers to detain for a week citizens aged 14 and over. People could be detained even where they are not suspected of any crime but of having information related to terrorism.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

Surveillance
It is up to ordinary people to raise the level of debate about the undemocratic surveillance practices of the many faceless and unaccountable agents who make daily intrusions on individual privacy, and about the apologists and propagandists for the War nn Terror who applaud every new attack on human rights and freedoms as "prudent" or "necessary". If there is no discussion of reverse surveillance in the national media, create it on the streets on a citizen to citizen basis. If nobody is talking about the outrageous assaults on privacy and human rights embodied in the new antiterrorist acts forced through US, UK and Australian legislatures, start talking about it to your neighbours and friends.

Welcome to the MatrixB
US - In what civil liberties advocates call the most massive database surveillance program in US history, the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or Matrix, continues to compile billions of records on law-abiding citizens and receive federal funding, despite public outcry and suspicion.

Govt tests airport security eye scanner
Technology that identifies people by scanning their eyes could be introduced into Australian airports as early as next year.

Ruddock foreshadows new terrorism laws
The new laws will allow police to access emails and mobile phone SMS messages, enable wider use of surveillance devices, and protect sensitive national security information during terrorism trials.

Putting Your Finger on the Line: Biometric Identification Technology The NSW Department of Corrective Services has progressively been implementing biometric identification technology (BIT) for use on all entrants into maximum security prisons since August 1996. It currently operates in seven prisons in NSW and is scheduled for introduction at Parklea prison later this year. BIT has raised the ire of many community agencies, the legal fraternity and government authorities. Framed examines what the controversy is all about and what the implications of this technology are.

Seriously Ten seriously blue and seriously flawed!
Channel Tens News broadcast at 5pm with Jessica Rowe reporting that, "Their news poll suggests that 96 per cent of people are in favour of 'new special police powers' to fight the terrorists."

NSW Police Force may get 'special powers'
Civil libertarians are questioning the need for further anti-terrorism laws, which will be announced in the New South Wales Parliament on Tuesday.

Xerox workers to strike over satellite tracking plan
Over 250 Xerox workers will go on strike this morning over plans to use global positioning system technology (GPS) to track them throughout their day.

Monday, May 9, 2005

Lab's Errors Force Review of 150 Virginia DNA Cases

DNA LABS = DO NOT ASSUME!

US: WASHINGTON, - A sharply critical independent audit found that Virginia's nationally recognized central crime laboratory had botched DNA tests in a leading capital murder case. The findings prompted Gov. Mark Warner to order a review of the lab's handling of testing in 150 other cases as well.


Among the auditors' eight recommendations, all of which were accepted by Mr. Warner, were that the governor restrict the work of the lab's chief DNA scientist, Jeffrey Ban; review 40 cases that Mr. Ban has handled in recent years, along with a sample totaling 110 additional cases; and develop procedures to insulate the lab from any outside political pressures.

Experts said the findings could lead to a re-examination of scores of past prosecutions, including those involving some of the nearly two dozen inmates on Virginia's death row, and might also throw into turmoil many current prosecutions in which the lab's work helped identify or rule out suspects.

"You have to have doubts about the reliability of any case coming out of there," said Betty Layne DesPortes, a criminal defense lawyer from Richmond who heads a legal panel for the American Academy of Forensic Science. "How can we be sure that this case wasn't typical?" she said of the handling of evidence in the prosecution of Earl Washington Jr.

The governor called for the independent audit of the lab last fall in response to the case of Mr. Washington, a retarded man who came within days of execution for a rape and killing before DNA evidence, though not resolving the case, did raise doubts about his guilt.

The audit's findings come at a time when DNA is growing in importance in implicating and exonerating suspects. Forensic labs in several states, including Oklahoma and Texas, have come under intense scrutiny for their mishandling of that and other evidence.

The outside auditors, from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, found that the Virginia lab's internal review process was flawed. They also raised concerns that lab workers had felt pressured by their superiors as well as the office of Jim Gilmore, who was governor when a flawed test of newly discovered DNA was conducted in 2000, to produce quick and conclusive reports in the Washington case, even when the evidence was muddled.

"Pressures from outside the laboratory and excessive managerial influence from within the laboratory," the report said, "had a detrimental effect on the analyst's decisions, examinations and reports in this case."

In an interview, Mr. Gilmore, a death penalty supporter now in private law practice, said that while he had "demanded all the proper evidence we could get," he had never asked the lab to reach any particular conclusion.

Virginia has executed more people, 94, than any other state except Texas since the Supreme Court allowed reinstatement of the death penalty 29 years ago. Mr. Washington was initially sentenced to death for the 1982 rape and fatal stabbing of Rebecca Williams, a 19-year-old mother from Culpepper, Va., but the sentence was commuted by Gov. Douglas Wilder in 1994. He was then pardoned by Mr. Gilmore in 2000 because of DNA evidence that raised doubts about his guilt.

But because of mistakes in the DNA tests by the crime lab in 1993, his lawyers assert, he stayed on death row seven years longer than necessary. And additional botched testing in 2000, they say, is the reason he has never been fully exonerated.

"This laboratory touts itself as the best state lab in the country, yet it generated these wrong test results in a capital case twice," said Peter Neufeld, a lawyer for Mr. Washington who is co-director of the Innocence Project. "This case raises very serious questions about the legitimacy of the capital justice system."

Mr. Washington, 45, is living in a home for the mentally retarded on Virginia's Eastern Shore. When he was told Friday afternoon about the audit's findings, he said he hoped he would now be officially declared innocent in the Williams murder, Mr. Neufeld said.

Mr. Ban, a nationally recognized forensic scientist who has helped other states develop DNA policies, trained many members of the Virginia lab's staff. As a result, the auditors recommended that independent experts review tests by other analysts there involving low levels of DNA - the type of evidence used in the Williams case - to ensure that similar problems were not rampant at the lab.

The audit found an array of problems in the way Mr. Ban had conducted and analyzed DNA tests in the Williams case. Those mistakes caused him to conclude incorrectly that a convicted serial rapist named Kenneth Tinsley was not the source of semen found in Ms. Williams, even though he had been found to be the source of DNA on a blanket at the crime scene.

But a test commissioned by Mr. Washington's lawyers in 2004 pointed to Mr. Tinsley as the likely sole source of the DNA found in Ms. Williams. Had the state lab come to the same conclusion, Mr. Washington's lawyers claim, Mr. Tinsley would have been prosecuted for the Williams murder years ago. He never has been, though Mr. Neufeld said he was now imprisoned in an unrelated rape case.

The Virginia legislature enacted a law this year that makes the Division of Forensic Science, which runs the central crime lab, an independent state agency and creates an advisory board, made up in part by division employees, to help oversee its work. But Mr. Neufeld said the legislation did not go far enough because it did not create an entirely independent office to review the lab's work.

"The audit provides compelling evidence that crime labs can't police themselves," Mr. Neufeld said.

Paul B. Ferrara, the director of the Division of Forensic Science, who in the past refused to acknowledge any errors in the Washington case, declined to be interviewed. But in a statement, he said the audit "belies the major body of other work" by Mr. Ban that helped lead to Mr. Washington's pardon.

Ms. DesPortes, of the forensic science academy, criticized Mr. Ferrara for what she described as his failure to shield Mr. Ban from "typical" political pressure on crime labs. She said his response to the audit suggested that he would not vigorously carry out its recommendations.

"He seems to think a perfect lab is one where errors never occur," she said. "But errors are going to occur. A perfect system is one that is able to catch its mistakes, and correct them."

By JAMES DAO posted 9 May 05

Related:

Witch-hunt targets scientists
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Fresh swipe at DNA labs
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DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

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.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

'Rape' officer clears his name
UK: A former policeman has been cleared of rape after protesting his innocence for 15 years. Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that Brian Kelly, 47, had suffered a miscarriage of justice over crucial DNA evidence.

Death Penalty 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.

New unit investigates unsolved deaths?
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QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
Prisoner Roger Cheney has lost a Supreme Court action to have a judicial review of his 1993 convictions an 30-year jail sentence. Justice Shaw said he was concerned about the prisoner's claim that DNA evidence held by the police could prove his innocence. Although Cheney had requested the results of the DNA tests, he had been denied access to the forensic analysis.

Database clears up crimes?
NSW Police Minister John Watkins said at the launch of a Sydney conference of international forensic experts meeting to mark 100 years of fingerprinting in NSW. He said the collection of DNA from prisoners and suspects in NSW during the past two years had led to more than 5,400 matches on the forensic database.

A Question of Innocence
Katrina Bolton: The promise of DNA freeing the innocent as well as convicting the guilty has been repeated by politicians across Australia, usually while DNA laws are being expanded. The promise was made as a national DNA database, ‘Crimtrac’ was created, and it was made as NSW introduced legislation giving unprecedented powers to take DNA samples from prisoners, by force if necessary.

Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
It's a callous disregard for justice! The panel takes applications from convicted prisoners for DNA evidence to be analysed a move that may help in a future court appeal.

JUST BEAT IT! Govt lauds crime-solving technology?
The New South Wales Government says advances in crime solving technology are helping the progress of hundreds of police investigations.

DNA yours or mine?
Now they have isolated two genes that they say tells you if you're more likely to be depressed. What does that mean? It could mean that you should stay in jail because you are more likely than not to continue your offending behaviour according to a Department of Corrective Services Forensic Psychiatrist.

DNA testing causes debate in murder case
The use of voluntary DNA testing in the investigation of a murder case in New South Wales has been applauded by victim support groups who are ill informed about the process said Justice Action's spokesperson Gregory Kable.

Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank. The Herald reported 25 Nov 02 "a DNA saliva swab led to the charging of a former prisoner with the bashing murder of a woman. Police had been unable to find any witnesses or suspects following the murder in Sydney's inner city two years ago. Detectives had admitted they faced a tough job finding the killer."

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
The national DNA database of all known offenders proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair could mean that innocent people will be accused of crimes they did not commit.

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.

2nd Renaissance -15 The Rabbits And The Wolves [180]
Historically, there have been periods when legal distinctions between animals and humans have been blurred. For instance, in medieval Europe, in the 14th and 15th centuries, numerous trials and executions of animals occurred. One source identifies 34 recorded instances of pigs having been tried and cruelly put to death. Besides pigs; rats, chickens, goats, and bees were similarly tried. Some of the pigs were fully dressed in human clothes at the time they were, inevitably, found guilty. In one case a vicar excommunicated a flock of sparrows that infested his church. All this happened despite the theological stance that animals had no soul, and no morals or conscience. They could not really be guilty of transgressing the Rule of Law.

Monday, April 5, 2004

Skippy's: Last word on who we are?

HAVE WE BEEN BRAINWASHED SKIP?

AMID all the tumult and shouting characteristic of a federal election year, one remark by the [War criminal], Prime Minister has gone relatively unnoticed: his declaration of victory in the debate about Australia's identity and its place in the world.

Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo, uses his brains to alert his best friend, the human Sonny, whenever anyone hits trouble in the outback area of Warratah National Park. The show was incredibly popular with kids and in an early example of merchandising spawned books, moneyboxes and the like, "Skippy" even made personal appearances. There was a film version made in 1968 utilising the TV crew and called The Intruders.

In February 2004, John Howard claimed to have "brought to a respectable conclusion this perpetual seminar on our national identity that went on" during the Hawke-Keating era. The message was the same to party faithful in Adelaide in June 2003, only days after he pledged to stay on as Liberal leader, and to Australia's Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, during an interview in November, he was even more emphatic: "As a nation," Howard said, "we're over all that sort of identity stuff."

According to Howard, the world and the region are no longer in any doubt that "we've suddenly realised what we've been all along, we're just 100 per cent Australian".

The episode turnaround on the show was Two Weeks Ed Devereaux however was unhappy with his role and was quoted in TV Week as saying "There's no challenge in it for me, if I can't play a villain then I want a role that has social comment".

This is the core of Howard's nationalism that Australians have never been in any doubt as to their national self-image and that debates in the 1990s about the republic, reconciliation and engagement with Asia were not only a dangerous self-indulgence, they betrayed Australia's true self and undermined the cultural and emotional pillars of the "old Australia": respect for the British inheritance, [? imperialits], attachment to mateship and reverence for the Anzac, [war], legend.

Skippy was the first production made by Fauna Studios (the creation of actor John McCallum). In 1969 the show won both a Logie and a Penguin and was also given an award by the Cobb and Co Company for helping to promote the Australian Entertainment Industry.

Indeed it would not be an exaggeration to say that the level of personal satisfaction Howard feels on this issue is broadly comparable to that associated with any of the significant policies now so closely associated with the Howard era, be it [illegal and degrading wars, crimes against humanity, genocide in Afghanistan and Iraq, complicity in false flag operations in Bali], growth economy, low interest rates, tax reform, the gun buyback scheme or support for the US-led war on, [resources.]

Poachers
Skippy sounds the alarm when three men, believed to be working for Dr. Stark, try to steal koalas from Waratah National Park under the cover of night.


For Howard, getting to this point of personal (and national) vindication has been a long and at times painful process. During his time as Opposition leader in the '80s, although he supported the Hawke-Keating economic reform agenda, he remained distinctly uncomfortable with the direction of the debate over the nation's cultural identity.

Sports Car Rally
An invasion of sports cars threatens the life of protected fauna in Waratah National Park. Matt Hammond leads the rescue squad to save the life of a driver pinned under his car in a serious accident.


Paul Keating's brutal assault on the Liberal hegemony of the Menzies era most unnerved him, and Howard was one of only a few Liberals who took up the historical cudgels against the Labor prime minister.

The Golden Reef
Skin-diving geologists discover alluvial gold on a reef at Seal Rocks, in the mouth of the Flinders River, Thieves move in armed with deadly spear guns, and once again Matt, Sonny and Skippy are there to stop them.


Writing in Quadrant in August 1994 as the shadow minister for industrial relations, he warned that Keating was using history as a "political weapon" to "marginalise the Liberal-conservative side of Australian politics and entrench the Labor Party as the only true product of Australia's political soil". Yet he noted signs of "increased Liberal willingness to join battle with the Labor Party over both history and ideas". A trend, he added, "which must be enthusiastically encouraged".

Long Way Home
Dr. Alexander Stark is determined to have Skippy for his private zoo when Matt Hammond refuses to sell at any price. Stark has two of his henchman steal the kangaroo and she begins a tense series of adventures to find her way home.


But it was above all he who led the Liberal cavalry into battle. His cry to the Australian Liberal Students Federation at the University of Sydney in July 1996 was that they were "political warriors" who needed to understand that the "winning back of ideas, that winning back of history is tremendously important". He defended the Menzies tradition, took on the so-called black-armband version of history, slammed those whom he called elites and declared that Australians were free to be proud of their history and heritage.

Cage of Koalas
A research scientist who is to study marsupial wildlife at Waratah National Park turns out to be an attractive young woman. Her methods anger Chief Ranger Matt Hammond and she has to be rescued from serious trouble on a koalas trapping foray into the lonely bush.


And despite a brief attempt at prime ministerial gravitas, he told an Australia Day audience in 1997 that it was "not the role of the prime minister" nor "any self-appointed group of national identity dieticians to tell us what our national identity is", the temptation to reshape the national image has proved irresistible. As it has been for all Australian prime ministers since Menzies.

The Lyre Bird
Sonny makes a new friend, Lisa a young ballerina. Together they find an aged Botanist who has been missing in Waratah National Park and, with Skippy's help bring about his rescue.


Herein lies the deeper significance of Howard's statement about identity. After all, since the demise of Britishness as the defining notion of Australian political culture in the '60s, political leaders have had to search for a new language to represent what holds the nation together in a post-British, multicultural society. Gough Whitlam's "new nationalism", Malcolm Fraser's "new patriotism", Bob Hawke's "consensus" and Keating's "radical nationalism" were all attempts to respond to the gaping void left by the collapse of the British race idea. And Howard, like Keating, is absolutely certain that he knows the one true Australia.

Dead or Alive
A mysterious disease threatens to wipe out all the animals in Waratah National Park, and the evidence points to Skippy as the carrier of the virus.


The key idea or myth that Howard has offered to the people as a focus for loyalty and cohesion is mateship: an idea that for him had its apotheosis not in the 1890s amid the bush nationalism of The Bulletin or the growth of the trade union movement, but in the trenches of World War I.

The Marine Biologist
A marine biologist collects specimens from a reef.


His mateship looks to a version of the radical national myth, which holds that the experience of war marked the emergence of a more exclusively defined Australian nationalism.

No Time For Clancy
Matt offers to watch a ranger's daughter.


But in 1999 Howard appeared to forget his earlier comments about the role of the prime minister in identity-making and included mateship in his version of a preamble to the Constitution. The public backlash that questioned its acceptance as a unifying idea for the nation forced him to omit mateship from the final version. Australians also rejected the idea of casting a folk myth in constitutional stone.

Time and Tide
Clancy encounters trouble while helping a biologist.


Labor leader Mark Latham, in addressing the question of Labor's policy on a republic in his recent speech on the "new politics", referred directly to Howard's role in drafting the 1999 preamble. Believing that the extent of social change in recent decades meant that "many people are interested in the issue of national identity", he claimed "the last thing the nation needed was for its prime minister to pre-empt such a debate by writing his own preamble".

Can You Keep A Secret?
An escaped convict holds Clancy and Sonny hostage. Skippy brings help and jumps on the convict, allowing Sonny to get out of his clutches and Matt to overpower the criminal.


In Latham's view, the Government should have "sponsored a national dialogue about the modern meaning of Australian identity". It is a clear signal that he intends to reignite the identity debate.

The Swagman
A job seeker gives Sonny an expensive gift.


So the question is: to which myth or tradition will Latham appeal if elected prime minister? To date he has invoked elements of Whitlam's "new nationalism," read liberal internationalism, and Keating's "radical nationalism": an intense Australia-first position. It is a heady mix.

The Honeymooners
A woman wants Skippy for his fur.


An alternative way to interpret the, [war criminal], Prime Minister's remarks is to consider that on the cusp of asking the people to elect him for a fourth term, he has nothing more or new to say about Australia. This is the inherent danger in announcing an end to national navel-gazing.

Many Happy Returns
Sandy searches for a missing seal.


Skippy is a bush Kangaroo: There was a revival of the show in the early 90's in the form of The New Adventures of Skippy. Executive Producers: John McCallum, Bud Austin / Music: Eric Jupp / Producers: Lee Robinson, Dennis Hill. Cast GARRY PANKHURST as Sonny Hammond / ED DEVEREAUX as Matt Hammond / LIZA GODDARD as Clarissa 'Clancy' Merrick / KEN JAMES as Mark Hammond / FRANK THRING as Dr Alexander Stark / TONY BONNER as Ranger.

By Gum Leaf 5 April 04

MERRY GO ROUND: Carrie Mason, a girl who wants nothing in the World but to be free, finds she has much in common with Skippy the bush kangaroo when they both decide to run away from home and join the Greens.

Related:

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Strike against Australia's current insecurity
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'FACTOPHOBIA' HOWARD, BLAIR AND BUSH
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HoWARd, where's your head at?
Australians is living on the edge! Seems each time the bombs go off overseas for the Coalition of the Killing's resource war's in the Middle East Australians are living on the edge.

US to increase Iraq border security in Iraq
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Halliburton's Ancient Scandals
In the world of corporate scandals, the story breaks, there is a frenzy of reportage, a culprit in the lower levels of upper management is thrown to the SEC and then, slowly, the story dies.

Protesters arrested during PM's Tas visit
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Australia: War Anthem
Australians all let us give voice, For we have gone to war, And just like Vietnam before, We're not sure what it's for, But Uncle Sam said "Jump", And so our PM said "How high?"

Australia: Drawing the line for trade
Once upon a "lifetime" there was, [war criminal], Prime Minister named John Howard. Dollar signs lit up in his eyes when he was told that if he got involved in the Iraq war and aligned the Australian Government with the Coalition of the Killing, US and the UK then the money he spent would be returned in a once in a lifetime Free Trade Agreement with the US.

JUDGEMENT: HOWARD'S WAR CRIMES
Howard Vs Regina in Canberra the Capital Territory of Australia- Friday January 30 2004. Would the defendant please stand while I read out the judgement of this court.

Australia: The gospel according to Farr
Howard said, "The teacher unions a year ago encouraged teachers to discuss the war on Iraq in the classroom that was code for attacking the Government's position."

War criminal Howard defends 'Son of a bitch'
[War criminal], Prime Minister John Howard, says the government would be "recklessly negligent" if it did not consider joining the United States' missile defence program, known as "Son of a bitch".

Missile defence program 'will lead to arms race'
A group of Australian doctors opposed to war is warning national security will be compromised by any proposed involvement in the United States' missile defence program 'Son of a bitch'..

Australia buys into 'Son of Star Wars'?
[War criminal], Defence, [? War], Minister Senator Robert Hill says Australia may buy a sophisticated missile system that can destroy other ballistic missiles in space. But Australians want social services, health, and education, not warfare.

Pope calls for sanctions on leaders who violate rights
Leader of the child molesters, Pope John Paul II has called for political leaders who violate human rights to be punished, in a World Day of Peace message released amid worldwide debate over how Saddam Hussein should be brought to justice.

International communities are the losers: Smith
[War criminal], Prime Minister John Howard says Saddam Hussein's capture is a huge relief and a great development for the people of Iraq. Howard says Saddam should face trial in Iraq and he would not oppose the death penalty if it were imposed.

War criminals should be tried: Human Rights
The UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague should try George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard for their part in the coalition of the killing for crimes against humanity.

Who cares wins? Those who inflict or those who endure?
When occupation means war then who cares wins? Not those who can inflict the most, but those who can endure the most, I would have thought.

Coalition of the Killing's alliance against law 'the wrong way'
Australia and Britain [and the Coalition of the Killing], could have agreed that the [resource], wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, and liberty, the proliferation of Security Housing Units, and Detention Centres, can be addressed unilaterally - a trend in the US that is feared all over the world - but must be faced collectively.

A STRUGGLE ON TWO FRONTS: PRISONS & IMPERIALIST WAR
After a war waged by the U.S. military against Vietnam which took the lives of more than 3 million Vietnamese people and more than 58,000 GIs, the U.S. finally withdrew in 1975. It had suffered its first official major military defeat by a united people struggle led by the Vietnamese, along with a mass U.S. anti-war movement.

Police surround protesters outside US Embassy
Thousands of protesters have marched to the Lodge to protest against [war criminal], US President George W Bush's visit. The protesters had rallied outside Parliament House, booing when the president arrived this morning and chanting "go home Bush you war criminal".

Police violent towards peaceful protesters
A protest march in Canberra involving more than 1,000 people has been violated, with some protesters breaking through an unlawful police barricade outside the United States Embassy.

Police cracked up about war criminal protest march
The protesters are about 100 metres from the entrance of Parliament House behind barriers and a long line of police officers. Busloads of protesters from Sydney are still on their way to the site.

Forty Labor MPs sign protest letter to Bush over Iraq
More than 40 Senators and Federal Labor MPs have signed an open letter to [war criminal], US President George W Bush, saying the war against Iraq set a dangerous precedent for the world.

50,000 protesters to turn out for anti-Bush protest
Protesters are expecting a 50,000-strong crowd to rally against issues such as the illegal and degrading, Iraq war and the treatment of prisoners, some renditioned and tortured, at Gunatanamo Bay in Cuba.

David Burchell: Paradox of anti-Americanism
[War criminal] President George W. Bush's trip to our shores today has focused attention on a striking fact - the apparently irresistible rise in hostility among many Australians towards the US.

Sydney Social Forum Oct 24-26
The war on Iraq has signalled an intensifying permanent war on the world's poor, adding more open unilateral military aggression to existing neo-liberal offensives conducted through organisations like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and World Trade Organisation.

Refugee policy, here is a new project: Burnside
The idea is to have thousands of Australian citizens writing to federal parliamentarians asking very simple, but hard, questions about the key aspects of refugee policy. I have devised a letter writing kit for this purpose. I attach a copy. It contains instructions which, are, I hope, fairly clear.

Habib's wife to join Greens protest during Bush visit
The wife of an Australian man imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay has urged the Prime Minister to seek her husband's release when the war criminal, United States President visits Australia this week.

Pilger said White House knew Saddam was no threat
Australian investigative journalist John Pilger says he has evidence the war against Iraq was based on a lie which could cost George W Bush and Tony Blair their jobs and bring Prime Minister John Howard down with them.

Illegal and degrading war crimes: Society on the New World Order (OWN)! While Australia and the US are very distinctive societies war criminal, Prime Minister John Howard and war criminal, President George Bush share core values.

Civil Liabilities: Howard's diversity? I had a dream?
The war criminal, Prime Minister, John Howard, who only yesterday was claiming he was showing diversity has stepped up pressure on the states to support plans to increase the war criminal, Federal Attorney-General's powers to ban terrorist organisations, [scapegoats and patsies for the Coalition of the Killing's illegal and degrading resource wars in the Middle East.]

PM despot diversity shallow and cunning sales pitch
War criminal, Prime Minister, John Howard, says planned visits by the United States and Chinese presidents demonstrate the diversity of Australia's relationships.

US Deputy Sheriff dismisses Indonesian comment that US king of terrorists Deputy Sheriff to the US Prime Minister John Howard says he does not agree with comments by the Indonesian Vice-President Hamzah Haz that the real terrorist is the United States for attacking Iraq.

Americans given deficit of Carr's spin?
Bob Carr joined Richard Butler and other corporate and political leaders to discuss how the rest of the world views the US as well as the superpower's role in the world. [Brain-dead and totalitarian!!]

Beattie starts spreading the news in old New York!
Beattie must think he's king of the hill or top of the heap? This is not a democracy this is blatant war enthusiasm whipped up to ensure that Australia goes to war at the next available opportunity.

When the towns criers rang the bell!
THEY scaled the walls of the Sydney Opera House, sent a strong message to the people of Australia, with their "No War" message and reinforced the will of the people.

Australian way of life now threatened by State Terror
Defence [war criminal] Minister Robert Hill says plans to place about 1,000 army reservists on counter-terrorism duties [? scapegoat duties] do not mean there is a specific threat to Australia.

PM man of steel? Or killer and a thief?
Is JOHN Howard a killer and a thief or a man of steel after he dropped bombs on innocent civilians in order to fix the problem in Iraq for trade agreements with the US? Thousands of children are now dieing of disease.

Thousands march for peace! But does that mean no war?
THOUSANDS of people took to the streets around the country yesterday to march against the war in Iraq and for world peace.

The Empire Strikes Back: Sydney anti-war rally
School children in uniforms, groups of young men and older protesters have gathered on one side of Town Hall while at least 200 police have gathered around the area.

Human shield describes 'sickening' scenes
An Australian 'human shield' who has fled Iraq into neighbouring Jordan has described the sight of bombed out buildings and distraught Iraqis as "sickening".

US disturbed over 'biased' reporting in Arab media! But the US lies to the world! How could anyone describe pre-emptive strikes on a sovereign nation, occupation, genocide, torture, and human rights abuse by the Coalition of the Killing in a positive light?

Coalition force 'surprised' by stiff resistance for food aid
About 4,000-5,000 allied forces have launched what they vowed would be an all-out blitz. "We're going straight through that city," a US Marine officer, who asked not to be named, said. "It will be a Hail Mary with guns ablazing."

Australians don't support US military action: poll
The second Australia-wide poll since the war began has found most Australians disapprove of the United States using military force to depose Saddam Hussein.

Explosions rock Baghdad, jets overhead Iraq
BAGHDAD, March 20 [Rooters] A handful of explosions rocked Baghdad at dawn today as jets roared overhead, Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries opened up and air raid sirens sounded.

AUSTRALIA AT WAR! Moment of death...
"The opening stages of the disarmament of the Iraqi regime [? resource war on Iraq regime] have begun ," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer [should have] said minutes after the strikes. He said Bush would speak at 2.15pm (AEDT).

Hit the road Jack and don't you come back No War, Jack Straw, No War, No War! LONDON: Nick Buxton, organising the protest outside Mr Straw's house, said: "We got the message across that the war is going to have a very huge humanitarian impact and people are angry about this war."

Moment of death 'HoWARd'
JOHN Howard lost the war for public opinion as Australia braces to invade Iraq by the end of the week. With nationwide anti-war protests, and Labor scrapping 30 years of bipartisanship on sending troops overseas, the Coalition has failed all Australians.

War criminal Howard high-jacks HRCA to 'legitimise killing'
The Human Rights Council of Australia (HRCA) says it fears Prime Minister John Howard's comments in support of the execution of [CIA operative] Osama bin Laden show his eagerness to overturn three decades of national opposition to the death penalty.

PM lost in space! Pre-emptive Strikes & Star Wars Defence!!
War criminal PM backs missile defence investigation but he is not on his own. Bob Carr dubbed Darth Vader after draconian laws were introduced in NSW following John Howard's threats to strike first and ask questions later.

Doom gloom and 'Boom' Downer shakes the room?
"Optimism is better and so is 'constructive feedback' because using constructive feedback means that the negatives also have a role in the construction of a nation. In short we have all the time in world to solve problems properly and that is what our leaders should be focusing on when they decide to inform all Australians. Hey what's the rush?" He said.

Hypocrisy not Democracy? No Blood for Oil!
Howard has refused to back down on the threat of war despite hundreds of thousands of Australians rallying against it. The question is why?

Australia backs CIA Reichstag, Downer's propaganda
The Foreign Affairs Minister says the latest message from Osama bin Laden is worrying. [Just plain rubbish!]

UK Reid, Blair and the reichstag London threat!
The nature of the [alleged] terrorist threat to London is on the scale of the [USA false flag] September 11 attacks in the United States, the chairman of Britain's governing Labour Party said.

Bin Laden calls? CIA blind man's bluff!
A [US propaganda, fear-mongering] taped message purportedly from Osama bin Laden has warned Arab nations against supporting a war against Iraq but has branded Saddam Hussein an infidel.

U.S. AMBASSADOR WARNED TO STOP MEDDLING:
The Australian Federal Opposition and Labor Party Leader, Simon Crean, has again warned the U.S. ambassador to stop meddling in Australian politics.

War: Part one The human cost
On the road to Basra, ITV was filming wild dogs as they tore at the corpses of the Iraqi dead. Every few seconds a ravenous beast would rip off a decaying arm and make off with it over the desert in front of us, dead fingers trailing through the sand, the remains of the burned military sleeve flapping in the wind. "Just for the record,'' the cameraman said to me. Of course. Because ITV would never show such footage.

Mandela speaks out against Bush, Blair
Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has lashed out at US President George W Bush's stance on Iraq, saying the US leader has no foresight, and cannot think properly.

All the way with (LPK) Love Peace and Kindness: Dalai Lama
Communication is a two way street. Threats and punishment solve nothing and serve none. In fact it is against the law in most countries to threaten or punish a person.

Hill defends decision to attack Iraq: Step by step?
FEDERAL Defence [War] Minister [Sinister] Robert Hill has defended the government's decision to send troops [ send militia] to the Persian Gulf [ to attack Iraq] in readiness for any [pre-emptive strike that would cause a] conflict with Iraq.

Pleas for peace ring the globe
Anti-war demonstrators turned out in their hundreds of thousands around the world on Saturday to protest against United States military preparations for an invasion of Iraq.

Not too late for Iraq peace, Blix says
But we all know that's rubbish now. The Coalition of the Killing were not seeking WMD in Iraq, they were there for their resource wars. So who gave the 'UN' and Blix the wrong information back then? War criminals!

George Bush's other poodle
John Howard, Australia's PM, is the mouse that roars for America, whipping his country into war fever and paranoia about terrorism within.

US prepares for trade talks with Australia but it's not worth it!
The office of the United States Trade Representative has started formally preparing its negotiating position for the first round of talks on a free trade agreement between Australia and the US.

First strike and you're out!
The ideology of a super loser? John Howard shocks the nation again. A nation who cannot believe Howard's stupidity following his [complicity in the CIA's false flag operation, the Bali bombing.]

UN charter doesn't reflect new self-defence needs: Hill?
The Defence [War] Minister, Robert Hill, says the United Nations' charter needs to be changed to help countries defend themselves against potential threats. [?] [Pre-emptive strikes on soveriegn nation states like Iraq and Afghanistan?]

About Protesting &: Corporate media, Ben English and Rachel Morris who spell their names in capitals? Yes too right! Ordinary people some protesting against the occupation, murder and genocide of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. And you call yourselves reporters? You should hang your head in shame and go get jobs defending those poor innocent people. Shame on you!!!

Howard defends terror alert
Prime Minister John Howard says the Federal Government would not have issued a terror alert if it had not come from a credible source. (America?) Speaking for the first time since the Government revealed the warning, Mr Howard says he wants people to be more careful, but not to stop living. [As long as they don't go dancing in Bali? And sure we'll all be depressed for as long as John Howard and Bob Carr say so.]

When Johnny comes marching home again: 'hoorah hoorah'
Posted on the Resistance web page Bronwyn Powell, an organiser of the youth-led mobilisation told Green Left weekly that "in the face of attacks on civil liberties, it is unfortunate that some union officials have felt they need to submit. It could set a negative precedent for upholding the hard-won right to demonstrate in the street."

Give peace a chance
PIERS AKERMAN DT 28 Nov 02: JUSTICE John Dowd should be removed from the bench. His crime? Stupidity. In a breath-taking display of hand-wringing sanctimonious morality, Dowd has condemned the State and Federal Governments' anti-terrorism measures, claiming they erode rights and give encouragement to oppressive regimes.