Death of the Jailhouse Press

Censorship in the Big House

It was a melee, a riot, a simmering dispute. Despite the nomenclature, coverage of the August 9 prisoner "incident" at San Quentin prison was hardly diversified. 39 prisoners were injured in one of the largest riots since 1982 at California's oldest prison, with newspapers citing tensions between Latino and white prisoners as the root cause.

There were a few differences, though, between this riot and the last demonstrating the changing nature of America's prison system. In 1982, guards fired shotguns in the air to quell the disturbance; in 2005, tear gas was the agent of choice. In the 80s, the prisoner newspaper, the San Quentin News would've covered the riots; in 2005, this newspaper no longer exists.

One of the most dramatic changes within American prisons is the near extinction of the penal press. Award-winning prison newspapers that once reached thousands- even outside of prison walls-no longer exist, and their underground counterparts are few and far between. The situation has become so dire that, according to the author of Jailhouse Journalism James McGrath Morris, "If you talked to a prisoner today, they wouldn't even know these things existed."

The death of the prison press can't be attributed to one law or one warden; instead, it can be traced through shifting attitudes on prisons and their function in society. "There was a period in American history when we really thought we could send somebody to [prison] and make a new person out of them," Morris said. "That's gone." In a country that imprisons over 2 million people-despite a decade-long drop in crime-rehabilitation is an outmoded concept.

The prison newspaper was once seen as a practical tool for rehabilitation. It was viewed as a way for prisoners to occupy themselves on the inside, but more importantly, to gain marketable skills for use on the outside. This led to prison newspaper booms in the 30s and 50s, when over 250 prisoner-run publications flourished.

The prison press also thrived in the 70s when, according to Jim Danky, Librarian of the Wisconsin Historical Society, which is home to the nation's largest collection of prison newspapers, highly politicized prisoners brought "the ethos of the 60s inside with them" and cranked out enough radical rags to fill a library. Among these were The Iced Pig edited by Weatherman and Attica prisoner Sam Melville and the San Quentin News, known for its censored report on bird excrement in the prison cafeteria.

The most notable paper of this decade, and perhaps the entire history of the prison press, was The Angolite. Under Wilbert Rideau's editorship, the paper won a Polk award for its intensive coverage of prison rape. Unlike other papers, The Angolite skirted official censorship by obtaining the support of the warden, who hoped that the presence of an independent prison newspaper would bring prestige and stability to the Louisiana prison.

But this hands-off approach was unique to Angola. As The Angolite was publishing groundbreaking pieces, prisoner-journalists throughout the country were encountering the "Son of Sam" laws which were designed to keep them from publishing their work in outside publications. A central provision states that, "The inmate may not act as reporter or publish under a byline." Though the law did not directly affect prison newspapers, it sent a message to officials that contrarian prisoner opinions needed to be heavily censored.

H. Bruce Franklin, Rutgers professor and author of Prison Writings in 20th-Century America, believes this sudden crackdown on prison journalism was a reaction to the success of newspapers in unifying prisoners and engaging outsiders. Ultimately, the goal was (and still is) information control, according to Franklin: "The worse the conditions in prison, the more necessary it is to keep people from knowing how bad the conditions are." Franklin believes that prison officials take measures to prevent prison newspapers from covering routine abuses and, in some cases, torture. "They will do everything in their power to make sure people are unaware of this," he says.

For the most part, efforts to silence prisoners have been successful. Yet, some prisoners would rather face continuous torment than have their voices muffled. Through hand-written newsletters and freelance articles, prisoners continue to act as journalists even though their writings make them targets for harassment by prison staff.

Until his 1997 execution, Bobby West published news briefs from his death row cell in Huntsville, Texas, sometimes delaying print dates because guards destroyed his research material. Dannie Martin's article on the prison AIDS epidemic in the late 80s for the San Francisco Chronicle led to numerous legal battles and time in solitary confinement. But this retaliation against Martin only further demonstrated the relevance of his Chronicle pieces, eventually leading to the publication of his articles in the book Committing Journalism: The Prison Writings of Red Hog

Paul Wright faced numerous censorship attempts when his then-fledgling monthly Prison Legal News (PLN) spoke bluntly on labor exploitation in American prisons, among other issues, detailing the usage of low-paid prisoners to bolster the profits of private corporations like Starbucks and Victoria's Secret. Wright completed his sentence and now edits the paper from the outside, making it easier to challenge the frequent bans of PLN. With 15 years and 18 issues behind it, PLN is the longest running, independent prison newspaper in the country.

Even as prisoners find ways to report, their resources are slim and, in stark contrast to the past, they don't have a large outsider audience; the demand to know what happens inside American prisons is scarce.

This lack of communication might be welcome to some, but it creates further tension between communities that must eventually reunite in the free world. "If you deprive some people of the right to speak freely, who are the real victims of this? Who are the real losers?" Franklin asked. "Not so much the people that don't have the right to speak. The real losers are the people who could potentially hear what these people have to say."

By LEAH CALDWELL posted 25 November 05

Leah Caldwell lives in Austin, Texas.
She can be reached at: leahmcaldwell@yahoo.com

COUNTERPUNCH

Jail staff sexual assaults and drugs

NSW Prison staff have been accused of attacking and sexually assaulting 38 NSW inmates in the past year, new figures show.

The journalist who's facing gaol for talking to a prisoner

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New rules in Goulburn prison

The following outline is provided as a guide to ensure a consistent and effective approach in dealing with charges and applying sanctions applicable to failed urine tests.

Association for the Prevention of Torture

The Optional Protocol requires 20 ratifications to enter into force. All States Parties to the UN Convention against Torture should seriously consider ratifying the OPCAT as soon as possible. National Institutions and others promoting the human rights of people deprived of their liberty need to be informed of their potential role as national preventive mechanisms under the OPCAT.

Ex-Prisoner Locked Out of Prison

The NSW Department of Corrective Services (DCS) has revealed a policy which bans ex-prisoners from entering prisons.

Justice Action: Access to our community

NSW: Justice Action went to the NSW Supreme Court before the last Federal election on the constitutional right for prisoners to receive information for their vote. The government avoided the hearing by bringing prisoners' mobile polling booths forward. We pursued it after the election. This is the report.

Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW

On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs.

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he prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery? HUMAN rights organizations, as well as political and social ones, are condemning what they are calling a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States, where they say a prison population of up to 2 million - mostly Black and Hispanic - are working for various industries for a pittance.

New Orleans: Prisoners Abandoned to Floodwaters
As Hurricane Katrina began pounding New Orleans, the sheriff's department abandoned hundreds of inmates imprisoned in the city's jail, Human Rights Watch said today.

Lockdown
Mumia, if the last nameless prostitute becomes an unraveling turban of steam, if the judges' robes become clouds of ink swirling like octopus deception, if the shroud becomes your Amish quilt, if your dreadlocks are snipped during autopsy, then drift above the ruined RCA factory that once birthed radios to the tomb of Walt Whitman, where the granite door is open and fugitive slaves may rest.

Ohio's Abu Ghraib
US: Before becoming an Ohio State Penitentiary physician, Dr. Ayham Haddad experienced a different side of incarceration as a political prisoner in Syria. After being arrested, tortured, and released, Haddad immigrated to the United States to begin a new life.

Two Million Imprisoned = Too Many
On August 13, thousands of people from around the nation are expected to march in a "Journey for Justice" to our nation's capitol. Times have certainly changed since the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, but this year's march still has everything to do with what many view as institutionalized racism.

Harmful, Undeserved Punishment
US: Nearly five million American citizens are denied the right to vote - one of every 50 citizens. That includes 13 percent of all African-American men nationwide, up to almost twice that percentage in particular states and the majority of adults - black and white -- in some inner city neighborhoods.

ICOPA XI International Conference on Penal Abolition
We are excited to announce that ICOPA X1, the eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition will happen in Tasmania, Australia from February 9 - 11,2006. Please pass this onto all networks.

[PRISONACT] FOR THE MILLIONS WHO CARE!
US: Washington: Hello. My name is Kay Lee and among other things, I am currently a coordinator for Prison Reform's first 'Call to Arms': A massive march which is scheduled to take off from Lafayette Park in Washington DC on August 13, 2005.

International conference: Prisoners and their families
NEPACS' third national conference looks at the importance of family relationships to an offender and the trauma and disruption to family life caused by a prison sentence.

Association for the Prevention of Torture
The Optional Protocol requires 20 ratifications to enter into force. All States Parties to the UN Convention against Torture should seriously consider ratifying the OPCAT as soon as possible. National Institutions and others promoting the human rights of people deprived of their liberty need to be informed of their potential role as national preventive mechanisms under the OPCAT.

US land of the free: 2,131,180 prisoners
US: WASHINGTON -- The nation's prisons and jails held 2,131,180 inmates as of June 30, 2004, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced this week. Two-thirds were in federal and state prisons, and the other third were in local jails. Jail authorities were supervising an additional 70,548 men and women in the community in work release, weekend reporting, electronic monitoring and other alternative programs.

The ABOLITIONIST
From the first issue's open letter: "When a prisoner suggested we entitle this quarterly newspaper The Abolitionist, we couldn't help but revel in the titleâs historical significance. The original Abolitionist was a monthly journal of the New England Antislavery Society that agitated for the immediate abolition of slavery back in 1835.

ICOPA XI International Conference on Penal Abolition
We are excited to announce that ICOPA X1, the eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition will happen in Tasmania, Australia from February 9 - 11,2006. Please pass this onto all networks.

All the World's a Prison: History
No doubt many of my readers, even those who are well-educated or widely read, think that the prison -- the place where dark deeds are darkly answered[2] -- is an ancient institution, a barbaric hold-over from barbaric times. In fact, the prison is of relatively recent origin, and this tells us a great deal about the pretentions and realities of modern times, and the wisdom and high degree of development of the ancients.

Unlock the Box:
Unlock the Box is a product of many years of struggle to shut down the Security Housing Units in California. During this time, the United Front to Abolish the SHU was created as a forum to coordinate the actions of everyone involved in this campaign.

State of the Prison System
US: According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 2.3 million men and women are now behind bars in the United States. Yes, the country that touts itself as the "land of the free" and the champion of freedom around the world incarcerates a higher percentage of its people than any other country.

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.

US incarceration rate climbs
The US penal system, the world's largest, maintained its steady growth in 2004, the US Department of Justice reported.The latest official half-yearly figures found the nation's prison and jail population at 2,131,180 in the middle of last year, an increase of 2.3 per cent over 2003.

Three-Strikes law mandatory sentencing
US: First of all, this is not about a simple baseball game. This is about the most important thing of all, the game of life. The Three-Strikes law (mandatory sentencing for three felony convictions) came into being through fear, manipulation and, yes, full-blown prejudice.

Most women 'should not be jailed'
Women make up 6% of the prison population in England and Wales. Imprisonment of women should be "virtually abolished", a prison reform group has said.

He Did Time, So He's Unfit to Do Hair
She has managed to turn life in federal prison into a nifty career move. Her company's stock is soaring, and she has plans for not one but two television shows. It almost makes you wonder why the Enron types are fighting so hard to stay out of jail.

Deaths in isolation as prison segregation increases
The use of segregation [solitary confinement] of prisoners as punishment has been increasing recently in Australia, the US, and the UK. Segregation can be used for protection or punishment, but in both cases it results in extreme psychological stress. An indication that segregation is being over-used is the appearance of deaths in custody from suicide of those placed in segregation.

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.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.

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.

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.

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!

Abu Ghraib, USA
When I first saw the photo, taken at the Abu Ghraib prison, of a hooded and robed figure strung with electrical wiring, I thought of the Sacramento, California, city jail.

On Solitary Confinement
There has been much written about solitary confinement by some of the world's leading psychiatrists, but very little written by victims of solitary themselves. I believe that the 32 years I have spent in solitary qualifies me for the task.

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.

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.

The Two Million Signature Campaign
We are shooting for over 2,000,000 signatures on the LERA petition! That is one signature for every person incarcerated in the United States!

Restorative Justice Practices
Restorative Justice Practices of Native American, First Nation and Other Indigenous People of North America: Part NSW Community News Network Archive: US land of the free: 2,131,180 prisonersOne BY LAURA MIRSKY.

Maoist Internationalist Movement
March 6 -- Protesters took to the streets in cities across the state of California to demand California prisons shut down the Security Housing Units (SHU). Like other control unit prisons across the country, the SHU are prisons within a prison. They are solitary confinement cells where prisoners are locked up 23 hours a day for years at a time. The one hour a day these prisoner sometimes get outside of their cell is spent alone in an exercise pen not much larger than their cell, with no direct sunlight.

From Terrell Unit in Texas to Abu Ghraib Doesn't It Ring a (Prison) Bell If the president wasn't so forthright about his disinterest in the world, it would have been hard to believe him Wednesday when he said the abuse in Abu Ghraib prison "doesn't represent the America I know."

US Prison system ending love affair with incarceration?
After 25 years of explosive growth in the U.S. prison system, is this country finally ending its love affair with incarceration? Perhaps, but as in any abusive relationship, breaking up will be hard to do.

High court keeps alive case of inmates held in solitary
NEW ORLEANS: The nation's highest court refused Monday to kill a lawsuit brought by two prisoners and an ex-inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary who spent decades in solitary confinement.

Notebook of a Prison Abolitionist
In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass recalls how as a slave he would occasionally hear of the "abolitionists." He did not know the full meaning of the word at first, but he heard it used in ways that he found appealing. He heard about it when a slave ran away or killed his master. He heard about it when a barn was set on fire or a slave committed an act his master thought wrong. For Douglass, these utterances and reports were "spoken of as the fruit of abolition." He adds, "Hearing the word in this connection very often, I set about learning what it meant."

Alice prisoners riot

Alice Springs Correctional Centre superintendent Peter Rainbird would not say why prisoners had staged the riot.

But he said guards would consult prisoners about concerns in the jail.

The Territory's jail rate is 580 per 100,000 people compared to the national average of 154 per 100,000.

Mick - It's hot - the food is shit and there are next to no rehabilitive programs. I read all the books before my eight days were up. Borrowed more from inmates. Besides all that - most mob shouldn't be in there.

- You could release most of the NT prisoners safely

How the hell are they coping in the heat with a piss-bucket for company?

By Just Us posted 18 November 05

Jail lockdown as riot rages

A TERRITORY jail was locked down yesterday as maximum security prisoners rioted.

Inmates in the reception area of Alice Springs jail's maximum security section barricaded doors and set fire to mattresses about 10am.

Guards responded by locking the jail down and rushing to the area, clearing the prisoners and putting out the fires within an hour.

Eight prisoners involved in the riot were taken to isolation cells.

Alice Springs Correctional Centre superintendent Peter Rainbird would not say why prisoners had staged the riot.

But he said guards would consult prisoners about concerns in the jail.

Supt Rainbird would not say which prisoners were involved in the riot but confirmed it would be investigated and jail procedures would be reviewed.

"Once we finish the investigation we will be able to deal with the issues,'' he said.

NT Police also will investigate the riot and may lay charges of criminal damage against the prisoners.

Firefighters were called out but the fires had been extinguished when they arrived.

The jail's maximum security unit remained in lockdown last night.

"There was only superficial damage caused,'' Supt Rainbird said.

"Public safety was not compromised at the time.'' He described the incident as "moderately serious''.

By ERIC TLOZEK 16nov05

NT Prisons - Close to boiling point
"PRISONERS threatened to riot at Darwin jail after complaining about overcrowding and the quality of food, it was learnt yesterday."

NT Prison stats

Related:

The journalist who's facing gaol for talking to a prisoner
BRISBANE: Journalist and documentary-maker Anne Delaney would probably rather be working on her latest project than sitting in the Inala magistrate's court, facing a possible two year stretch in a Queensland gaol.

Pentridge Prison Memorial
*Ricky Morris* 29/10/2005-18 Years Later "Thinking Of You And Missing You" Gone But Never Forgotten. It all started back in May-05 when I decided to do a website on the memory of my brother 'Ricky' and that's when it all began for myself a journey I never imagined. From that date forward to this I have received a lot of information and spoken to all sorts of people from high up to general people whom either knew nothing or some that knew it all.

Darwin prison riot threat alert
PRISONERS threatened to riot at Darwin jail after complaining about overcrowding and the quality of food, it was learnt yesterday.

New rules in Goulburn prison
The following outline is provided as a guide to ensure a consistent and effective approach in dealing with charges and applying sanctions applicable to failed urine tests.

Custody as the challenge to corrections
Despite their problematic nature, however, recidivism figures do not suggest that the prison component of a sentence improves prospects for deterrence or rehabilitation, by comparison with other sentencing options.

'A Nice Day Out' From Risdon Prison
Arranged for maximum-security prisoner 43637 Trustrum, Thomas Edward, by Justice Pierre W Slicer, Tasmania's Supreme Court human-rights an social-justice crusader.

NEW INDEPENDENT RISDON PRISON REPORT
Justice Action and Prison Action & Reform are not satisfied with the review and will present an independent report to Parliament in August, based upon interviews with prisoners, prison staff and concerned community members.

Prisoner total rises 15% in six years
England and Wales are continuing to jail offenders at a higher rate than any other major country in western Europe, it emerged today. New research indicates that the government's use of prison as its main tool of penal policy has increased by 15% since 1999.

Adler punished for being in prison
NSW: Sydney businessman Rodney Adler has been transferred to a higher-security prison as punishment for allegedly attempting to conduct business activities from jail even though people are sent to prison for punishment not to be punished?

Department of Corrective Services fails to rehabilitate offenders
NSW: Unpopular people will be forced to wear tracking devices at a cost of $5,000 dollars per unit because the NSW Department of Corrective Services failed to rehabilitate those offenders at a cost of $65,000 a year while they were held in custody for many years.

Parole Board Membership
NSW: The Law Society is aware that two former long standing police officers Mr Robert Inkster, an Mr Peter Walsh, were appointed to the Parole Board as Community Members for a period of three years from 17 January 2005 until 16 January 2008.

Corrected or Corrupted
A psychiatrist from the prison Mental Health Team attached to Queensland Health made the comment that 25 per cent of inmates suffer from a diagnosed mental illness.

Tasmanian prison support visit
Prisoners from Risdon Prison and Prison Action & Reform (PAR) in Tasmania have requested support from the Australian Prisoners Union and Justice Action following the siege in the prison ending on May 9.

Prison Action & Reform challenge the Attorney General
Members of Prison Action & Reform are furious with the latest lies from the Attorney General -- Judy Jackson, and demand that she produce evidence to support her ludicrous claims.

Tasmania PAR banned from Risdon
Since then, she and other PAR volunteers, have brought to the public's attention scandalous and inhumane events that have occurred in the prison - which Judy Jackson would have otherwise covered up.

Chronology of a Tasmanian Prison System: A Documented Report
We believe that the people of Tasmania - both victims of crime and the general public - have the right to know that the Tasmania Prison Service is delivering a humane and just system of containment that is conducive to the reintegration of inmates back into Tasmanian society.

Association for the Prevention of Torture
The Optional Protocol requires 20 ratifications to enter into force. All States Parties to the UN Convention against Torture should seriously consider ratifying the OPCAT as soon as possible. National Institutions and others promoting the human rights of people deprived of their liberty need to be informed of their potential role as national preventive mechanisms under the OPCAT.

PRISON ACTION & REFORM INC: Tas Prison Complaints
TASMANIA: Prison Action & Reform was formed in response to the five deaths in custody that occurred between August 1999 and January 2000. Chris Wever, Vickie Douglas, Rose Macaulay, Judith Santos and others came to together to fight for reform in an outdated, increasingly cash-strapped and uncaring system. Of the original members, three lost loved ones to the Tasmanian prison system.

MISTREATED IN CUSTODY - NO ACCOUNTABILTY
I was in custody in NSW six weeks ago, and was a victim of an aggravated assault incited by a prison officer. Despite this happening in front of many witnesses, including correctional services officers and other detainees, and under mandatory video surveillance, a formal complaint to the NSW Commissioner of Corrective Services an his Professional Conduct Management Committee only revealed that as far as they were concerned, this didn't happen.

ICOPA XI International Conference on Penal Abolition
We are excited to announce that ICOPA X1, the eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition will happen in Tasmania, Australia from February 9 - 11,2006. Please pass this onto all networks.

Ex-Prisoner Locked Out of Prison
The NSW Department of Corrective Services (DCS) has revealed a policy which bans ex-prisoners from entering prisons.

Justice Action: Access to our community
NSW: Justice Action went to the NSW Supreme Court before the last Federal election on the constitutional right for prisoners to receive information for their vote. The government avoided the hearing by bringing prisoners' mobile polling booths forward. We pursued it after the election. This is the report.

Risdon prisoners' seize prison to protest mistreatment
Apparently one prisoner had been mistreated and held in isolation in an SHU (Segregation Housing Unit) [Solitary Confinement] because, he'd had and altercation with a screw. SHUs cause severe mental harm - regarded as torture - and are a cruel, inhumane and degrading way to keep prisoners.

No Safe Place
In a brief four month span from August 1999, five men died in Tasmania's Risdon prison. Their deaths have put the state's corrections system in the dock and led to the planned demolition of a jail which even the State's Attorney-General now calls an "appalling facility".

MORE PRISONERS LOCKDOWNS HAVE OFFICERS ON EDGE
NSW POLICE Commissioner Ken Moroney has issued an ultimatum as well, to the lawless youths holding Sydney's streets to ransom?: Learn some respect or face jail?

Tough line on crime fills jails
The tough law-and-order policies of governments around the nation are behind an explosion in the prison population by almost 80 per cent in the past two decades.

FAMILIES OF PRISONERS FORUM
14,500 children in NSW go to bed each night with a parent in prison!

LEGAL VISITS AT PARKLEA PRISON
I am a prisoner in NSW and I am currently held in Parklea Prison. I am concerned about what is going on in NSW prisons and this is my story.

Parklea Prison: No calls for six days
The last calls that were made out of Parklea Correctional Complex by my partner, an inmate in remand at Parklea, was on Wednesday 2 February. The phone lines for the inmates have been out of service to this date.

Prison visits in crisis in NSW
The reason I am writing today is to address a difficult situation that my husband and my family are going through. My husband is currently serving a sentence at Lithgow Correctional Centre in NSW.

Prison boom will prove a social bust
Hardened criminals are not filling NSW's prisons - the mentally ill and socially disadvantaged are, writes Eileen Baldry.

The prison system requires assiduous oversight
As NSW Attorney General Bob Debus noted in 1996: "The kinds of complaints which occur in the system may seem trivial to outsiders but in the superheated world of the prison, such issues can produce explosive results."

Where the Norm is Not the Norm: HARM-U
In the absence of public policy, this paper is an attempt to shine a light through the rhetoric and test for coherency in the policy and function of NSW’s only supermax prison, the High Risk Management Unit. Its present use will be compared with the ‘vision’ flogged by the Premier and the Department of Corrective Services (the Department) at its inception in 2001.

Crime and Punishment
Mark Findlay argues that the present psychological approach to prison programs is increasing the likelihood of re-offending and the threat to community safety.

People: 'Prisoners' of Drugs'
People who are addicted to heroin usually take the drug because it relieves them of problems such as low self-esteem, distrust and fear of abandonment. They may have poor communication skills & poor relationship skills.

Justice Denied In NSW Corrective Services
There used to be a (VJ) or Visiting Justice who would go into the prison and judge any claim or accusation that was made by any prisoner or prison guard. If it were found that a prisoner had offended then punishment was metered out.

Prison guards test positive for drugs
NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet The visit is only for about one hour and any thing less than that is an insult. If it's proved that a visitor has broken the rules the punishment should apply to them. But collective punishment on all visitors should not be made general when others haven't broken the rules especially if it restricts all visitors from normal human needs like using a toilet.

NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet
The New South Wales Government has introduced several initiatives to stop contraband getting into prisons they said last Friday. But under the guise of "stricter rules" the department had also introduced banning all visitors including children from using the toilet unless they terminate their visit at any NSW prison after using the toilet.

Solitary Confinement: Our very own Alcatraz
Solitary confinement only makes prisoners more violent and inhumane, writes convicted armed robber Bernie Matthews. Today it is the new-age gladiator schools of sensory deprivation in Maximum Security Units.

Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW
On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs. Posted by NSW Community News

The real reason behind the push for a "Police State"

The real reasons behind all the BS you are seeing on the news and in the mass media... or mass insanity...

SUMMARY OF THE REAL NEWS

Bankers become billionaires by signing pieces of paper for a living, paper rich managers asset strip factories and sack skilled workers just so they can run away with millions of dollars and retire young at the expense of destroying communities and jobs, real estate brokers buy and sell properties (sometimes on the same day) just to make $25000 to $50000 profits in one day or even within a week.

Thus driving up property prices to unaffordable levels, stock-market & derivatives traders earning millions or billions of dollars every year just by staring and computer screens all day long and buying and selling worthless pieces of paper and contracts to fix prices on future products and goods that have not yet been manufactured yet (futures, options, warrants and other derivatives that do not relate to real goods and merchandise) -

This explains why international oil prices are now 7 times higher than they were 6 years ago... it's all FUBAR if you know what is really going on... the US economy has already collapsed, and the reason why they are introducing things like "The Patriot Act" and "Anti-terror laws" is to enforce a "Police State" policy, or Marshall Law, to stop people from rioting and protesting, when they all realise they are getting majorly screwed by the "elite" obscenely wealthy, greedy and lazy ruling class.

THIS WAR ON TERROR IS AN EXCUSE TO TURN THE WESTERN WORLD INTO A NEW NAZI EMPIRE ,DOMINATED BY FASCIST POLICE STATES, CONTROLLED BY OBSCENELY RICH BANKERS AND FINANCIERS...

911 was also faked... those 3 WTC buildings collapsed due to controlled demolition charges... there was also no passenger jet plane debris found at the official Pentagon "crash" site! Why is it that your steel BBQ grill does not sag and melt when you expose it to fire or a gas burner? Because in 1 atmosphere air pressure, open-air flames cannot reach the softening temperature for steel (due to not enough oxygen reaching the flame), so how can 850,000 tone steel structured concrete buildings fail by melting, collapsing in only 10 seconds each?

The same time it takes for an object to hit the ground, if dropped from the tops of WTC1 or WTC2... without any resistance from material below? Clear seismic recordings, video evidence and eyewitness testimony all prove that the WTC collapses were caused by controlled demolitions... Any civil engineer can tell you how strong structural concrete is!

It is EXTREMELY strong, so to watch it all disintegrate into fine powder, and collapse with virtually ZERO resistance to falling debris, is unbelievable if you analyse all the physics and material stress analysis behind the collapses. The Bush government also did its best to block and hinder all serious independent investigations into these terrorist attacks, so that is enough reason to suspect that they were involved in its planning and execution. Why all the massive cover-ups and stone-walling efforts, if they have nothing to hide?

The entire world financial system and the world's largest banks (except for some in China) are all hopelessly bankrupt. Corporate greed is also leading to major job losses and bankruptcies in the US... Delphi, the largest car parts supplier in the US, has declared bankruptcy while the directors run away with millions...

GM & Ford are very close to bankruptcy, US airlines are in crisis with Delta and Northwest facing bankruptcy, as the wealthy directors run away with millions of dollars, Enron style!...

The mass media is also not reporting these important stories as well as the daily massacres and war crimes being committed in Iraq... (e.g. British undercover soldiers planting roadside bombs, and killing Iraqi police & civilians, to create the illusion of terrorism and insurgent barbarism, to justify continued illegal occupation of Iraq...

The military and arms manufacturers need a reason to exist, and peace is not good for business, so if there is no enemy, why not just invent one, and call him Osama bin Laden (who has not yet been caught after 4 years since 911, 2001, or Al Zarqawi), or some other faceless mystery man or terror cell... it's all fabricated BS designed to win your sympathy and support for an immoral war designed to steal oil from Arab nations.

Soon, the US government is going to invade Syria and Iran, which will create more chaos and civilian deaths in the middle-east... just so a few lazy and greedy rich people and war profiteers can get richer by demanding more funding and money from gullible governments and people who believe in this fake war on terror! Why is it that only the senators who originally opposed the 2001 "Patriot Act" in the US, were the ones who were sent military grade Anthrax in the mail ?

DO NOT TRUST THE MASS NEWS MEDIA ANYMOREBECAUSE IT IS NOW A MIND-CONTROL PROPAGANDA TOOL FOR NEO-CON FASCIST & RACIST CAPITALISTS WHO DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE GENERAL WELFARE OF PEOPLE, BUT WHO ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT FREE MARKETS, DRIVEN BY GREED & SELFISHNESS, WILL ACTUALLY MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE FOR ALL TO LIVE IN...

(Hint: Note the trend in oil & fuel prices recently, driven up by futures paper traders and derivatives gamblers who do nothing physically productive in their work.)

THE LOVE OF MONEY & POWER IS DESTROYING THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE MAJORITY OF HUMAN BEINGS.

The truth is, the crazy & lazy rich people have taken over and are keen to destroy everything valuable and useful, for the sake of satisfying their desire for extreme wealth and power. It has already happened in the US... the US steel industry is almost DEAD... about 78% of US GM auto manufacturing workers have been sacked since 1970... take a look at the skyrocketing unemployment and mass factory closures going on in the US and in Europe.

Germany has over 9,000,000 unemployed because of globalization! (shipping factories to cheap slave-wage countries) And it all comes down to selfishness and a lack of protectionist laws, which are needed to stop greedy businessmen from looting productive enterprises and useful companies, just so they can become obscenely rich and retire young...

It's so sad to see all the huge bankruptcies happening almost every month, and when GM and Ford collapse, the US will be a 3rd world country. Europe is also becoming like that now, e.g. with no more mass production car factories in the UK (since May 2005, when MG Rover shut down).

The only place where your children can find work, will be in slave-wage conditions in Asia or China... all controlled by mostly "white" US and UK corporations where most of the profit and benefits only end up in the hands of a very few...while the rest of the working class are forced to work at slave wages, unable to protest or start strikes, or they will end up arrested for breaking laws designed to keep everyone under control.

The entire world is going back to the days of Feudalism and peonage, where all the working class will end up as servants for the super-rich (paper-rich) fascist control freaks who hold most of the money... so much for the idea of "Commonwealth", when those in charge or those in high positions of authority are more and more acting like they are unwilling to share the profits of people's hard work... i.e. big business managers are tending to be greedier and uncaring towards workers these days, and this is a mental disease as old as mankind's history itself, known as "Primitive accumulation"... where beast-like men in ancient times started wars, raped and pillaged, just to steal as much material wealth (and land) as possible.

They did not believe in sharing or helping their fellow man, but they believe in "Every man for himself! Grab what you can at all cost!" ... they do not believe in caring for the general welfare of people, but they prefer to USE people as slaves to do all the hard work for them. Their desire to look and feel more important has become so important to them, they think nothing of destroying useful businesses that employ thousands of productive skilled workers... just so they can add a few more millions to their already overinflated multi-million dollar bank accounts.

There is no more such a thing as "market forces"... prices are now all rigged and designed to steal as much money as possible from ordinary citizens... 6 years ago, oil costed only $10 US a barrel... today, oil sells for $70 US a barrel, but there is NO oil shortage! Actually, $30-$40 from every barrel of oil goes to paper traders, because fuel prices are always pushed up by futures traders at the International Petroleum Exchange (London) and the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYME), USA... there is no actual "value adding" work done by these pirates, and all the extra money you are paying goes to these parasites, and a complicit cartel of oil refining companies who are simply working with these people to keep pushing prices as high as possible because they all know that no one can stop them or compete with them!

Competition in oil supply is virtually DEAD, because these oil giants have fixed their prices to be as high as possible... so they are all rolling in huge mountains of money, making hundreds of billions of dollars in profit, without any governments or laws to stop them! Why should politicians help us when they collect almost 50% in tax from every dollar you spend at the petrol stations???

The truth is, most of the super-rich don't care about the working class... we are all seen now as slaves to be used and abused and paid minimum wages...

Governments have sold us out, by privatizing and selling off infrastructure & utilities (essential service providers) to profit-hungry managers, who just keep on driving prices upwards.

Why should politicians care when they can collect more tax from such companies? e.g. Telstra phone line rentals used to cost about $13 a month just 10 years ago... why is it now about $29 a month just to use a land-line phone? In just 10 years! Power costs and bills are now unaffordable to over 200,000 Western Australians, so the WA State Government had to fork out about $500,000 to pay the power bills of struggling families! That's how STUPID inflation has become!

The politicians KNOW that privatisation of essential services will result in much higher costs of living for everybody, but they don't suffer at all, because

(1) They have passed on the responsibility of management to profit-motivated private owners, thus they have less (or no) work to do; and

(2) they can collect more tax from these profit-motivated corporations who now have the monopoly or full control of such essential services... thus EARNING MORE MONEY for themselves... so when the motivation behind all these things is money, the working class tax-payers and rate-payers all lose... everybody loses except for the politicians in government who end up with billions of dollars in revenue, which they would happily channel into pay rises and benefits for themselves!

So basically, politicians don't know how difficult it is to survive with bills and taxes eating up 80-90% of their salaries because their incomes are well over $100,000 up to $240,000+ and they get well over $1.5 million dollars each when they retire, making them instant millionaires for really doing VERY little value adding work.

And this is OUR tax-payers money they are misusing to make themselves wealthy...

Productive capacity of Western nations has been declining over the past 40 years, and costs of living have been getting worse and worse despite the larger availability of money and credit today. Like I said, today, the US has over 26 times MORE money in circulation, than it had just 33 years ago.

These "Baby Boomers" (born between 1945 to 1965) have looted and squandered all the infrastructure and productive manufacturing infrastructure built by their parents, by not properly maintaining and growing infrastructure to stimulate population growth... the average Aussie woman today gives birth to only 1.7 children! (not even 2, necessary for sustaining a population, so the real population of Australians is actually SHRINKING, if it wasn't for the huge influx of immigrants every year)... The average Aussie is now spending about 111% of his/her income just to survive and pay their living costs...

The average American is spending 105% of his/her income... all of us in these English speaking "developed" countries are getting deeper and deeper into debt and ending up having to pay more and more just for the essential costs of living, like bills (water, power, phone), car maintenance, food, fuel, etc... these basic and essential costs are now eating up about 80-90% of the after tax income of average Australians!

Leaving very little left over to pay back maxed out credit cards and debts to pay for a car, a house, or an education... Virtually all of us are now slaves of the banks and the mega-wealthy CEOs of big corporations... with very little opportunity to save or invest ANYTHING now...

The Average Aussie earns about $31,500 pa before tax, and takes home about $26,000 after tax. Deduct about $20,000 pa for basic costs of living (including food, rent, car maintenance), and the average Aussie only has about $6000 left over for the ENTIRE YEAR... and this amounts to a real profit of about $16.44 per day, or a profit of about $2.05 per hour. (Not including education costs, medical costs and miscellaneous items like speeding fines, etc) A real net profit of $115.08 per week! Half of which is usually blown in entertainment like movies and restaurant meals... so that's why most of us in Australia cannot seem to save any money. We are already at our limits of survival, and still, the super-rich and the politicians want to squeeze out more money from us!

People can barely afford the $10,000 to $15,000 necessary for a wedding celebration and honeymoon, and they end up borrowing huge amounts of money just to pay for these things over several years... not to mention the cost of a University degree these days (over $24,000 ?) which means students are all deeply in debt before they can earn money... I remember in 1994, my HECS debt was only $11,000 , so why does education cost more than twice as much now?

FUBAR! What do you think?

Bizarro Basra
Two special-ops Brits in wigs, 'traditional Arab dress' – and a car full of explosives?

Read this article... The British and American military have been committing many war crimes, just to blame Arabs for causing the terrorism, and to fool their gullible Governments back home into funding a PERPETUAL war, to make war profiteers and arms manufacturers as wealthy as possible... It's all about following the money, because people don't do stupid things like that without a strong reason... in this case, it's all about inventing fake terrorist attacks and scaring the gullible public just so Congress, senators and government ministers will remain in a constant state of FEAR, and will continue to give BILLIONS of dollars to war profiteering executives in Halliburton, Bechel, Carlysle Group, etc...

The mass media has lost its credibility and they are complicit with these wealthy war profiteers. They know shocking news and horror stories is all good for business, because more western people will watch the news (and watch the TV ads) and buy more newspapers and magazines... it's all about money now, not the actual motive or the intention behind the news... forget trying to find truth in the mass media anymore, because much of the news is biased and intended to support the aims of greedy politicians and war profiteering corporations, including the media.

For example, the "Patriot Act" that was rushed through for Congress to approve, just after September 11 2001, received a lot of opposition from a few senators who were concerned about the US turning into a Police State (like in Nazi Germany).

The Patriot Act gives too much power to police, FBI and other government investigators to arrest and imprison (indefinitely) ANYBODY suspected of being a terrorist, or helping terrorists, even without any proof, evidence, legal representation, hearing or court trial by jury... Basically the government can accuse ANYONE of being a terrorist, and have that person put away for life without having to show any proof or evidence...

Yes, the mass media covered the story about military grade, Anthrax being sent in the mail to some senators, claiming that these threats were mailed by Arab terrorists... Did the mass media tell you that those Anthrax-laced letters were sent specifically to those few senators who opposed the Patriot Act? (intended to scare them into approving oppressive Nazi-like laws?)

So that is what is happening. The US and UK are becoming the new Nazi empire, and the majority of people who believe the lies coming out of their TV sets are supporting this crazy Anglo-American invasion of Arab countries, all based on lies invented by the war profiteers...

If you want the real news, go and take a look at all the links under my Email signature below, especially Dahr Jamail Iraq which explains how US and UK soldiers and snipers are shooting and killing any unembedded (unapproved) journalists that are not with the US or UK military... (the military also TELL western mass media journalists what to report, in briefing tents, so that all of us westerners and English-speaking countries will definitely get biased news)... watch the videos on that website and you WILL be shocked at what the US and UK military have been doing.

They have been committing serious war crimes and mass murdering innocent civilians... their goal is to kill all the Arabs in Iraq & Iran so that there won't be anybody native Arabs left, so US and UK corporations can take control of the 2nd largest oil fields on the planet.

Most politicians and the heads of the biggest media corporations KNOW this is going on, but are too afraid of the super-rich people who are organizing these crazy imperial occupation schemes.... because these super-rich war profiteers are killers and can hire assassins and mercenaries to kill anyone who gets in their way. Bankers, financiers and war profiteering corporations now run the entire world and that is a fact...

The governments and the mass media are simply serving the needs of the super rich, putting out a lot of lies and misleading information in the media, just to pacify the ignorant majority of people and win their sympathy and support so they can die in unnecessary wars, and risk their lives searching for non-existent "weapons of mass destruction", and control land and oil that does not belong to Anglo-American English-speaking invaders. Those few who control the most oil and the money, hold the most power. Politicians are nothing but puppets and hold very little power now...

Look at what happened to JFK! (Former US president John F. Kennedy was shot in the back of the head, because he wanted to give back power to the Federal Government to print its own money again, and the Bankers wanted to keep their control of the ability to print as much money as they want!)... Also look at Bill Clinton.

NOBODY really cares about his sex life, but rich international bankers and financiers wanted him out of power because he tried to organize all the world leaders to meet in order to restructure the world's failed and hopelessly bankrupt financial and economic systems...

Basically, Bill Clinton knows that the US and most of Europe are hopelessly bankrupt and deeply deeply in debt to the major Central and Federal Reserve Banks (which control all the printing of the world's money)...

Canceling a lot of those debts would mean lost profits for these parasitic, useless bankers, and losing the power to print money would put back real power into the hands of politicians, who can grow and feed military armies, navies and airforces. Whoever controls the money source holds the real power... e.g. who do you think put Hitler and the Nazi party into power? Bankers.

Who paid for their armies an weapons? Bankers. Where did all the money come from to pay for all the new tanks and weapons and supplies, to support the US and British, in the 2nd world war?

Bankers, the same ones who initially funded Hitler, but who later turned their backs on him because Hitler attacked England instead of attacking Russia, which was their original aim. Bankers ended the 1929-1931 depression in the US, by printing and lending lots of money to the US government to fund the 2nd world war... It's all about control of the money printing... and control of the most important resource which is needed to run military forces and armies... oil...

Everything terrible that happens has a reason... the most dangerous terrorists are those who invent terrorism by lying to the public and blaming acts of violence or bombings on fictitious terrorists... the real terrorists are the ones who plan these events - not what is shown in TV - some scruffy looking Arabs hiding in caves who fear for their lives!

The London & Bali bombings were most likely invented and orchestrated by UK or US war profiteers and the war-mongers in power, who WANT to gain sympathy for this war on terrorism, to fool everyone into supporting the war efforts and indefinite occupation of Iraq, Iran, Syria and other Arab countries.

It's human nature at its greediest and worst. The love for money and power is what is destroying the US, UK, Australia and the ability of western countries to improve their overall standard of living and job quality. Unemployment is at an all time high, and rising exponentially in Western Countries, and everything is now getting so expensive and unaffordable, you can expect a worldwide financial and economic shutdown of almost EVERY major industry in the world, very very soon. General Motors & Ford are almost bankrupt and they have sacked over 40,000 staff since the start of this year (despite the fact that their executives are still getting over 6 to $10,000,000 EACH). Delphi, the largest US auto part manufacturer has filed for bankruptcy! Delta and Northwest airlines are now bankrupt.

Most of the major airlines in the US have moved their pension payment plans to the PBGC (Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation) planning for imminent bankruptcies, so they are no longer responsible for paying worker pensions... Most of the US land is being depopulated and under utilized... basically, deindustrialized! like most of the Western English-speaking countries, like Australia... the super rich are now trying to enslave all Asian and coloured nations, by controlling money exchange rates in their favour, so that they don't have to do any hard work anymore... That's the plan...

TELL THE TRUTH, EXPOSE THESE CRAZY GREEDY WAR-MONGERS FOR WHAT THEY ARE, DO NOT LET THESE THIEVES & LIARS GET AWAY WITH MURDER & KILLING (IN WARS), DECEPTION, ARAB GENOCIDE & PERPETUAL VIOLENCE (FAKE TERRORIST BOMBINGS DESIGNED TO SCARE US ALL INTO SUBMISSION), JUST SO THEY CAN ALL BE RICHER THAN THEY DESERVE TO BE & LIVE A LAZY, SELFISH LIFESTYLE OF EXTRAVAGANCE, DECADENCE & SHAMELESS LUXURY...

IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, IT'S ALL ABOUT CHASING MONEY & REMAINING IN POWER FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE... KEEPING THE HARD-WORKING OPPRESSED PEOPLE QUIET & SUBSERVIENT... AND STEALING AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE FOR PERSONAL ENRICHMENT...

Greed and desire for absolute power and control over the world's oil, resources and money...that's what it is all about... not making the world a better place for everybody (that seems like too much work, or something that is too difficult for these incompetent leaders to imagine!...)

Peace is obviously bad for business... so if the military industrial complex does not have an enemy (no more Russian communists posing a threat), why not just INVENT new enemies, ones that are totally mysterious and impossible to identify? These new enemies are conveniently labeled as TERRORISTS, and anybody can be accused of being a TERRORIST or TERRORIST SUPPORTER... just so people in power can imprison anybody they like, legally, who happens to disagree with or criticize the mistakes of politicians or bosses who impose unfair wages.

NAZIS STAGED A FAKE TERRORIST ATTACK ON THE GERMAN PARLIAMENT HOUSE, KNOWN AS THE REICHSTAG FIRE, TO SCARE MOST POLITICIANS INTO TRUSTING HITLER (HITLER WAS FUNDED BY MAJOR BANKERS & FINANCIERS WHO WANTED GERMANY TO DESTROY RUSSIA).

HITLER BUILT UP A POWERFUL ARMY USING MONEY FROM US & UK FINANCIERS, DRESSED UP A BUNCH OF NAZIS AS POLISH WORKERS WHO LATER KILLED SEVERAL GERMANS NEAR THE POLISH BORDER, AND THIS WAS USED AS JUSTIFICATION TO ATTACK, INVADE & OCCUPY POLAND.

HITLER LATER DECIDED TO ATTACK BRITAIN & THAT'S WHEN THE BANKERS CHANGED THEIR MINDS & ENDED THE US DEPRESSION, LOANING PLENTY OF MONEY TO THE US GOVERNMENT TO BUILD UP AN ARMY...

THE BRITISH CONSPIRED WITH THE JAPANESE, URGING THE JAPS TO ATTACK THE U.S. , CLAIMING THEY WOULD SUPPORT THE JAPANESE, SO THE JAPS WENT AHEAD THINKING THE BRITISH WOULD SUPPORT THEM, BUT THE ULTERIOR MOTIVE OF THE BRITISH WAS TO PROVOKE THE U.S. INTO JOINING THE WAR AND HELP BRITAIN DEFEAT HITLER & THE NAZIS...

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT LIED TO THE JAPANESE AND PLANNED THE PEARL HARBOUR ATTACKS... THE SAME THING IS HAPPENING TODAY... BRITISH FORCES HAVE BEEN SETTING UP BOMBS TO KILL INNOCENT IRAQIS & WESTERN PEOPLE IN LONDON, BALI, ETC. TO TRY TO GAIN SYMPATHY FOR THE WAR ON TERROR, AND TO SET UP "POLICE STATE" LAWS IN ORDER TO CONTROL ANGRY PEOPLE, WHEN THEY REALIZE THE ENTIRE WORLD ECONOMY HAS COLLAPSED AND ALL THE BANKERS OWN EVERYTHING OF VALUE. GET THE REAL (UNSANITIZED) NEWS!

By Anon E posted 8 November 05

Terrified scapegoats 'kept in dark'

The lawyer representing nine men facing terrorism charges [scapegoats for the Coalition of the Killing's resource wars in the Middle East] says he must wait an unacceptably long time for police to provide a brief of evidence.

Police 'had role in' Bali blasts

INDONESIAN [politicians,] police or military officers may have played a role in the 2002 Bali bombing, the country's former president, Abdurrahman Wahid has said.

Related:

Bush, God and Transnationals
The tragedy (for the entire world) is not that Bush is delusional, mentally unstable and intellectually challenged - that is well known. Rather, it is that he remains as commander in chief of the USA - placed in that position by commercial and other financial interests.

Dissent Isn't Taken Lightly Down Under
Historian Michael Foley said during times of war pacifists often get mugged. As a nonviolent activist working to end the war in Iraq and the corporate war profiteering that comes with it, September 2005 has been the most surreal time of my life and I definitely feel like I got mugged by Australian Attorney General Phillip Ruddock and the Australian government.

Bush responds to political crisis with lies and new war threats
President George W. Bush's speech Thursday on "the war on terror" constitutes a sobering measure of both his government's desperate political crisis and the threat that it will try to extricate itself from this crisis through escalating militarism.

Iran helps kill our soldiers: Britain... yeh right!
With Bush talking up the threat of Iran in the same way he did before illegally invading Iraq we now have the British linking Iran with deaths of British soldiers in Iraq.

Iraq's constitutional referendum makes a mockery of democracy
Iraq's referendum on the draft constitution to be held on October 15 has turned into a farce. Last Sunday, the US-backed ruling coalition of Kurdish and Shiite fundamentalist parties amended the country's electoral laws to virtually guarantee a positive result.

How STUPID are the Americans? DON'T GET CAUGHT BETWEEN AN ADDICT AND HIS DRUG! Saddam Hussien was a dealer. We knew he was unstable and couldn't be trusted, but he was OUR dealer. We depended on him. Things you normally wouldn't even think about doing aren't an obstacle when you're addicted.

It's not the terrorists' it's us
While we watch the latest round of appalling violence and mayhem spilling across our screens it is worth considering its cause.

It's better to cry wolf now than to wait until the oil has run out No one knows how much is left, but humankind can't wait any longer before coming up with alternatives. And next in the queue? Who knows? All I can say is that George Bush himself does not appear to share the US Geological Survey's optimism. "In terms of world supply," he said in March, "I think if you look at all the statistics, demand is outracing supply, and supplies are getting tight." What has he seen that we haven't?

Cindy Sheehan Arrested Outside the WhiteHouse
USA: Cindy Sheehan - the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who set up camp outside George Bush's ranch recently - was amongst dozens arrested today outside the Whitehouse. Read her inspirational statement or non-violent action.

Eye's on the prize
Georgie Ann Geyer, who may be America's most perceptive international affairs columnist, wrote in the Saturday, September 17 Washington Times about a recent Washington conference concerning the mess in the Middle East. That could, of course, have been a conference topic back as far as the First Triumvirate, when an earlier Crassus lost his head in the Land Between the Rivers. We can only hope we are not as close to the loss of the republic itself as Rome was by that time.

Bush, Howard, Blair, Axis of Evil
From bad to worse is the new sub-text slogan for Bush and his administration. Appearing on US media, flanked by Cheney, Rumsfeld and numerous other (wooden) neo-cons, Bush repeated his rehearsed lines - "we are problem solvers".

A Confused Morality
The immorality of US presidential advisor Karl Rove can not compare in magnitude to the immorality of the US wars of aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan. The Nuremberg trials set a precedent which should be applicable here.

US-inflicted carnage on Iraqi people
The Dossier of Civilian Casualties 2003-2005, published this month by the organisation Iraq Body Count (IBC), is the most detailed assessment to date of how the illegal US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq have caused the death and injury of tens of thousands of civilians.

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.

Resistance in Iraq legitimate: Sadr
Moqtada Sadr says he will not take part in Iraq's political process while the US remains. Resistance to foreign troops in Iraq is "legitimate", Shiite leader Mr Moqtada Sadr said.

Don't Blame Bush
Maybe you think that it's all just a bad dream. In a few years there will be a new President of the United States and everything will be different then. Everything will be back to normal. The bad news is, you are awake. The really bad news is, it isn't Bush.

Suicide bombers may target PM: UK
AUSTRALIA: UK bombers are warning fascist war criminals like john HoWARd that they could become victims to suicide bombers if they continue to pre-emptively kill, maim and torture innocent indigenous people in sovereign nation states like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Galloway breaks consensus over London bombings
He said: "The purpose of terrorism is not only to kill and maim the innocent. It is to put despair and anger and hatred in people's hearts. [Also as a call to arms for the British people to try to legitimise the occupation's of Iraq and Afghanistan and to continue with their resource wars in the Middle East.]

London terror bombings: a political crime!
Once again, the world is witnessing horrific scenes of death, injury and suffering sustained by people who bear no responsibility for the crimes committed by their governments.

Galloway: Cry for social change
Then there came a time when the colonies said, "We want to become independent and free." Now we are returning to the colonies we were driven out of. The most significant of these is Iraq.

UK false flag: where the bombers struck
The London transport system was coping with the peak of the morning rush hour when the coordinated terror attack the capital had feared became reality.

Zarqawi: Everywhere and nowhere
AMMAN, Jordan - A remarkable proportion of the violence taking place in Iraq is regularly credited to the Jordanian Ahmad al-Khalayleh, better known as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and his al-Qaeda-linked organization in Iraq.

US confirms civilian deaths in Afghan air strike!
American-led forces have mistakenly killed scores of Afghan civilians since engineering the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, including 48 who died when a wedding party came under attack three years ago.

Labor, 'Showroom Dummies'
Labor does not oppose illegal and degrading wars? Nor do they stand up for renditioned and tortured citizens, welfare rights, people held in detention for years on end? Or anything else that matters to the marginalised voters who have to rely on the minor parties time and time again for some support.

Australia: Lib/Lab Cult Squad
AUSTRALIA: WHEN pastor peter costello delivered a speech in July last year from the pulpit of the hillsong church, an 18,000-strong cult, based in Sydney's northwestern suburbs, most people wrote them off, all accept those neo-liberals who were seeking the gargoyle vote.

Back to kill the innocent
THE fascist Federal government will send Australian militants and guerrillas to war on Afghanistan, two years after they were last deployed there in the mountains full of indigenous people.

Crush, Kill, Destroy, Labor Wants War on Afghanistan
Labor's Pre-emptive war spokesman, robert mcClelland, says Australia needs to redeploy troops to Afghanistan after an attack today against a US helicopter left 17 missing.

Howard off to US, UK - part 5
PART-5- PRIME minister john hoWARd will meet US president george w buSHIT, British prime minister tony blair and queen 'imperialism' herself during a 10-day visit to the United States and the UK next month.

Searching for resistance in Afghanistan
Tribal leaders listen in a meeting in Miana Shien, Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, on Saturday in an attempt to end the fighting that has killed more than 175 freedom fighters since Tuesday.

Battlelines drawn on Security Council
THE US has outlined its first detailed position on UN Security Council reform, proposing a limited expansion of the permanent membership by two nations - one of them Japan - and foreshadowing a major statement next week on specific criteria to be met by candidate countries.

Bush's demon-aid tactic strikes again
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the George W Bushit's mastermind demon to help bolster support to continue to wage the US-led Illegal and degrading war on Iraq. Another report that senior aide to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (a George Bushit demon) used time and time again, as an excuse to wage war in Iraq has allegedly been captured.

Zarqawi tape 'magic': ABRACADABRA
An [alleged] audio recording in which Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, alleged Al Qaeda's leader [scapegoat and patsy in the resource wars who must have bled to death in Iraq by now], 'already', denies reports that he has been seriously wounded, and that's magic, says Mr Houdini, a magician.

Lying and bullshitting the same thing
Australia: The Un-Australian Newspaper: "AS well as all the bullshit in politics, there's even more in our metaphoric and colloquial language. Bullshit is the subject of serious philosophical inquiry in a little book called On Bullshit, published by the 'highly respected' Princeton University Press. To the surprise and delight of the author, it's stampeding out of bookshops all over the world."

Is this our most dangerous Newspaper?
The Daily Terrorist should be managed with manacles and flown into Siberia via a jumbo jet tomorrow amid fears government fascists may attempt to use them again on someone else.

IRAQ: Washington gives up on Iraqi security forces?
According to a United Press International report published the next day, General John Abizaid, who directs all US military forces in the Middle East, described the progress in developing Iraqi forces to fight the anti-occupation resistance as "disappointing".

UN Dialogue among Civilizations
This roundtable is a contribution to the UN Dialogue among Civilizations project that began in September 2000. At the first round table debate on Dialogue among Civilizations, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN stated that, cultural diversity - in his opinion - is not only the basis for the Dialogue among Civilizations, but also the reality that makes dialogue necessary, since the perception of diversity as a threat is the very seed of war. [The role of religion in creating a culture of peace and moving on from a culture of fear.]

Zarqawi' figment of the US imagination, used time, and time again! US propaganda 'terror monster' the alleged Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq has been used by the US and its Coalition of the Killing as an excuse so many times he has bled to death, surely?

BUSH ON TRIAL
Tuesday May 17, 2005, Brussels - Today, representatives of the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) delivered a law summon and invitation letter addressed to President Bush at the US Embassy in Brussels.

Iraqi police vent anger at US after car bombings
Iraqi police hurled insults at US soldiers after two suicide car bomb blasts in Baghdad killed at least seven people and left 19 wounded, including policemen. "It's all because you're here," a policeman shouted in Arabic at a group of US soldiers after the latest in a bloody wave of attacks that have rocked Baghdad this month. "Get out of our country and there will be no more explosions," he told the uncomprehending Americans staring at the smouldering wreck of a car bomb.

UK report shows Iraq war illegal: former defence chief
Ruling Class Lord Goldsmith said a final UN resolution may be needed, that hard evidence of Iraqi non-compliance may have been required, and the UK could face sanction by international courts.

300,000 Iraqis protest occupation and genocide
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Chanting "Death to America" and burning effigies of President Bush and Saddam Hussein, tens of thousands of Iraqis flooded central Baghdad on Saturday in what police called the largest anti-American protest since the fall of Baghdad, the capital, exactly two years ago.

Annan calls for human rights agency revamp!
The commission has been harshly criticised recently by human rights groups claiming it has become less of a body for upholding human rights, and more of a haven for violators.

Attacks kill 21 two years after Iraq invasion
IRAQ: At least 21 people were killed on Sunday in attacks mainly targeting US/Iraqi security forces on the two-year anniversary of the US-led illegal and degrading war on of Iraq.

Wolfowitz's World Bank nomination worries Oxfam
The head of Oxfam in Australia has raised concerns about the nomination of US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as the next head of the World Bank.

USA - FEELING THE HEAT FROM INTERNATIONAL FIRE:
It seems the United States of America (The World Watchdog) is dictating and practising double-standards --- a unique law for America and another set of laws for all other countries.

CALL TO ACTION of the ANTI-WAR ASSEMBLY
Two years after the invasion of Iraq, there is more opposition to the war in the US, in the coalition countries, and all over the world than ever before.

Returning veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan
In the last two years, nearly one million U.S. service-members have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Regardless of how you may feel about the war, most of us agree that those service-members deserve the best possible care and treatment our country can provide.

The Veil of Freedom
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two years after the invasion of Iraq and just weeks before the country's first free election, [occupation, US puppet gov't] "Amina" began wearing a headscarf for the first time in her life. Her father insisted upon it.

Iraqi women eye Islamic law
BAGHDAD - Covered in layers of flowing black fabric that extend to the tips of her gloved hands, Jenan al-Ubaedy knows her first priority as one of some 90 women who will sit in the national assembly: implementing Islamic law.

IRAQ: Shiite and Sunnis to unite against occupation?
Iraq: "I call on all religious and political powers that pushed towards the elections and took part in them to issue an official statement calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq", Moqtada al Sadr, the popular young Iraqi Shiite cleric who last year led an armed rebellion against the US-led occupation, declared on February 4.

Democracy, Iraqi style
"In a darkened hall, candidates for Iraq's main Shia party sit listening to a turbaned cleric speaking into a microphone. They are being told how to campaign for the election without getting killed.

Violence continues ahead of Iraq Shoe Sale
Pre-Shoe Sale violence in Iraq is showing no signs of abating with the deaths today of two American militants following on from yesterday's killing of 22 US/Iraqi militants.

US transport company pulls out of Iraq
A large American transport company has become the first contractor to pull out of Iraq because of the continuing violence.

Rumsfeld's war, torture and occupation ideology!
War criminal Donald Rumsfeld faced critical questioning at a Washington media conference, after the announcement that it was a suicide bomber who caused the blast inside a US military base in Mosul yesterday, killing 22 people including 14 illegal militants.

Annan admits to a tough year
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan admits he has had his worst year at the United Nations and he is looking forward to it being over.

Iraq sale to be contested by 100 buyers
A hundred buyers, blocs and independents will contest Iraq's first shoe sale, in decades, on January 30, the George Dubya Bushit - Iraqi Sales Commission (GDB/ISC) said.

Fallujah refugees in desperate need of aid: UN
More than 200,000 people who fled Fallujah ahead of the US attack have yet to return and many are in desperate need of aid, with temperatures in Iraq heading towards freezing, a new UN emergency report says.

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.

Indonesians rally against Fallujah assault
About 8,000 Indonesian Muslims have staged a peaceful rally against a major US-led assault on Iraq's rebel city of Fallujah, which has claimed 2,000 lives.

UK politicians launch Blair impeachment bid
Parliamentarians and celebrity campaigners have launched a bid to impeach UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for "gross misconduct" over his justification for the Iraq war.

'This One's Faking He's Dead' 'He's Dead Now'
Fallujah: Video shows US soldier killing wounded insurgent in cold blood
by Andrew Buncombe in Washington.

US: Very superstitious? Writing's on the wall!
The US military says it has discovered close to 20 torture sites in the course of its massive attack against the resistance in the Iraqi city of Fallujah?

World Vision Aust pulls out of Iraq
The organisation says the country has simply become too dangerous and its decision to leave was made before the apparent murder of Care Australia's Iraq director Margaret Hassan.

US Senator slams !!! 'dysfunctional, rogue' CIA
Influential US Republican Senator John McCain blasted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a "dysfunctional" and "rogue" organisation that needs to be reformed.

Civilian death toll to rise in Fallujah
The attack on the Iraqi city of Fallujah has taken its toll on Iraqi civilians no doubt including children and young babies. Iraqi's have witnessed civilian casualties. Yesterday during the assault on the main hospital nurses and patients were blindfolded after the US/Iraq militia stormed the main hospital and took control.

Illusionary demons blamed for US led Attack Iraq, Fallujah
In the name of an illusionary figure thought up by US militants suggests that Al Qaeda's? ally "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi" has called on Muslims to take up arms against their US enemy as American militia attacked the Iraqi city of Fallujah? Just a coincidence or just good timing?

Full-scale attack on Fallujah begins
Correspondents say radio traffic heard at a US militant's staging post just outside Fallujah indicates US/Iraqi militia have moved at least four blocks into Fallujah, and are still advancing.

US/Iraqi militants storm Fallujah hospital
United States troops and US/Iraqi militia have seized the main hospital in the Iraqi city of Fallujah without a fight, according to a pool reporter travelling [in-bed] with the troops. Those in hospital beds did not resist they were too sick and the doctor kept on operating regardless.

US warplanes and artillery attack Fallujah!
Journalists [in-bed] with the US military say warplanes fired at suspected resistance targets around Fallujah as night fell on Sunday, while artillery shells pounded a nearby town.

State of emergency: Allawi 'killer of saints'
The US puppet, Iyad Allawi otherwise known as "Sock" killer of saints has declared a state of emergency for 60 days to quell violent resistance gripping the country ahead of January's shoe sale.

US Empire Votes For Pre-Emptive War!!!
United States President George Dubya Bushit has been re-elected, winning four more years to press his war on liberty after a bitter campaign against Democrat John Kerry that focused on the US empire's role as - imperialists - initiating pre-emptive war - on the sovereign nation of Iraq - without the United Nations approval and in direct contravention of International law.

Saddam's family dismiss lawyer
The family of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has dismissed the head of his defence team. Other team members had accused the lawyer, Mohammad Rashdan, of acting without consulting them.

Who's counting the dead in Fallujah? CARE?
In distress: CARE says it is deeply concerned about the wellbeing of Mrs Hassan. But who's counting the dead in Fallujah?

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.

Unknown News Update - 2009
More than 103 times as many people have been killed in these wars and occupations than in all terrorist attacks in the world from 1993-2004. About 241 times as many people have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq than in the ghastly attacks of September 11, 2001.

Bushite group threatens civil liberties in Iraq
Allegedly a group led by George W Bushite has forced freedom fighters to threaten to behead a Japanese hostage it said worked with Japanese forces in Iraq if Tokyo does not withdraw its forces from the country within 48 hours.

US secretly moved prisoners out of Iraq for questioning: report
The CIA has secretly transferred detainees out of Iraq for interrogation after asking the US Justice Department to write a memo justifying the practice, which violates the Geneva Conventions.

Weapons inspectors missed WMD in Iraq
An Iraqi minister has said United Nations nuclear inspectors are welcome to return in response to concerns of an "apparent systematic dismantlement" of Saddam Hussein's once-vigorous nuclear program.

US accused of breaching international law
The United States is violating international law by holding prisoners in its war on terror incommunicado and in secret hiding places, Human Rights Watch said in a report to be published on Tuesday calling for an end to such practices.

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.

UN warns of Iraqi malnutrition
One in four Iraqis are dependent on food rations to survive and many of them have to sell what little food they have for basic necessities like medicine and clothes, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said.

Jordan's king doubts Iraqi elections possible
Iraq is far too unsafe to hold elections as scheduled in January and extremists would do well in the poll if Baghdad tried to hold it, Jordan's King Abdullah said in an interview. Excluding troubled areas from the nationwide poll would only isolate Iraq's Sunnis and create deeper divisions in the country, he said.

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.

Bush team 'knew of abuse' at Guantanamo
Evidence of prisoner abuse and possible war crimes at Guantanamo Bay reached the highest levels of the Bush administration as early as autumn 2002, but Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, chose to do nothing about it, according to a new investigation.

Journalists ordered to leave Najaf as fighting continues
Journalists have been kicked out of Najaf as clashes flared in the Iraqi city, prompting speculation that a major United States-led assault on enemy Shiite fighters was imminent.

Enemy Mortars attack opening of Iraqi summit
US Enemies have fired mortars at a meeting where Iraqi puppet government leaders met to pick an interim national assembly, killing at least two people.

Iraqi Women in the Occupation Prisons As Material and Means of Violations It is important to say at the beginning that there are many psychological, social and cultural obstacles for Iraqi women to talk openly about what they actually went through inside the occupation prisons.

Ancient Babylon ruined by foreign troops: Iraqi minister
Iraq: Foreign forces in Iraq have caused severe damage to the site of ancient Babylon, one of the world's most renowned archaeological treasures, and need to leave the area as soon as possible, Iraq's Culture Minister Mofeed al-Jazaeri said.

Whatcha Gonna Do, When They Come For You? Bad boy!
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was a threat and sought to possess weapons of mass destruction, United States President George W Bush reaffirmed when asked why no such weapons had been discovered in Iraq.

Saddam trial US propaganda
Saddam Hussein's trial will play an important part in the US election no doubt and for that to work at its potential just put a "women" behind it "She called the trials". Then add some "cleansing" like she's just doing the dishes and then some "reconciliation" by slaying Hussein during a US election. Now you can go and tell everyone you're reversing the trauma but really you're killing two birds with one Saddam.