It was 2.10pm when the United States flag trooped onto the floor of the House of Representatives.

The Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, was asking a question which implied the Prime Minister had given secret undertakings to the US that would have undermined the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Then in came the stars and stripes, draped as a scarf around the neck of a female member of a US congressional delegation, led by George Bush's good buddy, the US ambassador, Tom Schieffer.

The Americans sat behind the Government benches, while John Howard animatedly assured the house that nothing - overt or covert - in the trade deal his Government had struck with the US undermined the national interest.

•  Introduce a new offence of associating with a person linked with a terrorist organisation which will see innocent people imprisoned and undermine freedom of association.

•  Grant to the authorities the power to prevent people from leaving Australia even before an ASIO warrant has been issued against them;

•  Grant to the authorities the power to seize foreign passports from suspects;

•  Allow the Attorney-General to transfer convicted and remand prisoners to another state 'in the interest of security';

The Games that represented sportsmanship, the amateur ideal and international co-operation in my '60s childhood have degenerated into a crude farce. IOC corruption and massive government training subsidies have killed the amateur status of the Games. Drug cheating, routine litigation, denials of natural justice, terror acts and threats, corporate sponsorship - on and on and on it goes.

Worst of all is the jingoistic nationalist fervour we'll have to endure because some athlete can run/jump/ride a bit faster or whatever than their peers. Good on them, but it's totally out of perspective, and too many of my tax dollars are spent for every medal.

I don't believe the Olympics in their current incarnation can be adequately reformed. So, since the Greeks gave us the Olympics and the modern Olympiad started there, now is a good time to call these Athens Olympics the last.

Also, and just as important, abolish the Australian Institute of Sport, which is a wasteful monument to elitism, and put the money into local sports for all.

Mark Freeman: Letter to The Age, 6 August 2004
Also: Late Night Live: Stop testing and legalise the lot (second discussion)

Johnny's worried sick that boyfriend Georgie might break off the engagement over Latham's FTA amendments. "He's not going to think of me as the "man of steel" any more," he was heard to wail from the shuttered confines of Kirribilli House. "There, there, dear," soothed Australia's woman of an-as-yet-unidentified-metal-but-thought-to-originate-in-a-galaxy-far-from-Canberra, "don't you worry your round little head. The voters aren't listening. Remember? You've bought them off." Sounds of spittle-flecked, hysterical laughter issued from the man who, according to a recent scientific discovery, was never actually born and therefore can never die. --HH

On August 10, John Howard told his MPs and senators the election would be held at a time that would be in the national interest. "And the national interest is that the government be returned," he said. That's the American national interest, of course. --HH

"...if her eventual contribution to the country reaches 1 percent of the contribution of those signatories, I'd be surprised" (Roy Stall)

:Her attempts to silence and denigrate some of our most respected elders sets new lows--even for a politician. Our war veterans fought fascism once before. Now they are doing it again..." (Darryl Fry)

"Whether or not we wanted to hear it, De-Anne Kelly has provided us with her Government's definitive position on the relevance of age and employment status in regard to freedom of speech." (Peter Morgan)

The headmistress of one of the nation's most exclusive private schools has attacked the "hysteria" pressuring parents to choose a private education.

Lamenting the "greed" that leads to families being judged by their cars, homes and overseas holidays, Abbotsleigh Girls School principal Judith Wheeldon yesterday urged governments to improve public schools.

It follows a bitter parliamentary debate yesterday during which John Howard defended the $20billion funding for private schools.

Labor attacked the system as so over-the-top that one exclusive school, Frensham, offered boarding facilities for children's "dogs and ponies". Despite charging fees ranging from $8000 for kindergarten students and $17,000 a year for senior students, Ms Wheeldon declared that money did not always buy the best school for every child.

As the Howard Government accused the ALP of attempting to create a "class war" over schools funding, Opposition education spokesman Jenny Macklin told parliament that "old boys" threatening to attack the ALP over private school funding should get back to "watching the rugby".

What you are seeing here is a mosaic of George W. Bush made up of photos of American troops killed in Iraq. To view medium and larger versions, where the faces can be easily seen, click on link below. You may need to scroll down to Sunday, April 04, 2004.
American Leftist

"I mean what a creep if he was to call an election during the time that we're all going to be watching television and we're sort of saying to our stars, let's get going, let's win medals, I mean people don't care about politics during this time."

Our Government swears it has agreed to nothing that would add to the cost of the PBS, but various academic experts in intellectual property law see loopholes in the free trade agreement that the US drug companies are bound to exploit over time. Those academics doubt that Latham's amendment is sufficient to solve the problem.

In this and other areas, the agreement gives US companies considerable scope to use our courts to argue the toss with our Government when it seeks to do something they believe is contrary to the provisions of the agreement.

Now consider this. The deal prohibits Australian companies from exporting drugs to the US (and thereby undercutting local US drug prices). Our Government says this is not a problem because Australian law already prohibits such exports. What we've given up, however, is our ability to change that law should we see fit at some point in the future.

So I suspect the deal involves us giving up a fair bit of our future room to move - selling off a slice of our sovereignty - particularly in the ever more important area of intellectual property.

And don't forget that, should our Government persist with actions the Americans consider contrary to the agreement, they have the right to impose sanctions on us.

The statement by the "group of 43" represents the strongest critique for decades of any Australian government from within our former foreign policy and military establishment.

It exposes the strategic and cultural gulf Iraq has created inside the national security cognoscenti. No sophistry by the Howard Government can conceal its import. Nor can the cheap and pathetic jibes by Coalition footsoldiers about daiquiri diplomats, the sign of a government that feels guilty.

In John Howard's pre-election search for another Tampa, the best he's come up with so far is the free trade agreement with the United States.

As a wedge issue the trade deal doesn't have nearly the same populist appeal as the need to defend our shores against marauding refugees, of course, but the parallels with Tampa are surprisingly strong.

The key to wedge politics - to hammering an issue that drives a wedge through the other side's ranks - is to find a populist subject about which your own supporters have no moral qualms but the other side's supporters have plenty.

The Labor Party is highly susceptible to wedging because it contains a majority of pragmatists who think they have no choice but to bow to populism, but a large minority who can't see the point of being in politics if you don't stand up for your principles.

As one of the 43 co-signatories of the call for truth in government by former defence chiefs, department heads and diplomats, I wish to make clear that I - and, I believe, my colleagues - would not sign a letter accusing the Government of deception if we only believed it had been misled by faulty intelligence.

Every government knows (and is so advised by its intelligence services) that all intelligence appreciations are no more than estimates based on incomplete and uncertain information and do not equate with policy advice. What this Government did was to publicise selected bits of raw intelligence (while, as Hans Blix says, replacing question marks with exclamation marks). It did not reveal the significance that trained intelligence analysts attached to this information.

Those appreciations are still not in the public domain but to me and other professionals it seems probable that they would amount to confidence that Iraq did not have the military capability to harm Australia, the US or Britain (or to defeat Israel) and extreme improbability that Saddam Hussein would cooperate with Osama bin Laden.

Likewise not in the public domain is policy advice from the Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade as to the pros and cons of Australia going to war in this way. Again, professionals can make an informed guess as to what such advice would have been: that the foreseeable costs and risks far outweighed the likely gains. They can also wonder whether such advice was sought or, if tendered, whether it was weighed by the Government. Instead, the Government encouraged the public to draw unwarranted inferences that Saddam's weapons justified a military invasion.

Likewise it strongly suggested that Australia's relationship with the United States required Australia to join in the invasion. As others have said, ANZUS does no such thing. Countries such as Canada and Mexico, which have a much greater stake than Australia in relations with the US, saw no need to follow it. Encouraging and accompanying a friend into foolish, wicked and self-damaging behaviour is not my definition of friendship.

On these two grounds I accuse the Government of deception. A third ground would be if it accuses me and my co-signatories of party political bias. Most of us have no ties to either side in politics- just a strong commitment to Australia.

No sooner had Shaun Carney reassured us that Mark Latham had a demi cubit of integrity and there was yet hope that the FTA would be put on the back burner, than crotchety old Terry Lane bobs up with a dose of realism. Terry thinks we've been sold out, full stop.

Meanwhile those who are paying attention are in perpetual motion as loop-de-looping yo-yo's: John Howard is on the back foot, wait, no he's not, Mark Latham is. Hold on, Mark's got the upper hand againŠand on it goes.

In a true democracy, the statement Military, diplomatic elite attack PM, due today, from more than 40 former military and diplomatic officers condemning Howard's foreign policy and lack of honesty would be a blow to the non-stick PM. But Australia is nothing more than a satrapy. As Michelle Grattan, says, the government will just keep blustering through.

Australia appears to be made up of outraged citizens, Rip Van Winkles, the Aspirational self-absorbed, and a dinky-di contingent of hardcore misanthropists, the modern equivalent of Nazi supporters.

If Labor fails its Tampa II, by passing the FTA in any form, Howard will not be ousted until the Winkles wake up. Which means that we're going to have to hit rock bottom before a party emerges to return us to democracy. --HH