Bliss In Boston

http://www.boston-legal.org/script/BL03x22.pdf

Ahhhhh.
Sometimes, just sometimes the US of A does it right, perfect, wonderful, fantastic.

In this episode of Boston Legal ( the best thing on TV EVER!) having had two Australians held at Gitmo Bay, the descriptions the fears, the concerns and the determination by we "loony lefties, cheese eating monkeys, chardonnay drinking, latte sipping, loopy libertarians" is perfectly explained. The writers of this fabulous show have it spot on.

Maboub Habib was taken (sold) to the Americans, flown to a place to be tortured and ended up in Guantanomo Bay. He was finally released back to Australia to tell his story and here it is being retold ( almost) in a wonderful show.

David Hicks is (after 5 years) back here in one of our own prisons (one of the agreements between the mighty Pressy and our PM) and hopefully will be reunited with his wife and children by Christmas time or New Year.

Thank you thank you Boston Legal and your writers for exposing all this so entertainingly ( for the hard of concentration/hearing/believing/ compassionate/political citizens of both US and Australia), so wittily, so cleverly, concise and brave.

Well done.
Kudos to YOU!!!!!

Only In America!!!(or not)

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place. It's worth reading to the end! Those of you who have worked with attorneys will find this very easy to understand. Others will find it easier.

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
_______________________________

ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
WITNESS: Forty-five years.
_____________________________________

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
____________________________________

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-one-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.
________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Would you repeat the question?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh....
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
______________________________________

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
____________________________________________

ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh?
____________________________________________

And the best for last

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Home at Last

Dr Haneef arrived back home in India last night.
Our "Immigration"minister Kevin Andrews said that there was something suspicious about his wanting to leave the country so quickly. In other words the good doctor should have sat around without a job, without an income and without a trust in the Australian legal system to face the next round of court appearances.

Dr Haneef is 27, the same age as my eldest daughter.

If it had been her in another country I would want her to return safely as quickly as possible.

After over 3 weeks in gaol and detention, with a new baby yet to meet, with a strong but anxious wife waiting, why wouldn't he want to get the hell out of this place?

Goodbye, good luck and if we never see your face here again we will understand.


Why would you want to return to a country where you were helping the sick in hospital only to be 'arrested' because one of your distant cousins in Britain MAY have been involved in an attempted 'terrorist' attack.

Good, gentle doctor go softly into that good night and hug your baby for us.

Free at last: charges dropped, but doubts remain - National - smh.com.au

Free at last: charges dropped, but doubts remain - National - smh.com.au

Dear Doctor Haneef,

On behalf of my family, I wish to apologise for the way in which you have been treated.
I am sorry.
I have tried my best for this not to happen in my own small way. Please forgive my errant government and the immoral hearts that control it. It is no shame to you what has happened. The shame is ours to bear and remember. Hopefully some good will come from this stupidity and we have woken up to some very very sobering facts."Innocent till proven guilty” is a right and the backbone to all democracies.
I am sorry.

Hopefully you will be home soon to meet for the first time your new baby daughter. You were on your way to be with your wife at this exciting time when the 'authorities' truncated your plans and whisked you away into a hell that was not of your devising nor one which you deserved.
We the 'chattering classes, latte sipping, chardonnay drinking, cheese eating monkeys and loopy libertarians' were right. We have been right about the 'war' on terror, the debacle of Iraq, the lies told to us about asylum seekers, and the important downgrading of our civil rights and freedoms.
I am sorry.

Please forgive Australia for our fear, stupidity, sheep-like mentality and our overarching foolishness.

Wishing you and your wonderful wife and daughter well.

TWENTY NINE LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

1.. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.
2.. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
4.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
5.. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
6.. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me
7.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
8.. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
9.. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are missing.
10.. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
11.. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
12.. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
13.. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
14.. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
15.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
16.. Being "over the hill" is much better than being under it!
17.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up!!!!
18 Procrastinate Now!
19.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
20.. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
21.. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
22.. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
23..They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.
24.. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
25.. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
26.. Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
27.. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
28.. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.
29.. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.

Favourites are;
No's; 2,3, 5,8,12, 13..but the best is 24!

Ethics

JOHN Howard says he is "not ashamed to say I inherited my mum's values: the Protestant work ethic, that if you work hard and if you're honest in your dealings with people, you will get your rewards".

Now the homeless on the streets of Australia ( as has been happening in America for ages) are more and more likely to be 'families'. Families in caravans, families under canvas, families in cars. We always thought this a perculiararity to the"American way of life" that the rich get richer and if you are poor it is YOUR fault.
Now it is being visited upon us as we move closer and closer to the USA's attitude to 'work', taxes, 'user pays', erosion of welfare, no rights at work for workers, and profit being the only master and motivator.

Most Protestant Australians were also brought up with the maxim of; "If you work hard and are honest in your dealings with people, you will get your reward".

There are too many out there now for the 'ethics' to be ignored. It is statistically significant proof that the 'pup' we were sold is a vicious mongrel.

So I hope that as night follows day, our PM gets his 'reward' here on earth...I hope he watches as his children get sick, his legs let him down and his wife leaves him. Maybe then he may see what the rest of us were talking about before he dies ( slow and painful without any recourse to euthanasia!)

GET UP - Rights Site

Dear GetUp Members,

The situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate with more loss of lives, with even more hardship to Iraqi civilians.

The serious divisions within Iraq, unleashed by the war itself, have not been reduced. The Iraqi government has made no significant steps towards reconciliation and accommodation between the warring parties.

This is a situation that cannot be controlled by military force. The troop surge, such as it was, failed. There were over half a million Americans in Vietnam. They failed. With only a fraction of that number in Iraq it should be no surprise that continued reliance on military means is not succeeding.

More and more Americans are coming to accept that withdrawal must take place. Senior and highly respected Republican Senators are deserting President Bush on this issue. The original objectives are almost entirely forgotten. There is no talk of Iraq establishing a benign, American style democracy that will spread to the rest of the Middle East.

Our withdrawal must be carefully planned, as a precipitous withdrawal in a week or a month would add to the chaos. And as the Baker-Hamilton Committee reported to Congress, all regional players, including Iran and Syria, must be drawn into discussions before we leave. Diplomacy now offers the only chance of a withdrawal accompanied by relative calm and peace.

One of the things we should say to the Americans, quite simply, is that if the United States is not prepared to involve itself in high level diplomacy concerning Iraq and other Middle East questions, our forces will be withdrawn before Christmas.

I encourage you to support GetUp's campaign for a change in policy. Add your voice below to the thousands who have spoken already. If enough speak, the Government has to listen.

https://www.getup.org.au/campaign/OurOwnPlanForIraq

Malcolm Fraser AC CH
Former Prime Minister of Australia

WHAT?

Linda speaks for me!

Why does this sect get my money?

TODAY I discovered that the Federal Government funded schools run by the Exclusive Brethren by $20.7 million in 2006.

This secretive, fundamentalist sect bans members from attending university and censors textbooks of school-age children. Science texts have entire chapters removed. Modern novels are banned and novels that are permitted are censored.

Anyone not a member is considered an "outsider". Members are taught to shun "outsiders".

How is it then that my tax money funds a group that refuses all association with me?

The Exclusive Brethren also teaches its women to be subservient to their fathers and husbands.

Julie Bishop is Minister for Education, Science and Training, and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Women's Issues. Clearly though, she is not concerned about a group teaching its women subservience, and she is not concerned about group that cuts entire chapters from science texts, and she is not concerned about a group that bans university education.

But wait, the Exclusive Brethren has been funding the electioneering of the Liberal Party.

Linda Robinson, Warrandyte

Be Aware..be very aware!

"A court with a mission is a menace. A Supreme Court with a mission is tyranny."

Patrick Neil QC

For Dr Haneef

"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
"Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
"Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
"Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me."

(Pastor Martin Niemoeller c.1946)

Thought for the Day

"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
Jonathon Swift

Oh So We Can Be Reassured Then?

As Reported in The Australian by David King

JOHN Howard has declared Sydney will be open for business during the APEC leaders' summit, despite the tightest security measures ever seen in Australia.

Earlier yesterday Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said there would be no need for the 21 foreign government delegations to bring their own weapons to the summit.

"We believe that the arrangements we put in place are appropriate for protecting all of the participants in relation to an important event like APEC and also other events," he said.

Mr Howard said the Harbour Bridge would remain open, as would key transport, the Harbour Tunnel and the eastern and western distributors.

The hotels at which the leaders were staying would be open to other guests but there would be a heavy security presence. The meeting venues, the Opera House and Government House, would be closed, along with parts of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre would also be closed between August 28 and September 9.

The Circular Quay bus terminal would be moved to Elizabeth Street for three days.

Sweeping security powers granted under a special APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act will lead to parts of Sydney being declared zones where police will have stop and search powers. Some city blocks, labelled as the APEC precinct, will be covered by the new law.

Mr Howard said APEC was "the most important international meeting that Australia has ever hosted".

"Never before will you have, in one part of Australia, the presidents of the US, Russia and China, the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of Indonesia," he said.

"We will, in fact, be hosting the first visit to Australia of a head of government or head of state, from either the Russian Federation or the former Soviet Union."

Early meetings of the 21 APEC member states will begin on September 2, and the two-day APEC leaders' meeting will start on September 8.

Friday, September 7, has been declared a public holiday. The public has been told to expect delays between the airport and the city.

Grrrrrrrr!

One Thing to Watch for:

"The more strident the denial, the more dismissive the voice, the more exaggerated the example, the closer to the truth the statement causing the outburst must be."

Eight Random Facts

Ta Bird for dobbing me in!
I don't know 8 other bloggers so I don't know what to do about it.

Here goes:

1. I first voted at the tender age of 18 for the National ( Country) Party because my parents did. Back then it was the party for 'The Man on The Land' ( bar-boom!). It was suppose to represent the needs and concerns of the farmers and primary producers. Now it is a pathetic part of the coalition Government who has taken our stupid country to war because of our Americanphilic Prime Minister.

2. I used to believe in God until I was around 40 years of age.
It is a long story and has already been told and now I just find it boring. However I have now moved on further to believe that if people teach their children anything about an imaginary friend before they are 18 then it is tantamount to child abuse!

3. I joined the navy when I was 17. I became a Radio Operator (Morse) and this was before married women were allowed to stay in the armed services and before women were allowed on- board ships.
Looking back I realise I did it because my dad was a radio operator in the army during WW11 and I wanted his approval. I grew up fast and within 9 months opted out.

4. I wish I hadn't changed my name when I got married. I didn't know it was an option. Even now my partner says I could change it back anytime at all and he would be ok with that.

5. I am the only person in my family who has not been overseas. Extended family included.

6. I am more angry now than ever about the state of injustice in the community, state, country, region and world. My earliest memory was of being upset by the pain of another little child. I was around 3 years of age. I have never ever stopped reacting the same way.

7. I am tired of always being the peacemaker in the family. I am always the one to forgive no matter what but be warned that I will be 'cut off' at a moments notice if they feel I have done something wrong.

8. I am afraid. I am afraid of being noticed any more. I am afraid of being castigated publicly and pointed at. I am afraid of the judgement of others and I hate it. I was nearly to the point of not caring when all hell broke loose. It has not dissipated. It is now just been rusted on to who I am.

DONE!

God's Teeth Prime Minister!!!

More baggage for PM over $100,000 jet refit

July 13, 2007 - 9:10AM

Prime Minister John Howard says he is unaware of details of a planned taxpayer-funded refit of his air force jet.

More than $100,000 has been spent modifying one of the five jets used by Mr Howard to make more room for luggage, ABC Radio reported today.

"The request originated from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to provide greater storage capacity on intercontinental (flights)," the department told ABC Radio in a statement.

"There is fairly limited storage space in the passenger area, particularly when the aircraft is full."

But the prime minister would not directly confirm specifics of the upgrade when asked on radio today.

"I don't know all the details of that," Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

But he defended his use of the jet, saying it was often used by other politicians flying from Perth to Canberra.

"The plane is often full," he said.

"I am aware that there was concern about luggage space."

Mr Howard went on to criticise journalists for reporting on the taxpayer-funded refit at the same time as media outlets have demanded their journalists travel aboard the prime ministerial aircraft on international trips.

The media request followed the crash of a Garuda airliner in Indonesia in March that killed Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish and seriously injured Sydney Morning Herald reporter Cynthia Banham.

And so it goes that he cannot find $100,000 a year for the poor to have their teeth fixed by the tax payer funded dentists who are rough and ready at the best of times...either young'uns who are practising or semi retired who are doing it for pin money.
This is the leader who declared 11 years ago that he was going to make all Australians "relaxed and comfortable" and who was going to govern for 'all Australians' especially 'the battlers'.

Nasty nasty little man!

July 12

The air was clear, cool, crisp
July being the coldest month
Flowers in profusion marking the pain
mingled with the private lives of parents

She was a gentle woman
Greatly hard done by
She delighted in simple ordinary things
She was above rubies

It marked a day of confusion
"What colour is it?"
declared her entry into this world
and the shame was ever thus

So it was remembered
This day 86 years ago
The loss was cool on the face
And palatable

Missed, still loved and in others
is her eternal life
As is lived by two generations
Adored, adorned, absent now.

Life

Thirty Years

It was thirty hours
It was thirty years ago
It was a time of fear and wonder
It was the first of three.

He was a hard time coming
He was a special addition
He was a beauty
He was a sign of love.

Overseas so far away
Over there in a foreign clime
Over where he can't be held
Over where he can't be reached.

The body weeps with memory
Of a time of pain and sensation
The body that pushed and pulsed
With love and joy.

Happy life from now on
Happy life now that is before
Happy times dotted with sorrow
Is what life has in store

A boy, a joy, a man, now.

The Dining Table

The winter sun slants crossways into the shop front
full of other peoples junk and memories.
The smell of old leather from jackets and saddles
of old milk churns and blackened stoves.

Small delicate saucers surround the space
forks lined up like ballet dancers circling the table top.
Old records, cameras, old chairs
circle the huge warehouse and stare centre stage.

Then, a table, heavy and carved moves into view
Chairs relined and scratched with long ago hands
snuggle under the skirt of intricate carvings
the dark wood heavy and marked, calling out.

Touching the top with its miriad of momentos
a sense of time gone, family worn, death and pain
Of happy times, parents at either end
scowling at belligerent children to chide.

The curved legs of table and chair make an artistic sight.
Echoes of moving legs, in out, flopping down upon.
Tears rise unexpected with the spirit of the piece.
A sense of happiness, of tension, of loss.

Please Mr Howard (Donate)

Louise Barry's plea to the Prime Minister.

Freedom???

A report from The Australian:

At a conference in Sydney last night, Sir Gerard Brennan (former high court chief justice ) said the anti-terror laws work against common law by enabling suspects to be imprisoned without trial.

"I confess that the legislation on common law immunities, the impact of it, troubled me when I discovered its extent,'' he said.

The laws had purposely draconian provisions, he said, which threatened personal liberty, freedom of expression, and allowed suspects to be imprisoned without trial.

"The terrorism legislation and the actions to be taken under it do impair the freedoms and immunities which the common law protects.''

Sir Gerard also said the laws may be seen as targeting Muslims.

"Inclusion of the motivational element in the definition may easily be understood as targeting the entire group who wish to advance the religious course of Islam,'' he said.

"A law which leaves itself open to such an interpretation fosters dissent, indeed it brands advancing a religious cause as an element in a heinous crime.''

Sir Gerard said anti-terror legislation should not divide, but unite people.

"It should not foster dissent which may fester into an ambition to destroy the values which the law is intended to defend.''

As we all suspected from the start when the Government rushed through these new provisions after the situation in the USA ( which had nothing to do with us as all)...we who are on the 'left' and believe in the retention of rights, freedoms and openness.
Bit by bit we are being incarcerated in our own fears and laws thereby declaring the unwinable war winable through our own stupidity and politics.
We created more terror out of the copy-cat attitude of our 'leader'. Following the weak and power hungry president.

Now the stage is set for the great invasion by the USA's navy. Our great city is to be closed down bit by bit, for 'security' reasons. The ships in port are not to be visited. The $2mill that will bleed into the Sydney community from the sailors on the Kitty Hawk are being drooled over by our leaders ( and the prostitutes in Kings Cross). Pick the difference!

OH how ashamed should we all be! Our beloved great port, pretty city and a section of this great land is being inundated by men in black, carrying radios, guns and microphones.
This is a sham, a shame and a disgrace.

Freedom of...???

From an article by Elissa Baxter comes this information:

Your online comments could land you in legal trouble.
You might regard what you say on the web as idle chatter - the written equivalent of shooting the breeze - but the law sees things differently and believes your blog, your email, your personal website and your posts in online forums are up for grabs as the subject of potential litigation.
The reason for this is that freedom of expression guaranteed by the web is not reflected in Australian law.

Most Australians would be horrified to know they don't have the right to the freedom of speech they think they have, says Robert Todd, media and defamation partner at Blake Dawson Waldron in Sydney. There is no written law that gives you a right to free speech in Australia. There is a general acknowledgement by the courts that it's a good principle but it is not enshrined anywhere as a right.

Unlike Americans, whose freedom of expression is a constitutional right, Australians have no legal protection if they express controversial views in public. The general population are blissfully unaware that they can be sued for defamation, prosecuted for contempt of court or jailed for sedition.

Material posted online is defamatory if it exposes a particular person to "hatred, contempt or ridicule" or lowers them in "the estimation of right-minded observers" or makes others "shun or avoid" them. Even if if you publish the 'truth' you can still be held incontempt even though the action will probably fail.

In Australia, defamation occurs wherever the material is read, seen, downloaded or heard. So no matter where material is originally posted or where a website is based, it is subject to Australian laws if it is read in any part of Australia.

The main reason not many actions come before the courts is simply money. Litigation is costly and the golden rule for every litigation lawyer is : only sue if a defendant you know can pay.
Even politicians can sue you if they wanted if your comments online are scurrilous..

A lot of people who go on to internet sites accept that it is a medium for free speech so they accept whatever is being said and they enter into a robust debate about it..

The actions , however, can be brought by police and the DPP. The police also have the power to force ISPs to reveal exactly where nefarious online material comes from, so online anonymity is not all its cracked up to be.

How can you say our piece but stay on the right side of the law?

Threats of violence are obviously going to be taken seriously.
Be very careful about mentioning ongoing criminal proceedings.
Don't discuss children involved in criminal or Family Court proceedings.
Think hard about making defamatory comments unless you have material to back it up.



I shall add:
Don't mention real names even if you think it is innocent and the person has said it in 'public' before.
Don't retell a story even though the story is already 'out there'
Don't trust anyone to come to you first to discuss their concerns. They are most likely to slap you with a writ before they do that ESPECIALLY if you have said something that is really very true!

Good luck blogging!

7 REGIMES

Laurence W. Britt's analysis of the seven major fascist regimes in recent history reveals fourteen common threads that link them in recognisable patterns of national behaviour and abuse of power.
Which Government gets a score of 14 out of 14 on Britt's following fascism characteristics.

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism and xenophobia.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.

4. The supremacy of the military and police.

5. Rampant sexism.

6. A controlled mass media.

7. Obsession with national security.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.

9. Power of corporations protected.

10.Power of labour suppressed or eliminated.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.

12. Obsession with crime and punishment.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.

14. Fraudulent elections, referenda, plebiscites or public opinion polls.

Introducing....

Polly...Pollywaffle...Pollywanna...Pollywannatalk.

Like a Cat

Like a cat curled up for a long warm sleep
the bandicoot hugged the road.
His eyes wide dead and his tail thin as a rake
he nestled on a bed of blood.

Ignorant to the reasons why his habitat is flattened
He took a wrong turn in the night.
Usually he could enter gardens to feed on roots
on grubs on underground delicacies.

Last night he was mistaken
Last night was his last.
Last night was like a night in Iraq
The end of existence without knowing why.

The bandicoot curled up in the mid-winter sun.
Forever asleep in the light.
Till the car tyres and the currawongs and crows
Clean away the last vestige of his hope.

Like the bodies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine
Once gone can be easily forgotten.
Like the mindless leaders who sip their bottled water
the pain no longer is of any significance.