David Hicks - free, but not from the Murdoch Press

The Murdoch press is doing a hatchet job for David Hicks. As usual they call him a ‘confessed terrorist’, which is actually incorrect, as he never confessed to terrorism. The Fairfax press say ‘convicted terrorism supporter’. Anyway…

The Murdoch press are also pushing for him to ‘Say Sorry’. What the hell for?

I think that the Murdoch Press / News Limited (an outstanding name) have under-estimated public opinion – check out this poll result from their own site:

Hicks released from Yatala - but no apology just thanks

Address : http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22983853-5006301,00.html



Here is how the pricks from News Limited cover the story in their headlines







And this is how the Fairfax Press covers it:



The Age and SMH editorials run common sense opinion, and as usual the news is with out opinion or comment, just reporting the facts.

The editorialists of The Age pretty well sum it up:

IT IS 13 months since this newspaper called for David Hicks to be brought home, eight since the Howard Government gave in to growing public pressure in what appears, with hindsight, to have been a cynical (and ultimately doomed) attempt at electoral manoeuvring, as opposed to a genuine effort to right an injustice. The detention of Hicks by the US rankled many Australians — not all, it's true, but a broad constituency of odd bedfellows from blue conservatives to green radicals to pink liberals, united in their disgust that an Australian citizen could be imprisoned so long without charge or trial.



The fact that he was for more than five years kept in more inhumane conditions at Guantanamo Bay than are civilian prisoners on death row only adds to an injustice that Britain, for one, did not tolerate for its detained citizens. Today, David Hicks is free for the first time since his capture in Afghanistan in 2001. When he left prison in Adelaide yesterday, it brought us close to the end of a disgraceful and disturbing episode.



Address :

http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/david-hicks-is-no-hero-but-the-case-for-freeing-him-is-just/2007/12/29/1198778759202.html

And

Of all the hundreds deemed "unlawful combatants" by the US, David Hicks is the only one to have been convicted and only after a plea-bargain process that was clearly subject to political interference, which his military prosecutors later confirmed. The terms included an extraordinary year-long ban on talking to the media, which extends beyond his nine-month sentence. Hicks pleaded guilty at a hearing in March to having provided material support to al-Qaeda and of being associated with an armed conflict. He returned to Australia in May under a prisoner-exchange agreement and has spent his remaining months of incarceration at Yatala prison in South Australia, his home state. Fellow Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate Mamdouh Habib, who was picked up in Pakistan, was released without charge in 2005.



Ultimately, David Hicks became a cause celebre not because of what he did but because of what was done to him and to the integrity of the justice system in the prosecution of the "war on terror". Hicks' long detention without trial, much of which was spent in solitary confinement, eventually caused widespread outrage. The Howard government failed at one of the most basic levels of a democratic state's contract with its citizens, which is to ensure that all accused promptly receive a fair trial in a properly constituted court, whatever the circumstances.



Address : http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/shoddy-justice-for-hicks/2007/12/28/1198778693419.html

Here is a typical News Limited article: I have high-lighted in red bits that I think are crap to see in a news paper.

Hicks whisked into hiding - Article from: Sunday Herald Sun

Author: Liam Houlihan, December 30, 2007 12:00am

A DEFIANT David Hicks was in hiding last night after refusing to apologise for working with Islamic terror groups responsible for killing Australians.

Hicks, 32, looking robust and with shoulder-length hair, walked out of Adelaide's Yatala Prison yesterday morning after nearly six years behind bars.
Almost a dozen police cars and motorbikes held back traffic and a no-fly zone grounded helicopters as Hicks made a quick getaway.

Read full story

WHAT A LOAD OF BULL SHIT! Gutter Journalism.

From other media articles we can tell that he is hardly defiant, rather broken, terrified, anxious and agoraphobic. Terrified of talking to the media in case he gets sent back to Guantanamo Bay. It is highly doubtful that he worked for ANY Islamic terror group. He did get roped in by the Talban, Afghanistan’s ruling government to stand by a tank and guard it. That’s about it!

Luckily I am not alone in protesting the bull-shit News Limited reporting. Recently the News Limited sites added comment support to their news articles. This is back-firing on them at the moment:

Comment highlights (naturally I have selected the ones I like)

At least the author of this piece could try reporting with the use of a little less sensationalism. To state that Hicks was 'defiant', 'in hiding', 'refused to apologise' (refusal can only come after an offer or request and we have done neither) and made a 'quick getaway' is pure adornment and does nothing to assist in lifting journalistic standards in this country.

Posted by: Sickofthedrivel of Brisbane 7:09am today

Since the man has never been convicted of any crime in Australia and his US trial was just a scam snow job based on questionable evidence obtained under illegal methods that most civilized countries call torture and would disallow in open court ! Please remember his five minutes of fame has come and gone ! The time has come to leave the man alone in peace and leave him to pick up the pieces of his shattered life and if possible partially recover from the evil deeds done to him by persons seeking revenge in the name of blind justice ! What price a choice indeed for he has to come to terms with these demons , could you?

Posted by: ian of 34 heath cr hampton 6:15am today

No Guantanamo inmate should have to answer to anyone for anything, other than to a legally constituted Civil trial with untainted evidence. Water-boarding, my government's favorite means of obtaining "confessions", involves pouring a stream of water in a thin plastic condom down a prisoner's throat until drowning sensations and vomiting attempts ensue. The typical US agent in training lasts under 10 seconds before panicking against his restraints. Ask yourself, if you were water-boarded, what would you confess to? Anything, everything? You bet! Are many/most of the Guantanamo prisoners very bad, dangerous men? You bet. Can anyone rely on my government's statements regarding any of them? No way. Watch Hicks, but otherwise, leave him alone.

Posted by: Common Tator of USA 4:56am today

At least the author of this piece could try reporting with the use of a little less sensationalism. To state that Hicks was 'defiant', 'in hiding', 'refused to apologise' (refusal can only come after an offer or request and we have done neither) and made a 'quick getaway' is pure adornment and does nothing to assist in lifting journalistic standards in this country.

Posted by: Sickofthedrivel of Brisbane 7:09am today

And from Adelaide now:

Typical Murdoch press. You got instructions from your boss to do a beat up did you? The Sunday Mail like many other papers appears to have forgotten it's their job to report news and not make comments on it. A pity you didn't make comments when a man was imprisoned by the Yanks for over 5 years without charges and then finally railroaded by them. Pehaps one day you'll get back to being what you profess to be... A News Paper.

Posted by: Zorro of Noarlunga 10:29am today



Lindy Chamberlain revisited? What trash the Murdoch press is. The Brits have got rid of Blair, we have got rid of Howard and Bush is politically dead (lost the House and the Senate). Get the message, Mr. Murdoch? We do not want your world. We want solutions to the world's problems, by dialogue and starting with Isreal and Isreal existing within its internationally consituted borders, without nuclear weapons. If Isreal have nuclear weapons why should not Iran, as a counter balance. This is the reason the USA retain a nuclear capacity, to hold onto "power" by making other afraid. With Hicks, the Order should be on the media - not to persue him and not to attempt to locate him.

Posted by: Peter Stokes of Vale Park 8:53am today



Then man spent five years in jail. Most of those were in solitary. No charges were laid until the last minute in a 'face saving' deal for the benefit of Bush, and his deputy Howard. He did wrong and stupid things. He was a clown for the Taliban, and I hope he learnt from his idiotic mistakes. Wrong was done on both sides of this pathetic equation. If Hicks has to apologise to appease the jackals at News Ltd. then an apology is also required from Bush and Howard for the prostitution of legal principle and basic (and I mean basic) human rights, not necessarily to Hicks but, rather, their respective electorates. In all we are better off to let the silly bastard try to invent a new life for himself, sans islamic extremism. We should concentrate on creating a system where such obvious abuses of OUR human rights are much less possible.

Posted by: ben porter of clare 10:28am today



Pathetic excuse for "JOURNALISM" from the Lackey scribblers at the Advertiser Yet Again (they should be ashamed of themselves"... Is there only ! source of so called "NEWS" in Australia, sounds more like Government Propaganda to me"The suede jackboot and the Cultural Cosh....are you fooled...Leave Hicks alone, he has suffered enough at the Hands of the corrupt criminal murderous Cabal in the White house and their cronies worldwide.

Posted by: Louise of Adelaide 10:21am today



What is it with Australia and bloody apologies??? What on earth does it matter if he says sorry or not?? Further what does it matter to me, living in good old south of adelaide, that some bloke got locked up in Afghanistan? There is absolutely not one ounce of anything he has to say sorry to me about. He should say sorry to his dad and his wife and thats about it. Who first brought up this bollocks of saying sorry in the first place?? Probably the editor of some news ltd paper no doubt as the Oz public don't give a damn!!!

Posted by: Tim of adelaide 10:14am today

Address : http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22983853-5006301,00.html

And there are PLENTY more where they came from!

David Hicks - A Cartoon History

Thought it now an appropriate time to post some of my favourite political cartoons relating to the Hicks trial and the "confession".

 

Technorati tags: David Hicks, Guantanamo Bay, Australia, Cartoons, Terrorism, Military Courts

Murdoch's Trash Media fly in the face of public opinion.

The Murdoch media is covering the return of David Hicks as if they are employed by the Howard government. Ooops - they are - well sort of, they all work for Murdoch. Anyway... The Herald Sun is all upset that Hicks, 'a confessed terrorist' (which he never confessed to) traveled first class from Guantanamo Bay.

While 80% of "The Age" readers in an opinion poll today say David Hicks is no threat, the front page of the Herald Sun read:



and the content of the articles in the paper, of which there were many, sounded like they were written personally by Phillip Rud-dick. The Editorial headline read: "A Dangerous Fool Returns", whereas The Age's editorial read "Hicks was no innocent abroad, but it's right that he's home". The Age's editorial even made sense! Actually, it is a very good read, take a look.

They (The Age) also featured an opinion piece by Tim McCormack, who, according to the footer of the article: is the Australian Red Cross professor of international humanitarian law at the Melbourne Law School. He attended the proceedings against David Hicks in Cuba in March as an adviser to the defence team on law-of-war issues.

It is ALSO a great read. Read it here: David Hicks' trial was a political fix by two governments -much more accurate than the shit churned out by the Herald Sun.

Palmy compost dump named after John Cleese

Palmerston North, the town where I grew up in New Zealand has named a compost dump after John Cleese in retaliation for Cleese calling Palmerston North the "suicide capital of New Zealand". I can tell you right now, that is not true. The suicide capital of New Zealand, at least when I was there, is Hamilton, because of its heat an humidity which drives people nuts. Anyway.. according to this news artcile in The Age: Kiwis dump on Cleese:

"Mt Cleese, Alt.45.2m a.s.l."(above sea level) reads the sign posted on the rubbish tip at suburban Awapuni, which is being turned into a compost dump, the city's "Evening Standard" reported.The sign notes that it was named by New Zealand comic Fred Dagg, the alter ego of John Clarke (yes he is a Kiwi, not an Aussie), who was born in Palmerston North, after Cleese dubbed it one of the world's most boring cities when he toured New Zealand in November 2005.

At the time, Clarke suggested the local dump be renamed the "John Cleese Memorial Tip - All manner of crap happily recycled".

Contractor Roy Harding, who erected the sign, told the paper: "It's just to get back at him. Most people seem to be quite happy about it".

Virginia Tech: Just get over it.

I can't stand hearing more about the Virginia Tech. Not because it upsets me, but because it seems so two-faced. People are asking "how could this happen?"

Easy: allow nutters easy access to weapons as is currently the case. If the bloke had has to make do with a knife or an axe, then we on the other side of the world would not be hearing about it.

Of course, if this massacre had taken place in Iraq at the hands of a USMC squad, it would have made the news because non-American lives don't matter.

More than 30 Americans are killed every day either by guns or cars. No one is upset if 30 people die in clumps of 1-3.

So, stop asking "why" and "how" - it is easy - psychos kill, and when they get their hands on weapons that can kill large clumps of people, they do.

Perhaps the deaths are just collateral damage for a ridiculous policy of allowing the public to arm themselves with weapons that should only be held by those in the armed forces?

Nothing in comparison to white phosphor bombs dropped on Iraqi cities or US cluster bombs dropped over a whole country.

Pathetically small number of people really to be hogging the news lime-light.

Cartoon from:
Cartoons - Cartoon - Opinion - smh.com.au:

Crocodile snaps off zoo worker's arm

The crocodile holds the forearm of zoo veterinarian Chang Po-yu between its teeth

Photograph: Frank Lin/Reuters

Not my usual blog entry, but I jsut had to show this picture from The Guardian's news photo page.

Kaohsiung, Taiwan: The lower left arm of zoo veterinarian Chang Po-yu was bitten off by a crocodile when he tried to pull a tranquilizer dart from its body. In a bid to rescue the arm two bullets were shot at the crocodile but it was unharmed. Chang eventually underwent emergency surgery to have his limb reattached.

Go here to see all 5 pictures of the retrieval of the arm and the zoo keeper post-surgey.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gallery/2007/apr/12/internationalnews?picture=329776192

Hicks Release Conditions Unenforceable

Saw this on google news just now. So interesting I started hunting around and discovered that the Hicks story has caused a storm of controversy in the US, but for some reason it is not making its way into Australian papers.

So, here are a few extracts.

The release conditions put upon Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks are unable to be enforced and can basically be ignored, according to International Law experts.

 

International Law Compliance Forum justices, attorneys and other law experts said that there was ample evidence that the Australian Government had a substantial input into the conditions that were to be set, prior to the conditions being put to Hicks' legal team.

 

The guilty plea by David Hicks essentially means nothing as the processes as to obtain such as plea mean nothing in law, any law.

 

As the processes as to the capture, transportation and detention of David Hicks were, in themselves, illegal acts under both International as well as US laws, any subsequent detention of Hicks in Australia can also be deemed illegal regardless of how long Hicks will be confined in an Australian prison.

 

Any Australian detention of Mr. Hicks can be deemed to be an illegal detention and Mr. Hicks can, as such, be deemed to be a political prisoner.

 

The Australian conditions put upon Mr. Hicks in relation to deny for twelve months any possible media contacts to convey his story, as well as any monitory gains to made by Hicks conveying his story, have no legal validity as the processes of the Hicks conviction were not within appropriate legal confines of processes of law, any law.

 

The Australian conditions also do not apply to Mr. Hicks as the conviction was recorded by US authorities and not by Australia, regardless of such processes being legal or otherwise. The US Constitution safeguards media freedoms. Hicks can thus convey his message as he pleases.

 

The statement by Hicks that he was well treated by the US can be regarded as suspect as firstly, Hicks told UK officials that he had been tortured by US officials, the statement made during his UK passport interview and secondly, the processes of capture, transportation and detention are in themselves not processes through which 'well-treated' claims can be made.

 

The processes used by the US are known to be brutal as well as illegal and outside the confines of law, any law. It can therefore be assumed that the Hicks statement in that regard was put upon him as a condition of release.

 

The condition put upon Mr. Hicks disallowing him to sue the US Government can safely be ignored. The condition firstly renders a guilty plea on behalf of the US Government in relation to Hicks' illegal treatment at Guantanamo Bay as well as his illegal capture, transportation and detention while secondly, there are no legal provisions in Australia or the US that could prevent Hicks from suing the US Government, or the Australian Government for that matter.

 

As an aside, the ILCF experts noted that the statement made by an Australian Government lawyer during a case related to Mr. Hicks as to an alleged fact that the Australian Government had no responsibility towards Australian citizens located overseas are clear nonsense as all Government have a responsibility towards their own citizens by international convention, regardless of what positions they may find themselves in.

 

The ILCF experts also severely reprimanded the Australian Government for its repeated lack of compliance in relation to the Australian Government not complying with international laws and conventions during the life of the Howard Government.

 

Actually, I see now it is the whole article. Couldn't cut anything out! Brilliant.

Source: Hicks Release Conditions Unenforceable

See also:

Outcry over Hicks sentence 'fix' - theage.com.au, April 2, 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/outcry-over-hicks-sentence-fix/2007/04/01/1175366078719.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Guantánamo gag order may be unenforceable - MiamiHerald.com, 04/04/2007
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/17025831.htm

David Hicks to Have an Extreme Makeover

Excellent cartoon from John Spooner, illustrating the article "Torture is always wrong" by Michael Gawenda



Illustration: John Spooner

Australian Jews take on Australia's pro-Israel Jewish lobby

After noting earlier in this blog the creation of the group "Independent Jewish Voices", a group of more than 100 prominent British Jews, formed in response to a perceived pro-Israel bias among that country’s major Jewish organizations, a similar group has formed in Australia reports The Age.

A BREAKAWAY group from Australia's main pro-Israel Jewish lobby organisations was launched yesterday with the backing of leading Jewish academics and identities.

The group, Independent Australian Jewish Voices, attracted the support of 120 Jewish Australians, including a state MP and a former federal Labor government minister.

"We are Jews with diverse opinions on the Middle East who share a deep concern about the current crisis in the region," the group says. "The Jewish establishment does not represent the full range of Jewish opinion."

Among the supporters are ethicist Professor Peter Singer, based at Princeton University; Professor Arie Freiberg, dean of law at Monash University; Robert Richter, QC; Dr Moss Cass, a former Whitlam government minister; Louise Adler, chief executive of Melbourne University Publishing; Ian Cohen, of the NSW Greens; Eva Cox, of the Women's Electoral Lobby; Professor Dennis Altman, of La Trobe University; Henry Rosenbloom, of Scribe Publications; and Professor Ephraim Nimni, based at Queen's University in Belfast.

Source: New group takes on Jewish lobby - National - theage.com.au

Aussie - Kiwi insults - bad or just good comradery?

 Reported in The Age:

Underarm bowling and Phar Lap's origins may have led to Kiwis taunting Australians over the years, but enough is enough, say New Zealand tourism authorities. A new marketing campaign is aimed at getting New Zealanders to be more friendly to Australian tourists and to tone down their insults. Tourism New Zealand chief George Hickton said the taunts had not shown up in surveys as a major issue, but he thought they could go too far. "We rib each other, there is no doubt about it. We know no-one wants to get ribbing the whole time," Hickton said. "I have heard it (taunts) said and thought people should back off," he said. The New Zealand Herald newspaper has dubbed the campaign "Be-Nice-to-Australians month".

What do you think? I am a Kiwi living in Aussie, and I get hammered at work with NZ jokes and insults. Sheep is the first joke you here, and then bragging about how Australia is better than NZ at everything, how New Zealand is one of the most inferior countries in the world, how Kiwis are lucky to be here,  that there is no greater country in the world than Australia etc etc.

Of course, to keep the peace, one normally just shuts one gob! I am sure the same thing happens to Aussies in NZ, and probably more vehemently because most Kiwi's think about NZ like Aussies think about Australia - probably even more so, and most New Zealanders have at least visited Australia, which only confirms their beliefs! :)

I think it is good to have a rivalry, and have jokes about each other, but they CAN go to far. Now for a Kiwi joke:

In the NZ Herald article Through gritted Teeth - It's Be-Nice-to-Australians Month, Aussie journalist and former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons says the Trans-Tasman ribbing is usually good-natured. "These days in Australia, you barely ever hear anyone even mention the fact that the price of lamb in New Zealand has gone up to $2.95 an hour."

Source: Aussie insults no laughing matter says Tourism NZ - Travel - theage.com.au

 

Technorati tags: Australia, New Zealand, Kiwi Jokes, Aussie Jokes

John Howard beats the refugee drum again

Amusing ditty in The Age by Tracee Hutchison, accusing J Howard of being desperate playing the race and immigration card again. No! Really?

 Definitely worth a read. 

The Howard Government is in trouble in an election year and it's playing the "we will decide who comes to this country card". Sound familiar? With nowhere to hide on a series of blunders over Iraq, David Hicks and the environment, with the economy threatening to tip entire suburbs of Howard's battlers out of their first-home-buyer-bonus-bought houses and an Opposition Leader who has knocked the Eveready-Bear stuffing out of the PM, it's time for Tampa Mark II.

Welcome to Howard's Australia, where we specialise in welcome-to-the-country ceremonies for people fleeing persecution. These welcoming rituals require you to be incarcerated in a part of Australia that isn't technically Australia. Please be under no illusions about this. You have not arrived in Australia. And do not be fooled that the name Christmas Island suggests generosity. It doesn't. Our specially trained welcoming guards will monitor your every move, ensuring you talk only to each other, as talking to a stranger who may want to offer you legal advice is not something we encourage if you haven't technically reached the Australian mainland. .....

Source: Refugee talk? Oh, right! It's a poll year - Opinion - theage.com.au

Technorati Tags: Australia - Australian Politics - John Howard

NZ leads the way with topless bikers

A tittilating story about a topless motorcycle parade in Christchurch, New Zealand, that may well make its way to Australia.

Photo: David Hallett, The Press



The so-called Boobs on Bikes parade was held to promote an erotica expo and a group of about 20 motorcyclists - a mixture of men and women - took off their tops while they rode through the South Island city.

Organiser Steve Crow said Boobs on Bikes was an exercise in equal rights and was allowed after a test case he brought in 2005 that determined women could appear topless in public.

Source: Boobs on bikes bid for Oz - World - smh.com.au

Technorati tags: topless bikers, equal rights, civil liberties, motorcycling

US faking intelligence to justify attack on Iran?

While British PM Tony Blair is saying "no attack on Iran is being planned, and that a diplomatic solution to the West's row with Tehran over its nuclear plans is the only "viable and sensible" answer", Dick(head) Cheney is here in Australia saying that a Strike on Iran is an option.

"All options are still on the table,'' US vice president Dick Cheney told a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney today.

Interesting given that the Guardian is reporting that:

MUCH of the intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities provided to UN inspectors by American spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, according to diplomatic sources in Vienna.

The claims come as the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, prepare to draft a second sanctions resolution on Iran.

They are reminiscent of the intelligence fiasco surrounding the Iraq war and coincide with a sharp increase in international tension as the International Atomic Energy Agency reported yesterday that Iran was defying a Security Council ultimatum to freeze its nuclear program.

Source: US intelligence on Iran proves 'unfounded' - World - theage.com.au
Address : <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/02/23/1171734021636.html>

So, anyone for a war? It makes great TV and is good for US oil.

Technorati tags: Iran, U.S., Strike on Iran

Bush pledges Hicks to face rigged Kangaroo court as soon as possible

US President George Bush is pledging to do all he can to speed up David Hicks' trial, promising the Australian will be "first in line" to get his day in court. Mr Bush made the promise to Prime Minister John Howard during a telephone call this morning, in which he vowed to "do everything he could to make sure the process was pushed along". "He said that Hicks was the first in the line, and he understood very much the concerns that I had," Mr Howard said.

Source: Bush pledge to Howard over Hicks - National - theage.com.au

I think Johnno is missing the point. While it is more than a concern that DH has been in Guantanamo for over 5 years with out any charges, it is even WORSE that it is a US "special" military court. 

If Hicks were a US soldier facing a Court Martial, the case would have been dismissed according to US military legal folks. And, if Hicks were a US citizen, he would not be allowed to be tried by the court at Guantanamo because the US courts have ruled that the trials at Guantanamo are unconstitutional and deny basic legal rights and process.

So, if Johnno wants to impress us, he should be trying to STOP the trial and demanding that DH be return to Australia, not demanding he be tried ASAP in a court that even the US wouldn't let their people face.

Anyway, aside from that, the article goes on to say that our evil Justice overlord, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has raised the issue of how Hicks might feel if he was brought home before getting a chance to clear his name.

What a joke!  Hicks' US military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, said: "David Hicks won't complain if they bring him home (and) he didn't get to clear his name."

When reminded that many in government had not always presumed Hicks innocent (news terrorist adds: The whole freaking Johnno Howard axis of evil), Mr Ruddock said that he, as principal law officer, always had. "I have never asserted guilt," he said.

Does anyone need proof that Philip Ruddock is really a closet Darth Vader cross-dresser? 

Technorati Tags: David Hicks - Guantanamo - John Howard - War on Terror

Hicks not suffering mentally - US Army Doctor

Last week David Hick's lawyer said that Hicks was in a bad way mentally after over a year over solitary confinement, and living in Hotel Guantanamo.

Yesterday, I read this:

United States authorities insist there's nothing to suggest David Hicks' mental health is suffering.

They turned down an Australian request to send in an independent psychologist and instead had their own doctors check on the psychiatric health of the Adelaide-born father of two, who's been locked up in Guantanamo Bay for five years.

The Guantanamo doctor gave Hicks a clean bill of health, indicating there was nothing to suggest the Australian terror suspect was suffering depression or anxiety.

What a load of Bull Shit. How obvious is it that they are hiding the truth? How can Johnno Howard and that foreign affairs prick be such suck-ups?



Anyway, the article went on to describe what senators were told in a parliamentary hearing earlier this week about Hicks' surroundings and daily routine in the US military prison in Cuba:

Last December he was moved to Camp Six, described this week as more humane by the US commander in charge at Guantanamo.

Hicks lives in a cell 3.6 by 2.3 metres that receives no direct sunlight, is climate controlled at 25 degrees Celsius and has glass observation panels for prison staff to check detainees aren't trying to commit suicide.

He sleeps on a double bunk bed, but has no roommate, and has a plastic table, a seat and bookshelf in his cell for reading and writing.

But the bookshelf is mostly empty. He has 52 books but is only allowed two in his cell at any one time.

Toilet paper is rationed - he's allowed 30 sheets at a time - because others at Guantanamo have used it to block the toilets and cause flooding.

The Americans describe it as a security issue.

Hicks is kept in his cell for 22-hour stretches. For two hours a day - which can be at any time of the day or night - he is allowed into the exercise yard.

But, for whatever reason, he was refused the privilege 21 times last month, meaning he was in his cell for 24 hours.

AAP

Hicks' health ok, says US doctor - World - smh.com.au

'Horny' Hawkins ad ban

Saw this ad on a wall in town the other day. It just had the word "horny?". At the time I didn't notice that the toy Jennifer is holding is a rhino.

Actually I don't think I noticed she was holding a toy.

The banned ad.

New Zealand airport officials deny they lack a sense of humour, despite banning a billboard with a lacy bra-clad Jennifer Hawkins clutching a stuffed rhino with the caption: "Feeling horny?"

The lingerie ad featuring Australia's former Miss Universe was declined by Auckland International Airport, which felt it was a "step too far".

"The bottom line is the airport has a vast array of people of different nationalities, different ages, and our view was that it was just not in keeping with general airport image and brand," the airport's general manager retail Nick Forbes told NZPA.

GUANTANAMO Bay is a lawless prison: Hicks Lawyer

I saw Major Mori on tv a night a go and he had some interesting things to say about the conditions Hicks is currently being held in, and about the trial, Guantanamo Bay etc.

He is being kept in solitary confinement, in a metal room with no windows, for 22 hours a day. He has been held in these conditions for over a year.

Just read this in The Age:

GUANTANAMO Bay is a lawless prison run by the CIA and US interrogators using CIA techniques of subjugation and degradation, David Hicks' Adelaide lawyer said yesterday on his return from Cuba.

David McLeod, a conservative military lawyer and decorated army legal reservist, said he was "shirt-fronted" by the US military last week because he talked to the media about the conditions in which Hicks was held.

"I was subjected to a rather aggressive interrogation by one of the officials there for talking to the media in the way that I have," he said. "This is the standard approach, this is what happens when a lawless place like Guantanamo Bay is subject to scrutiny."

Mr McLeod would not reveal details of the interrogation but said Guantanamo Bay was a lawless place that sought to avoid public scrutiny.

...

Mr McLeod spoke emotionally of having to leave Hicks behind.

The move by the US military prosecution to announce charges against Hicks the day after his legal team left was an act of "bastardry". "I think he would be absolutely devastated by the fact that occurred in the absence of his legal team that had been there talking to him for four days," Mr McLeod said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister John Howard has defended the determination of the US authorities to charge Hicks with attempted murder.

Click for Full Age Article

Prominent British Jews form group that does NOT support Israel

Good on them! Perhaps this could rub off here in Australia, where the Jewish community appears to be rabidly pro-Israel.

The groups website appears to be: http://jewishvoices.squarespace.com/ 

From The Age:

More than 100 prominent British Jews have formed a breakaway group in response to a perceived pro-Israel bias among the country's major Jewish organizations, it was reported today.

According to The Independent daily, Independent Jewish Voices's (IJV) founding declaration reads: "Those who claim to speak on behalf of Jews in Britain and other countries consistently put support for the policies of an occupying power above the human rights of the occupied people".

Among those who have signed IJV's declaration are the Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, the prominent historian Eric Hobsbawm, the film director Mike Leigh, the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Bindman and actor Stephen Fry, according to The Guardian.

"It is important for non-Jews to know that there are Jews ... who do not agree with the apparent consensus within the Jewish community that the only good Jew is one who supports Israel," Hobsbawm told The Independent.

A spokeswoman for the group told The Independent that it hopes to create an opportunity for Jews to express opinions "without being accused of disloyalty or being dismissed as self-hating". "The idea is to create a platform for critical debate about the situation in the Middle East that until now has not existed," she said.

Source: British Jews split over Israel - World - theage.com.au

Technorati tags: israel, Jews, IJV

Israel keeps expanding into Palestinian lands in the Jordan Valley / West Bank

According to an Article in The Age:

Over the past year the Israeli Army has quietly isolated the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank by setting up a separate Palestinian population register and banning non-resident Palestinians from entering the area. Restrictions on Palestinian movements continue to increase, despite Israeli government assurances that the opposite is happening.

Established Jewish settlements are being expanded with official sanction while far-right settlers working with unofficial state backing continue to expand and increase "unofficial" settlement outposts - both processes contrary to Israel's repeated international assurances.

Last week the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, authorized the shifting of Israel's 600 kilometre-long separation barrier - denounced as a land-grab by Palestinians and ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice at The Hague - a further 5 kilometres deeper into the West Bank.

Technorati tags: israel, palestine, palestinian rights, rogue states

Lovable Signs Jennifer Hawkins as Miss Lovable

The hottest bird in the world Jennifer Hawkins is on Melbourne trams and billboards every where in the new "Horny?" promotion. So I went looking at the site, and it is a gold mine for the Hawkins fan.

Aside from a downloadable screensaver, there is a diary, competitions, and, what I found very useful and entertaining is the "Mens Guide to Buying Lingerie" which as gems like:

Use the checklist below to work out what your better half will love most, and then stick to it. Otherwise instead of looking at you and thinking, Goodness, he's so much more sensitive and perceptive than I thought, I think I'll shag him, she's liable to think, Oh good, he wants me to look like an extra from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, where did I put my old boyfriend's number...? No one wants that.

Lovable Signs Jennifer Hawkins as "Miss Lovable"



Australian intimates label, Lovable, adds another jewel to its crown in announcing former Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins as the new face of its iconic brand.

Hawkins, voted one of the world's most beautiful women, has signed a multi-year contract with Lovable that also includes working in a consultant based role across the development of the Lovable product lines and future brand campaigns.

"Jennifer represents everything that our brand stands for - she's a down-to-earth, beautiful and ambitious woman with a very cheeky outlook on life. We see Jennifer as a healthy, athletic role model for the Lovable audience, and look forward to having her on the team. Part of her involvement will be to work with our design team on the product development side of the business - Jennifer loves lingerie and is excited to be part of the process, from start to finish."
Dianne Taylor, Divisional Manager, Lovable

Source: Lovable® Australia - Lingerie and Sleepwear Intimates - Lovable Signs Jennifer Hawkins as Miss Lovable