Australian Politics thread [merged]

[1965]

Kevin Who?

 

[Judge Roughneck]

Published on Friday, October 25, 2013 by The Guardian
As Europe Erupts Over US Spying, NSA Chief Says Government Must Stop Media
With General Alexander calling for NSA reporting to be halted, US and UK credibility as guardians of press freedom is crushed

by Glenn Greenwald



 :clappinghttps://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/25-13


Stop the media

Stop the boats

[1965]

Published on Friday, October 25, 2013 by The Guardian
As Europe Erupts Over US Spying, NSA Chief Says Government Must Stop Media
With General Alexander calling for NSA reporting to be halted, US and UK credibility as guardians of press freedom is crushed

by Glenn Greenwald



  https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/25-13


Stop the media

Stop the boats

 

[Rampstar]

Disgraceful, labor party should be on criminal charges

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/kevin-rudd-to-be-questioned-over-botched-insulation-scheme-after-abbott-government-orders-formal-inquiry/story-fnii5v71-1226747504790

Four deaths due purely to the Rudd led labor government and half arsed rushed initiatives

Yeah right.

Another inquiry into this (there have been eight so far) will bring what?

This government is so bad they have to go back four years to find something to deflect from their own stupidity.

Maybe Greg Hunt should just look it up on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Efficient_Homes_Package

Nuffin wronk wif wiki halfe your students fink its the bible and use it for theres hoameworkes ok?

[1965]

Disgraceful, labor party should be on criminal charges

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/kevin-rudd-to-be-questioned-over-botched-insulation-scheme-after-abbott-government-orders-formal-inquiry/story-fnii5v71-1226747504790

Four deaths due purely to the Rudd led labor government and half arsed rushed initiatives

Yeah right.

Another inquiry into this (there have been eight so far) will bring what?

This government is so bad they have to go back four years to find something to deflect from their own stupidity.

Maybe Greg Hunt should just look it up on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Efficient_Homes_Package

Nuffin wronk wif wiki halfe your students fink its the bible and use it for theres hoameworkes ok?

 

[Judge Roughneck]

Published on Friday, October 25, 2013 by The Guardian
As Europe Erupts Over US Spying, NSA Chief Says Government Must Stop Media
With General Alexander calling for NSA reporting to be halted, US and UK credibility as guardians of press freedom is crushed

by Glenn Greenwald



 :clappinghttps://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/25-13


Stop the media

Stop the boats

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html

 

"

The original NSA whistleblower, Russ Tice, who is a former intelligence analyst for the U.S. Air Force, Office of Naval Intelligence, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and NSA, claimed in a June radio interview with Peter B. Collins and Sibel Edmonds that the situation was far worse than the public was aware of at the time.
It's looking more and more like he was telling the truth.
Here's an excerpt:
"They went after high ranking military officers. They went after members of congress. The Senate and the House - especially on the intelligence committees, and on the armed services committees and judicial. But they went after other ones too. They went after lawyers and law firms. Heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the supreme court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after state department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House - their own people! They went after anti-war groups. They went after US companies that do international business around the world. They went after US banking firms and financial firms that do international business. They went after NGOs like the red cross and people like that that go overseas and do humanitarian work. They went after a few anti-war civil rights groups...
Now here's the big one. I haven't given you any names. This was in summer 2004. One of the papers that I held in my hand was to wiretap a bunch of numbers associated with a 40-something year old wanna-be Senator from Illinois. You wouldn't happen to know where that guy lives right now, would you? It's a big White House in Washington DC. That's who they went after. And that's the President of the United States now. And I could give you names of a bunch of different people they went after that I saw! The names and the phone numbers of congress. Not only the names but it looked like staff people too, and their staff. And not only their Washington office but back home in their congressional offices that they have in their home state offices and stuff like that. This thing is incredible what NSA has done. They've basically turned themselves - in my opinion - into a rogue agency that has J Edgar Hoover capabilities on a monstrous scale on steroids."
He also names others who have been spied on--including Kucinich, Leahy, Feinstein, and Alito.
EDIT:
Here's the best way for you to get the attention of your senators and representatives - protip from a former senate intern
Here's the body of a letter I submitted to my regional newspaper yesterday--it should be published by Monday at the latest
."

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1pjq0j/nsa_infiltrates_links_to_yahoo_google_data/

 

[1965]

Tony has a long way to go.

Russian president Vladimir Putin topples Barack Obama on Forbes magazine's list of powerful people

Russian president Vladimir Putin has unseated Barack Obama as the world's most powerful person, according to Forbes magazine.



It is the first time in three years that the US president has not come in at number one on the annual list and came as US-Russia relations slid to a new low.

Forbes magazine says the Russian leader has solidified power after 13 years of dominant rule, while Mr Obama is more of a "lame duck", recently plagued by domestic issues in his second and final term as US president.

China's new president Xi Jinping follows behind in third place, while Pope Francis, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, is a newcomer to the list at number four.

German chancellor Angela Merkel rounds out the top five and is one of just nine women on the list of 72 powerful people.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-31/vladimir-putin-barack-obama-forbes-most-powerful-person/5059470

[Judge Roughneck]

http://www.itproportal.com/2013/10/31/nsa-officials-told-to-evoke-911-sympathies-when-justifying-mass-surveillance/


A newly released internal document reveals details of how officials at the American National Security Agency (NSA) should cite 9/11 and the fear of future attacks when answering questions about the spying programme. 

Al Jazeera America obtained the government document through a Freedom of Information Act request, which details 'soundbites that resonate' and suggested talking points when dealing with the media and with Congress following the spy scandal that originated from leaked NSA documents by former contractor Edward Snowden.

Included in the 'soundbites that resonate', is the suggested response: "I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent."

[Judge Roughneck]

ASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has ordered the National Security Agency to stop eavesdropping on the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank  

as part of a review of intelligence gathering activities, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
The order is the latest move by the White House to demonstrate that it is willing to curb at least some surveillance in the wake of leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden of programs that collect huge quantities of data on U.S. allies and adversaries, and American citizens.

The NSA's surveillance of the Washington-based IMF and World Bank has not previously been disclosed. Details of such spy programs are usually highly classified.

In response to Reuters inquiries, a senior Obama administration official said, "The United States is not conducting electronic surveillance targeting the headquarters of the World Bank or IMF in Washington."

The Obama administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not address whether the NSA had eavesdropped on the two entities in the past.

The first official said Obama had ordered a halt to such practices within the last few weeks, about the same time he instructed the NSA to curtail eavesdropping on the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The IMF and the World Bank both declined to comment.

Representatives of the NSA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence had no immediate comment.

Loch K. Johnson, a former congressional oversight aide who is now a professor of international relations at the University of Georgia, said Obama made the right decision by curbing eavesdropping on international organizations and friendly foreign leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"I think it's a good idea to cut back on surveillance" of economic-related targets, Johnson said. "The enemy is terrorism and we should focus on that. We have to focus almost all of our resources on Al Qaeda and its affiliates," he said.

Paul Pillar, a former senior analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, said that U.S. policy makers have to weigh the value of collecting intelligence on an organization like the IMF against the risk it will become public.

"In this instance the gain from that information is likely to be minimal," Pillar said.

"Sound analysis on international economic issues of concern to U.S. policymakers is apt to draw more from other sources of information, both secret and public, and from tapping relevant expertise both outside and inside government, than from eavesdropping on conversations at the IMF," he added.

It is no secret that U.S. spy agencies historically have collected and analyzed information related to economic affairs - in public briefings to Congress, top intelligence officials have discussed assessments of economic issues.

But a former senior U.S. intelligence official said that the Obama Administration had put greater emphasis and resources than predecessors into collecting and assessing economic information.

In February 2009, shortly after Obama entered the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency began producing a new "Economic Intelligence Brief" for him to review along with the regular President's Daily Brief on international security and threats.

Leon Panetta, Obama's first CIA director, said at the time the change was aimed at understanding the implications of the global economic crisis, and that the agency was considering hiring more economic analysts.

The former U.S. intelligence official noted that insider detail on economic policy developments - for example, financial crises affecting the economies of European countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain, and the stability of the Euro - is the type of critical information U.S. policymakers welcome.

The desire by U.S. policymakers for such information could help explain why NSA collected information on foreign leaders such as Merkel. Her cellphone number was listed in a NSA targeting document, which German media outlets apparently obtained from Snowden's cache. U.S. officials have now indicated that much NSA eavesdropping on Merkel and other allied leaders is likely to be curtailed if not halted.

(Additional reporting by Warren Strobel; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Grant McCool)

This post originally appeared at Reuters. Copyright 2013.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-orders-nsa-to-stop-spying-on-the-world-bank-imf-2013-10#ixzz2jOHYNNa9

[Judge Roughneck]

http://rt.com/news/snowden-letter-germany-asylum-091/

“Though the outcome of my efforts has been demonstrably positive, my government continues to treat dissent as defection, and seeks to criminalize political speech with felony charges that provide no defense. However, speaking the truth is not a crime,”

[1965]

Worth a read but the bit I have included here really says it all

The shame that is Abbott's foreign aid policy
Date November 2, 2013
Mark Baker

''We can't continue to fund a massive increase in foreign aid at the expense of investment in the Australian economy,'' Hockey declared. Abbott added insult to that injury: ''We will build the roads of the 21st century rather than shovel money abroad.''

That message might have gone down well in some of the marginal seats that delivered victory to Abbott, but it also sent a blunt signal to our neighbours and the rest of the world: to smooth the way for Australian motorists, the new government is prepared to ride roughshod over the world's poor and retreat from this nation's long-standing commitment to the global fight against hunger, disease and illiteracy.

The cuts will have a profound impact on Third World communities in desperate need - and yes, as Oxfam has warned, it will cost many lives that might have been saved. They will also reinforce growing perceptions throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond that Australia is a spoilt and selfish country that's indifferent to the moral obligations of the richest nations to the poorest.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-shame-that-is-abbotts-foreign-aid-policy-20131101-2wrxt.html#ixzz2jSmEy9aK

[Judge Roughneck]

Tony more Stalin than putin

[1965]

No quotes this time. Read the article if you want.

If not then eff off and be happy in your political ignorance.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-04/maccallum-our-ignorance-wont-stay-blissful-forever/5067688

[Judge Roughneck]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/11/04/yemen_drones_teenagers

'Droned' means killed by a flying human less gunboat robot now? 


Droned: verb: to shoot a paki via your computer

[1965]

Abbott is a troglodyte

Razor taken to CSIRO
   
November 8, 2013

Noel Towell, Mark Kenny, Bridie Smith
 
Almost a quarter of scientists, researchers and workers at Australia's premier science institution will lose their jobs under the federal government's present public service jobs freeze.

The blanket staff freeze across the public service threatens the jobs of 1400 "non-ongoing" workers at the CSIRO and could paralyse some of the organisation's premier research projects, with a ban on hiring, extending or renewing short-term contracts effective immediately.
 
The impact of the freeze on the CSIRO follows fears expressed in the scientific community about the Abbott government's failure to nominate a dedicated science minister out of his cabinet or ministerial team. The concerns have been heightened by subsequent decisions, including the closure of the global warming advisory body the Climate Change Commission, and revelations on Thursday that Australia will not be sending its Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, or any ministerial stand-in to international climate change negotiations starting on Monday in Warsaw.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/razor-taken-to-csiro-20131107-2x4fu.html#ixzz2k0s9DJpb