I am not a religious man, although I have been brought up in the church, and there is a few lines of a prayer that resonates with me still – God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. I am not going to enter into a tirade about how I hate Bush and republicans, because it simply isn’t true. I would be a happier man if the Democrats one – but this is one of those times when I have the Wisdom to ...

Well, he has done it again. John Winston Howard, leader of the Australian Liberal party, has won a fourth term in office - running second in length of time served only to Sir Robert Menzies. The Liberal party won in what can be a considered a landslide, the trends were showing a comfortable win on the cards half an hour into the polling, and I guess that is pretty convincing. I always watch the polling, the over-indulgence of graphs and pie charts is a treat. What does this mean for Austra...

This article first appeared in the Guardian , however, I read it in an Australian publication - www.theage.com.au and I enjoyed it immensely, I will now share it with my friends! Being the victim gives an excuse for almost anything... _________________________________________________________________________________ It is who does the suffering that's important September 24, 2004 Some victims are more equal than others. That is the message from George Bush, writes Gar...

Yusuf is Islam was promptly deported from the United States when it was learned he was en route to Washington with his daughter - who was allowed to stay... the question has come up after a compatriot of mine questioned why I am so eager to support my current government - the Howard led coalition, yet I constanlty barage American policies. My compatriot questions my beleifs because our government is an ally and friend of the United States. I am happy with this arrangement - we can look...

As I was reading the transcript of George W. Bush’s address to the United Nations, checking for spelling errors, and I came across the proposed Global Peace Operations Initiative – basically, Bush and his cronies want to train up 75,000 African troops to keep the peace in that region, along with international deployments where required. I must have missed it when it was proposed at the G-8 summit earlier this year, or I was looking in the wrong places, but I really don’t know what to t...

The saturation of the media we are experiencing in Australia surrounding politics at the moment is nothing short of astounding. We have a federal election on October 9th, Indonesia had their election today, and of course, who could forget about the battle to end all battles, George Bush vs John Kerry in the United States of America presidential race to be decided in November. I will vote in the October 9th election in Australia, and my decision has been made, I will be voting for the coali...

Stories of 16 year old girls being hanged in Iran as reported in this article surely do incense me and instil disgust within my heart, but no more than Greywar’s article reporting the incident. If I was Islamic, right now I would place an edict on Greywars head, instead of directing his vitriol towards the fundamentalist Islamic radicals that run Iran, he has directed his diatribe and hatred directly towards Islam itself – The five pillars of Islam are not Rape, Death, Misogyny, Suicide...

Here is little old me, suggesting that invading Iraq would only fan the flames of terrorism, yet I am only a young buck with no idea about national security or international relations – well, I have news for you – I should apply for a job with apparently ‘switched on’ Australian Intelligentsia! As reported in this article , senior intelligence analysts repeatedly told Mr Howard, and I don’t doubt many US counterparts were informing George W. that an attack on Iraq would only increase the...

The Olympics are supposed to be a time of reflection and enjoyment, with ideals of peace being put on the table by the worlds athletes, it would seem that Iran is out to ruin everyone’s party though A few days ago, and Iranian athlete refused to compete with an Israeli athlete, which is fair enough, each to their own, we can move on from that, but now, the Iranian government is not ruling out pre-emptive strikes on US and Israeli forces in the Middle East should they feel their Nuclear rea...

Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, has made moves towards a dramatic policy shift towards Beijing, declaring the ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, and United States) treaty as ‘symbolic’ After talks with Key Chinese leaders, a strategic relationship between the Asian-Pacific nations looks to be on the cards. After 50 years of close ties with the United States, I can only see the US-Australian relationship deteriorating should Australia collaborate with the Chinese economic po...

This is some nice satire on the current political climate in Australia before the upcoming elections - I am sure you Americans can relate as well! The choices are clear: a clever liar, a man with a spooky smile, or an unpredictable bully, writes David Campbell. Dad . . . what's an election? Good question, son! This election is very important. It's a chance for all the grown-ups in Australia to decide who's going to run the country for the next few years. Who runs the country n...

YES!!! You know you have made it in the world, when nations burn your flag in protest. Flag burning is not strange for Americans, a lot of people hate America, for whatever reason and it’s something America as a nation has to put up with on a daily basis. Flag burning is still a fairly foreign concept to us in Australia – we have always been far to small for anyone to care what we do or say, but in aligning ourselves with America in the coalition of the willing, we have made ourselves s...

With the imminent release of Fahrenheit 9/11 in Australia, it was only a matter of time before Michael Moore chimed in with his opinion on Australian politics… Personally, I am a fan of Michael Moore, and what he stands for – sure, I don’t agree with some of his methods, and he is the master of misinformation, but as far as I am concerned, he doesn’t really have the faintest idea on Australian politics, so he really shouldn’t make inflammatory remarks directed towards our government. At a ...

America-bashing is a global sport but, from Vidal to Chomsky to Moore, no one does it better than Americans themselves, writes Chris Middendorp. "I am willing to love all mankind, except an American." - Samuel Johnson In his irreverent book about US government, Parliament of Whores , the humorist P. J. O'Rourke, with characteristic disrespect, describes the American political system as being like fast food: "Mushy, insipid, made out of disgusting parts of things, and everybody wants s...

Bush has come under heavy criticism from leaders at the G-8 summit for his administration’s policy for forcing democracy in the Middle East. The G-8 is a collective of the worlds leading industrial democracies. Jacques Chirac has lead the criticism. Chirac said democracy couldn't be achieved in the Middle East until there was substantial progress toward solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – Tony Blair is believed to have the same notions, although his support for Bush remains steadfa...