I might have missed the reports of the daily bombings in Baghdad. Am I not listening to the right media outlets or is there actually a reduction in bombings in the last couple of weeks?

Is George Bush's latest plan working?

Brian Burke having served his sentence would constitutionally be entitled to be a Member of the Federal Parliament.
He more then likely would feel at home considering the criminals now in it;

An email I received indicates that the Federal Members of Parliament have the following related to them;
· 36 have been accused of spousal abuse.
· 7 have been arrested for fraud.
· 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
· 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses.
· 3 have done time for assault
· 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit.
· 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges.
· 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
· 21 currently are defendants in lawsuits.
· 84 have been arrested for drunk

So, if Peter Costello, John Howard and go argue that being involved with criminals is morally bankrupt, etc then let them see how they were dealing with Mal Colston who was outed from the labour party for his travel rorts but John Howard was eager to have him sitting in the Parliament to vote for the sale of Telstra (but deemed too ill to go before the Courts) making clear that it wasn't relevant what Mal Colston had done. Likewise other Ministers ended up being convicted on his watch!
With Ian Campbell as Minister having had contact with Brian Burke it flies in their face what they argued against Kevin Rudd and in any event, as my INSPECTOR-RIKATI® books set out there is no constitutional wrongdoing to have a meeting with a person he served his time , rather the issue is if the meeting is not regarding criminal conduct or intended criminal conduct. Therefore being it Kevin Rudd, Ian Campbell, or others I see no issue in having meetings with anyone who have a criminal record provided it is not for criminal purposes. Otherwise, they could not even have a meeting amongst themselves in view of the number of criminal convictions upon themselves!

Then tell us why the Labor Party dumped Burke and banned him from having contact with it's parliamentary members?

No I will.

It wasn't because of his criminality. It was for another reason altogether...it was his ability to influence Ministers and their actions surreptitiously. It was his ability to corrupt Labor Party members in his desire to peddle influence for profit. His personnal profit.

Rudd was prepared to ignore that and fly all the way to WA where he had three unofficial meetings with Burke, that included organised dinner and speeches. As the politicians said. Burke does nothing for nothing and Rudd was looking for numbers. Rudd denies his trips were about seeking support but some of those involved at the time say he was touted as a future Labor PM.

So the conclusions are as obvious as Rudd's growing panic as evidenced by his raucous demand for John Howard to call an election.

Why do so many continue this incorrect line of the US being our "best friend". In US lingo "What have they done for us lately, or ever really"? Think about it.

We're actually just followers, out of fear, not followers of a grand passion or something wonderful. The US doesn't practice democracy and neither do we. If we had been so practising why is it we are not getting better at it rather than going the other way? Simply because it's repugnant to major parties that are ruled by one or only a few rich, old white men.

As to Howard, perhaps he will fling himself overboard soon and claim he was pushed, by Maxine no doubt.

Betty says that the US does not practice democracy, in my opinion of all the countries claiming to practice democracy the US is the most successful; it is the only country where the individuals rights are protected by constitutional law. Unlike most of 'old Europe' it is also the only country that has not indulged in imperialism.

We could do worse than emulate the US.

Why "indefensible"?

In Iraq wouldn't Shii and Sunni be killing each other if not an iron Saddam's fist at the time?

So, what does differ a current Iraqi situation from happening nowadays except billiards spent to create some motion around national defence+anti-terror+surrounding activities?

Everyone has own fate-and Bush is NOT going to sunk, but finish his presidency on time supposed.