Our intelligence agency is a joke. I'm sure not all of them in there are incompetent, but there are enough of them to be a danger to Australians. When I read about the criminals inside the Central Intelligence Agency, I usually try to take heart and have faith in the naive thought, "not in my country." But alas, our agents appear to be mere lackeys who don't know the first thing about integrity or honour. What a disgrace: This is not confined to ASIO though, since the AFP have been shown to be equally disgusting in the Haneef case. This war on terror is a scam and is a cancer to our security. None of us are safe when our own government acts in this manner and employ lying thieves to fill their ranks.

ASIO doctored Habib files, court told
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,22862895-2702,00.html

Dear Steel,

Welcome to the real world. When American Vice-President Dick Cheney said that the 'war on terrorism' could last for fifty years or more, his words evoked George Orwell's great prophetic work, 'Nineteen Eighty-Four.' We are to live with the threat and illusion of endless war, it seems, in order to justify increased social control and state repression, while great power pursues its goal of global supremacy.
Washington is transformed into 'chief city of Airstrip One' and every problem is blamed on the 'enemy,' the evil Goldstein, as Orwell called him. He could be Osama bin Laden, or his successors, the
'axis of evil.' Or Hicks, or Haneef.

Don't forget that ASIO functioned under the instructions of the former PM.

In the novel, three slogans dominate society: war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. Today's slogan, 'war on terrorism,' also reverses meaning. The war is terrorism. The most potent weapon in this 'war' is pseudo-information, different only in form from that Orwell described, consigning to oblivion unacceptable truths and historical sense. Dissent is permissable within 'consensual' boundaries, reinforcing the illusion that information and speech are 'free.'

The attacks of September 11, 2001 did not 'change everything,' but accelerated the continuity of events, providing an extraordinary pretext for destroying social democracy. The undermining of the Bill of Rights in the US and the further dismantling of trial by jury in
Britain.

yes and worse. but until you stop complaining and start doing something about it, are you any better?

there's two things that need doing. the first is to get control of the nation away from parliament. the second is to use the power of democracy to ensure justice within the nation and respect for others outside.

this is not hard to do. peaceful revolution is possible, it needs only will and patience.

Dear Demos,

"Nineteen Eighty-Four," might have been a fantasy and a parody for George Orwell, however, enough reality already exists as you agree, to constitute a warning to Australia. But what is necessary is not a
'peaceful revolution' as you put it, but carefully designed legal responses. That's what's urgently needed.

Technologically, there is little to prevent State authorities gaining access to intimate details about everyone in society. Our present defences against this happening are political and cultural. There are few legal inhibitions.

We live in nothing like a 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' society, but it is chilling to think what a person could do with technology if our society turned sour.

Government departments holding information on people have secrecy constraints, but these controls are very flexibly administered.

For example, police might be given information from a government department because it is felt to be a good thing to be helping the police. Every public servant knows someone in another branch and, in practice, much information is exchanged.

Apart from police, there's the field of education. School records for example have increased their coverage in recent years, and may include information about IQ's, family relationships, health, learning difficulties and disciplinary problems.

Immigration and Ethnic Affairs... Records are kept on immigrants, and travellers in and out of the country. This information is fed from the department to agencies such as ASIO.

Taxation - personal records other than tax returns are maintained in cases of investigation into a taxpayer's affairs.

Banks - A customer record card is kept, giving an overview of the customer's relationship with the bank. Their credit-worthiness etc.

ASIO - maintains files on persons 'of interest,' for security reasons.

Credit Bureaus and the Dept. of Social Security - records are kept on all recipients... and the lists go on.

Federal legislation is required to prohibit the use of listening devices or secret surveillance without people's consent. Current laws need to be reviewed...

ASIO is not in the business of letting the letter of the law hinder it's objectives.If an organisation such as this has to hurdle our present legal system,then it is virtually useless.During times of war lots of illegal things happen.People get assinated and killed by mistake.

I think that to a degree,organisations such as ASIO have to work outside the law,paricularily in our system which favours the criminal.

A secret report from within the Guild:

" ... Post *EVENT* status confirmed - Pray continue with our *Blessing* ... "

LuvDoveLuvDoveLuvDove
HoT
HoT
HoT

Spare the *Bali Bombers*
&
mandi sama *Nabi Isa* sebelum jadi *Hari Natal* lagi.

...JA'Lobo...