America is a dying Empire. We had best look elsewhere & cultivate friendships with our neighbours. It is no longer a democracy. All political parties are too much indebted to big business. It is run by Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex". The Patriot Act has destroyed individual freedoms. Talk about Chinese spies! Chalmers Johnson said the CIA has 200 listening posts in Australia. Talk about global warming..>Hubbert on the Nature of Growth...
The US Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest oil consuming government body in the US and in the world
“Military fuel consumption makes the Department of Defense the single largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S” [1]
“Military fuel consumption for aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities makes the DoD the single largest consumer of petroleum in the U.S” [2]
According to the US Defense Energy Support Center Fact Book 2004, in Fiscal Year 2004, the US military fuel consumption increased to 144 million barrels. This is about 40 million barrels more than the average peacetime military usage.
By the way, 144 million barrels makes 395 000 barrels per day, almost as much as daily energy consumption of Greece.
The US military is the biggest purchaser of oil in the world. <,
The US did not save Aus in WW 1 or 2, in fact in WW 2 we helped save America. The Japanese never had intentions of invading Aus.
We are seeing the end of an evil Empire.

Love that remark, if we are seeing the end of an evil empire we are seeing the end of freedom, our freedom.
Surely then China would be the world leader? love the way they Handel those who do not agree, don't you?
While my concerns about America will continue we must not stray far from reality both religious fundamentalists and the truly lost left want to bring them down.
Consider for a while what would they replace America with?
How many of us here in this forum would be ripped out of bed in the middle of the night maybe killed for having put in print things we have in the last 12 months?
Be honest now freedom is not a thing both prospective world leaders would even consider.

"top gear"

"top gear" is a rev heads program, brit based. recently sbs ran a show done in the south-east of the usa. the three presenters each bought a 'junker' in the gun-ridden black/cuban slums of miami, and drove it through violent red-neck land to new orleans. it was a year since katrina visited, but the place still looked like fallujah after 'liberation' by the u. s. marine corps.

i did some growing up in this area, in the 50's, and was amazed at the changes. truly they have become a banana republic, one with a bigger military than the rest of the world combined.

the rich have gotten a stranglehold on the nation. the combination of religious fanaticism, poor education, and media control means the situation is likely to continue toward the impoverishment of the middle class and consequent collapse of what they refer to as 'democracy' in that benighted land.

if ozzies had any role to play in setting national policy, i would suggest we sever any commercial and diplomatic ties as quickly and smoothly as possible, to minimize spill-over from the decay of the american economy and its consequent military adventures.

alas, we don't have that role. so i suggest we all look toward uluru at noon on feb. 1, and all wish really hard for a lotto win. that's what we do instead of citizenship, right?

Demos. I have hopes that Rudd, although not the Messiah, will concentrate on good ties with China & India & S.E Asia & get us out of these doomed military adventures for US Oil Companies in Afghanistan & Iraq laughingly called "The War On Terror". We can hope the balance of power ends up with the US displaced by a range of players, including China, Japan, India and Europe. The US has done all it can to bring itself to ruination. We must hope it doesn't take us with it.