A New Flag

I came across this article while looking through Google News and thought it would be a suitable follow up to the previous Australia Day article I wrote.

Here a few of the flags sent in to the Sydney Morning Herald article.



I had to include this one because it is the same Logo as used on the BLF Qld T-shirts. Identical colour and all! Needless to say, I wore mine with pride! And to be honest i think it is a great flag, love those colours.

And last of all we have this Flag...The Designer obviously thought it appropriate as to the "feel" of the country these days.


The flags were designed by, from top left, Kevin Yeats did the Southern Cross and State Star design, Roger Graf - Fingle Head NSW did the mixed motif design, Geoff Evens did the large Kangaroo, North Sullivan did the Green and Gold Southern Cross and Tony Eames designed the "Deputy in the Southern Hemisphere" Flag. That statement alone is enough for me to loath GW Bush.

A New Flag for Australia

Hamas Has an Outstanding Victory

With the recent election in Palestine won by Hamas by a huge majority it will be very interesting watching closely how the Smirking Chimp attempts to spin his version of Democracy with this one.
In a press conference today he was stuttering in his usual nonsensical manner.

From the Washington Post

Dan Froomkin-

President Bush this morning faced a conundrum: How to reconcile all his soaring rhetoric about democracy with the democratic election victory of a radical Islamic group he has labeled as a terrorist organization?

The answer: Spin that conundrum away The words "terrorist organization" never came out of Bush's mouth in his hastily-called news conference, just hours after it became clear that Hamas won a huge upset victory in the Palestinian elections. Bush as recently as yesterday, in a Wall Street Journal interview, flatly declared that the U.S. won't deal with the group regardless of the election results.

But this morning, Bush was looking hard for the positive. The Palestinian vote was "a wakeup call to the leadership," he said.
Bush said-
"The people are demanding honest government. The people want services. They want to be able to raise their children in an environment in which they can get a decent education and they can find health care. And so the elections should open the eyes of the old guard there in the Palestinian territories."

He only grudgingly acknowledged the central problem: "On the other hand, I don't see how you can be a partner in peace if you advocate the destruction of a country as part of your platform.

"And I know you can't be a partner in peace if you have a -- if your party has got an armed wing."

Considering the US governments excessive and frequent use of force I find these words bewildering.
I'm optimistic about this election win by Hamas because almost the exact same words were spoken by the British government when Sin Fien entered politics and won seats in Parliament.
You cannot force Peace onto people, which seems to be what these idiots try to be doing at times.
So many people in the West have absolutely no idea of what is happening in the Middle East, specifically between Israel and Palestine. All they know is what they read in or hear from the corporate Media. I'm not going to go into that here but all I can do is ask people to do their own research on this subject rather than believe the tripe that is presented before you in the mainstream media.


Both the US and the Israel governments have said they will not deal with a Terrorist organisation.
By making statements like that it sounds to me like the negotiations are over. They not even going to give Peace a chance. To me it appears as the US and Israel Governments are just covering themselves for any future hostility towards the legitimately elected government of Palestine.
How the hell are Peace negotiations even going to start if Israel (with the Neocons cheering them on) refuses to talk with the newly legally elected government of Palestine?

Australia Day

Today is Australia Day!
It doesn't take much for an Aussie to take the day off!
Drag the Esky to a place by some water or a sporting event, fire up the Barbie and Bob's Dads brother.
No worries mate!

Australia's European history was started by an invasion, an attempted annihilation of the locals and looting of pretty well anything of any value. The same as so many other countries/Nations. Shame really.
But we do need to admit to our past. What is done is done. It's a shame we have our roots in the Empirical Reign of the British but to deny it ever happened would be a mistake.

Now, here's a better version of our flag. I know we do have some history with the Brits but do we really have to have that Union Jack stuck in the corner?

Cheers big ears.

Who You Spying on Georgy Boy?

I'm sure anyone who is reading this has already heard plenty about the wiretapping executed by the National Security Agency (NSA) and authorised by George Bush on the citizens of the US.
Needless to say this is a very important issue for the people of the US, and indeed has implications that could affect the rest of the world.

Fist of all, it's illegal. There's no "ifs or buts" about this, the legislation regarding Electronic Surveillance by the President is very specific (see the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act link at the bottom of the page). It cannot be done without a court ordered warrant. There are no loopholes.
Secondly, the Constitution of the United States is also very specific in regards to the Powers of the Executive and spying on it's own citizens.


Here's the thing, the NSA can go and eavesdrop on American citizens to it's hearts content. It can put bugs on phones all over the place without asking for permission, and it can listen in for up to Three day's (72 hours) then, and only then do they need to get a Warrant from FISA.

FISA was setup so that the President go Wire tap anyone at anytime for 3 day's before even asking for a warrant. So all this hokum that Bush said about "urgency" and "we didn't have time to go and get a court appointed warrant is, simply put, Bullshit!. As I just wrote, they can Wire Tap to the hearts content for up to Three day's before they need to get a warrant. Not only that, but the Warrants authorised by FISA are a virtual rubber stamp anyway. Since the legislation has been in force FISA has only knocked back Four out of Several Thousand applications!

So, they can wire tap anyone they want for up to 3 day's without a warrant and then they are almost guaranteed for it to be approved.

So what's the problem I hear inquisitive minds ask? That my friend is the million dollar question, or rather, it's a "WHO" did the President want to spy on so desperately that he did it illegally and without even attempting to get a warrant rather than a "What".

Without doubt it must of been someone who they KNEW the Judge would not allow the NSA to Spy on.
And that narrows the field down considerably.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT

The Law Doesn't Apply to King George.

Each day I get on the net and go to all my regular news sources (I don't read newspapers and ignore most of the rubbish on the TV) and while reading, virtually every day I'll come across another piece here or there involving the White House administration or their cronies doing something reprehensible. Each time I am aghast at the depth of this group of peoples dishonesty and hypocrisy.

On the 20th April 2004 George Bush said these exact words...
Whitehouse.gov

"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

***********************************************

The Congressional Research Service (a nonpartisan and independent group) released a Report yesterday on the "Presidential Authority to Conduct Warrentless Electronic Survaliance to Gather Foreign Intelligence Information which analysed what the President had authorised the N.S.A to do and they found his reasoning (excuses) completely wanting and irrelevant to the legality of the eavesdropping.
To borrow a paragraph from Digby's Blog written by Glenn Greenwald ....

"The nonpartisan and independent Congressional Research Service released a Report yesterday which analysed and, in a mild though clear tone, decimated the legal theories advanced by the Administration to defend George Bush’s lawless eavesdropping."

CRS Report (pdf)

Some People Just Don't Get It!

All I can say is WOW! ...
This guy was wrong on so many levels, but even after his full name, address, phone number, car Registration, photos of him from about 5 or 6 years of School journals plus recent ones of him and his Vehicle plus number plates, his parents details, his employers details and just about every other personal detail you can think off. He still kept throwing threats and abuse around and procrastinated on a simple apology.
He could have put an end to the humiliation at any time just by giving an unreserved apology and returning the guy's money but he couldn't even do that. He even screwed up the apology by ending it with a threat.

The story may be familiar because it has been spread the length and breadth of the internet and literally millions of people have become aware of what this guy did. It has been added to Wikipedia as an entry, the term "Wenzeled" (from the guy's Surname "Wenzel" has even been immortalised in the Urban Dictionary - "wenzeled".
1. wenzeled
1. Defrauded by an Internet seller.
Hey, wanna buy some bran new gears for your truck?"
"LOL ok, here's $115"
"Now I want $140 for used gears out of my 2WD truck"
"Oh snap! I just got wenzeled!"
2. Publicly outed as fraudulent person of low character.
2. wenzeled
The act of being screwed on a fraudulent internet sale.
MochaMike got wenzeled by Charlie Wenzel.
3. wenzeled
past tense of verb "wenzel" or adverb; to financially defraud someone on the Internet and then use Social-Economic position to bully and threaten them; arrogant thievery.
I gave the guy $115, he cashed my check, he misrepresented the goods, didn't send them and called me an asshat!
Hey, bro, you just got wenzeled! Or I just wenzeled the dude for $115.

Read the saga it here

Charlie's almost Apology

"This should be considered a formal written apology to the members moderators (especially mochamike) and administrators of pirate4x4.com. I am sorry for 1) posting my gears for sale were new but were really used. 2) for changing the price after recieving the check from mike. 3) for calling mike's house at inconveinient hours of the night....snip
snip...if it doesn't stop, if it doesnt stop, one member on here who left a message on my voicemail saying im going to die will go to jail because i have all of his information..

I read nearly all of the thread (73 pages!) over a couple of days but kept going back because I could not believe how some people actually think they are going to "save face" by not apologising or by using threats against those he has wronged.

Charlie Wenzel, you should consider yourself very lucky.

One of the most read of the "Left Wing/Progressive/Liberal" Blogs on the net is the Yellow Dog Blog. The owner and Author of the Blog, Bob Geiger, does a great job of telling it like it is and sticking it into the US Government and Republicans in general at every opportunity.

Well, due to the popularity of his blog, (and were talking more readers than most newspapers here) from the start of this year Bob has changed the name of the blog from Yellow Dog to BobGeiger.com. .

From all the staff at Hypocrites and Liars (all One of me), we wish you all the best in the future Bob! Go get 'em mate!


Which brings me to the other reason why I am writing this peice. Late last year (December 20) Bob wrote an article titled "When Australians Don't Like us, We've Got Problems." and invited comments from any Australian readers. I didn't know it at the time but the article was also published in one of Australias largest Newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald..
So I fired off an email to Bob at the Yellow Dog blog and he replied asking if he could publish the email. No worries mate!

So, here it is here "Aussie readers weigh in on America".
You'll find my comments about half way through (Paul W. – Newcastle, New South Wales)

Happy New Year !

To all my friends and Family and to all the wonderful and loyal readers of this Blog (cough cough) I would like to wish everyone All the best in Health and Happiness in 2006.

John Ashcroft Enjoys Being Covered in Cooking Oil... Apparently.

I just found this wonderful little tidbit while reading a completely different article from a link at Crooks & Liars, and to be totally honest, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
This guy has a Cooking Oil rubdown/Anointing thing happenning before each of his gubernatorial terms and thinks it's a good thing?


Ashcroft invites God on decisions.

WASHINGTON -- Attorney
General-designate John Ashcroft says he tries to "invite God's presence" while
making crucial decisions and compares his political victories and defeats to
resurrections and crucifixions.

The former Missouri governor also wrote that
he was anointed before each of his gubernatorial terms and on the evening before
he was sworn into the U.S. Senate a friend brought out Crisco cooking
oil for anointing when no holy oil could be found.

In his 1998 book, "Lessons From A Father To His Son," the son
of a pastor makes clear his deep devotion to Christianity and details how it has
shaped his lengthy public career -- from his view on race to
his staunch opposition to abortion and support for the
death penalty.

Wasn't it the Sixth commandment that said "Thou Shalt Not Kill"? These Religious Fundamentalists seem to be very selective on what they take from the Bible.

The Article was written in an Associated Press news paper and was copied onto the Website "Quest for the Presidency".


Read the full article here.