Indict Bush. Indict them all.

He has no credibility at all. He should be tried and punished for this. Sometime in the future, when the fall of the right is complete, it may happen.

They hauled Clinton through the coals for fudging the truth over a bit of fellatio. Bush has wilfully breached the Geneva Conventions.

More at Larvatus, Cristy's Pea Pod, Fat Cat Politics, The Poor Man, (to be expanded...). Conservatives grappling with the decision: Belmont Club, (to be expanded, when the others regain consciousness...).

He cannot claim ignorance- how many thousands of high-level lawyers have told him that he's breaking the law? You wilfully ignore them, wandering off to the farm while your unethical spin doctors masquerading as public lawyers draft documents designed to mislead the public and confuse what was always a clear cut issue.

Those lawyers should be disbarred, and worse. They are frauds. They have done an incredible amount of damage to the law, and the legal profession has an obligation to hunt them down and crush them.

Rear Admiral Harris and other wilful participants in this process must be held to account as well. All decent folk who believe in our civilisation and it's central pillar the Rule of Law have an obligation to make sure that these thugs, these lawbreakers, can never sleep.

Winners:

Major Michael Mori- now a byword for integrity and the lead advocate who beat the most powerful law-breakers in the World.

The Rule of Law, and it's potential to restrain the Executive from barbarism.

The US Justice system. Often maligned, this decision by a conservative Supreme Court will attract credibility and respect for its highest institution.

The USA. How many countries' top courts would have handed down this decision? Their Government may be run by liars who are in the pocket of select vested interests, but they still have the rule of law.

The War on Terror. This illegal lockup has been a shining example of why 'we' are the enemy of Islam, a recruiter's dream. It's over, and no matter how poor the reporting in the Islamic world there must be a few people in Egypt and Saudi Arabia asking themselves whether their own justice system could have produced this result.

The Left. We were right. Yet again. And we know that history will be on our side.

The Truth. It prevailed.

Losers:

George W. Bush, international lawbreaker. Marked man. Future Defendant. Failure. Person history will recognise as a consummate, incompetent fuckup.

Every lawyer who put their imprimatur on this regime.

Every military officer who enforced this regime and who is of sufficiently high rank to be held responsible.

Just about every right wing commentator in the Western world.

The American Republican Party, the Australian Liberal Party.

John Howard, though like all his biggest crises of integrity it won't stop him sleeping at night.

The neocons. That's the squeaking sound of a nail being driven into a coffin.

The Right. A collective failure of morality, legality, and intelligence.

Now, for the next course, extraordinary rendition....

White superiority demonstrated

Spanish fans 'monkey chant' at the French soccer team.

Spanish team confirms its evolutionary advantage.

Spanish player demonstrating evolutionary-advantage-in-action for his adoring fans...



Spanish players celebrating the sweet victory delivered by their evolutionary advantage....





Spanish fans earn their own entry in Wikipedia.

You'd think people would learn.

Oh China, Love Me Tender

World's most powerful Elvis impersonator to visit Graceland.

Jobs for lawyers, Top Tier firm-ament

Via Crooked Timber, the Anonymous Law Firm:

Our lawyers provide a range of billable services to clients, and are familiar with many of the things that attorneys ought to understand. Our global presence reflects the existence of offices worldwide.

What's scary is that for those of us who've worked in a law firm, it doesn't read as a parody, especially when you get to the online job application:

Mental and/or physical disabilities (check all that apply):

( ) I seek some amount of social interaction and/or intellectual stimulation in my job
( ) I have trouble following mindless orders from people I don't trust or respect
( ) I have other interests outside of work
( ) I have a family
( ) I require sleep

Jackal Litigates

He sure has balls:

...his lawyer says new details show that Carlos was illegally kidnapped by French authorities on foreign soil.

Give it your all, Carlos, once you are free the Israelis can do the job properly.

I am a conservative

Parent, to be specific. Reading, thinking, watching, consolidating knowledge and generally getting ideas together in consultation with beloved has led us both, but me in particular, to some pretty conservative conclusions.

I don't agree with the article in the weekend Age about kids watching TV. It was shite. It claimed TV was fine because it doesn't make kids into chronic criminals. Well I don't care, it's full of crap, dumbed down, and teaches values like wanting to dress like Britney Spears.

I want my child to have a better education than I did. I learned a good deal because I read heaps, but really what I got from 12 years of school was negligible. I want them to read literature, comprehensively study history, and get exposed to music and other fine arts in a way I wasn't. One dumbed-off semester in year 9 playing recorders is not- I repeat not Miss Piccone you fraud- an education in music.

I don't want my child surrounded by the children of parents who let them watch TV all night, eat takeaway dogshit and have every stupid gadget under the sun. That means my child will understandably want those things too, and feel left out if they don't have them. The peer group can so often be tuned to the lowest common denomination.

It's a form of conservative, but it's not a Liberal Party form of conservative.

Someone asked me the other day how I'd cope if the child is gay. Fan-fucking-tastic, I replied. If they're a boy they'll learn to dress themselves quicker and if they're a girl I avoid the stress of wanting to draw-and-quarter various boyfriends. Seriously, can't see why this creates issues for some dads.

In fact, I couldn't think of a better place to bring up kids than a suburb like the one we're in now, with a huge population of lesbian parents. At least the schools won't be crawling with dumb jocks.

Yeah yeah, I know, I need to refocus on the vomit, strollers, and buying the baby's first Bonds singlet. But it's hard. I feel so vividly conscious of the fact that we're responsible for another life here, a life and a lifetime.

Australia didn't earn a win

We were robbed. It was an unfair decision that saw Totti handed an almost unmissable penalty goal. Italy were also robbed, if you look at it that way: Materazzi did not deserve his red card any more than Totti deserved a reward for diving.

And we had 45 minutes in which to score a goal against an Italian team that was missing a key defender. Despite that disadvantage, they defended exceptionally well, and while we showed a fair whack of spirit our attack was blunt when it counted. Cahill had a lousy night and Kewell was missed, but it wasn't just the strikers- most passes into the goal area went over or wide of their targets. *

You can argue the toss. The decision against Neill looked pretty unfair, but would we have won if it went into extra time, or a penalty shoot against 'the most expensive goalie in the world'? Would we have won if you undid both bad decisions, so that Australia faced a full Italian team for the entire second half?

We can be very biased, as can all nations. Seen from a third party viewpoint, things can look rather different. Extracts from the UK Guardian:

There seemed little danger however, until Lucas Neill slid in idiotically to challenge - at which point Grosso needed no prompting to throw himself over the prone Australia defender and claim the penalty, which despite intense pressure Totti coolly slammed high and hard past Mark Schwarzer.

Totti's redemption was a dramatic end to a disappointingly slow-paced, slow-witted game, the only other notable feature of which was the ridiculous dismissal of Italian defender Marco Materazzi.

It was certainly a foul alright - Materazzi's clumsy challenge was late and two-footed - but it wasn't malicious and Fabio Cannavaro was covering. Inexplicably, however, Spanish referee L Medina Cantalejo brandished a straight red.

Australia may have enjoyed a numerical advantage, but it quickly became clear they were still trailing in terms of quality: while the Italians were failing to get their act together in the penalty box, they were still enjoying the lion's share of possession.

And we were off-target when it counted. So let's celebrate an incredible effort from an underdog team and remember that, when it comes to lousy refereeing, what goes around more often comes back around and goes rocketing past the goalie in the final few seconds.

UPDATE: What others are saying...

Crazy Brave:

Sadly it seems no more of these are available. Could've come in handy.

C8TO at Catallaxy:

ridiculous referee decisions deciding progressions is a tarnish on the beautiful game.

My Canadian workmate:

You remind me of when my wife or grandma tries to talk about sport.

Touche, I guess!


(* Lingo updated, lucky I have an Englishman sitting opposite.)

Boycott Bruce Willis

The Right do it, why shouldn't we? Hat tip to Catallaxy, Bruce Willis is officially the thickest actor in Hollywood:

Saddam Hussein had to be removed. What I saw over there were schools being reopened and the power being turned back on and hospitals being reopened and built, and what I saw were a lot of Iraqi people who want what you and I want —they want a job, to be able to raise our kids in a free world where guys don't walk in with dynamite strapped to themselves and blow themselves up.

A free world where Americans walk in and rake them all full of lead. And exactly how often did suicide bombings take place in Iraq under Saddam, Brooce?

I support these kids over there fighting and dying, you know. It's a harsh, harsh, existence.

What, these kids? Be specific you fool.

The passage that caught Catallaxy's attention:

The perception in the modern world is that America lost the Vietnam War. A lot of Australians fought in the Vietnam War. But if the free world had not fought in Vietnam for 15 years, there would be no multibillion-dollar free trade world in the Pacific Rim. There would be no Taiwan. So we held back that communism that would want to shut down that free trade. And if a free trade economy is established in the Middle East, hopefully, a similar thing could happen.

Similar to the free trade economy America established in Vietnam in 1974? Or similar to the Taiwan which is in Vietnam what the Americans liberated when they didn't lose at all?

I've saved the planet eight or nine times now.

Right. Eight or Nine. Thank god for Bruce.

Next time I'm considering shelling out on one of his thick and fast epics I'll ram my money down the nearest drain instead.

Actions taken

Alkatiri gone. Was he just a scapegoat for a myriad of unfixable problems? I tend to think it will be no loss.

A kidnapped Israeli soldier may trigger all-out war as Ehud Olmert pins responsibility on Hamas and threatens to invade Gaza. Hamas denies knowledge. Palestinians got Gaza back, they have to grow up a little and take some responsibility sooner or later.

Buffett is giving $37 billion US to charity. That, Collins Street, is what we call philanthropy. Gettler at the Age blogs some more on this.

Somalia wants the US to rocket them, or something. Another theocracy- that should resolve the country's developmental issues, they'll be another Dubai this time next year.

Tories in Britain apparently like some rights, just that they'd rather they were contained in a Bill, not an Act. Express reference to Humans also discouraged.

Finally, closer to home for the Aussies, Cam gets into the detail on the whole fighter-bomber acquisition thingy. Australia has an exemplary record for purchasing military hardware, I don't know why people question the powers that be, do you?

The gloves must come off

The fight's barely begun, and the shameless bias that saw Murdoch minions across the globe editorialise in favour of invading Iraq looks set to be shoved down our throats and up democracy's arse for the rest of the campaign.

As Modia Minotaur, still one of Australia's best and most underrated polibloggers says:

The Australian's attack on Kim Beazley's decision to make the axing of AWAs a central platform for the next election has been extraordinary.
...This sort of clear bias only lends heat to the debate on cross media ownership reforms...

Indeed, and within Labor the idea needs to start germinating that two can play this dirty game. With the political will, the federal government has all the power it needs to reconfigure the media landscape and blatantly, shamelessly, manouevre the most wanton abusers of power and wealth to the sidelines.

The reason the game must be dirty is that you are dealing with the most direct and flagrant abuses of power in the media world, and with no ifs or buts about it any proposal to weaken the power of the dominant hegemons would be met by vicious, unrepentant, open use of the fourth estate to prevent that party getting into power.

This constant and, in the present environment, well-founded fear of reprisal is the reason politicians continue to woo some of the nastiest and most destructive forces in our country. People point to the way Kerry Packer bullied politicians as some sort of quality, when in fact it just demonstrated the phenomenal arrogance of someone who knew he had the dangling parts of our democracy in his pocket.

The sensible approach would be a mix of market-freeing reforms and deliberate mercantilist measures designed to empower minor media and reduce dominant ownership.

And the only way to deliver such a raft of reforms is rapidly, announcing them the day you are elected and driving them relentlessly so that the effects are starting to be felt well before the next election. This would start to open up debate and competition, but it would also show the big players that the government meant business and would be prepared to go even further if provoked.

Overtaking for Allah

Apparently overtaking cars at high speed is a pathway to martyrdom:

Mr Sudani said Australia's government must explain "this intentional and unwarranted criminal aggression against members of our protection force". "It should also compensate the family of the martyr and the wounded," he said.

Fighting words.

Memo to Howard: Get Out Now!

Labor has defined two major battlegrounds

There are now two policy areas in which Labor offers a clear, stark difference to the Liberals. Not since the 'Troops Come Home At Christmas' moment has Labor's position on Iraq felt so confident. Sure, we've peppered away from time-to-time but given the fallout from Latham's imprudent call that position has never seemed sure-footed.

With the passage of time bringing nothing but ongoing civil war, the Kovco bungle and yesterday's killing those of us who opposed the invasion from the beginning, on both legal and security grounds, can see that we were entirely correct.

And the Bomber is starting to sound confident on the issue, as picked up by Matt Price:

The Labor leader's had a lot to say about the war but this was Beazley's first comprehensive speech to parliament on Iraq since his reincarnation. It was also, by some distance, his most compelling performance at the dispatch box.

Compelling is good...

Beazley believes Iraq is now a civil war beyond external control or sway. "Western forces can play little or no role ... and in some instances the presence of Western forces complicates the task," he told the house. Too many soldiers and civilians had died: "The time has come now to leave the Iraqi people to themselves as best they can to sort out the problems they now confront." None of this is of shock-and-awe news value but the dynamic in the parliament was peculiar. Beazley eschewed his trademark blather and palpably held the attention of his back bench - which is rare.

Beazley 1, Howard 0. Bring on 1972, warmongers.

Dawn at 10 weeks

We got up early and watched the last half of a stunning win. Well, a draw-win thing, I'm still coming to grips with soccer rules (offside rule anyone?).

I've hardly posted about the poppet because nothing has happened. It feels like the eye of the storm; past the initial uncertainty and disbelief, but still in the danger zone with our first scan a fortnight away.

Beloved isn't showing any notable signs yet, despite complaining about being fat most waking moments. I actually want her to get more of a belly so I have something tangible to put my hands on. It still doesn't seem completely real.

I have taken up Tai Chi to ease the stress of work, because I will be no use to my child if I am allowing life's trivialities to get to me- more important things are at stake. Tai Chi for beginners is running at Northcote Uniting Church for the next 8 weeks, Tuesday nights from 7.30pm if anyone wants to join. I know there are a few fellow Nortocastrians who pass through here...

The sun is just below the horizon. I'm running up All Nations Hill for a better view. Top of the morning to y'all...

Oh little town(s) of Bethlehem...

Israel has split Bethlehem apart with its great dividing jurisdiction-extending law-circumventing wall; images and comment at Bethlehem Bloggers.

Howard won't enjoy his morning walk

This story is unfolding so quickly the article I linked to completely changed between my starting and finishing the post. First it was just security guards, now they are Australian Soldiers involved in the fatal attack on the Iraqi trade minister's bodyguards. Are we at war with the new Iraqi government? Or just trying to emulate the Americans?

(EVENING UPDATE: Iraq wants compo and an apology or trade may be jeopardised. Fair enough really.)

Meanwhile Howard's nasty grommet of a policy on refugees is starting to benefit from the belated discovery, by certain members of his back-bench, that they were born with a spine between their arse and their mouth and that it's not illegal to sit up straight from time to time.

And the Oz puts their Union-bashing-for-Rupert on hold to castigate the Government over its war on democracy, making the link between emasculating Senate committees and the Asylum findings:

The timing of Senator Minchin's proposal also raises questions. It follows the decision of a Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, chaired by government senator Marise Payne, that Mr Howard's tough new laws for the treatment of asylum-seekers should be scrapped. Rather than supporting Senator Minchin's aims to emasculate the Senate, the committee's findings demonstrate what is at stake, and that Australians stand to be the losers if accountability is cut.

Perhaps if you held them more accountable yourselves, Oz...

Saddam's fair trial

Over in the new peaceful democracy, the people can see justice being done:

Obeidi is the third defence lawyer for Saddam to be killed since his trial for crimes against humanity opened in October.

The thing about show trials is they can actually make things worse for the victors. A bullet might have been easier for everyone under the circumstances. Pretending there is rule of law when there isn't merely demeans the rule of law.

Like the way false representations of legality made prior to the attack on Iraq have completely undermined the international legal system.

Gusmao to Alkatiri: Game Over

Collective sound of breath being held.

UPDATE: Breath still being held. Four Corners decides East Timorese foreign policy but apparently Auntie still needs a good Windshuttling.

UPDATE II: Xanana says it's him or me. If Fretilin need help with that decision they may as well rejoin Indonesia.

UPDATE III: Alkatiri says "No Way!"

What we don't need is Gusmao gone and Alkatiri still in place. Xanana is possibly the only person capable of giving orders to the wild ex-fighters of the former East Timorese Resistance. He commands an incredible amount of respect as our regional Mandela. It might have been better though if Xanana hadn't made such an ultimatum, or could be talked into backing down if Alkatiri clings on for the time being.

Cracking the Workplace Code

The danger of populist reference:

"As I said before, you don't have to believe The Da Vinci Code is true to know there is very substantial concern about these extreme IR laws at the grass-roots level of the Australian community."

By my reading Wayne's equating opposition to the AWAs with belief in the Da Vinci Code. Wayne, back to the bench for you, lad.

Nice to see the Murdoch broadsheet remaining partial on this issue; we know the proprietor doesn't have views on unions one way or the other, don't we?

If your spouse committed murder...

After watching the Society Murders last night I am moved to pose the following question:

If you knew your partner or spouse had committed murder would you tell the police?

Too Black for Paris...

Having figured out the meaning of Hidden after the 4th or 5th viewing, the Republic's Bourbon-esque bourgeois have acted to resolve unseemly tensions that threaten to distract them from lecturing the American imperialists:

Mr Sarkozy has argued that riots by youths in immigrant suburbs across France last November showed the system of immigration and integration was failing. He says France, like a number of other Western countries, needs to choose the immigrants it needs.

What could he be referring to, a willingness to wear striped tops, grow a moustache and hurl faeces at McDonalds? Or to adopt a nice Gallic name like Sarkozy?

Most immigrants living in France come from its former African colonies.

Ah, as Ali G would say, it's a black thing.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who drafted the bill, says it will bring France into line with other countries.

Since when have the French given a toss about 'falling into line with other countries'?

The unseen orphans of France's brutal and useless colonial ventures are starting to make themselves noticed, and it's clearly spoiling a few dinner parties. Imagine how those blacks rattling fences must distract from one's discourse on the follies of fast food and liberal interventionism.

Tim Blair supports case against Bush

Credit to Tim Blair, he does some good work on occasion. On a thread at Lefty's he provides an out-of-context quote to demonstrate that Bush acknowledged things might be difficult in Iraq. In doing so he draws attention to a 2003 speech containing proof that the assertion that we went into Iraq to give people democracy was, and is, a lie:

We hope that the Iraqi regime will meet the demands of the United Nations and disarm, fully and peacefully. If it does not, we are prepared to disarm Iraq by force. Either way, this danger will be removed.

If it does not.

If it does not disarm (not all its weapons, read the context, disarm its FICTIONAL WMDs), we will use force.

IF...

That's an either/or trigger children, that's a link in a chain not a thread on a rope. So if the ficticious WMDs were disarmed, then the undemocratic dictatorship that gasses Kurds and eats babies would be left untouched.

That IS what he is saying.

Check the conviction with which he delivers that which has been proven to be patently untrue:

In Iraq, a dictator is building and hiding weapons that could enable him to dominate the Middle East and intimidate the civilized world -- and we will not allow it.

The false justification for the invasion of Iraq.

Of course, let me qualify by saying that any Iraqi who has survived and not lost a loved one and who lives well away from the many civil war zones is definitely better off now....

Moral Hierarchy

At last, Indonesians recognise the importance of executive non-interference:

Indonesia's ambassador to Australia, Hamzah Thayeb, agreed respect for each others laws was crucial to the ongoing relationship between Australia and Indonesia.

Of course there's non-interference and there's non-interference.

And there are countries that don't extradite to Australia, or vice versa.

And if a man with joint culpability for the death of your child was sitting in a town in the middle of such a country preaching medievil hatred, a porous country with a hundred different potential entry and exit points, what would you do?

And if you did, what would the federal government do?

Victoria leads, backbench follows

Another reminder of why I chose to live in this freezing corner of the country:

Nearly two out of three Victorians (63 per cent) say immigrants have a positive influence, compared with about half those in other states, according to an Associated Press/Ipsos Poll.

And with signs of a backbench revolt over Howard's ongoing refugee-bashing and Indonesia-appeasing agenda, things are looking up for desperate people of different colours who want to join the downunder project.

With child

Ok here is the short and short of why I shut down the blog.... beloved is 9 weeks pregnant, I wanted to blog about it, in fact I thought I'd do so every day though I quickly realised there wouldn't be much to say on a day-by-day basis, we wanted to keep it a secret until 12 weeks because, well, you are running on the smell of an oily shred of hope until at least then, and friends read this blog, and there was the career thing I mentioned earlier and, well, I stopped here and started here.

But that was all a bit mad, I'm sure for those of you who've known me a while I'm like that neurotic friend who wastes too much of your time with their crazy schemes and weekly crises. So I restarted, and now I'm consolidating.

The cat stories, the politics, the moments with beloved and the story of an unfolding journey towards fatherhood will all be written up in this little corner, by an open fire, with a snifter of Armagnac, Mahler's 5th winding back the mood, all kept alive by the hope that something I can do in this pathetic life will make the world just a tiny bit better for my beautiful, unborn child.

I am only about 8 weeks from unemployment. My decision to leave the private sector, indeed to say no to a job offer about the time an incredible chain of events was beginning that would change our lives together, has never seemed more desperately foolish. I have almost thrived on uncertainty in my life, going from contract to contract, always certain something would pop up, confident I could sell door-to-door if I had to. Or something.

But it's not just about me anymore. I've been a contractor for over 3 years, never more than an unsigned extension from penury, at the complete beck and crushing call of my public sector, touchy-feely, say-no-wrong employer.

Every day I feel sick thinking about it. Right now I would go back to checking people's contracts in an instant. At least they said thank you. At least the Sales Manager of the IT company in London bought be a bottle of Bollinger when we finished fighting over the company's damages cap policy. Well ok, I've had a couple of bottles here too, but unfortunately my tenure is beyond the immediate say so of my superiors, part of a complex thread of caps and policies and divisional funding grants that render my existence precarious. Every day ever more.

I now know vividly the instinct that made our forefathers steal bread when their baby cried and their wife looked up in anguish.

There isn't a lot of space between having options, and having nothing. It's about 5 minutes on the tram from my office near Spring Street to the dole queue on Johnson. A signed acceptance letter between scanning the daily casual boards and scanning the bungalows in the Melba Times.

Nothing like a dependent life to put things in perspective. As if the cats weren't enough responsibility!

Naked extremist provocatively thrusts genitals at alsatian

Forget 11/9, the war is on in earnest. Vicious islamoterrofascists are attacking our values and way of life by hanging themselves:

The camp commander said the two Saudis and a Yemeni were "committed" and had killed themselves in "an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us".

I know these people aren't reknown for their combination of literacy and veracity but this is surreal.

Headlines we'll soon be seeing:

* Fanatical toddler cops bullet in head for Allah *

* Naked extremist provocatively thrusts genitals at alsatian *

* Villagers slaughter selves to embarrass Jarheads *

Forget it Osama, the war on Western Civilisation is succeeding without your help.

Warming up with some UN football

We rest assured:

Mr Blair also ruled out taking the job of UN secretary general after he retires..

Saves 70% of the General Assembly walking out in hysterical laughter.

Meanwhile the US is angry, offended, threatening and doing everything other than providing an intelligent critique of the deputy secretary-general's honest, accurate and reasonable comments:

"Much of the public discourse that reaches the US heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors, such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News," Mr Malloch Brown said in a speech in New York on Tuesday. Depending on the UN while tolerating "too much unchecked UN-bashing and stereotyping" was "simply not sustainable", he said. "You will lose the UN one way or another."

Reasonable and accurate comments. But according to the World Cop's moustachio'd enforcer Mr Malloch made:

a very, very grave mistake..

Hands on revolvers, legs apart, boots in the dust...

this is the worst mistake by a senior UN official that I have seen in that entire time...

Really? Criticising the US is the worst they've done? Sound like a very effective organisation then, given their mandate covers war and famine. Bolton dribbles on:

Mr Bolton said the speech demonstrated a "condescending, patronising tone about the American people. Fundamentally and very sadly, this was a criticism of the American people, not the American government, by an international civil servant. It's just illegitimate."

A civil servant, just to underscore the indignity. Of course the speech did nothing of the sort- it was directed fair square at the US government with a side shot at a few shock jocks, that's a pretty small portion of 250 million people.

Of course, when your attitude towards the global body can be summed up as 'it's my money, so bend over', you don't need to demonstrate reason or restraint. Perhaps Blair will get the last laugh. If Washington wants him, and the UN wants its money, there's sure to be a way around all those pesky member states.

Backfire for Belated Bigot?

What an appalling abuse of section 122 of our crusty and out-of-date constitution.

The question I pose is this: will Costello's reincarnation as a bigot, obviously a calculated calibration in the quest for leadership, backfire and lose him as many votes from the actually-a-bit-liberal wing as it wins from the duelling banjo faction?

I apologise, I'm back and I'll stay

I passed through a nadir. As Splatts pointed out, this isn't the first time I've ditched a blog during a tight spot. I will give more explanations as time unfolds (some of you have guessed and emailed), but meantime please keep your links and feeds.

I enjoyed my first foray onto Crikey, and intend to take more shots at the 'old' media, but I'm kidding myself to either (a) blame blogging for any lack of output or (b) think I can last long without this particular incurable addiction.

Hang in here, and after I post my final pain-in-the-butt international relations essay this Friday I promise you consistent lefty-contrarian analysis to complement (and sometimes curdle) your coffee each morning.

With love, apologies, and a double measure of something smooth...