THE GUARDIAN, WHERE THE LEFT AND ISLAMISM CONVERGE

According to British blogger Melanie Phillips, Dilpazier Aslam isn't the only Guardian employee to be sacked as a result of his membership in Hizb ut Tahrir:

After he was hired, Aslam mentioned his membership of HuT to the executive who had hired him. Astonishing as this may seem, that executive had no idea what kind of organisation HuT was. The executive is now leaving the paper as a result.

Phillips finds it interesting that the views of a member of Hizb ut Tahrir fit right in at the Guardian:

Whatever may or may not have been known about Aslam’s membership of HuT -- and several intriguing questions about this whole affair are still unanswered -- it remains the case that someone subscribing to its wholly unacceptable platform could find a berth at the Guardian which was perfectly comfortable about publishing his views. And that was because they fitted into its own general view of the world. The horror when it discovered that these views emanated from a HuT member was undoubtedly genuine, because they are genuinely horrified by HuT. And what that surely tells us is that the Guardian really doesn’t grasp that its view of the world is as extreme and unacceptable as it is.

The lack of grasp thing isn't unique to the Guardian, it afflicts the whole of the left.

DETAINEES LESS THAN HUMAN

Detention centre operator GSL has been fined AU$500,000 for allegedly denying detainees food, water and toilet-breaks while they were being transported from Victoria to South Australia. Labor blames the government:

Labor's Human Services spokesman, Kelvin Thompson, says the former and current Immigration Ministers have created a culture in which asylum seekers can be seen as less than human.

"They are the people who have been demonising asylum seekers these past few years," he said.

"They are the people who have contracted out the management of detention centres from public servants to the private company."

The government can be thankful it didn't let GSL go ahead with the planned petting zoo.

PAKISTAN URGES LONDONISTAN CRACKDOWN

Pervez Musharraf thinks Britain isn't doing nearly enough to control fanatics:

In a national address, General Musharraf said Pakistan was waging a strong campaign but insisted "there is a lot to be done in England."

He added that extremists in Britain operated with impunity.

Musharraf's comments were made following a crackdown on madrasas:

President Pervez Musharraf says foreign students attending Islamic religious schools in Pakistan will be ordered to leave as part of a drive to stamp out terrorism and religious extremism.

Security forces have detained more than 600 people in the past week after Mr Musharraf ordered a crackdown on militant groups, mosques and religious schools, or madrasas.

Some 1,400 "students" will be kicked out of Pakistan. Any bets on some of them ending up in Britain?

CALL IT WHAT IT IS: WAR

Mark Steyn argues that Britain must stop messing around and declare its own war on terror:

... I regretfully have to disagree with the editor of this great publication in his prescription of the current situation which appeared in these pages a week or two back under the headline ‘Just don’t call it war’. As you’ll have gathered, the boss objects to the language of ‘war, whether cultural or military.... Last week’s bombs were placed not by martyrs nor by soldiers, but by criminals.’

Sorry, but that’s the way to lose. A narrowly focused ‘criminal’ approach means entrusting the whole business to the state bureaucracy. The obvious problem with that is that it’s mostly reactive: blow somewhere up, we’ll seal it off, and detectives will investigate it as a crime scene. You could make the approach less reactive by a sustained effort to improve scrutiny of immigration, entitlement to welfare and other matters within the purview of government. But consider those two snippets from the Tuesday papers and then figure out the likelihood of that happening. A ‘criminal’ approach gives terrorists all the rights of criminals, and between British and European ‘human rights’ that’s quite a bundle. If it’s a war, you can take wartime measures — including withdrawal from the UN Convention on Refugees, repeal of the European Human Rights Act, and a clawback of sovereignty from the EU. But if you fight this thing as a law-enforcement matter, Islamist welfare queens will use all the above to their full extent and continue openly promoting the murder of the Prime Minister, British troops, etc. with impunity.

Read the whole thing.

BRITISH POLICE CONDEMNED FOR TASERING SUSPECT

Sir Ian Blair doesn't want to see any more would be bombers Tasered:

"I'll be honest, we don't understand how they could possibly... it was an incredible risk to use a Taser on a suicide bomber because the Taser itself could set it off and that is not the policy."

"Despite everything that's been said there is only one way to stop a suicide bomber, which is to kill that person because anything else that happens, unless you can persuade them in some open space to undress, everything else allows the shot to go home but the bomb to go off."

Yep.

ACADEMIC QUARANTINE

Since he refuses to retire, Macquarie University has cancelled all of controversial academic Andrew Fraser's classes and ordered him not to teach:

But Associate Professor Fraser says he is planning to come to work as usual on Monday morning.

The university says if he tries to teach he will be going against a direct order and action will follow.

Wouldn't want any of the kiddies getting infected with politically incorrect ideas ...

Update: The Macquarie student council has joined the fray with a well reasoned attack on Fraser's views:

"For those who are disturbed by his comments, please ignore it [sic] because this man is just: FULL OF SHIT!"

Good point, but at university, everyone's full of shit.

KILLER TREES

We've all heard some variation of this environmental mantra, "save the planet, plant a tree". As it turns out, trees can be deadly:

Planting trees can create deserts, lower water tables and drain rivers, rather than filling them, claims a new report supported by the UK government.

The findings - which may come as heresy to tree-lovers and most environmentalists - is an emerging new consensus among forest and water professionals.

“Common but misguided views about water management,” says the report, are resulting in the waste of tens of millions of pounds every year across the world. Forests planted with the intention of trapping moisture are instead depleting reservoirs and drying out soils.

Forests are not always bad, the authors concede. “We’re not saying they never produce water benefits or that they don’t have an important role in the ecosystem,” says Ian Calder from the University of Newcastle. “But if we are trying to manage water resources effectively, the simple view that more trees are always better is bad policy.”

Misguided pretty much sums up the whole environmental movement.

Update: Nashville's Jim Colyer wrote Save the Planet back in the '90s but didn't record it. If only he had, the world might be a different place:

If Bin Laden had heard my song, there would have been no 9/11. Al Qaeda would have used its energy to plant trees rather than to spread chaos.

Colyer could have a point about the song preventing 9/11: if bin Laden had listened to it back in the '90s he probably would have declared war on the environmental movement.

BEACH FIGHT

German holiday-makers flock to Italy's beaches every summer. A beach etiquette controversy has ensued:

Italian and German newspapers have exchanged broadsides over beach etiquette in a storm-in-a-teacup spat with shades of the diplomatic row provoked by Italian tourism minister Stefano Stefani in 2003.

The latest argument broke out following the publication of a beach behaviour manual by Italy's Union of Bathing Establishments (SIB), which advised holiday makers to cover up their bodies, avoid excessive drinking and forego hanging up their clothes from parasols, the UK's Independent reports.

The newspaper debate has not attracted any comments from Italy or Germany's political classes so far, but is reminiscent of Mr Stefani's withering criticisms of German behaviour two years ago.

The former tourism minister said that "[Germans] rowdily invade our beaches but in their most widely read daily, Bild, right on cue before the beginning of every season, with a precision that is punctilious to say the least, they never omit to report the number of car thefts in Rimini or even the latest statistics for Mafia victims in Sicily".

The tourism minister also lashed out at socialist German MEP Martin Schulz saying that he "probably grew up amid noisy belching contests after gargantuan beer drinking sessions and huge helpings of fried potatoes".

What's not to like about drunk, scantily clad Huns?

PROMISE MADE

White House correspondent Helen Thomas has offered to do a great public service:

"The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself," she told The Hill newspaper. "All we need is one more liar."

Run Dick, run.

TUBE BOMBERS "INNOCENT PASSENGERS"

British police invited a senior Birmingham cleric to participate in a press conference meant to calm fears within the Muslim community. Things did not go to plan; not to the police plan, anyway:

The most senior Islamic cleric in Birmingham claimed yesterday that Muslims were being unjustly blamed in the war on terrorism and that the eight suspects in the two bombing attacks on London "could have been innocent passengers".

Mohammad Naseem, the chairman of the city's central mosque, called Tony Blair a "liar" and "unreliable witness" and questioned whether CCTV footage issued of the suspected bombers was of the perpetrators.

He said that Muslims "all over the world have never heard of an organisation called al-Qa'eda".

His comments shocked senior police officers.

Sources said that attempts to encourage Muslims to pass them information on the bombers' activities would be hindered. One said: "We are trying to gain the trust of the Muslim community and these kinds of comments have the opposite effect. All they do is encourage communities to close ranks against us."

Terrorist sympathizers 1, police 0.

Via: Clarity and Resolve

ALL RIGHT SCUM, RAT OUT YOUR MATES, PLEASE

Terror suspects have rights that must not be violated:

Detectives who now have access to a man they believe is a would-be suicide bomber hope to persuade him to give them information about the others they are hunting. They have two weeks in which to convince him.

"If they really believe that someone has intelligence which they think can help them and there is an urgent need for it, they may put forward an offer," said one lawyer who has represented a number of suspects who have been held at Paddington Green police station.

"It is a technique most often used if they believe that someone is involved but not the lead person. The police themselves are not in a position to offer definite deals."

Under the Terrorism Act, a suspect can be held for 48 hours after which a judicial warrant can extend the detention for seven days. After 14 days, a suspect has to be charged or released.

An officer of superintendent rank or above can initially deny the suspect access to a lawyer if he believes that a lawyer's presence would interfere with the investigation. During the interrogation period, the suspect is entitled to eight hours' rest in every 24. Under the rules for interviews, "no interviewer may try to obtain answers or elicit a statement by the use of oppression".

The IRA trained its members in techniques which would enable them to resist attempts to "turn" them. The training would involve subjecting the member to humiliation and threats in as realistic a setting as possible.

I suppose the no oppression thing rules out the pliers and Bernz-o-matic torch.

MAXIMUM DAMAGE SOUGHT

Terror bombs must do more than just explode, they must rip, tear and shred.

More exclusive photos here.

Via: Watch.

KYOTO KILLER

The US, Australia, South Korea, India, China and Japan have agreed on an emissions reduction strategy:

The new initiative is known as the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.

A statement released by the participating nations says areas of cooperation envisioned in the new pact range from the use of clean coal and nuclear power to that of wind and solar energy.

The six nations will also jointly develop technologies that "promote economic growth while enabling significant reductions in greenhouse gas intensities."

Sounds sensible. Naturally, since the agreement is outside the Kyoto Protocol, environmentalists are sceptical even though the details are not known:

Details of the agreement are not yet public but it is clear it is designed to give US and Australian companies selling renewable energy and carbon dioxide-cutting technologies access to markets in Asia.

It is thought the pact does not include any targets and timetables for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which the rest of the developed world has signed up to under Kyoto.

The US, Australia and China are big coal exporters and are anxious to develop and export clean coal technologies.

Australian Senator Bob Brown is also unimpressed:

The immense power of the US and Australian coal lobbies is the key to the secret Asia-Pacific pact revealed in today's Australian newspaper, Greens Senator Bob Brown said today.

"This is all about taxpayers money being diverted from developing clean renewable technologies to try to make burning coal less dirty. It's putting geo-sequestration before solar power," Senator Brown said.

"And it will continue to hold back the introduction of planet-saving energy alternatives which do not produce greenhouse gases.

"Geo-sequestration - attempting to pipe carbon dioxide from thermal power stations underground - can not be applied to existing stations even if it does become a useable technology," Senator Brown said.

Senator Brown praised today's action by Greenpeace in Newcastle.

Well, it appears China, not being bound by Kyoto, had already opted for coal powered plants, not solar:

The country is on track to add 562 coal-fired plants - nearly half the world total of plants expected to come online in the next eight years.

Environmentalists should be happy China has at least made a gesture to address its emissions. Rather than applaud China they fret that Kyoto is under attack:

The UN wants to bring developing countries into the Kyoto fold after 2012, but the Times says that the APPD arrangement might mean China and India will opt to stay out.

India and China should, of course, act in their best national interests.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace has attempted to disrupt Australia's coal exports:

This morning, Greenpeace flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, slipped through Newcastle harbour and dropped anchor to block the channel and close down the world's biggest coal port.

At least 25 local people took to boats to support the Greenpeace action. Many more stood on shore in a show of support.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace activists occupied a huge coal loader and unfurled a banner "coal fuels climate change" on a 2.5 million tonne coal stockpile. Those activists were later arrested, along with the Rainbow Warrior's captain.

Ah yes, the always impressive Greenpeace banner unfurling.

Paul Bickford points out the blockade had zero effect on the movement of coal:

K Line’s 149,000 dwt Cape Lila was able to sail from Kooragang Island without delay. Two other scheduled departures, Keoyang Shipping’s 149,000 dwt Keoyang Orient , and the Japanese handymax Ace Eagle , were able to sail without problems. Four ships will also enter port today without delay.

Eileen Doyle, chair of Port Waratah Coal Services, which operates coal stevedoring services at Newcastle, said the protest action had not disrupted ship loading.

Keep up the good work enviroloonies.

GIFT GIVING GUIDE

If you want to catch a woman worth catching, mathematicians suggest gifts that are expensive but worthless. Screw that, I want a woman to love me for my mind.

ATOMIC HEARTS OF HATE

The Iranian military is recruiting:

A military garrison has been opened in Iran to recruit and train volunteers for “martyrdom-seeking operations”, according to the garrison’s commander, Mohammad-Reza Jaafari.

Jaafari, a senior officer in the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), told a hard-line weekly close to Iran’s ultra-conservative President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the new “Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison” (Gharargahe Asheghane Shahadat, in Persian) would recruit individuals willing to carry out suicide operations against Western targets.

The interview with Jaafari appeared under the title, “Commander of Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison: Let America and Israel know, each of our suicide volunteers equals a nuclear bomb”.

The British government should offer free one way tickets to locals who'd like to join.

SPAM CAN GET YOU KILLED

At least in some places, it can:

One of Russia’s most infamous spammers has been found beaten to death in his apartment, prompting thinly veiled jubilation among many of the country’s estimated 14 million internet users.

It'll probably be pretty hard to pin down a suspect, there had to be a queue.

FAILED TUBE BOMB SUSPECT TASERED

It looks like at least one of the would be London bombers has been caught:

A prime suspect in the failed London bomb attacks is believed to be among four people arrested in dawn raids by anti-terror police today.

Officers shot the man with a Taser stun gun during the swoop on an address in Birmingham. They also uncovered a "suspect" package at the scene.

Sources say the man is thought to be one of the four responsible for Thursday's botched suicide bombings.

A quantity of possible bomb making chemicals were also seized. Fantastic!

CHINA AND ZIMBABWE, BESTEST BUDS

Birds of a feather ...

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been warmly greeted as “an old friend” on his arrival in Beijing by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

During talks, the two leaders signed agreements covering economic and technical cooperation, including the supply of computer equipment.

China was also expected to seek mineral and other trade concessions in exchange for economic help.

Regarded as a pariah by the West for alleged human rights abuses, Mr Mugabe has sought support from China which has publicly backed Zimbabwe’s demolition program.

China has promised to help Zimbabwe and to not interfere in "internal affairs".
China "trusts Zimbabwe's government and people have the ability to deal properly with their own matters", a foreign ministry statement said.

President Mugabe said “We are very, very happy that we have done this to cement our relations with a great friend, historical friend, brotherly friend and that is the People’s Republic of China.”

China is one of the few countries to embrace the 81 year old autocrat who’s banned from travelling in the US and European Union following allegations of vote rigging and oppressing the opposition.

The ties between China and Mr Mugabe date back to the 1970s war of independence, when fighters from his Zanu party were armed by the Chinese.

China quietly tries to fill the void created by the demise of the Soviet Union. Isn't that al Qaeda's job?

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS, DEATH TOO

Here's the result of Mullah Omar's recent call for Taliban forces to unite and fight:

At least 40 militants and two Afghan soldiers have been killed overnight in a raid by US and Afghan troops on a Taliban hideout in south-central Afghanistan.

The Mullah should get all his men together for a group photo, you know, for posterity. I'm sure the USAF would be pleased to provide a Predator for a few happy-snaps, and a Hellfire or two. Say vaporized.

LOEWENSTEIN WATCH

In a post with the seemingly warm and cuddly title, " Working together is essential", Antony Loewenstein both exaggerates and manipulates. In his first paragraph Loewenstein talks about the "increasingly vicious anti-Muslim sentiment within the Australian community". His link is to a Sydney Morning Herald article that says nothing more than this about anti-Muslim sentiment:

A leading Australian Islamic body will send letters to 200 Muslim clerics and community leaders today calling on them to condemn terrorist bombings and to acknowledge that some Muslims have been involved in attacks such as September 11.

The chief executive of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Amjad Mehboob, said the decision to send the letters had come after a "very disturbing and very distressing" day when talkback radio callers in Sydney launched what he called a "free-for-all" attacking Muslims.

"It was a pretty bad day from our perspective," Mr Mehboob told the Herald. "There was talk about getting all the Muslims packing from this country and closing down mosques."

Talkback radio is disturbing at the best of times and shouldn't be taken as indicative of the wider community's view.

Apparently to ram home the spread of vicious anti-Muslim sentiment, Loewenstein then edits this:

The Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, said he had no time for Islam, whose teachings he believed were false, but he opposed any discrimination of prospective immigrants based on religion.

To produce this:

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that "he had no time for Islam, whose teachings he believed were false."

Not only is the editing disguised, it changes the Bishop's sentiments to make them seem decidedly intolerant. Regardless, does Loewenstein expect a Christian cleric to say that he believes the teachings of Islam are true? That would make the Bishop a Muslim, wouldn't it?

Jeez, you'd reckon there's enough news out there to blog about without having to resort to making stuff up. Oh well, his leftarded readers apparently don't care, so why should he?

CIVIL LIBERTARIANS DENOUNCE HOWARD GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT TO UN PRINCIPLES

The government says it wants to act to protect lives:

Philip Ruddock, who is in New York, is to outline the case for stronger anti-terrorist laws in speech to the American-Australian Association tonight.

He will tell the association that the Federal Government has an obligation under Article Three of the UN human Rights Convention to protect human life and that may come at the expense of civil liberties.

Australian Council of Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman is none to happy about this:

"He would rubbish and dismiss the UN's controversial but influential report in relation to Australia's detention centres when he was immigration minister," Mr O'Gorman said.

"Now, when he's Attorney-General, he's cherry-picking a particular strand of human rights law in order to try to neutralise the criticisms of civil libertarians and defence lawyers."

Only an idiot would compare the detention of illegal immigrants with an Australian's right to keep on living.

RACIST PROFESSOR NOT SACKED

Andrew Fraser hasn't been sacked, he merely slipped on a retirement banana peel conveniently placed in his path:

MACQUARIE University denies it has sacked a law professor for expressing racist views, saying the controversial academic had been invited to bring forward his retirement.

Canadian-born Associate Professor Andrew Fraser, who taught at the university for 29 years, has also been blamed for a race-hate campaign at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales.

Macquarie University in Sydney cautioned Professor Fraser last week over a letter in a suburban newspaper, claiming Australia was becoming a Third World colony by allowing non-white immigration.

University vice-chancellor Professor Di Yerbury said Professor Fraser is pretty clear about what's really going on here:

... we do not want his views to be identified with the policies and views of Macquarie University and the university community.

They'd like to shut him up but can't, so it's time for him to go, please, just go.

GOATS AND COWS FOR CHELSEA OFFER REJECTED

The offer for his daughter was rejected but got him to thinking:

Former US president Bill Clinton has been offered 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter by a love-struck African government official.

Mr Clinton was offered the deal on a recent trip to Kenya.

He was offered the animals as a traditional African way of getting a father to give away his daughter's hand in marriage.

The dowry is a very generous one by the country's own standards.

Bubba is reportedly negotiating a deal to swap the Clinton cow for an unspecified number of goats.

UNIVERSITY ALARM AS AUSTRALIA'S THOUGHT POLICE SWING INTO ACTION

Abraham, a Muslim convert and student at a Melbourne university, claims he was questioned by Australian Federal Police in relation to his book borrowing habits:

Abraham says the AFP drew an unfair link between his Muslim name and his topic of study.

"Obviously, they've had access to my library records," he said.

"I don't know if the phone has been bugged. I don't know if they are watching my movements.

"They are drawing a linkage between a person with a non-English speaking name and saying 'okay, well this is suspicious activity'."

Abraham says there are dozens of students studying similar subjects but he is the only one who has been interviewed, despite espousing a moderate approach to Islam.

"I think it's unjustified and unfair and it also sends a message, unfortunately, to the Muslim community that if they're dealing with the Australian Federal Police authorities that possibly they could be targeted," Abraham said.

This whole article isn't news, it's speculation. Did the AFP even talk to Abe much less question him? Has he engaged in behaviour, or had contact with anyone, that might make him of interest to the police? Why include the leading phone bugging speculation?

If the ABC's going to have any credibility as a news source, staff are going to have to do a bit of research before throwing speculative"news" items out there for loony lefties to pick-up and spread.

Actually, the ABC article features its own over-the-top lefty looniness:

The president of Liberty Victoria, Brian Walters SC, is outraged by Abraham's story.

"I think this is extremely serious - it suggests that our AFP and ASIO security police are operating as 'thought police' and undermining academic independence which is so important to a free and democratic society," Mr Walters said.

Mr Walters believes the AFP owes Abraham an apology.

He says the Federal Government should repeal its terrorism laws and take a calmer approach to protecting Australian society.

"I think we should be really concerned about the disruption to our society that these terror laws are creating," Mr Walters said.

"We should be alarmed, not just alert. This is the stuff of Kafka-esque nightmare.

"We do not want a situation where police are vetting the thoughts that we undertake, vetting research and doing so in an environment that cannot be justified."

Yep, Australian society will never be the same and neither will its universities:

Abraham's lecturer, David Wright-Neville, has told his other students that they may also be open to scrutiny by the authorities.

No doubt drug use at this unnamed Melbourne university has plummeted. Local drug dealers will be alarmed.

THE WAR ON TERROR EVOLVES

It's been a long time coming but the Pentagon's war on terror strategy is changing:

The terrorist threat against the United States is now defined as "Islamist extremism" --not just al Qaeda. The Pentagon document identifies the "primary enemy" as "extremist Sunni and Shia movements that exploit Islam for political ends" and that form part of a "global web of enemy networks." Recognizing that al Qaeda's influence has spread, the United States is now targeting some two dozen groups--a significant change from the early focus on just al Qaeda and its leadership.

The new approach emphasizes "encouraging" and "enabling" foreign partners, especially in countries where the United States is not at war. Concluding that the conflict cannot be fought by military means alone--or by the United States acting alone--the new Pentagon plan outlines a multipronged strategy that targets eight pressure points and outlines six methods for attacking terrorist networks.

Really, it's amazing that a huge entrenched bureaucracy like the DoD is as adaptable as it is. Anyway, it's a long and interesting article, well worth reading just to discover that Rumsfeld's famously numerous memos are called "snowflakes" by Pentagon staffers.

PREHISTORIC SEX TOY

The 20cm prehistoric stone phallus recently unearthed in Germany was more than decorative:

Its life size suggests it may well have been used as a sex aid by its Ice Age makers, scientists report.

Somehow, an Ice Age stone dildo just doesn't go with hot sex.

MUGGED FROM A DEEP SLEEP

Mark Steyn on the rude awakening of many multiculturalists prompted by the London bombings:

Something about this particular set of circumstances - British subjects, born and bred, weaned on chips, fond of cricket, but willing to slaughter dozens of their fellow citizens - seems to have momentarily shaken the multiculturalists out of their reveries. Hitherto, they've taken a relaxed view of the more, ah, robust forms of cultural diversity - Sydney gang rapes, German honour killings - but Her Britannic Majesty's suicide bombers have apparently stiffened even the most jelly-spined lefties.

At The Age, Terry Lane, last heard blaming John Howard for the "end of democracy as we know it" and calling for "the army of my country ... to be defeated" in Iraq, now says multiculturalism is a "repulsive word" whereas "assimilation is a beaut" and should be commended. In the sense that he seems to have personally assimilated with Pauline Hanson, he's at least leading by example.

Where Lane leads, Melbourne's finest have been rushing to follow, lining up to sign on to the New Butchness. "There is something wrong with multiculturalism," warns Pamela Bone. "Perhaps it is time to say, you are welcome, but this is the way it is here." Tony Parkinson - The Age's resident voice of sanity - quotes approvingly France's Jean-Francois Revel: "Clearly, a civilisation that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself."

Defend ourselves? Is that allowed?

PRIME MINISTER HOWARD VISITS IRAQ

He was in the neighbourhood and thought he'd drop in:

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit, and is reportedly holding talks with Iraqi Premier Ibrahim Jaafari, according to Mr Jaafari's office.

He has refused to set out a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, saying it would depend on issues like how well local security forces can hold back the insurgency and the functionality of Iraq's democratic structures.

Not much chance anyone in the Iraqi grovernment will offer him a beer, I'll bet. While he's there he'll no doubt want to have important discussions with Aussie forces; thumping the Poms in the first Ashes test, for example.

SHOULD AUSTRALIA HAVE A SHOOT TO KILL POLICY?

The Sydney Morning Herald asks the question in a poll. 47% have answered "under no circumstances". It'll be interesting to see if that number changes after the inevitable terrorist bombing.

To vote in the poll, go here.

LONDON SHOOTING CONSPIRACY THEORY

Although there's no evidence to support the theory, I have a hunch that Jean Charles de Menezes might have suckered police into shooting him. Police claim he came out of a block of flats already under observation for links to terrorist activity. His behaviour was suspicious. He was wearing inappropriately bulky clothing.

Was de Menezes a Muslim? If so, did he intentionally sacrifice his life – I assume this would have given him instant martyr's access to heaven – in order to discredit those manning the London front line of the war on terror?

I could be way off base here but then again ...

SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER POLICY REMAINS IN PLACE

Sir Ian Blair has cast iron balls:

And Sir Ian has admitted further people could be shot as detectives hunt down the would-be suicide bombers.

He said: "Somebody else could be shot. But everything is done to make it right. This is a terrifying set of circumstances for individuals to make decisions."

God-damn, how'd you like to be an armed cop in London? Talk about pressure ...

WIELDING WOOD, SAVING TREES

Norwegians Leona Johansson and Tommy Hol Ellingsen have come up with a new startegy to save the Earth's rain forests, they've set up an eco-porn website. They're so keen to do their bit for the environment that last year they had sex on stage, accompanied by rock band The Cumshots, in front of 50,000 fans at the Quart music festival.

If you're interested in watching tree-huggers and their friends have sex go to Fuck For Forest.

MORE MUSLIM BOBBIES WANTED

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, London's most senior Muslim police officer, wants to recruit more Muslim police as a counter to hate crimes:

While positive discrimination is illegal, Ghaffur told an inter-faith meeting in Southall on Friday that he was determined to look for 'imaginative' ways to recruit more Asians and Muslims to the police. One of his ideas was the possibility of London business leaders funding a recruitment drive for Muslim officers.

I doubt the general public will be reassured by increased numbers of Muslim police.

JEWS CONNECTED TO LONDON ASSASSINATION

The man killed by London police, Brazilian Charles de Menezes, has no apparent links to terrorism:

Scotland Yard said Mr Menezes, who lived in Brixton, south London, was completely unconnected to the bomb attacks and added: "For somebody to lose their life in such circumstances is a tragedy and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."

The shooting is unfortunate not just because an innocent person was killed. British police might in future be hesitant to use lethal force against a genuine terrorist, out of fear of again shooting an inncoent person.

The shooting is also of tremendous propaganda value to British Muslims wanting to divert attention:

Massoud Shadjareh of the Islamic Human Rights Commission said: "It doesn't matter if he was a Muslim or not. He was a human being who did not deserve to be assassinated."

He said the killing was the result of British police officers being sent to Israel to receive training on how to prevent suicide bombings.

There had to be a Jewish connection somewhere, didn't there?

Update: As expected, loony lefties have jumped on the divert attention bandwagon:

The London police are looking for a number of men allegedly behind last week's attempted attacks. It's an essential job and hopefully successful. This doesn't alter the facts that an innocent man has been murdered. Phil Gomes explains what is at stake:

"Jean Charles de Menezes was undoubtedly a man of colour, so he now automatically comes under suspicion because of circumstance and the tenor of the times, and of course Jean Charles de Menezes will just be considered collateral damage as far as those who wish to tighten a noose around our civil liberties. They’ll say 'but if he had nothing to fear he would still be alive', but Jean Charles de Menezes as a man of the global south probably knew better than any of us that police with unlimited powers are something to be feared."

We are seeing the birth of extra-judicial killings in the heart of Western cities. No longer hidden or kept secret by shadowy government officials, but committed under the mantra of "blame the terrorists."

Jeez, I know police are dumb but you'd think they'd at least be smart enough to pick someone other than a Brazilian electrician for their first public assassination.

Update II: Just because de Menezes was from Brazil doesn't mean he was dark skinned or even notably foreign-featured – he's on the far right in the photo. My older son, who works outdoors all day is much darker. He can be glad he doesn't live in London, what with trigger happy police going around murdering everyone of colour.

Update III: BBC News explores poverty as a factor in de Menezes's killing:

The BBC's correspondent in Brazil, Tom Gibb, said Mr Menezes had lived for a time in a slum district of Sao Paulo and that could explain why he had run from the police.

He said: "The murder rates in some of these slums are worse than in a lot of war zones and that could explain why, when plain clothes officers pulled a gun on him, he may have run away.

This is starting to make sense. De Menezes ran because he once lived in a lawless slum. The poverty of slum-dwellers is caused by the developed world's exploitation of the less developed. The US is the most powerful and predatory of the exploiters. The UK is the lap-dog of the US. The Jews control the US, and by extension the UK. Thus, the Jews killed de Menezes. Hey, it's only a thoery.