Monday, 16 June 2008
An ongoing difficulty for a less than rational world
“The most important thing we do is not doing,” Justice Louis D. Brandeis once said of the Supreme Court’s abiding humility, its overwhelming preference to allow the people, through their elected representatives, to govern themselves.---
And never is the court more reluctant to act than when faced with a challenge to the president during wartime.---
So it is extraordinary that during the Bush administration’s seven years, nearly all of them a time of war that began on Sept. 11, 2001, the court has been prompted to push back four times. Last week’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush, in which the court ruled that prisoners at Guantánamo Bay have a right to challenge their detentions in the federal courts, marks only the most recent rebuke."
This presents a somewhat reassuring view of America and seems to support the pious hope of justice prevailing.
However, for the international community which has watched George Dubbya circumvent the US Courts time and time again, the difference in response from both presidential candidates leaves an uncomfortable notion that the fate of human rights in America is still very much up in the air.
"Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama have both long advocated closing the Guantánamo detention center but have disagreed on the rights of prisoners there.
Mr. McCain said here Thursday morning that he had not had time to read the decision but that “it obviously concerns me,” adding, “These are unlawful combatants; they’re not American citizens.”
Mr. McCain said he thought “we should pay attention” to the dissent by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., which argued that the steps established by the administration and Congress in creating review tribunals run by the military were more than sufficiently generous as a way for detainees to challenge their status.
Still, the senator said, “it is a decision the Supreme Court has made, and now we need to move forward.”
Mr. Obama issued a statement calling the decision “a rejection of the Bush administration’s attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantánamo” that he said was “yet another failed policy supported by John McCain.”
“This is an important step,” he said of the ruling, “toward re-establishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus. Our courts have employed habeas corpus with rigor and fairness for more than two centuries, and we must continue to do so as we defend the freedom that violent extremists seek to destroy.”
Sunday, 15 June 2008
So, the butler did do it
Some readers may find the following news report offensive.
In a sensational newspaper interview published in Britain today, Burrell's brother-in-law Ron Cosgrove revealed how the butler told him in 1993 about how he had bedded the princess while he worked for her at Kensington Palace.
Mr Cosgrove also claimed that Mr Burrell had told him he had accidentally seen the Queen naked and that after Diana's death Mr Burrell asked relatives to hide three bin bags filled with clothes, jewellery and mementos belonging to her.
The 61-year-old furniture dealer said Mr Burrell met him at a Cheshire pub in 1993 and told him that he had been having a sexual relationship with Diana.
"He said they did it in the bedroom, the bath, everywhere,'' Cosgrove told The News of the World.
"He claimed Diana liked to be domineering.
"Paul told me that he'd get a call from Diana in the middle of the night specifically to have sex with her. He said she was very sexually demanding - `a bit xxxxing kinky' were his words - and if you worked for the princess you worked for her 24/7.
"I told him if it was true I was disgusted with him because he was married to my sister and cheating on her with another woman.
"But he didn't see that as a problem. He just replied, `Yes, but it IS the princess.' I was dumbfounded. I couldn't believe what he was telling me.''
Mr Cosgrove said Mr Burrell had also claimed to have seen the Queen naked after chasing a royal corgi into her bedroom at Buckingham Palace.
"He barged in to grab the dog and was greeted by the Queen who was standing there with no clothes on,'' Mr Cosgrove said.
"Her only concern was that the dog would not get its muddy paws on her bedsheets.''
Mr Burrell also was accused by Mr Cosgrove of hiding bag loads of Diana's belongings in an attic and garden shed after her death in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
Mr Cosgrove said Mr Burrell ordered a relative to take three sealed bags from Kensington Palace and "keep them safe and out of the way''.
"The relative later told me Mr Burrell had said there was royal memorabilia in them, like dresses and hats,'' he said.
Mr Burrell was charged in 2001 with stealing 342 items belonging to Diana and her sons Prince William and Prince Harry.
But his trial collapsed after the Queen said she recalled Mr Burrell telling her he had kept some of Diana's belongings for safe-keeping.
Unforeseen consequences for indigenous communities from Howard/Rudd NT Intervention?
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) says there has been an increase in racial discrimination in communities since the Commonwealth Intervention was launched last year.
NAAJA and Central Australian legal group CAALAS has handed a submission to a Senate Committee Inquiry into the effectiveness of the Commonwealth intervention.
The submission described the intervention legislation and policies as inherently discriminative and says they have produced "unforseen consequences" on the ground.
Full June 2008 21 page joint submission by the NNAJA and CAALAS here.
Excerpt:
A typical example is the comment by a particular community that the "white cops are going over board" and are treating the community members as though "we’re criminals". The community members stated the problem was with the new recruits, rather than with the older police, and gave the following examples of their concerns:
· As soon as some people are seen drinking, all of the houses in the community are searched.
· Police are searching the houses without even explaining what they’re doing or finding out who owns the house or who lives in the house.
· Police have been conducting searches on houses in the community when they are in the community looking for someone on a warrant or a summons.
· When conducting searches, police have been breaking sacred items that are used for ceremonies because the police view these items only as weapons.
· Female police have been looking at sacred objects that women are not allowed to see. This is being reported back to communities, making problems for the community members in relation to witchcraft.
· Aboriginal women and their bags are being searched by male police officers.
· There have been a lot of instances in which unopened alcohol has been destroyed by the police outside the boundary of the community.
· At the local bus-stop, Aboriginal people’s bags are searched purely because they’re Aboriginal.
· Police know that taxis and mini buses are bringing alcohol into the community but taxi drivers and mini bus drivers are not being caught by the police nor having their vehicles confiscated.
· Intoxicated people are being taken into protective custody while sitting on the verandahs of their house.
· Police are refusing to give their rank number when they’re asked.
Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities
There have been 29 submissions received here. Including submissions from Amnesty International, Rio Tinto and the Minerals Council of Australia.
Last word on Belinda Neal?
ANTHONY McMAHON
Chatsworth Island*
*Letter to the Editor in yesterday's The Daily Examiner, Grafton
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Grow up Christopher Pyne
Pyne, described by ABC's Virginia Trioli as "the Opposition's well-mannered Shadow Minister for Justice" debated recent political issues with Craig Emerson, "the ever-polite Minister for Small Business".
Pyne was pompous, arrogant and downright rude.
Among other things Pyne, in classic à la Alexander mode, remarked:
Well, the Troy Buswell story is done and dusted. ... He put his leadership to a vote in the Western Australian Liberal Party and the Liberal Party voted to continue with his leadership.
Enough said!
World prefers Obama
If Barack Obama were running for leader of the world, instead of leader of the US, he would probably romp home.
The annual global survey of attitudes by the independent Pew Research Centre shows that the Democratic nominee for president has won the confidence of people in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia and is strongly preferred as president of the US over his rival, the Republican John McCain.
In Australia, 80 per cent of participants said they had confidence in Senator Obama, against 40 per cent for Senator McCain.
Similar results were reported from Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Japan and Tanzania.
American participants in the survey gave the two senators roughly equal scores.
The poll results came as a presenter on Fox News television was taken off air after she accused Senator Obama and his wife, Michelle, of greeting each other with a "terrorist's fist jab".
E. D. Hill made her comment after the presumptive Democratic nominee and his wife affectionately bumped fists on stage last week as he prepared to make his victory speech.
Read the Pew Research Centre's findings here.
Cane toads on the march in Clarence Valley
Cane toads have become a perennial problem for the Clarence Valley and are now popping up again in local canefields.
Yamba, Angourie and particularly nearby Yuraygir National Park have been gradually keeping a lid on toad numbers, but now new hotspots are appearing at Warregai Island, Palmers Island, Mororo Nature Reserve, Chatsworth Island, Micalo Island and Townsend.
According to The Daily Examiner cane toad capture numbers are:
Yamba/Angourie - 30,128 between 1999-2008
Brooms Head - 1,507 between 2004-2008
Mororo/Ashby/Warregai Isl/Chatsworth Isl - 844 between 2006-2008
Palmers Island - 395 between 2007-2008
Woombah - 6 between 1999-2004
Iluka - 1 in 2003
Grafton - 2 between 2001-2008
South Grafton - 1 in 2004
Copmanhurst 1 in 2007
Total = 32,890 (at least)
NSW National Parks & Wildlife would be happy to tell you how to do so humanely.