Every wondered what the Americans were doing while Julian & Chas 'trashed' APEC in 2007?

Wikileaks excerpt from U.S. diplomatic cable transcript:

S E C R E T STATE 152317

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2027
TAGS: PARM PREL
SUBJECT: POST REQUESTED TO FOLLOW UP ON ONGOING MATTERS OF PROLIFERATION CONCERN RAISED AT APEC BY PRESIDENT BUSH

REF: (A)STATE 071143, (B)STATE 073601, (C)STATE 72896, (D)BEIJING
5361, (E) STATE 148514

CLASSIFIED BY EAP DAS THOMAS J. CHRISTENSEN: 1.4 (B) AND (D).

¶1. (S) URGENT ACTION REQUEST: IN SEPTEMBER DURING THEIR MEETING AT THE APEC SUMMIT IN SYDNEY AUSTRALIA, PRESIDENT BUSH DISCUSSED WITH CHINESE PRESIDENT HU STRONG CONCERNS RELATING TO THE ONGOING TRANSSHIPMENT VIA BEIJING OF KEY BALLISTIC MISSILE PARTS FROM NORTH KOREA TO IRAN'S MISSILE PROGRAM. PRESIDENT BUSH PLEDGED TO RESPOND TO PRESIDENT HU'S REQUESTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. EMBASSY SHOULD ON NOVEMBER 3 AT THE MOST EFFECTIVE LEVEL POSSIBLE, DELIVER THE NON-PAPER IN PARA 8 WHICH RELATES TO SPECIFIC, TIME-SENSITIVE INFORMATION ABOUT AN IMMINENT TRANSSHIPMENT. IN ADDITION, AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY POST SHOULD DELIVER THE NON-PAPER IN PARA 9 TO MFA AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL POSSIBLE, PREFERABLY BY THE AMBASSADOR SINCE THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO PRESIDENTIAL-LEVEL DISCUSSIONS.......

Earlier that same year U.S. diplomatic sources had this to say:

Equally important is an active U.S. leadership
role in the international community. The UK is ham-strung
by its colonial past and domestic politics, thus, letting them
set the pace alone merely limits our effectiveness. The EU is
divided between the hard north and its soft southern
underbelly. The Africans are only now beginning to find
their voice. Rock solid partners like Australia donQt
pack enough punch to step out front and the UN is a
non-player. Thus it falls to the U.S., once again, to take
the lead, to say and do the hard things and to set the agenda.

Wikileaks Cable Viewer.

* While the U.S administration makes overt threats against Wikileaks and veiled threats against those who republish, the mainstream media reports in articles such as the Washington Post's WikiLeaks's unveiling of secret State Department cables exposes U.S. diplomacy and, the online comments this attracts are sometimes appalling:

The trouble with K-K-Kristina

Premier Kristina Keneally may have been the worst state planning minister in recent memory, been installed as head patsy during troubled times for the NSW Labor Government in the hope that her gender would add a fillip to a tired and toxic political cocktail, be way too close to unpopular factional warlords, in a my cojones are bigger than your cojones sh*t fight with the unions and all the rest of it.
But the reason K-K-Kristina won't win the fickle heart of the state-wide electorate in March 2011 will probably be due to none of the above.
Because if you apply the local pub test, what she's seen as first and foremost (in spite of that politically expedient citizenship certificate) is as a brassy, pushy Yank.
It may not be all that fair, but the sentiment appears to be heartfelt after a few beers loosen tongues.

Gabba - Day 5 - Oz selectors need to show some gumption

Yes, the scoreboard said the match ended in a draw, but anyone with a modicum of common sense knows the Poms had a solid points victory and will head to Adelaide for the Second Test (it starts on Friday) with their heads held high while a few of the Oz mob must be wondering about the security of their spots. Honestly, some of the Oz lot are so deep in the doldrums they need to be sent back to state duties with specific instructions to improve their game or take the big step and advise selectors that their dance cards have expired and will not be renewed.

The Poms piled on record after record performance.

The Poms declared at 1/517 in their second innings - enough said!

Now who has been loose with the facts in the Clarence Valley rate debate??

Was poor Truth murdered by the Colonel in the conservatory, the Rector in the library or the Cook in the kitchen?
I leave those who know the local personalities involved to make up their own minds.

Excerpt from The Great Divide, Graham Orams, The Daily Examiner, 18 November 2010, Page 1:

Councillor Craig Howe strongly disagreed, stating the Valley already had parity in water, sewerage and waste collection rates.

He went on to say it was unfair that a Grafton business valued at $150,000 paid $2776 in rates, whereas a business in Maclean paid just $1138, and only $848 in the tourist mecca of Yamba.

"This issue is causing divide in the Clarence Valley community and needs to be addressed in a real way that achieves a fair outcome for all businesses," he said.

Excerpt from former Maclean Shire councillor Bill Day's letter to the editor, The Daily Examiner, 26 November 2010, Page 12:

In your November 18 front page story, "The Great Divide", you quote councillor Craig Howe as saying it was unfair that a Grafton business valued at $150,000 paid $2776 in rates, whereas a business in Maclean paid just $1138, and only $848 in the tourist mecca of Yamba.
This is a deliberate distortion of the real issues......

Excerpt from Clarence Valley Shire councillor Craig Howe's letter to the editor, The Daily Examiner, 29 November 2010, Page 10:

At no point did I ever refer to Yamba as "the tourist Mecca". I would not be so flippant or inflammatory with such a serious matter, don't take my word for it, ask the journalist for a copy of what I said.....

Cartoon figure from CrystalXP

B#gger, b*gger, b^gger! Our Tony just won't shut up

I honestly thought, with the 2010 Australian Federal Parliament in its last dying days playing legislative catchup before the Chrissie break, that I wouldn’t find Opposition Leader Tony Abbott saying something quite so stupid as this comment on the pending marriage of a young British couple:"something as natural and as fitting as the marriage of an appealing man and an attractive woman".
Although most of the print media tried to save Tony from himself by omitting the “fitting” from published quotes on Sunday, ABC News gave the game away with its televised sound bites from his speech at the national conference of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy in Sydney on Saturday, 27th November.
Fitting? Wot? It’s unnatural and improper for socially inept, cauliflower-eared blokes like myself to pull a sheila who’s attractive? Strewth, Tones, you live in a weird and dispiriting world!
#Snapshot of Abbott with foot-in-mouth on 27.11.10

Ashes Test at Gabba - day 4 - Poms turn it on

Boy, oh boy, what a difference a day makes! The Poms really gave the Oz XI something serious to think about on Day 4.
Pommy openers Strauss and Cook put on 188 before skipper Strauss departed for a very solid 110. Cook had another Big Day Out and at day's end was 132 not out - his 67 in the first innings was obviously an entree.
The Poms go to Day 5 with an overall lead of 88, so they can be expected to grind away at the expense of an Oz bowling attack that looks like it's been to the blood laboratory and had it confirmed that it currently lacks venom.
Heading the lengthy list of visitors from Old Blighty at the Gabba is the Royal Family.

 And for those who think/hope/wish the Barmy Army will fade away in the not too distant future, they're in for a big disappointment. Young BA offspring were at the Gabba in big numbers!

NCVs had a yarn with a couple of Pommy brothers who were beside themselves about their prospects for the the rest of the series.

Remember, the only Oz who took a wicket on Day 4 was Marcus North and his hold on a position in future Test sides is indeed most tenuous.Reckon that says it all.

Congratulations to all 2010 Heywire winners

HEYWIRE is a space and a competition where young people create and share their stories, ideas and opinions…..
Anyone can upload stories to this website, but you have to be aged between 16 and 22, and live outside Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide or Perth, to be eligible to win the Heywire Competition. Each year in September/October the best stories that have been uploaded throughout the year are chosen to be broadcast across the ABC. The roughly 40 winning entrants get the chance to go to Heywire Youth Issues Forum in Canberra in February.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and a special mention to Alexandra and Elizabeth from the NSW North Coast!
Their winning entries were The Ag plot and But it is Normal.

Complete list of winners:

New South Wales

Alexandra Neill: Grafton

Bubli Rawat: Shell Harbour

Elizabeth Kennedy: Murwillumbah

Benjamin Vella: Tamworth

Janet Brown: Wagga Wagga

Brendon Reynolds: Pambula

Jack Stanley: Broken Hill

Northern Territory

Skye MacFarlane: Mataranka

Kylie Sambo: Tennant Creek

Queensland

Jack Piggott: Rolleston

Nicolette Worth: Cairns

Clair Ryder: Townsville

Lucy Hanson: Crow's Nest

Emily Lohse: Brooweena

Luke Chaplain: Boomarra Station

Ria Garside: Clermont

South Australia

Annie Rudiger: Karoonda

Talisha Queama: Fregon

Tameika Schultz: Streaky Bay

Tasmania

Sophie Chandler: Crabtree, Tasmania

Jeremy Stingel: Burnie, Tasmania

Victoria

Taylor Smith: Geelong

Jakob Quilligan: Bendigo

Robert Colgrave: Moe

Razia Gharibi: Shepparton

Alanna Pasut: Red Cliffs

Amber Brimley: Edenhope, Victoria

Bethany Evans: Timboon

Western Australia

Joel Weston Jackson: Karratha

Sean Painter: Pithara

Jarrod Offer: Cunderdin

Dana Harrold: Eaton

Samantha Fielder: Kalgoorlie Boulder