"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
Edmund Burke
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26 April 2002. Thought for the Week:
"What a rumpus the New Age created in the Socialist and Labor
camps when first defense of dividends for everybody, irrespective
of work, made its appearance. Mr. And Mrs. Sidney Webb were
touched to their puritanic quick. Never, they said, would
they countenance a proposal to give every citizen his birth
right of an annual share of the communal production. Such
a distribution would make future social reforms unnecessary;
and where would the Fabians be then, poor things?
"Mr. George Bernard Shaw, with his workhouse scheme of a universal dividend in return for a universal industrial service, was silently contemptuous of Douglas... "But the most bitter objection came, of course, from the Labor officials and the class Socialists whose bread of life depended upon diatribes against 'unearned incomes'. Our simple little proposal to put everybody upon an 'unearned income' threatened to take the bread out of their mouths; and tart and many were the comments we drew from them." A.R. Orage quoted in "Clifford Hugh Douglas" by Anthony Cooney, 1996 |
THE TANGLED WEB OF MIDDLE EAST POLITICSby Jeremy Lee The still-to-be-publicly-acknowledged Israeli penetration into the US espionage, intelligence and communications system, exposed in December by Carl Cameron of Fox News, hangs like a time bomb over Bush's stated Middle East policy, if such exists. Sooner or later the minority of journalists prepared to report dispassionately will discover it, and battle editors for space to report it. The resulting resistance will pass swiftly along the journalistic grapevine, creating more doubters. After initially holding back reporters until it could do so no longer – or, perhaps, until the last faint cries of those buried beneath the rubble died away – the Israelis must now muster the most intense 'counter-propaganda' campaign in its chequered history to smother the eye-witness accounts of what has been discovered so far, and what is yet to come. " .... As of late last week, that destruction remained barely visible to the outside world. On Friday morning, a small group of reporters managed to enter the center of Jenin city by following a circuitous route along dirt tracks through vegetable fields. The streets were utterly deserted and wrecked, a scene common now to many West Bank towns: smashed cars, broken electrical poles, buildings pocked by bullets or more seriously damaged by rockets. The tight military cordon round Jenin camp, however, made it impossible to substantiate or refute claims of atrocities committed there by Israel ...." wrote Dan Ephron in The Bulletin (23/4/02). " .... On Monday the Hart al-Hawashin neighborhood, the heart of the Jenin refugee camp, was a silent wasteland, permeated with the stench of rotting corpses and cordite. The evidence of lives interrupted was everywhere. Plates of food sat in refrigerators in houses sheared in half by Israeli bulldozers. Pages from children's exercise books fluttered in the breeze .... Alleys leading off the square deepened the image of wanton destruction: entire sides of buildings gouged out, stripped to the kitchen tiles like discarded dolls' houses. The scale is almost beyond imagination: a vast expanse of rubble and mangled iron rods, surrounded by the gaping carcases of shattered homes .....For the Palestinians, the battle for the Jenin refugee camp has become a legend ...." said the front page of The Guardian (UK, 18-24/4/02). ".... UN officials said that (Kofi) Annan has abandoned the diplomatic niceties because of the worsening humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Israel's refusal to address UN complaints that Israeli forces have targeted and harassed international relief workers and UN employees, including a UN staff member who was killed by Israeli forces on March 7...... 'Our field office director had guns pointed at him at least seven times' last Thursday, said Maher Nasser, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East, which employs more than 11,000 relief workers in the West Bank and Gaza. 'We have only four ambulances in the West Bank, and each one has been hit by gunfire more than once......'" said the inside pages of the same issue. "The war that Sharon is currently waging on the West Bank, fraudulently named Operation Defensive Shield, is in some ways a replay of his war in Lebanon. It is directed against the Palestinian people, it stems from the same stereotypes that the Palestinians are terrorists, it is based on the same denial of Palestinian national rights, it employs the same strategy of savage and overwhelming military force, and it displays the same callous disregard for international opinion, international law, the United Nations and the norms of civilized behaviour," stated Avi Shlaim, Professor of International Relations at Oxford. "Outside Washington ..... public opinion
shows 71% support for Bush's demand for a withdrawal. Exactly
the same percentage believes the US should not pick sides
in the conflict, according to a Gallup/CNN poll. But the pro-Israeli
lobby has influence far beyond its numbers, both through its
sway on Christian conservatives and through its potential
tie-breaking power in the even-split State, Florida. There is an imminent danger of a wider war ....." wrote Julian Borger from Washington (The Guardian, 18-24/4/02) " .... Palestinians say they won't forget what happened here. The terror infrastructure Israel says it has destroyed is already being replaced by a new kind of militancy ...." (The Weekend Australian, 20-21/4/02). "In a move that angered Palestinian officials, US President George W. Bush yesterday accepted the slow pace of Israel's troop pullout from the West Bank, and said he understood the Israeli blockade of Yasser Arafat's headquarters ....."'I do believe Ariel Sharon is a man of peace,' Mr. Bush said ....." (The Weekend Australian, 20-21/4/02). One might ask, what else could President Bush say, after being treated with arrogant indifference by Ariel Sharon? But why, if he believes what he says now, did Bush imperiously demand Israel's swift withdrawal a couple of weeks ago, after sitting on his hands while an anxious world waited for his reaction? Why send Colin Powell to Jerusalem to hasten a withdrawal if he was content with the "pace" at which the invasion was proceeding? Bush has been publicly and internationally humiliated. The United States has been seen to be subservient to Israel, as Sharon himself claimed in the Knesset last year. The implications in heightened tension between East and West are ominous. We are witnessing but the beginning of disaster. However, it will be much harder for a hitherto monopolistic Israeli-dominated media to enforce the silence. The Arabs have their own increasingly sophisticated media based in Saudi Arabia, which pours a constant stream of previously banned details across the Islamic world. The Internet continually expands the ranks of the freshly informed. Courageous Jews – still in the minority – denounce the warmonger Sharon in clear and concise terms. Sharon's nemesis yet may come. (For full details of US aid to Israel, see the forthcoming New Times Survey for April, $3.00 posted, The Heritage Bookshop, Box 1052, GPO, Melbourne, Vic., 3001). |
LAW SOCIETY EXPRESSES CONCERN AT ANTI-TERRORISM BILLSThe Australian Law Society has expressed concerns at the wide-ranging implications, and the 'loose' terminology in a number of Bills which have already been forced through the House of Representatives and will be voted on in the Senate in its mid-May session. The Bills in question are: • The Security Legislation Amendment
(Terrorism) Bill 2002 which defines a new offence of terrorism
so broad that a range of currently lawful activities, such
as picketing, public demonstrations and civil disobedience
could be labeled "terrorist". For example, public demonstrations
against globalism, the World Economic Forum, etc., could come
under this category. Organisations can be banned, whether
or not they have been tried and convicted. There is no concisely
defined criteria to such organizations. Furthermore, the legislation
is retrospective, applying to acts or statements prior to
the existence of the law. Members, or individuals who assist
such organizations face up to 25 years' imprisonment. The
onus of proof is reversed, so that those accused must prove
they are not terrorists. • The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2002, which gives ASIO vastly increased powers, including the power to detain people for 48 hours without a lawyer or the right to silence. The warrants for this procedure can be extended, if necessary indefinitely, without trial. The person detained does not have to be a terrorist, simply someone who may have information. The Administrative Affairs Tribunal, which oversees this Act is directly appointed by the Attorney-General who has designed and is pushing the legislation. • The Espionage and Related Offences Bill 2002: Greatly expands the definition of "official information" which cannot be communicated. The definitions are so loose and vague that it can be applied in any direction, even at material which should be in the public domain. It does not provide protection for whistleblowers. • The Telecommunications Interception Legislation Amendment Bill 2002: Expands even further the power of the Government to 'intercept' private communications. Its excuses for doing so are not simply confined to Australia's defence, but includes two other categories, Australia's economic well-being, and promoting Australia's foreign relations. Such wide-ranging definitions give scope for almost any application, and could be used against the Government's opponents, however innocent they may be. The Law Society's anxieties are justified. Attorney-General Darryl Williams seems to have the habit of producing some extraordinary legislation. Readers should ask their Senators to vote against these proposed laws. |
LOVE FOR THE QUEEN 'MUM'by Phillip D. Butler The Weekend Australian, 13-14/4/02, wants us to believe that the outpouring of emotion at the Queen Mother's passing was "unexpected", and "should not be interpreted as for the monarchy". Rubbish! Codswallop! Not only was Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, an inspiration to us all, and we loved her, but so is her daughter, our present Queen, Elizabeth II. And what of the Queen Mum's grandson, Prince Charles, our future king? What worries the 'one-worlders' and 'politically correct' is that Charles has a mind of his own – and courageously speaks out on issues deemed 'politically incorrect'; be they political, spiritual, agricultural or architectural. I believe Charles will be a King of the People and not a lackey of the politicians. Speaking of the 'one-worlders', especially the republican-media kind – when is it going to sink in? Australians voted on the question of a republican system and voted overwhelmingly against it. Queen Mum, rest peacefully. I for one will drink a 'gin and tonic' to your passing. You played your part in sustaining our heritage and we in Australia say 'thanks'. |
WORLD COURT (ICC) NOW A REALITYby Mary Jo Anderson – Mary Jo Anderson is a contributing reporter to worldnetdaily.com The International Criminal Court was officially instituted today (April 11th, 2002), at the United Nations headquarters. The ICC, it is claimed, will supersede national sovereignty even of countries refusing to ratify. The court, a permanent tribunal to prosecute "crimes against humanity", strides onto the world stage without the ratification of the United States. Deemed by some as a grave threat to national sovereignty, the United States has lodged strenuous objections to the ICC. As late as Monday there were reports that President Bush had sought means to retract the signature of former president Clinton, who signed the treaty on his last day in office. A signature indicates a nation's intent to seek ratification. However, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee would not bring the treaty to the Senate for a vote. The Rome Statute, a treaty calling for the establishment of a world court to prosecute gross human rights abuse, was launched in 1998. The US, China, Iraq and Israel voted against the Statute that year, while nations that favored the court first signed, then ratified the treaty. The final four of the 60 ratifications necessary for the court to become operative were received today as the ninth preparatory committee session ("prepcom") of the International Criminal Court opened at the UN. Objections to the court by Americans are based largely on fears that such a court could bring politically motivated charges against US presidents and military personnel. Crimes of "aggression" have not as yet been defined, leaving open to future interpretation any number of military operations. When one nation defends itself, is that aggression against another? So-called crimes against humanity include vague phrases such as injury to a population's "mental health". Who is to determine when such a crime has been perpetrated? US Citizens would be denied guarantees
of US Constitution Critics ask |
TERROR WESTERN STYLE - ON WESTERN TERMSTalking up Western values of Materialist Imperialism from British On Target, January 12th & 26th, 2002: Do not rise to the bait of any perceived ideological contradiction in the use of the term "Imperialism" in the subtitle above with the Soviet Communist "Imperialist" cachet ritually levelled at the Western Powers during the so-called "Cold War". It means pretty well the same to either of the two monolithic systems and is equally applicable to the Imperialism of International Finance-Capitalism. In other words, to the Power behind what we have come to recognize as globalisation. "Islam itself is split between Islam, a religion endorsing the qualities of charity and mercy, and militant Islam-Islamism, which is intolerant and expansionist and seeks to convert by terror. This was true before America launched its war on terrorism, but, as I pointed out, the truth often needs a nudge from 16,000 lb daisycutter bombs... With the successful liberation of Afghanistan from the Taliban and a cornered Arafat, the Third and Oriental worlds see that nothing is as irresistible as the successful use of power." (Barbara Amiel, The Daily Telegraph, January 14th 2001) Read carefully the extract (above), it was taken from a leading article headed "No More Mr. Nice Guy: the lesson America has learnt"... Barbara Amiel, with her husband Lord Black, is part of the influential intellectual and social establishment in the United Kingdom... Amiel is a journalist. As such she writes to induce a certain point of view. She espouses Western Materialist values and, ipso facto, the means of sustaining those values. Apart from occasional palliative expressions of sympathy for the suffering of the Palestinian people, she is also seen as a hard-line Political Zionist, a position reflected in her fellow directors and advisers of Black's Hollinger Group. We must not be deceived, either, by an association of traditional conservative values, implied by much of the mainstream press, with Western "democratic values" proclaimed by the Global Power Brokers. These are quite different values they seek to impose as part of the process of colonizing the Third and Oriental Worlds. As we have often pointed out, to question or expose the aims and objectives of this Global Power Play is far from being a matter of conflicting political "Wings" or philosophies. It is a case of fundamental morality. President George W. Bush has made no bones about his intention to take whatever measures are needed to sustain the resource-hungry, debt-production driven American way of life. |
JOAN TORR'S ARMY AGAINST CRIMEWe are pleased to give support to the work of Mrs. Joan Torr and her campaign against the "Homosexual and Lesbian Reform Bill"; one of the first pieces of legislation introduced into parliament by the newly elected Gallop Labor Government. "The Homosexual and Lesbian Reform Bill passed through both houses of the WA Parliament, ignoring our Australian Constitution and changing over 100 Acts of Parliament (to accommodate this Bill). Acts that were put into place to protect us and our children from perverted behaviour, and to protect the institution of marriage and the family unit, according to Christian teaching, upon which our Australian Constitution is based. "Deliberate or not – is this a treasonable act? "What justice can we expect from a judge who is a declared homosexual, and sits on the Federal Law Reform Commission and presides over the highest court in the land? "The perversion is to be taught to primary school children under the guise of equality. The bargaining politicians have given way to the perverted members in our State Parliament, not allowing a conscience vote (again ignoring our Constitution). "Greens, Democrats and the Labor Party have brainwashed the public into believing and accepting the sodomising of our sixteen year olds and younger children, allowing IVF and adoption by these people. Who is representing the rights of a child to have an innocent childhood?" To participate in this West Australia campaign, e-mail Joan Torr,: joantorr@bigpond.com |
LETTER TO THE EDITORThe following letter was sent to a number of Victorian country newspapers by that prolific letter-writer Mr. Ron Fischer, and subsequently published in some: Dear Editor, How much debt is too much? Max Walsh posed this question in The Bulletin recently. He cited the fact that household debt in Australia had grown 16.5% in the six months to December and had doubled to over 100% of household income over the past decade. Now the majority of us wallow in debt, committing tomorrow's income in order to live today. But debt is worldwide – every country is in debt, yet the question is never asked, "How do the trillions of dollars now clogging national budgets come into existence?" The fact is they are simply created out of nothing in the normal course of the lending process. In the economic rules, as they exist today, escalating debt plays an essential part in keeping the wheels of industry turning. If debt did not keep increasing the economy would slow down and eventually cease. So we are left with an absurd riddle – unless people keep on borrowing we have a recession, yet the mountain of debt threatens to collapse economies around the world. Mexico and Argentina of recent memory, for example. While all money comes into existence as a debt on which interest is payable the Catch 22 situation will not improve. The present money system with its spin-off of debt, bankruptcies and despair is a sacred cow to orthodox economists, and, in their eyes, must not be challenged. How much better the world would be if we could just stop worshipping mammon. – Yours truly, Ron Fischer, Talbot, Vic., March 28th, 2002. |
BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS"September 11" by Noam Chomsky: In this timely book, Noam Chomsky uses his broad understanding of the United States' foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia to shed light on the rapidly shifting balance of world power. His wide-ranging comments on 'the war on terrorism', Osama binLaden, the US involvement with Afghanistan and the long-term implications of America's military attacks are informed, provocative and perceptive. Price posted $23.00. "Taliban" by Ahmed Rashid: The Taliban was a major player in the new 'Great Game' harking back to the late 19th century British and Russian confrontation in the region. Competition between Western Oil Companies was involved, manipulation from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran as well as covert operations by the CIA. The prize: access to the new oil fields and transit routes for oil pipelines, not to mention the allure of the narcotics trade. Price posted $25.00. "Vigilance" by Ashley Mote: "Some people seem to think the United Kingdom has effectively been abolished. Not so. But we will cease to exist as a free and sovereign nation unless we reverse the erosion of our ancient rights, freedoms and customs by the endless interference in British affairs by the European Union," warns Ashley Mote. If you are concerned about the activities of the EU and its impact on the British way of life, then this book is for you. Price posted $45.00. "In This Age of Plenty" by Louis Even: French-Canadian Louis Even had a wonderful gift, the gift of teaching, and in this compilation of his printed material into book form, is the essence of what he taught on Social Credit. "Old economics was ruled by the presence of gold or any other rare commodity, when production itself was scarce. But it is to go against progress and logic, to want to keep an instrument linked to scarcity, to confer claims on automated production. In This Age of Plenty clearly shows that we are now dealing with an economy of plenty, in which the access to the huge possibilities of modern production is made easier for all." Price is $28.00. Posted $32.50, from all League book services. Contact your State League Book Service and order today. |
AUDIO TAPE"Investing in the Present Climate": At the recent Conservative Speakers' Club in Adelaide, Mr. John Bligh gave his audience some wise suggestions for choosing investments and outlined the guidelines he uses for making decisions. Self-funded retirees could find much of benefit from what he has to say. He stresses it is not intended as professional advice, but as a former merchant banker who understands how the system works, this tape could prove quite valuable. Available from Mayo Tapes, Box 6, Hahndorf , SA, 5245. Price posted $6.00. |
LAUNCESTON CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS' CLUBThe next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 24th, 2002 at 7.30pm. The meeting will be held in the Max Fry Memorial Hall, Gorge Road, Trevallyn. The guest speaker will be Mr. Leon Gregor from Sydney and he will speak on "British Israelism". Date for your diary: Wednesday, May 29th, 2002. Speaker will be Mrs. Wendy Scurr; supporting speakers will be Mrs. Robyn Cooper and Mr. Andrew McGregor. |
SYDNEY CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS' CLUBThe next meeting of the Conservative Speakers' Club will be held at 7.30pm, Wednesday, April 30th, 2002. The guest speaker will be Mr. Frank Neger and his subject is "Tax Evasion and Corporate Crime". The new venue is: The Lithuanian Club, 16 East Terrace, Bankstown (600 metres from Bankstown Railway Station). There is ample room for parking, with excellent Club facilities and auditorium. |
TOOWOOMBA STATE WEEKENDQueenslanders should be marking their diaries for their State Weekend which will take place Saturday and Sunday, May 27th and 28th, 2002. The theme for the seminar is "The Unnecessary Tragedy: Suicide". Guest speakers will be Mrs. Fanita Clark of the White Wreath Association; Mr. Derek Tuffield of Lifeline, Darling Downs; Pastor David Blair of Toowoomba City Care, and Mrs Betty Luks of Australian League of Rights. We are pleased to have Mr. Phillip Butler as the guest speaker for the Dinner on the Saturday evening. |