GIVE US THE MONEY AND WE'LL LET YOU DO THE FIGHTING

by Jeremy Lee
Israel is nothing if not opportunistic. Sharon is now asking – as Israel did during the first Gulf war – for large financial handouts from the US if it shows 'restraint' during the anticipated resumption of conflict. The Australian, 29/11/02 reported "Israel wants $US4 billion in new military aid and up to $US 10 billion in loan guarantees from Washington in part for assurances it will show restraint if attacked by Iraq ...'This is similar to the loan guarantees of a decade ago,' an Israeli source told The New York Daily News, referring to financial incentives it received in exchange for restraint during the Gulf War in 1991..."

This is diplomacy with a new twist. Why should Australia not apply for similar assistance if we promise to keep out of any war with Iraq? And now we've withdrawn SAS troops from Afghanistan, we should be good for some military assistance on that account as well. If Israel was required to shoulder the political and economic consequences of her own position in the Middle East, instead of relying on a never-ending aid supply from the US, it might be forced to show more restraint towards the Palestinians. Which in turn would do more to resolve the "war on terrorism" than all the draconian and fearful measures, as the West confronts one incident after another in different parts of the world.

With people desperate enough to become suicide bombers in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Indonesia and Africa, there is no 'counter-terrorism' measure that will stop it, however much is spent and however vast the scope of intelligence and surveillance. Until the causes are dealt with, so that the indigenous people of each country are prepared to rid themselves of terrorism, instead of being sullen by-standers watching the West become continually more frantic, the dangers will increase. Israel's belligerence is the biggest single problem. Until it offers the Palestinians a place in the sun, the terrorism war will continue to threaten all of us. So will the refugee crisis.

BRACKET CREEP

Fleur Anderson, writing in The Herald Sun (5/11/02), explains graphically what we have been pointing out for some time; that the tax cuts promised in return for the GST have never materialized, and that wage increases have lifted many unsuspecting wage earners into the highest level of income tax, giving the Federal Government a windfall.

She pointed out: ".... Australians pay more income tax under this government than ever before. Taxpayers paid $82.4 billion, 16.4 percent of Australia's economic output, in income tax. They can expect to pay 17 per cent of GDP, or $127.3 billion, this financial year. The Federal Opposition said yesterday it would reduce the impact of bracket creep if it won the next election.... The hope that Simon Crean and his merry men could, or would, gain office and reduce the overall tax burden is as elusive as the tooth fairy!

Fleur Anderson went on: "University of Melbourne economist Professor Norman Neville said taxpayers lost money because they did not understand tax policy. He said Australians suffered the worst bracket creep on incomes in the world. 'Fiscal drag equals fiscal misunderstanding and Australia is worse than anywhere else in the world,' he said. He said a considerable amount of extra Commonwealth tax revenue was raised through bracket creep. Over the past five years it has become tougher for middle-income earners to get ahead after paying taxes and losing some family tax benefits, a recent study says. The number of Australians who lose 60 cents in tax for every extra dollar they earn has doubled in five years.

"The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling has found a larger proportion of the population face higher effective marginal tax rates in 2002, compared with 1997. And a smaller proportion of taxpayers enjoyed a 'zero' effective marginal tax rate in 2002. The report's author, Gillian Beer, said the result was somewhat surprising given the overhaul of the new tax system. Which only goes to show how naïve some economists can be.

All this was quite predictable when Howard and Costello introduced the GST (after promising not to) and assured us it would be counter-balanced by equivalent tax cuts in other areas. What absolute baloney this has proved.

"Heavy, progressive, graduated income tax" was one of ten points insisted on by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto as a means to socialize the economy. Other points included abolition of private property, a state monopoly of credit, and abolition of the right of inheritance. The "tax reform" continually boasted about by Coalition leaders such as Treasurer Costello is one of the greatest confidence tricks ever played on the Australian people. The result is an ever-growing number who only survive temporarily be getting further and further into debt.

ELECTIONS SHOW INCREASING VOLATILITY

THE TRIAL OF HENRY KISSINGER

www.trialofhenrykissinger.org/charges.html

If killing hundreds of thousands of innocent peasants by dropping million of tons of bombs on undefended civilian targets is not a war crime, then there are no war crimes. If Kissinger is not responsible for these crimes, then there are no war criminals. (Fred Branfman in Salon).

An indictment of Henry Kissinger for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes would include (but not be confined to) the following:
VIETNAM: Kissinger scuttled peace talks in 1968, paving the way for Richard Nixon's victory in the presidential race. Half the battle deaths in Vietnam took place between 1968 and 1972, not to mention the millions of civilians throughout Indochina who were killed.
CAMBODIA: Kissinger persuaded Nixon to widen the war with massive bombing of Cambodia and Laos. No one had suggested we go to war with either of these countries. By conservative estimates, the US killed 600,000 civilians in Cambodia and another 350,000 in Laos.
BANGLADESH: Using weapons supplied by the US, General Yahya Khan overthrew the democratically elected government and murdered at least half a million civilians in 1971. In the White House, the National Security Council wanted to condemn these actions. Kissinger refused. Amid the killing, Kissinger thanked Khan for his "delicacy and tact".
CHILE: Kissinger helped to plan the 1973 US-backed overthrow of the democratically elected Salvador Allende and the assassination of General René Schneider. Right-wing general Augusto Pinochet then took over. Moderates fled for their lives. Hit men, financed by the CIA, tracked down Allende supporters and killed them. These attacks included the car bombing of Allende's foreign minister, Orlando Letelier, and an aide, Ronni Moffitt, at Sheridan Circle in downtown Washington.
EAST TIMOR: In 1975 President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger met with Indonesia's corrupt strongman Suharto. Kissinger told reporters the US wouldn't recognize the tiny country of East Timor, which had recently won independence from the Portuguese. Within hours Suharto launched an invasion, killing, by some estimates, 200,000 civilians.

IN TIMES OF GREAT CRISIS NATIONAL PRAYER COUNTS

Queenslanders will remember the cynicism and scorn poured on the former Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen when he issued a state-wide call for prayers for rain during a drought in his time. To the embarrassment of his detractors, the day of prayer, which he led in his home church in Kingaroy, was followed with widespread relieving rain.

Sir Edmund Barton, Australia's second prime minister, Had a "Boke of Praer and Praise" containing over 400 prayers for the Constitution and Australia's future. During World War II King George VI regularly called for special days of prayer, which drew a large response throughout the Commonwealth. At the conclusion of the war he called for prayer in each Commonwealth country for ensuing peace.

In earlier times a drought such as Australia is now suffering – the worst in over 100 years – would surely have prompted leaders at national level, perhaps the Governor-General or the Prime Minister, to call the nation to prayer. The same is true about some of the other seemingly insoluble crises facing Australia – the threat of terrorism, the deteriorating race relations and the debt of our nation's households which have so many stressed and anxious. Are we now to proud and 'modern' to consider such a course?

Nations as well as individuals are not above the need for repentance. Our present Governor-General, despite the controversy he has been through, is both a church and national leader. Could he be prevailed upon to give Australia a lead in the right direction? He, and other leaders, might be surprised at the response such a call would receive.

OLGA SCULLY – "HOLOC-AUST-DENIER"

by Antonia Feitz
After the Federal Court ruled that Olga Scully was in breach of racial vilification laws and must stop distributing 'anti-Semitic' material, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry's president Jeremy Jones commented, "We can feel a true sense of satisfaction that justice has been achieved. This reaffirms that Australia is a tolerant society." (Jewish Chronicle, 6/9/02)

To the contrary, many Australians will be shocked that Olga Scully's right to free speech has been judicially curtailed because what she says might 'offend' somebody. Olga Scully's leaflets allegedly claim that the Holocaust didn't happen and that the world banks and media are part of a Jewish conspiracy. So what? Most people probably think Olga Scully is a harmless crank. So why the persecution by the Council of Australian Jewry? People are surely free to make up their own minds about the six million Jews killed figure, especially when few Gentile or even Jewish scholars accept that figure these days. It's not widely known that the six million dead Jews is now an embarrassment. The figures just don't work out – which is what the so-called revisionists claim.

Our right to free speech has never been absolute. There are defamation laws and other constraints, but the plethora of anti-vilification laws has greatly restricted free speech especially in the English-speaking countries. Before WW2 scholars freely investigated historical events. No longer. Even though history clearly shows that contemporary governments lie and that the victors get to write history, WW2 remains off limits. That the Jewish Chronicle jokingly referred to Olga Scully as a "Holoc-aust-denier" – she's an Aussie you see – says heaps. Why make a joke of what allegedly has caused great pain?

FLAG BURNING

by John Brett
Flag burning has been going on ever since flags were invented but in the past was generally carried out in front of an audience, for the purpose of denigrating what the flag stood for. One symbol being used to symbolise something else. In recent times the audience has become the whole world, if necessary, as the power and scope of the TV camera reaches wherever it is directed. During the campaign to prevent Australia's National Flag being changed by the politicians, without Australia's consent, only a few politicians were active in defending it, the majority were not to be heard or seen. The most formidable enemy of those defending it was the media, in particular the TV media. Even on important days like National Flag Day, it was almost impossible to get TV coverage of celebrations. They were obviously on the side of change and gave full coverage to the proponents of change, with the tendency to give full exposure to those denigrating or burning our Flag.
The fact that burning a Flag without an audience is a non-event, and doesn't influence anybody, indicates the necessity of the TV presence.

Without the TV you cannot deliver a message, so you must seek the co-operation of the TV. Not to mention the selection of the site and time of the event to suite all involved. It just does not happen, as the TV crew were passing by! So behind events such as this was organization, and that organization would be aiming at an outcome to reward their efforts. As President Roosevelt put it – "Nothing happens in politics that is not thought out and planned beforehand".

The 'outcome' to date, of the latest burning, has come from politicians who are notable for their absence from the defence of our Flag, when their colleagues were trying to change it. It is only now, when they know that over 90% of Australians favour our existing Flag, do they decide to defend it and seek to have some education in place so that the young may appreciate it.

The old adage – 'Beware of the Greeks bearing gifts' – needs to be heeded. The great difference between how Americans see their Flag, and how Australians see our Flag is clear. Americans now see their Flag as a symbol of POWER and are attempting to exercise that enormous power where Australians still see our Flag as a symbol of Freedom and responsibility, knowing FREEDOM WEARS A CROWN. Any attempt to educate our youth about the origins and meaning of our Flag is admirable, but to re-educate them because of a political agenda needs to be treated with suspicion, and if coming from politicians who did not care about it in its hour of peril, then its needs to be treated as dangerous.

TAKEN TO TASK ON MY NUMBERS

by Betty Luks
A letter from a Tasmanian couple (reprinted in the Bulletin) taking me to task for letting historical falsehood slip through in On Target caused me to give more thought to the worrying question of what can we accept as 'true' in written history? For that matter, what about religious history?

Ernst Zundel's website reports on the startling (to some) news: "Jewish scholars, archaeologists and other sources are abandoning their up-to-now biblically based claim on the Holy Land and biblical heroes." "Why would they do that at this time?" he asks. Why would Michael Massing trumpet in a New York Times article, "New Torah for Modern Times"? (March 9th, 2002.) "Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The entire Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably never occurred."

In "Deconstructing the Walls of Jericho" Ze'ev Herzog wrote: "This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt: did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai.

Most of those who are engaged in scientific work in the interlocking spheres of the Bible, archaeology and the history of the Jewish people – and who once went into the field looking for proof to corroborate the Bible story – now agree that the historic events relating to the stages of the Jewish people's emergence are radically different from what that story tells."
Source: http://.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/jerques.htm

WHY THE 'REVISIONISM'?

The key to this conundrum lies in the Jewish mindset, the ambitions of their leaders and their interpretation of their scriptures: Rabbi Adin Steinsalz, Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications in Jerusalem, in "The Longer Shorter Way" Jason Aronson, Inc. 1988, as cited in "The Holocaust Dogma of Judaism" by Ben Weintraub believes:
"The holiness of the Bible is in the very letters of the text. Naturally, this makes for a difference in the relation to the study of these books as tradition has shown. Every letter and sign in the Bible is poured over as a Divine mystery waiting to be revealed; the combinations of the letters in words and sentences are, of course, the manner in which their meaning is communicated to us; but it may well be a secondary meaning... It is like a secret code with an infinite number of possible interpretations, a tale within a tale. Each one is equally valid and holy."

Historian Nesta Webster revealed quite some time ago: "All these ideas (behind Jewish theosophical speculations) derived from very ancient cults... Nor can the insistence on the Chosen People theory, which forms the basis of all Talmudic and Cabalistic writings, be regarded as of purely Jewish origin; the ancient Egyptians likewise believed themselves to be 'the peculiar people specially loved by the gods.' But in the hands of the Jews this belief became a pretension to the exclusive enjoyment of divine favour... in the teaching of the later synagogue the philosophy of the earlier sages was narrowed down to suit the exclusive system of the Jewish hierarchy, and the ancient hope of a Redeemer who should restore Man to the state of felicity he had lost at the Fall was transformed into the idea of salvation for the Jews alone under the aegis of a triumphant and even an avenging Messiah."

Religion of the 'holocaust' meant FOR the Gentiles
Israel Shamir, in correspondence with Ingrid Rimland (Zundelsite website) cautioned, "I wrote about the religion of (the) holocaust. I agree it should be confronted and eliminated... (but) I have no knowledge of the real events of the WWII, and therefore I can't be of help for this line. Probably it is too late to deal with it as history, but it could be undone as religion. (Jurgen) Graf is mistaken when he says that (the) holocaust is the religion of Jews: it is a religion FOR Gentiles par excellence."

Advent
As we approach the Advent of Christ, it is appropriate to remind ourselves: "Instead of a resplendent (Jewish) Messiah who should be presented by them to the people, a Saviour was born amongst the people themselves and brought to Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord;... He attacked the privilege of the race to which they belonged by throwing open the door to all mankind, and the privilege of the caste to which they belonged, by revealing the secret doctrines to the profane and destroying their claim to exclusive knowledge."
("Secret Societies and Subversive Movements" by Nesta Webster.)

Books referred to are available from all League book services.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

"We find it incomprehensible that the Australian League of Rights publishes historical falsehoods. In "Like Clockwork" (OT Bulletin, Nov. 8th, '02) the writer presents the old, much discredited, popular Hollywood-media canard that the Germans rounded up and killed 13 million Jews and 'others!' That kind of undocumented Zionist propaganda nonsense has been bandied about again lately by obscure elements in political parties to gain credence and support. Why the League of Rights? It surely knows that such claims are utterly unsubstantiated. If it sees any value in contradictory material, why not add a footnote to questionable claims it must know to be blatant Zionist/Communist (world government) propaganda. Perhaps it can suggest books by proven, (unbiased) historical authors like Reed, Butler, Solzhenitsyn, Benson, Irving, Marschalko et al.

"So today the conspiracy is like a high-jacked airliner. Many of the passengers, still hypnotised by the Rhodes 'vision' think they know where they are going, while the high-jackers, with 2000 years of conspiratorial training and experience behind them, know where they are going - and it is not the destination the passengers have in mind.

"It needs full exposure to thwart and destroy a criminal conspiracy which has many well-intentioned but misguided people in its thrall – and no one has contributed more to the process of exposure than Douglas Reed." (Ivor Benson's introduction to THE GRAND DESIGN by D. Reed). " – Yours sincerely G. & F. Bethage, Devonport, Tas.

Editor's reply
Thank you G & F Bethage. You are quite right, it was careless of me to let the article go through without a footnote on the questionable numbers claim. You included a copy of the last On Target for the year of 2001, to remind me that by letting the highly questionable figure go through, without comment, I have tended to confuse the reader.

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS

WAR ON IRAQ – What Bush Team Doesn't Want You To Know by Scott Ritter, former UN Weapons Inspector, and William Rivers Pitt. An Enlightening Book: The definitive debunking of the arguments for a war on Iraq by the former weapons inspector who is a major voice throughout the international media, and who knows from the inside what the risks really are – both of not going to war and going to war. Price: $14.00 Posted.

TERRORISM AND WAR by Howard Zinn: Following Noam Chomsky's recent bestseller September 11, Howard Zinn confirms that truth has been the first casualty of war. But war, he argues has many other casualties too, including civil liberties on the home front, and human rights abroad. In Terrorism And War, Zinn explores the growth of the American empire as well as the long tradition of resistance in the United States to US militarism, from the Socialist Party in World War 1 to the opponents of US military intervention in Afghanistan today. This is the most up-to-date thinking on war, terrorism and the new global order by one of America's most articulate historians. Price: $24.00 Posted.
Order the above from The Australian Heritage Society, PO Box 163, Chidlow, WA, 6556. Tel/Fax (08) 9574 6042.

SEPTEMBER 11 by Noam Chomsky. Price: $23.00 posted from all League Book Services. Order your books today!

Don't forget to take into account the Christmas/New Year holiday break. The Melbourne 'Hub' and the other book services will be closed over the Christmas/ New Year period. Further details in next week's On Target.