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sydney alternative media - non-profit community independent trustworthy
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
Stand by me Brendan Keilar, heroic in life, murdered in a city street, RIP
Mood:  sad
Topic: local news

 

Picture: from left Brendan Keilar murdered yesterday in a Melbourne street, school mates including, Kevin Carney (tbc), Mark Macnamara (law/economics), Peter Walsh (real estate), this writer (media/politics) at right.

We're having a bit of a bawl this morning seeing the picture of Brendan Keilar in the news today. "43 year old solicitor" we heard and now we know. The news driven 'bleeds it leads' Daily Telegraph sister paper to the Herald Sun in Melbourne carries the image.

Victims

"THESE are the victims of a fugitive Hells Angel, who blasted them in a city street. Sydney model Kaera Douglas is fighting for life, while heroic lawyer Brendan Keilar is dead. See pictures of Ms Douglas and click here for video, audio and scene photos. Read story now"

Brendan now cruelly murdered is pictured above at left as a bright eyed young lad in his last year of junior school.We last saw him in the late 80ies for inter varsity Aussie Rules competition in the ANU, he from Melbourne Uni if memory serves, in an awesome team streets ahead of the others. He got a uni blue we recall playing rover. I missed out on selection to the all Australian team and he was kind about that patting me on the back commiserating. Funny how you remember such things.

God bless you Brendan in an absurd and oh too real version of the children's buddy movie:

Stand by Me (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , Stand by Me (1986) : A boy goes on an adventure, grows up to become a lawyer, intervenes in a social conflict and is stabbed to death in the queue of a restuarant. An awesome film based on a Stephen King novel.

Brendan after a fitness run intervened in an evil social conflict and is shot dead yesterday at point blank range in Melbourne. Not fair. Not right. Random madness and wickedness.

We shared a good 6 or more years of school in the same cohort in hokey, quiet, sport obsessed Warrnambool, south west Victoria.

He sat at the front of the class, with that piercing laugh and sharp wit. Me in the back lacking confidence hiding a lamp. He was ambitious and talented. He didn't follow most of us to then daggy, losing Old Collegians footy club in the old home town, he went on to another at that time winning local club called Russel's Creek if memory serves. He always performed above his weight with a big torpedo when he got onto it.

[OC  turned around, this writer was captain, becoming U/18 Premiers and Champions.]

[His friends correctly note he was very gutsy in the press today. How true.]

We saw him at Lewis Atkinson's 18th birthday if memory serves and let's say he was having a wow of a time, as a young man at university in the prime of his young life. I was slogging it out for a year of work. Lew had gone on to Deakin and is now with a Melbourne University group.

We were not so close to Brendan as school kids but his death is very shocking, and there will be many Warrnambool folks past and present hurting over this at former Christian Brothers College now Emmanuel College Warrnambool (link may be down). God bless BK for the heroic attitude before the shooter pulled the trigger.

Yesterday we mulled over a startling incident in around 1999 when we confronted 2 guys manhandling a woman in Goulbourn St opposite Chinatown here in Sydney, walking to a meeting with Chloe then of FoE Melbourne group. We held a bunch of keys between fingers and promised to blind the attacker if he wanted to take it further, and shouted for security. The street froze for that moment. The victim jumped in a taxi quick smart and was off. A drug deal gone wrong. A pimp? Who knows. No knife and no gun thankfully. It didn't even occur to me.

Chloe said I should have used non violence techniques.

Would I do it today? Truth be told I would probably be a coward knowing what I do about hand guns swamping the criminal underworld, and the influence of gun culture from the USA.

Brendan proved how good he really was in that second and that fateful decision to save a 24 year old woman in dire trouble. For that I am filled with admiration and awe. All lawyer jokes have just gone totally stale for this writer today. Maybe I'm shedding tears for him and selfishly for myself? Death is like that, scrambling one's sense of truth and nonsense.

BK, somehow I think I missed the best of you.

Condolences to his parents, family and friends.

............................................

Postscript #1:

Big media here echo our sporting experience of Brendan Keilar, shooting victim

Braveheart to the end | Herald Sun

Champion player in the field of bravery | News | The Australian

We gave a few words similar to the above on Brendan's death on Warrnambool 3YB radio just now, and commiserated with some of the school staff who know his mother.

The link in the story above to Emmanuel College which was previously known as Christian Brothers College now merged with St Ann's, is correct but doesn't seem to be active at the moment.

I'm told a link to another related website will be up in the next few days if not today: http://www.emmanuelalumni.com/ (it's up now)

Postscript #2

 Picture: Front page Sydney press 20th June 2007.

Well Brendan, you've got me shedding tears again today. The picture of you with your 3 kids. Of course you are gone and it's a good 20 years distance but your spirit and the media coverage is still amongst us and how. We thought you were brash as a kid but in fact you were simply reaching high for the best you could be. And it worked right to the end.

There is alot of real Christian love in this situation from growing up good in that school to making your way, marrying well, growing your own crop of 3 fine children, proud as a man can ever be. Your greatest achievement. Just getting better your whole life.

What makes a child grow up so well and another so wrong? Noel Pearson who was a lawyer in Melbourne once is on tv on 7.30 last night wrestling with this same terrifying conundrum. "Where does the evil come from?" to quote the modern remake of Thin Red Line opening soliliquy about death laden WW2. The parents of Brendan and now of Chris Hudson are all grieving. Both know their child is lost forever. One on a path of Love, the other down a path of Hate.

Hudson's father calls for his killer son to give himself up to police, prison and decades of misery to avoid an early death. It's hard not to wish for revenge. I can feel it welling up in me wishing the police to shoot him dead or for him to kill himself. My sense of this situation is he will kill again if he can too.

It's the urge for revenge that keeps the cycle of violence turning. What's actually needed is the utmost professional detachment and clinical excellence in legal process. If he can be caught and rehabilitated, drug free etc after a long long stretch then so be it -not for him, but for society's best future. If he must rot in a cell forever till his youth fades to dust then so be it also.

My guess this younger cruel Hudson is already in a gaol of his own crazed psychology. A hell that floats around him everywhere he goes with inescapable bars. Where it actually comes from I can't conceive. Or only guess at  - a confused post traumatic psychosis from his own two gun shot wounds to chin and back in a riot last year? A drug induced insanity? A massive inferiority/misogyny complex?

He presents like a broken washing machine spinning and lurching making a God awful racket, crashing around the laundry of life breaking anything in it's path. And inevitably itself.

The second shot into Brendan on the ground says it all really. The killer has become a gyre spitting fatal venom at society, the hate so deep Jesus would have trouble rooting it out. Mere mortals have to deal with it as safely as possible.

Postscript #3 Thursday 21st June 2007

We wrote postscript #2 above before seeing the front page of the Sydney press pictured above now too. But for those based in Melbourne it's perhaps good to know how this foul murder is viewed up here. It was great to see somewhere yesterday a witness confirming he didn't die alone or in pain. It is important. The prominent press coverage we can see has played its role flushing this Hudson criminal out.

BK quite likely has lived a blue ribbon Liberal Party kind of life, commercial lawyer and all. Even so there is no doubting the wide social feeling about this horrific murder. As we said onto tape for 3YB from up here Brendan was a big personality making the shock of his death greater, that we are all going to this same place one day. The Premier of Victoria obviously gets it and has promised $250K for his kids and the legal fraternity will kick in for sure down there. We expressed a similar concern off the tape to the reporter with the local radio station to generate exactly this kind of public support. He will likely have life insurance as lawyers with kids do.

Other victims of crime may wonder why the special treatment but it's not about that really. It's a combination of factors making this such a public importance - against violence to women, the good samaritan aspect, the bizarre cruelty, the life well led, the everyman tastes of Brendan's life, the weaknesses in our public security system, the grim culture of organised crime. Here BK is still providing for his loved ones even after death.

His wife will wake up today more cold and alone than ever in her life before but at least she will have that financial anxiety lifted from her shoulders. His 8 year old son too no doubt will have that sorrow loss and chill in his soul at the brutality in this world.

The killer has surrendered and legal satisfaction is only just beginning and not just for this sad excuse of a man Hudson. We trust the police have everything they need now to do their job ethically and professionally too. There is a long way to go in this matter yet.

A few weeks ago on a quiet Saturday I was googling my school class especially the gifted kids in my class. Two reasons - mid life nostalgia, and being tea total a full year, your memories come racing back in vivid colour as the brain cells revive. Who has a presence on the net? Certainly this news blogger. David McLean (?), Paul Whiting (yes a senior MD in Canberra), Peter Walsh (yes), Brendan 'Kielor' (no?) - that's right I couldn't remember the spelling. Now his name is everywhere and we are so sorry for that.

Well played Brendan, blind sided on a Monday morning by one extremely dirty 19th on ground who had no business even being there. As brave, quick and smart as you have been your whole life. Brash as bright stars can be (inviting envy if not jealousy) you win dux in our school year yet again. You win best and fairest. You made your parents and your school proud. And if your family cannot forgive you for leaving perhaps in time they too will be glad for the time they had after the searing pain subsides.

Fame has found you sadly. What a brilliantly successful life you lived and for that we are glad despite this horrendous result. You surely felt your own very real achievements in a serious life of great endeavour.

Goodbye Brendan, my intellectual peer and superior from high school CBC Warrnambool. A country town boy with strong values who made good in the big bad city. I will never forget your great hearty laugh from the front of the room, full of vigour and a lust for life, with deep respect.

Postscript #4 22nd June 2007

It's my birthday. I keep coming back to this string 4 mornings in a row. This is why.  Those beautiful children beaming out year 6, 1975. They reflect the beauty of the children Brendan brought into this world and raised till his outrageous death. What power those innocents, front and centre of the major Fairfax press here and many other places in Australia?

Exactly this: You died a successful lawyer, and an admired one by the profession left "numb". The federal govt and many opposition are filled with lawyers that shuddered at your disgusting fate.

Your family can believe the anger and frustration will be huge. We posed the question here "Where does the evil come from?" Page 3 the Daily Telegraph today asks today "PM leads the way against evil".

Not about the Keilar family's desperate searing loss especially those kids caught from that fall by State Govt public intervention. Bravo Victorian ALP Govt. No the PM is moving to catch the beautiful Aboriginal children falling in the cracks too.

See what I'm saying? The public awareness of duty to children is high. The challenge is great on Black kids and the reports are in again.

And to top it off the ALP federal Opposition have performed very strongly on the federal govt's territory of the economics of productivity. Democracy really engaged, a real adversarial contest as here Wayne Swan: Howard, Costello in state of denial | Opinion | A devastating moral victory for the Opposition in the conservative The Australian.

So the federal govt in this election year contest have moved in turn in reaction to poach the traditional territory of the traditional ALP being social welfare and support for Black Australia.

It may not be the most admirable political motivation but the bipartisan general support to save children from a cycle of violence like we have seen with the killer of Brendan above, must happen, for them but our own society's sake. These damaged kids are the prison population of 5 and 10 years from now. It's a simple as that.

But what makes it all possible is the huge communication reach in the Big Media around Brendan's white kids and the terrifying conundrum "Where does the evil come from?". The answer of course being it's all around us like bacteria and viruses that only becomes dangerous in unhealthy environments turning virulent. It's the healthy social and general environment we have work so hard at to nurture Australia's children. The kind of incredible endeavour demonstrated in Brendan Keilar's life.

You just keep giving don't you Brendan. A life of great endeavour the effect of which is still travelling, and how.

We've seen this transmutation of political capital from one semi related concern to another before in Big Politics - the angst and disgust at the hanging of a reformed Van Ngyuen in Singapore, resulting in huge public awareness and this Federal Govt reaction with hundreds of millions in aid for other victims of circumstance in Asia - the Pakistan Earthquake in that case, and other initiatives. To prove to our people our Govt have does have a heart.

Postscript #5, 24th June 2007

This might help when words are so useless, its like hard liquor without the hangover via YouTube:

.......................
And this too from Leunig, for those who can't quite accept the philosophy of good and evil but know there is something that tends to drag us down in this life:

 


Posted by editor at 8:50 AM NZT
Updated: Sunday, 24 June 2007 11:22 PM NZT
Monday, 18 June 2007
Battlefield Wentworth
Mood:  loud
Topic: election Oz 2007

 

Pictures from top: 1 & 2 - Popular Hall St, path widening; 3 - storm damage Oxford St; 4- Hall St Gusto's; 5-Jacques Ave road resurface; 6 & 7 - evidence of surge of sand to promenade; 8 - Bondi Park playground; 9 - asymetrical cafe extension on public land, wire fence blocking public right of way at right; 10- Bondi Pavillion courtyard painted after 15 years disrepair; 11- fresh paint on Bondi Surf Club; 12- 2 foot high furrows by grader beachwide returning sand to water's edge.

 

Postscript #1 

Big Media follow our story here:

29th June 2007 Fighting on the beaches, and bonding in Bennelong - National - smh ...


Posted by editor at 11:06 PM NZT
Updated: Tuesday, 3 July 2007 1:29 PM NZT
The future of the Fosters/CUB site in Chippendale southern CBD of Sydney
Mood:  sad
Topic: local news

Pictures from top: 1. UTS 26 storey high building opposite the brewery site expected to be reproduced 5 times with no attempt to generate  energy, water or sewerage onsite at image 2 for the next 40 years. 3 - real estate signage. 4, 5, 6 show views of the development site from Broadway. At bottom is one potential future -massive overdevelopment with the atmosphere of crowded Paddy's market nearby.

Postscript #1 23rd June 07

Purely by coincidence the Sydney Morning Herald ran this satirical spoof about the same development site June 18th that we posted our pics taken Sunday 17th June 07 (believe it or not!):

 


Posted by editor at 9:28 PM NZT
Updated: Saturday, 23 June 2007 11:47 PM NZT
St Barnabas one year after the big fire
Mood:  spacey
Topic: local news


 


Posted by editor at 8:14 PM NZT
Perth Indy Media first with coverage of Pine Gap protest trial in Alice Springs
Mood:  smelly
Topic: peace

We do rather admire Donna Mulhearn ex staffer to Bob Carr Premier of NSW, pictured second from left below.

Copied from Perth IMC feature story:
.................................... 
 
Guilty Verdict - Pine Gap Trial   
From the newswire - June 17, 2007: Pine Gap Trial – GUILTY VERDICT

The
Pine Gap Four, found guilty of breaching the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952, have been handed minor fines. The public gallery erupted into song, applause, cheers and hugs and the feeling of victory and vindication was in the air. Justice Sally Thomas noted their good behaviour and co-operation in the sentencing decision. "All four were very genuine in the cause they sought to espouse," said Justice Thomas, "however their actions - no matter for what cause - cannot justify the breaking of the law."

The Pine Gap Four - Bryan Law of Cairns, Jim Dowling and Adele Goldie of Brisbane and Donna Mulhearn of Sydney – were found guilty of all charges in the Northern Territory Supreme Court. The jury were visibly distressed when delivering the verdict, which should have been a clear cut decision, with full admissions by the four and no legal defence available to them.

Justice Sally Thomas had allowed the defendants to present evidence throughout the 11 day trial including their beliefs about Pine Gap’s role in the war in Iraq which resulted in civilian deaths and suffering. She later instructed the jury to disregard that evidence and any sympathies they might have for the defendant’s beliefs.

On December 9th 2005 the Pine Gap Four conducted a
'Citizens' Inspection' at Pine Gap to spotlight the base's role in the Iraq war. The Pine Gap Four are the first to be charged under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act of 1952, with a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment. No sentencing precedent exists for this case.

READ MORE/Comment...

BACKGROUND:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | PINE GAP 4 BLOG
..........................
The military and Australian Govt PR is also busy today in the Sydney Morning Herald with this: Joint military airstrip project one for the books
Complete with amusing picture here (offline): 

Picture: pag 2 SMH 18th June 2007
This kind of article is what's known in the media as a 'Look over there' trick beloved of parents to badly behaved toddlers i.e. a distraction technique.
We are told by an art dealer there are some 3,000 USA personnel up at Pine Gap military base. That's alot of staff for whatever they do, now with an airstrip somewhere nearby for building something even bigger at least this side of the wet season?

Posted by editor at 12:39 PM NZT
Updated: Monday, 18 June 2007 1:16 PM NZT
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Sunday political talkies: Good humour of Dalai, journos, MPs in 'mid paradigm shift' ie transition?
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: election Oz 2007

Author’s general introductory note (skip this if you know this regular weekly column):

 

This is not a well packaged story. It’s a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday television free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests: Better to know ones rivals and allies  in Big Politics and Big Media.

 

Indeed it’s the tv version monitoring task similar to what Nelson Mandela refers to here in his book Long Walk to Freedom (1994, Abacus) written in Robben Island prison (where he was meant to die like other African resister chiefs of history in the 19C), at page 208

 

 

“..newspapers are only a shadow of reality; their information is important to a freedom fighter not because it reveals the truth, but because it discloses the biases and perceptions of both those who produce the paper and those who read it.”

 

 

Just substitute ‘Sunday tv political talkie shows’ for "newspapers" in the quote above.

 

For actual transcripts go to web sites quoted below except with Riley Diary on 7. And note transcripts don’t really give you the image content value.

 

Media backgrounder: (and see two postscripts at the end of this post)

Cheap shot of the week

 

Brown registers high carbon footprint p38 Sunday Telegraph 17th June 2007, (offline?)

 

This impertinent piece of sophistry sledging Senator Bob Brown who literally risked personal bankruptcy in the Wielangta Forest court victory Green joy at legal victory | Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania to keep directly maybe 24,000 tonnes of carbon upstanding, compared to a trivial 24 tonnes of personal carbon footprint this year.

Picture: 24 tonnes of woodchips in one log in Tasmania's 'timber' industry?


Get real Sharri Markson and the NSW Business Chamber of Commerce (read Coal and Mining Industry) - let's just imagine the number of tonnes of carbon Brown helped saved from rotting under a lake or logged in the whole South West World Heritage Franklin River and forest area of Tasmania - his share of the credit might be say 2 billion tonnes of forest carbon? Do yer think?

..................

 

 

Nigel Wilson in The Australian comes up trumps again with an interview with Gerry Hueston, BP’s Australian President with quotes like

 

Hueston says the federal task group's recognition of the need for the support of low carbon technologies during the first stages of Australia's climate-change response was important.

"While emissions trading will ultimately provide the primary incentive for the deployment of low-carbon technologies, the demonstration of new technologies at scale are essential in helping to both deliver the structural reductions in Australia's emissions portfolio that will be required, and buffer the economy and Australian households from the inevitable price shocks.

"These forms of direct support will help enhance the elasticity of the energy market, as it seeks to adjust its otherwise capital-intense and long-term fixed infrastructure. The power stations of 2050 are being designed today, so direct support to encourage low-emission technology will leave the economy better placed to absorb a higher carbon price at that time."

Hueston says the low-hanging fruit of energy efficiency will be picked first.

The point is that emissions trading is not about replacing power stations but determining what new technologies could be adopted for future infrastructure.”

Hueston: we have a problem with emissions | Business | The Australian

 

 

For an oil executive that’s pretty much what SAM news blog posted late last week about the inevitability of guillotining carbon rich products from China or India just like the Ozone Depleting Substances under the Montreal Protocol.

 

 

Similarly we have in this same Weekend Australian China the biggest carbon emission problem, says BP

 

And for the green baiters who say this ignores social well being, consider this potentially historic human rights issue: Offline “Climate change refugees need protection, UN told” p10, Resources section Weekend Australian 16-17 June 2007.

 

 

And similarly Climate change refugees: who’s to blame? from Lawyers Weekly, and this from Doctors for the Environment Climate change and Environmental Refugees | Doctors for the ...

 

 

 

10 Meet the Press 8-8.30 am

 

 

Winter break – golf broadcast.

 

Transcript in due course www.ten.com.au/meetthepress 

 

 

 

7 Weekend Sunrise, 8.35-40 am Riley Diary  -

 

Congratulations 7 for streaming this on your website (2 week delay?)

 

 

Dalai Llama in very cold Canberra. Quite a pop star. Senator Brown of the Greens and Michael Danby of the ALP strong voice for Jewish interests in Australia both prominent in the footage.

 

website backup materials

 

http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend

 

 

Sunday 9

 

Depression story about lawyers, Peter Hayes death. Robert Richter on the OHS situation for lawyers under high stress pressure work.

 

Faris interviewed. Truth coming out about drug use in the profession. Close to home with my old father, and my determination to be a tea totaller now.

 

Bloody good story actually. By Adam Shand, surely related to top barrister Shand? “Great access” to barristers for story. Raises whole issue of drug testing.

 

 

Oakes interview with Shrek … err Joe Hockey on IR. Sounding grumpy, opposition like?

 

 

Hard to keep up with 2 and 9 re Oakes reference to Abbott frothing at the mouth in Hockey interview, Oakes goes feral on Govt for attacking democracy of talking to the community, and being smeared for it. It’s a pretty punchy presentation by Joe Hockey.

 

 

Throws to Ross instead of Ellen at the end, almost chuckling at the parody of the whole situation.  

 

 

Story on 21C singledom orthodoxy – mingles, offals and slobbs – charming.

 

http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/default.asp

 

 

Insiders 2

 

Gilliard looking well, composed, focused on IR. Looking fit.

 

Panel: Lenore Taylor, Panel Matt Price, Glen Milne (looking good lad).

 

Every person segment Qlders. Will be on webcast as missed it.

 

Jim Middleton for Paul Kelly today. Rudd strong on productivity but missed inflation point. Polling due this Super Monday.

 

Milne says but for $8K paid no access into Kirribili, unless a Liberal Party delegate.

 

 

Discussion on Rudd interview quality with AM’s Uhlmann. It’s a false controversy. Rudd sticks to the trend problem in depressed productivity. Lawyers point about short term improvement in the latest National Accounts. Tiny blemish amplified.

 

High humour on the panel. Laughing as sign of transition in their subconscious.

 

Home page is http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/

 

 

Postscript #1 late Sunday 17th June 07

 

The economics lecture of Keating on Lateline recently made reference to this article by Ross Gittins in both the Age and Sydney Morning Herald 2 weeks ago:

 

Let them eat cake — how the workers' pie keeps shrinking - Business

 

"WHEN you divide the pie of national income between the share going to wages and the share going to profits, you find the workers' share keeps shrinking and is the smallest it has been.

...If you already knew that, congratulations. You are exceedingly well informed — because that startling fact has received minimal publicity.

If the boot had been on the other foot — if it had been the profits share that was shrinking — you would never have heard the end of it. But when it is just the workers' share, economists are not all that fussed.

If we focus just on the "total compensation of employees" (which includes employers' superannuation contributions on their behalf) and "total gross operating surplus of corporations" (the main national accounts measure of profits), we find that, in 1999-2000, the share of national income going to labour was 70.3 per cent, leaving the share going to capital at 29.7 per cent. But by the December quarter of last year, the wages share had fallen to 66 per cent while the profits share had increased to 34 per cent.

That is a shift of a remarkable, unprecedented 4.3 percentage points in just 6½ years.

Let us be clear on what this means. For a start, it does not mean wages have been falling. We are talking about changes in the workers' share of the (ever-growing) pie, not the absolute size of the share.....This explains why the Government can still say that real wages continue to grow. But the fact remains that, if the wages share is falling, workers are not getting their proportional — their "fair" — share of productivity gains.

Why not? Well, because this has been going on since the start of the noughties, it is not likely to have much to do with WorkChoices.

If you break down the wages and profits shares by industry, you find three where the profits share has increased noticeably: mining, wholesale trade and finance.

Mining is no surprise — the prices they receive have gone through the roof. It is more surprising that the wages share has fallen most in the finance (mainly banking) industry. Finance industry wages have not risen nearly as fast as fees and other charges have risen.

But this is not an adequate explanation.

There remains more to this business than we have yet determined — if economists were more interested in finding out."

......and on it goes courtesy of economics champion Ross Gittins. In other words this is definitely not a government for the battler on a wage as claimed by PM Howard. As Gittins points out it's not really resolved the cause but we think quite suggestive it's a government for large shareholders and overpaid executives??

Postscript #2

By George the contest for the seat of Wentworth in East Sydney is gaining intensity, and local Mayor George Newhouse is getting way serious. We are tempted to nominate as an independent just to see if we can influence the result. Having been one of the councillors at the time who voted for the beach side parking meters to finance management of whole of Sydney tourism impacts on one LGA when Kim Anson was a dept head in the late 90ies (to become General Manager - and may still be), we can easily see where Ambitious George is coming from.

We have no doubt it's a very popular move, a real election policy in fact. Here are the swathe of Sunday press clippings in Sydney, and notice Mal Turnbull's faithful stock item - a grant to the local surf club. Trouble is they likey knew some of the victims of the Bali bombing in 2002, the govt it seems were tipped off about, as per recent ASIO leak story (reported here on SAM via The Australian).


Posted by editor at 12:24 PM NZT
Updated: Monday, 18 June 2007 9:33 AM NZT
Saturday, 16 June 2007
JI leaders arrested but what was Australia warned of BEFORE the Bali bombing in 2002?
Mood:  quizzical
Topic: legal

When the Murdoch controlled press report ASIO officers being prosecuted for leaking documentation allegedly revealing US intelligence advice about impending bombing of to quote "sin spots" in other parts of Indonesia, just before the Bali bombing in 2002, then its definitely worth another look.

We clipped the article below and duly circulated it around. The article reveals a stark allegation the US intel was passed to Australia. But then where did it come from?

We think we can assume the Indonesian Intelligence knew of it full well also.

The implications are enormous. We find this all extremely coincidental regarding the rapid action in recent days involving arrest of leading JI terrorism suspects:

Indonesia captures JI's supreme leader | The World | The Australian

Indonesia confirms arrest of JI leaders - World - brisbanetimes.com.au

Caught: the men who know all the dark secrets - World ...

since that serious, serious story of the leaked US intel was published here:


A cynic might think the Indonesian Intel fully knew where the JI leaders were parked and moved quickly to swamp this highly damaging, devastating story above revealing apparently that both Australia USA and quite likely Indonesian intel knew pretty well that the Bali 2002 bombing or similar was coming. The story clipped above and the allegation, if true, reflects extremely badly on security services and thus governments of both countries. A stain that might be mitigated by some urgent raids and arrests of the culprits, one assumes.

Is this another example of the Indonesian political "chess" we heard described over the Inquest into the Balibo 5 murdered no doubt by the ruthless Suharto regime? Thankfully Suharto is gone but maybe old habits continue regarding cover ups?

Foreign Minister Downer, and the relevant Defence Minister at the time (Robert Hill?) have some very big questions to answer about USA tip offs pre Bali 2002 bomb deaths of 88 Australians. And he is all over the story of the latest arrests to suggest he well knows it.

As helpful as these latest arrests are, our government must account for their state of knowledge prior to the Bali bombing. Especially now the Murdoch press national broadsheet did their job and published the ASIO leak story, suggesting they were tipped off before 88 Australian's were murdered.


Posted by editor at 8:24 PM NZT
Updated: Saturday, 16 June 2007 9:19 PM NZT
Chilean navy's ghostly white ship of shame on PR mission in Sydney again
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: human rights

With all the concern after 4 Corners last Monday in a programme called "Ghost Prisoners" about state sanctioned torture, and here in the press today:

Asking the painful questions | Defence | The Australian 

 it is well to remember Pinochet's neo nazi fascist coup on 11th Sept 1973 was extremely brutal and murderous also. Especially on the occassion of the visit of the "barquentine" Esmeralda to our coastline today, because it too presents as a ghost ship with a grim history. 

We didn't know about this tall ship Esmeralda's contribution as a torture/murder chamber by the Chilean Navy to consolidate the coup's more general murderous rampage (killing well over 3,000 victims). That is until we noticed this: ESMERALDA: TORTURE SHIP VISITS SYDNEY | Sydney Indymedia

Here is a past image of the ship in a previous visit to Sydney Harbour, ghostly white, which is ironic.

Picture: Esmeralda visits Sydney 1988 during our Bicentennial when Neo Nazi dictator Pinochet still ruled Chile.

This is not some old wound that should be left in the past and simply sanitised. The truth should be known. We all know about the crimes of mass murder at Port Arthur by one of our own, and now torture of Mamdouh Habib, and it is not airbrushed from Australian history. Nor should the vicious torture and deaths of over 100 at various times on the 'good' ship Esmeralda after the coup in Chile in 1973 against a twice democratically elected President Allende.

It's true a great number of Chileans do want to move on too especially in that country, and not have this sorrow like a millstone around their necks, but then there is no statute of limitations on murder either. This website report is very revealing, including a modern legal consequence for Pinochet:

Victims - Victimas  Father Michael Woodward

"The Esmeralda ship: The Chilean Navy's Torture Chamber
 

by Germán F. Westphal (2003)*


Thirty years ago, on September 11th 1973, general Augusto Pinochet ousted Dr. Salvador Allende's Chilean constitutional government in a bloody coup d'état. During the 17 years of his dictatorship, he coerced Chile into an empire of state terrorism, the most cruel of all forms of terrorism since it relies on the use of authority to commit its crimes. According to official information, during this period 3,197 men and women were brutally assassinated by state agents. This number includes 49 children between the ages of 2 and 16 --one of them, a 13 year-old boy found with 11 bullet impacts on the body and 9 impacts on the head--, 126 women --some of them pregnant--, and some fifty foreign nationals.

According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (Report 24/OCT/74), Amnesty International (Report AMR 22/32/80), the American Senate (Resolution 361-16/JUN/86), and the Report issued by the Chilean Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Part Three, Chapter I, Section 2 f.2.), immediately after September 11 1973, the ship Esmeralda was used by the Chilean Navy as a centre of detention and torture in the port of Valparaíso.

The testimonies to the fact that the Esmeralda was indeed used as a floating torture chamber include that of
Chilean lawyer Luis Vega, who died in exile in Israel (2001); the ex-government official of the National Institute of Agricultural Development, Claudio Correa, currently residing in the United Kingdom; and the college professor and ex-mayor of Valparaiso, Sergio Vuskovic, currently residing in Chile.

According to the report of the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, "In the case of the ship Esmeralda, the investigations conducted by this commission established that a special unit of the navy was operational on board for the purpose of interrogating detainees who were on the ship and also those brought to her from other detention centers. As a general rule, these interrogation sessions included torture." According to the same report, the other detention centers included the cargo ships Maipo and Lebu.

Due to the fact that the detainees were being moved from one ship to another, the actual number of prisoners on board varies depending on the testimonies. However, the U.S. Senate (1986) indicates that there were 112 of them at one point. According to the evidence available, there were 40 women who were subject to all kinds of torture, rape, and other violations of their dignity and rights. Moreover, amongst the detainees there was a Chilean-British Catholic priest, Michael R. Woodward, who had to be taken to the Naval Hospital upon the recommendation of a navy doctor. Father Woodward eventually died as a consequence of the torture inflicted upon him. To this date, it has been impossible to determine where his remains were buried.
Father Woodward's assassination by the use of torture is part of Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón's case against Augusto Pinochet for his responsibility in the crimes of genocide and international terrorism involving multiple assassinations, conspiracies to assassinate, kidnapping, torture and forced disappearances. Father Woodward' detention on the Esmeralda was first reported by the Valparaíso newspaper La Estrella in September of 1973, while all the Chilean media, including La Estrella, were under military censorship. This fact constitutes undeniable evidence of the truthfulness and accuracy of La Estrella's report regarding father Woodward's detention on the Esmeralda.

The Esmeralda's Cóndor figurehead is not only one of the the Chilean national emblems, but also reminiscent of Operation Cóndor, the international terrorist plan implemented by Augusto Pinochet and his military supporters to coordinate military repression in the countries of the Southern Cone of Latin America, Europe and the U.S. In fact, Operation Cóndor allowed them to use military intelligence services for the purpose of assassinating Chilean General Carlos Prats in Buenos Aires and President Allende's Foreign Relations Minister Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C. Operation Cóndor was also instrumental in the assassination attempt against former Chilean Vice-President Bernardo Leighton in Rome and the death of ex-President Joao Goulart in Brazil.

The Esmeralda is not only the Chilean Navy's Torture Chamber, as it has been thoroughly documented, but also --along with the bird of prey on its bow-- a symbol of the most heinous crimes ever committed in the countries of the Southern Cone of Latin America.

 

The ship's annual visit to different
ports of the world should not be welcomed until the Chilean Navy overcomes its moral cowardice, acknowledges the criminal use of the ship and other detention, torture and death centres under its control,  discloses the names of the criminals involved, applies dishonourable discharge to them, and fully cooperates with the Chilean Judiciary system surrendering all relevant information and documentation.

________________

* Germán F. Westphal is a former Chilean political prisoner and a Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, 21250, U.S.A.

..................................

This grim history is quite different to the general PR around the visit of this ex death chamber, as for earlier today on ABC radio and here for a local charter business:

          

          WELCOME THE ESMERALDA TO SYDNEY - 16 JUNE - 6am to 9am
Cruise onboard the James Craig to welcome this 370' vessel to Sydney.
Cost:  $60pp
 

 

This morning we went down to the naval dockyards to see this ship and the locals of South American especially Chilean descent making their point about human rights abuses on this so called "graceful lady" of the Chilean Navy.

We noticed heavy weight local Unionist Andrew Ferguson giving his moral support but the ship was still offshore due to heavy weather so we were advised by the local security personnel:

 


We often refer to the criminal assasination of one Victor Jara in a sport stadium (that now is known as Victor Jara stadium in the suburb of Central Estacion in Santiago) a legendary folksinger who was every bit as significant as Bob Dylan to the tens of millions of Spanish speaking South Americans. A superb musician dangerous to the dictator for his ability to communicate to millions of poorly educated via song having lived the same peasant upbringing.

Pictures: The revered Victor Jara legendary folksinger and leader of a cultural revival in Chile under Allende also pictured, at right with son and step daughter, from Victor An Unfinished Song by his widow and British dual citizen Joan Jara.

If one is fortunate to hear Jara's dulcet tones (which seem to be growing like topsy on YouTube here also in a marvellous whimsical song) one cannot help but feel righteous anger that such a voice and genius was denied to the world by a pompous military thug in padded shoulders and gold braid. You don't really know until you actually hear. Just like say Jeff Buckley to this generation, but in Jara's case singing the song of his country's reality and crushing poverty for many.

On a wholly satirical note, in the Young Ones tv comedy of a disfunctional group house in Britain the snotty Rick Mayal character is always fantasising about being the 'People's Poet' as some kind of left wing saint. We believe the comedy writer is in fact referring to the real life Victor Jara - who was actually martyred by the Pinochet thugs. Listen to this song again and say he doesn't sound like a saint.

That's why many Chileans with some fair logic regard Pinochet as a ruthless neo Nazi as here VIctor Jara Y Violeta Parra - Documental p 1

 

 
Postscript #1 28th June 2007
 
The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America has released its dirty war files for much of this period of history. It is making big coverage in the press as regards Cuba but also some other frighteningly brutal methods of the Cold War. These same murderous tactics were also used to back Pinochet's neo Nazi coup. Here are some copies of the flavour from The Australian and Sydney Morning Herald respectively today:


Similarly SBS Dateline 27th June 2007 in this truly brilliant work  Pursuing Posada  " In the last day, the US Central Intelligence Agency has released some 700 pages of what it called "the family jewels" secret files detailing, among other things, years of attempts to assassinate the communist Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. And, Dateline can reveal the life and times of a man right at the centre of those attempts. Last month, in Texas, Luis Posada Carriles walked free from a court after US immigration charges against him were dismissed. On the face of it, a fairly unremarkable event, but below its surface is a tale of international intrigue and espionage stretching back for close on five decades. In Latin America, several governments have labelled Posada one of the world's worst terrorists, responsible, they claim, for death and destruction throughout the region. So why, you might ask, is he still free and living in the US? Dateline's David O'Shea has come up with some answers."


Posted by editor at 6:50 PM NZT
Updated: Thursday, 28 June 2007 3:47 PM NZT
Friday, 15 June 2007
Dr Jim Green's excellent No Nukes News June 2007 edition
Mood:  special
Topic: nuke threats
June 9, 2007
 
Hello No Nukes News subscribers,
 
No Nukes News is produced by Friends of the Earth and is sent to over 950 subscribers. To un/subscribe, send an email with NNN-Subscribe or NNN-Unsubscribe in the subject line to <jim.green@foe.org.au>.
In this exciting edition of No Nukes News.
 
1. UPCOMING EVENTS
* Indigenous Speaking Tour
* Cycle Against the Nuclear Cycle
* Adelaide - Brisbane - Canberra - Melbourne - Perth - Sydney
 
2. PLEASE ACT NOW
* Support the Peace Convergence - peaceful protests and many other activities in opposition to military training exercises taking place in Queensland.
* Support the Pine Gap 4 - currently on trial for their peaceful protest against the spy/military base at Pine Gap
* Support the Kokatha Mula in their struggle against mining companies near Ceduna in SA
* Have your say at SA Democrats' candidates (and former human shield in Iraq) Ruth Russell's webpage:
*  Support ICAN - the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
* emergency appeal to help Terri  Keko'olani, community organiser with DMZ Hawai'i Aloha 'Aina, to travel to Australia to help with protests against the Talisman Saber war games
* FoE cyberaction: ALP uranium decision: it's a long way from a bad policy to a dirty mine
* Online Petition to Demand Trident Cancellation
* Support the US student hunger strike against nuclear weapons
 
3. IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING ...
* Dr. Mark Diesendorf debunks myths about baseload electricity
 
NUCLEAR NEWS ITEMS are posted on the web at: <www.geocities.com/jimgreen3/nnn9.html> in these categories:
* New information sources
* Auntie Veronica
* Uncle Kevin
* Australia as the world's nuclear dump
* ASEN launches report on universities & nukes
* Nuclear dump proposed for NT - ALP policy
* Nuclear dump proposed for NT - Muckaty
* Launch of ICAN - International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
* Clean energy
* Transport greenhouse solutions
* Energy efficiency - building standards
* Missile defence - Coalition - ALP
* Nuclear power and climate change - joint statement by Austria, Iceland, Ireland and Norway
* Lucas Heights reactor
* Hugh Morgan pushing reactors + dump
* Institute of Public Affairs and australia's nuclear debate
* Nuclear debates - Australia -various
* Government limits scrutiny of nuclear projects
* Nuclear power for Australia
* UK body snatchers
* Nuclear waste - Sweden
* Nuclear power/weapons in the Middle East
* Nuclear accidents in Japan
* Nuclear power - economics
* Nuclear power - USA - economics / subsidies
* Missile defence - Australia / China / USA
* Veterans of British bomb tests
* Nuclear weapons - usa and china
* Uranium
* Environmental racism
 ------------------->
 

Posted by editor at 10:52 PM NZT
Updated: Saturday, 16 June 2007 6:49 PM NZT
Holy hell, Melbourne Indy Media close down open publishing
Mood:  quizzical
Topic: independent media

Whoa. This is bad news for community media. Open publishing always had some whiskers on it by allowing ratbags and fruitcakes to publish unintelligible sometimes uneducated rubbish under the guise of free speech. And that's not being an education snob. There's many ways to gain wisdom and knowledge in this world and lack of formal education can still mean very well worth looking at. Only ranting was never a useful form of expression at any time. And most people know it.

But still we feel sorry, and can only hope MIM revives. Damn. And at such a close time to the federal election. I always said this was a period of unusual risk and danger for community politics with a stale cynical 11 year old federal govt hanging on grimly by its fingernails. MIM as it is known seemed to be ahead of the curve ball generally speaking.

The key to community publishing is interactivity, without the hogwash and sabotage. Not really that hard to establish, look at the long long comments strings on YouTube. It can be done.

Here is the last official post for the time being:

Melbourne Indymedia Suspends Publishing

11/06/2007

Open publishing has been suspended on Melbourne Indymedia as numbers in our editorial collective are insufficient to manage the site effectively and responsibly. We realise that MIM has played a vital role in reporting activist news from Melbourne, around Australia and internationally. To this end the present collective will be assessing options for how best to provide an activist news service in the future. If you wish to get involved, please contact us, or subscribe to our mailing list.

While open publishing is suspended, our collective suggests if you have a well researched, well-written story about Melbourne events, you should post the story to Sydney Indymedia. We thank our many loyal readers and contributors for several years of grassroots journalism and media activism and hope we can resume reporting with an even better interface at some stage in the future.

Melbourne Indymedia Collective


Posted by editor at 10:31 PM NZT

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