I have discovered the new Picasa. It must be out of the beta mode now.

Google just gets better and better. I'll have a look at their Hello that comes with the blogger extension. Back later.

Philip Ruddock tells us the long detention of Mamdouh Habib by US forces at Guantanamo Bay was done "in accordance with the laws of war". George Bush isn't the only American president to use the fact of war to justify suspending such long-sanctioned legal principles as the right to habeas corpus (no indefinite detention without giving just cause).

Abraham Lincoln suspended these rights - with clearly defined sunset clauses - in the border states between Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. Yet here the comparison ends.

At no point did the Lincoln administration condone, even covertly, the use of torture to elicit confessions, or allow its jailers to practise systematic abuse to "soften up" prisoners for interrogation.

What we have to worry about is the vagueness of the so-called "war on terror", and the ad hoc, often slipshod, way it is being prosecuted.

Is there a conceivable end to this "war" ? Or is it a handy (and never-ending)excuse to limit rights and freedoms through a calculated public campaign of fear and terror, as in Orwell's prescient vision of the world presented in his literary masterwork 1984?

In a phantom "war" that offers no clear-cut resolution, and little logic in its strategies, at what point will we be able to define the boundary between an acceptable limitation of rights "in accordance with the laws of war", and a slide into semi-totalitarian, politically driven control of public opinion and expectation?

Howard and Bush do have an obligation to explain to their citizens what was done to Mamdouh Habib, and what is still being done to David Hicks.

Prince Phillip, purportedly the grandfather of the swashbuckling swastika-clad Young Harry, has a long history of racism which is usually interpreted as stupidity.

See the Choice Quotes from Prince Phillip

I've come to the conclusion he's not at all stupid, just racist

Prince Harry and the Nazi Connection

What's wrong with Young Harry wearing a swastika ? Why can't he innocently enjoy his family connections and his cultural roots ? As for myself, I start swooning when I hear the bagpipes, they're part of my cultural heritage, but no one lambasts me or holds me in contempt for this. (That's because my family history doesn't include the bestial Nazis). To get beyond the soap opera stuff and truly understand the House of Windsor, the Battenburgs, today, let's start with Prince Philip the Racist. Not only was he trained in the Hitler Youth curriculum, but his German brothers-in-law, with whom he lived, all became high-ranking figures in the Nazi Party.

Before his family was forced into exile, Prince Philip had been in line of succession to the Greek throne, established after a British-run coup against the son of King Ludwig of Bavaria, who became King Otto I of the Hellenes. Having dispatched King Otto in 1862, London ran a talent search for a successor, which resulted in the selection of Prince William, the son of the designated heir and nephew to the Danish king, Crown Prince Christian. In 1862, Prince William of the Danes was installed as King George I of Greece, and married a granddaughter of Czar Nicholas I in 1866. Prince Philip is a grandson of Queen Victoria, and he is related to most of the current and former crowned heads of Europe, including seven czars.

The marriages of Prince Philip's sisters definitely strengthened the German aristocratic ties. During 1931-1932, Philip's four older sisters married as follows: Margarita to a Czech-Austrian prince named Gottfried von Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a great-grandson of England's Queen Victoria; Theodora to Berthold, the margrave of Baden; Cecilia to Georg Donatus, grand duke of Hesse-by-Rhine, also a great-grandson of Queen Victoria; and, Sophie to Prince Christoph of Hesse.

Three of Philip's brothers-in-law were part of a group of German aristocrats who were Anglophile and pro-Nazi at the same time, and who remain a subversive force in Germany to this day.

The Politics of Aid relief
The way in which the ordinary people are responding to the appeals for aid and relief is unprecedented. In contrast the ruling elite of the advanced capitalist countries have proved to be extremely small-minded and stingy.

It's time that imperialist countries write off all the debt owed by the poor countries. There must be democratic control over distribution of the relief and aid.

No tax on the poor in the name of relief schemes; make the rich pay!

There should not be any discrimination in relief distribution on the grounds of class, nationality, religion, caste, gender or political ties. Massive public work programmes should be taken up, employing unemployed youth and peasants and fishermen. Cut out the contractors from public works !

Seismic oceanography sensors and all other related technological aids are neceassary to protect all the countries and peoples on the planet who need them. Where are they ? The avoidable scale of the death and destruction of the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat, India in 2001 and the 2004 tsunami disaster of continental proportions are a warning about the horrific consequences of poverty and neglect in countries exploited by capitalism and imperialism.

Free at last, no thanks to Ruddock

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock will NOT call Mamdouh Habib innocent even though he has never been charged with a crime, and will be freed by his US jailers. After three years of humiliation and torture, the US now admits that there is no evidence that Mamdouh Habib was involved in terrorism. It seems his only crime was that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time

The "terror suspect" label slapped on him was based on hearsay and not on fact. Habib was tortured and the Australian Government has not even questioned this treatment

How long do Ruddock and Foreign Minister Downer reckon is fair to spend in a foreign jail without charge ? Of course David Hicks is still in Guantanamo after nearly five years without any hope of a fair trial, if indeed any trial ever goes ahead.

KHAO LAK, Thailand (Reuters) -- Rescuers have saved a dolphin swept over a Thai beach by the tsunami that devastated shores around the Indian Ocean, but failed to find her calf in a filthy lake left behind by the giant wave.

After two days of bickering between Thai and foreign experts over how to save the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, the adult animal was finally plucked from the lake in a net on Wednesday and released into the sea more than 1 km (1,100 yards) away.

"She swam away like a rocket. It was fantastic," said animal rescue expert Edwin Wiek.

"I thought she was going to be a lot weaker."

However, rescuers failed to locate her calf which had been dumped in the same fetid lake by the wall of water that smashed over Thailand's Andaman Sea coastline on December 26.

Watchmen were told to monitor the tiny lake through the night in the hope of spotting the small calf.

"I'm afraid she's probably dead," said Wiek, a Dutch national who has worked in Thailand for more than a decade.

The rescue of the adult female, which had a distinctive pink and gray fin, represented a triumph for the Thai authorities who shunned advice from international experts and devised a scheme with local fishermen to catch the dolphin.

Using two nets, they cornered the 2-meter animal in one corner of the lake and maneuvered it ashore and onto the back of a truck where Wiek treated a gash along its side.

Locals said many animals managed to flee the tsunami before it hurtled ashore and Wiek said he was amazed that so little wildlife appeared to have died.

"It proves that animals have a sixth sense," he said. "I think most of the dolphins also managed to get out of the way.

Five corpses were scooped from the dolphins' lake on Tuesday and a team of Greek divers who inspected the site earlier this week said they believed a number of other bodies were still trapped in debris beneath the waters.

Fundraiser for Australian Red Cross Asia Quake & Tsunami Appeal

When: Saturday Jan 8th, 7pm-3am
Where: Bourgie Bar, 397 Lt Lonsdale St (between Queen and Elizabeth St).
DJ's: Ste and Jimothy.K
Cost: $10 donation at the door and receive a flower as gift from us

What else?: Auction on the night (great gear: including a cricket bat signed by Adam Gilchrist, a getaway to Halls Gap, designer t-shirt, digital camera, MP3 player and more).

Bourgie Bar are generously donating staff and venue for the night.

For more information contact Jo on 0416 250 160

It had to happen. Santiago University is offering a degree in UFOs. Director of the course, Ricardo Bermudez says "There is something happening out there and we don't know what it is."

The graduates will apparently learn how to use scientific tools to investigate phenomena and specific methods of investigation.

The course, called Unexplainable Air Phenomena is available to all local residents. Golly.

How to help

As we welcome in the first month of the New Year, my heart is heavy with sadness on the worst natural disaster of our times.

To help with the aid work after the sea rose up to claim so many lives, I urge you to support the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation or UNICEF

Amazon and paypal are also taking donations, if you regularly use these services, a one-click system is put in place.