There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program’s initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 — just after the 2004 presidential election… $28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation… In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a smart border declaration
, which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in… this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft — via Die Puny Humans
There is a renewed call for the Tasmanian devil to be nominated as a threatened species. Research is continuing to determine the cause of the cancer-like disease that has wiped out up to 85% of devil populations in some areas. Greens Senator Bob Brown says the State Government has allocated nothing further in this week’s Budget for programs to save the marsupial
The Federal Opposition has accused the Government of intimidating the ABC into agreeing to ongoing monitoring of whether its programs and stories are politically balanced
The home state of presidential contender John Kerry has held the first legal gay marriages in US history, while the loony fundies demand that the constitution be rewritten to outlaw such unions forever. Congratulations to Tanya and Marcia, the first couple to take the plunge
Retired Congressman Al Smith testified on the DMCRA, Rep Boucher’s bill to reform copyright. Smith’s been home-taping for 54 years, and he knows what’s what: When I buy a CD or a DVD, that content should be wholly mine to do with as I please as long as I am in no way selling its contents or profiting from it… Present law is predicated on the assumption that consumers will rip-off copyright holders. The vast majority are innocent of that assumption, but all are treated as guilty
Those radicals in Holland have protected the right of a search engine to search for MP3s — via Lawrence Lessig
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has recommended that all children in immigration detention centres be released as soon as possible. And leaked details of the commission’s final draft report say Australia’s detention laws should be changed urgently, to comply with the international Convention on the Rights of the Child, with minimum standards of treatment enshrined in legislation. It will come as no surprise that John Howard and his simpering minions have dismissed the report, the Greens have slammed the government’s dismissal as bloody-minded and deliberated child neglect
The Government is to merge the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) next year to establish a new-look media and communications regulator. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will regulate telecommunications, broadcasting, radio and online content from July 1 next year
Appalling forest destruction catches up with nationally condemned woodchip corporation. Gunns, the world’s biggest hardwood woodchipper, has been stripped of its hoped-for Banksia award to be announced by the corrupt Prime Minister Howard on 5 June, World Environment Day
Shadow IT minister Kate Lundy has slammed a report on offshore outsourcing commissioned by the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) as self-serving and one-eyed
. The AIIA report found that of 100 large business and government organisations, 12 had already completed an offshore outsourcing project and a further five were considering it as an option for later this year. Senator Lundy scoffed at the report’s findings, which appeared generally supportive of the offshoring notion, saying it was no surprise that the AIIA found those results. She also attacked the report’s published numbers, suggesting the AIIA had played with percentages to support its own agenda
Howard always was a corrupt, lying little bastard, so it’s no surprise that he’s axed dedicated government funding for solar research and lobbed some money the way of big business by supporting a Cooperative Research Centre for coal
A few political sketches took a 15-year-old Prosser boy from his art class to questioning by the Secret Service — and thrust him into a debate over free speech
A long-awaited review into digital copyright laws has been released, but recommendations for ISPs who may be hosting copyright-breaching material have been clouded by the new Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the US
The Singapore government is spending $5.1 billion buying the Australian assets of Texas Utilities so it is time to once again fire up Crikey’s great lists of energy sector deals over the past decade which now includes the investment bankers who advised on each sale
Thousands of demonstrators banged pots and pans, blew whistles and beat drums on Saturday in a Latin American-style protest of World Bank and IMF policies in poor countries. Some carried signs reading people over profits
and debt relief now
to underscore their message to international lenders holding their spring meetings
The FBI is trying to convince the government to mandate that providers of broadband, Internet telephony, and instant-messaging services build in backdoors for easy wiretapping. That would constitute a sweeping expansion of police surveillance powers. Instead of asking Congress to approve the request, the FBI (along with the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration) are pressing the FCC to move forward with minimal public input
Russia may be about to perform a dramatic policy U-turn in ratifying the Kyoto climate change protocol despite months of saying that it would cause irreparable damage to its booming economy. Such a decision would allow the United Nations treaty to finally become legally binding and leave America isolated on the world stage as an environmental sinner
John Howard had the bone pointed at him as part of a warning by embattled ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark yesterday that he was not welcome in western Victoria. Moorap, an Aboriginal woman from the Tjapwuurrong people, from Mortlake, performed the traditional ceremony yesterday morning as the Prime Minister arrived in Colac
Allowing a big-budget Hollywood movie team to film in sensitive areas of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is evidence the Carr Government is prepared to sacrifice irreplaceable areas of wilderness to commercial operators. The Carr Government has established many new wilderness areas but now appears to want a return on its investment and is opening the door to more commercial operations.
Greens MLC Ian Cohen said it is unacceptable that the production team of the movie Stealth will use explosives in sensitive wilderness areas in the Blue Mountains and called on Environment Minister Bob Debus to intervene
The Australian Greens have renewed their call for the voting age to be reduced from 18 to 16 but with non-compulsory voting for those under 18 years
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