Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Indeed,there is a widespread assumption that the ranks of terrorists arefilled with seriously psychologically disturbed individuals.  It's an assumption arising from pop psychology, reinforced by Hollywoodtypecasting. Yet psychiatrists and psychologists find it is not goingtoo far to assert that terrorists are psychologically "normal" in thesense of not being clinically psychotic.  Terrorists are neitherdepressed nor severely emotionally disturbed, nor are they crazedfanatics

This year one of my Christmas gifts was What Are You Optimistic About? It had me considering my own answer to the question, and thinking about what answers might be given by members of the Webdiary community.

Over the past two and a half years, researchers at the Fund for Independence in Journalism have sought to document every public statement made by eight top Bush administration officials from September 11, 2001, to September 11, 2003, regarding (1) Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction and (2) Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Although both had been frequently cited as rationales for the U.S. war in Iraq, by 2005 it was known that these assertions had not, in fact, been true.(Center for Public Integrity)

"Unlike corruption under other forms of government, from totalitarian state to illiberal democracy, our political officials act in our name with our express consent. Quite honestly, they are our representatives. Ultimately their ethics are our ethics as well. If they are corrupt, and we allow them to be, then we are corrupt, too." Craig Rowley

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and FirstWatch International have undertaken a project to produce profiles of countries that have the potential to be a "Nuclear Strategic Concern." Last Wednesday they listed Australia.

Leaders of the European Union gathered in Berlin this weekend for a grand birthday feast celebrating half a century of European integration. To mark the occasion, they have revealed The Berlin Declaration.

By way of introduction to the speech Petro Georgiou gave in Melbourne last Wednesday, I'd like to share something of my own recent experience of the effort taken by people set on becoming part of our society, citizens of our country, to study and learn the English language.

There's been a big effort by the Member for Bennelong and his boys to beat up this Brian Burke business into a bigger deal this past week. We'll see if it will all blow over in a news cycle, but beyond all the bluster about anyone and everyone who's been within a bull's roar of this bloke, there is a much bigger issue.

I have been mulling over a question or two. 'What if ...' questions. They are future focused, solution focused questions that ask what if we could do something. What if we could work through a problem together?

"We set out the basics of the Firepower story for those who want to play catch up and try to make some sense out of the machinations of the men with the magic mystery pill." Craig Rowley and Richard Tonkin.

"Tonight seems to be the eve of the hoped for ceasefire in the conflict in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.  If all falls into place tomorrow there is a real opportunity to make a play for a greater peace, if only the pause in hostilities can be translated into something longer lasting and further reaching.  Will all those involved in the immediate conflict, and more importantly the war by proxy behind it, just give peace a chance? Or is hope in what is possible only false promise and more probably the parties will be taking us to the brink again before the year is out?" Craig Rowley

"We've chosen WorkChoices as a title because there will be far greater choice under this system," said John Howard last year. Now that his system has been in place for a couple of months let's put the choices made by employers under the spotlight and see what choices workers have (if any). Craig Rowley

"Back in the eighteenth century Kant had said no, but asserted that there were “clear indications that the way is now being opened for men to proceed freely in this direction [toward enlightenment] and that the obstacles to general enlightenment--to their release from their self-imposed immaturity - are gradually diminishing.” The standing obstacles may have been diminishing, but we are creatures handy at constructing new ones. In taking up Kant's call to "Sapere Aude!" (Dare to know!) you could think we would have done a better job with Socrates' suggestion that we heed that precept inscribed in gold letters over the portico of the temple at Delphi - gnothi seauton (know thyself)." Craig Rowley

"We live in an age of accountability. We are more accountable than we have ever been in the past." - John Howard on the occasion of his tenth anniversary as Prime Minister of Australia. Do we really live in an age of accountability? Do you trust Honest John's account of his track record on government accountability? Craig Rowley

"Some may have tried to blow it off as a political beat up, but that would be a big mistake. This story just gets bigger each day as anyone closely following the Cole inquiry into bad business by sanction busting bribe-payers would know. It is the biggest scandal we've seen for many years." Craig Rowley and Richard Tonkin

"Any 'diarists fancy doing an analysis of which former Howard staffers are now working for Big Pharma? Or any former staffers of other pollies for that matter? How many former pollies and political staffers have gone on to drugs after politics?" Craig Rowley

"Last week I set sail on this journey of a lifetime, an adventure into the sea of Australian humanity. My sights are set on discovering its true colours.  I see our island nation, Australia, my country of birth and that of my family lines running back near two hundred years, now culturally and linguistically diverse. At minimum one in five of the people on our island today were born overseas, and another had at least one parent born overseas. You can see it and you can hear it. Between us we speak nearly 200 different languages. It's a treasure, the wealth of opportunity that comes with diversity and you don't even need to search hard to find how enriched we all could be. You just have to open your eyes, your ears, your mind." Craig Rowley

"Over time, Australians will get used to the sedition laws - it will become a part of our language. It will shape the way we think. We will know it's a bad thing, but we will silently acknowledge how powerful is this thing which has changed us. And part of the subtle persuasive power of these laws is that, because we will know they are powerful, we will gain a sense of comfort from that power.Just like the wife who stays with the husband who in private threatens her, these laws have the power to keep a population wedded to the government. That might sound extreme, but that is the exact same force and result we stand to have working upon us, quietly, in the background of our minds, every day." Craig Rowley and Robert Bosler

"Avian influenza is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The disease, which was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, occurs worldwide. For much of that past century, and for all the years before, avian influenza was not an issue of widespread (let alone global) concern because these viruses did not normally infect species other than birds and pigs. Today things have changed, people are catching the "bird flu" and dying. The recent run on available prophylactic drugs in developed nations points to how much of a concern it has become. It has become something to concern all the peoples of our planet; for should things change again and the virus begins to spread amongst us multitudes may die, and even if it doesn't kill us it is going to change the life lived by many millions worldwide." Craig Rowley

"The Senate inquiry into the administration of the Regional Partnerships Program (RPP) and Sustainable Regions Program (SRP) has concluded and now it is time for the spin." Craig Rowley

"The news of Murdoch's grand plans to dominate the Internet and China's cyberspace crackdown has got me thinking about the future of the Internet and e-democracy once again. I think about the millions of ordinary people using the World Wide Web to connect with each other and see this as an essential tool for power dispersal.  The age of the Internet has brought with it exciting, fresh ideas about the disintermediation of power and peer accountability. But who is responsible for the standards and functions of the network itself? I came across this recent article by Bill Thompson on openDemocracy.net in which he charts the history of Internet governance, reflects on what has been lost as accountability passes from the hands of the geeks to those of the politicians and lawyers, and offers his proposal for redressing the democratic deficit." Craig Rowley

"I did not trust what I heard before T2 and did not get tricked into tying up money in what was talked up then. More tempted this time? Not on your life. With Telstra's track record and the turmoil turned up in the rush to T3 you'd have to question whether you'd tip a toe in the water, let alone make a plunge. I wonder what the Treasurer is thinking today. Terrible timing? Terrific timing? Time to try some other tack?" Craig Rowley

"To be critical of globalism does not require an anti-globalisation stance, despite what some would have us believe (including the Howard Government). They'll go on pointing out that it's 'just trade' (which is really just the frame they prefer because it makes any opponent appear 'protectionist'), they'll carp on about inevitability (debunked yet again in John Ralston Saul's The Collapse of Globalism), and they'll smirk and say that it's nothing new (and we may ask: So what? Does that make critique of it taboo?)." Craig Rowley

"I sat at his funeral, listening to a liturgy that touched on war (the issue of Iraq's disarmament had reached a crisis; Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan occurred; we had been working with warriors), and the priest spoke about the way my colleague, my friend, had as a child written a moving plea for world peace. All the while I contemplated how I was living my own life. Reflecting on what small part I played in bigger things, and whether I was doing what is best. When I am called to account (or rather some priest recounts my deeds) what will be said?" Craig Rowley 

"Let’s look at our community for a moment. Let's observe what goes on. On the street we might come to the same intersection. To connect we must first acknowledge each other’s presence. A glance, a relaxed and open stance, a smile. Then we can communicate with positive body language at a level deeper than we generally understand. We begin to comprehend what could unfold if we create the opportunity. We find confidence, and trust. We start connecting, we start to communicate." Craig Rowley.

"You see we do not freely examine the texts that Ayman Zawahiri and his student Osama bin Laden would have themselves read closely, because such an exercise is deemed to be dangerous. And in many ways it is very dangerous, especially in the hands of naïve and easily manipulated people. On the other hand, if intelligent people in the community did freely access such material - in the same way as we could freely access the Al Qur'ān Al Karīm, the Biblical Canon or the Hebrew Bible and all the related literature - we might together come to a better understanding of what makes a suicide bomber tick. We might even begin to see what they think they see and 'Bingo!' we might find a way to defuse the ideas that form in their minds." Craig Rowley

"The Sydney Morning Herald's Gerard Ryle and Lisa Pryor have provided a series of reports in recent weeks detailing the Howard Government's deafening silence to calls from anyone outside the Party Room to do anything about many things that matter to many ordinary Australians. Ryle and Pryor's investigation into democracy denied was published just prior to the end of the old balance of power. They found that the Federal Government had not replied on time to a single public inquiry out of the 62 it has ordered in the House of Representatives since December 1998. It has given no reply at all to almost half of them." Craig Rowley

"[Harry] Evans asks: 'Can there be deliberation in cyberspace?' Then he answers: 'The Discussion Paper refers to the point that debate requires rules to make it orderly and thereby effective. Cyberspace has no rules of debate, and probably cannot have any such rules if the process is open to everyone with a computer. It is like an assembly in which everyone can shout at once, and does.'" Craig Rowley ponders an electronic future for democratic participation.

"Typically, a pork-barrel involves funding for government programs where the economic or service benefits are concentrated on the patronised constituency but the costs are spread among all taxpayers. When a government rolls out the pork barrel it is funding something that benefits a particular district, whose legislator thereby wins favour with local voters. Hence the great importance placed by political leaders on 'getting credit'." Craig Rowley

"If you’ve ever had much to do with contracts you’ve probably heard of a sunset clause. If you’ve ever negotiated hard for a contract you may have burnt the candle from sundown to sunrise. Upon a successful outcome, you may have basked in the sun and scored the bonus that will pay for some time on the beach. Of course, in all likelihood the contract will never be so exposed to the clear light of day. Commercial-in-confidence. These three words are such an effective shield; they’re as good as sunscreen. Governments these days use these three words often. Too often we are treated like mushrooms rather than citizens, and it stinks." Craig Rowley