Petro Georgiou: Stop kicking them while they’re downMandatory detention, temporary protection visas and asylum seeker debt don’t deter asylum seekers. A very corrosive debate about refugees could occur in Australia. Let’s not return to the dark days, writes Petro Georgiou.
Op-eds
Bono: How the world can learn to love America
Americans are like singers, says Bono: they just want to be loved. But before that can happen, the country is in need of a serious image makeover. The man who wears sunglasses indoors, at night, has some ideas.
Let newspapers die their natural death
Newspapers are dying: and we should just let it happen already, says Daniel Lyons. Online news sites like Politico and The Daily Beast are already faster, better, and more profitable. Why delay the inevitable?
Roman Polanski raped a child. Remember?
In the ongoing media circus surrounding film director Roman Polanski’s recent arrest, let’s not lose sight of one fundamental fact, says Kate Harding: he raped a child.
The empire strikes back: Bush’s Star Wars plan was wrong
US Defense Secretary and Republican Robert Gates has written an op-ed for the NYT, arguing Obama was right to quash Bush’s plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe for a more “pragmatic” approach.
Bill Maher: Fat people can’t complain about health care reform
Comedian Bill Maher proposes a new rule: you can’t complain about health care reform if you’re not willing to reform your own health. Teabaggers, he’s looking at you.
Rudd: Howard wasted his boom time wealth
In PM Kevin Rudd’s latest op-ed, he reaffirms his idea that the Howard Government “squandered” their chance to reform, but assures us his government won’t do the same.
Sullivan: Dear Bush, only you can prevent torture
As a fellow Christian and conservative, commentator Andrew Sullivan writes an open letter to former US President George W. Bush, asking him to take full responsibility for the torture perpetrated under his regime, so the country can finally move forward.
The future of news: networked, non-profit… NPR 
Pilger: Megrahi was framed
Suppressed evidence shows Abdel Bassest Megrahi, the man jailed over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, is innocent, says John Pilger, but both Britain and the US have too much at stake in the conviction to have ever allowed a fair trial.
Rove: Dark clouds gathering in Obama’s future
In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal former US VP Karl Rove says a perfect political storm is brewing for the Obama administration, with stimulus spending and health care reform strategies that don’t match the priorities and values of ordinary American voters.
Swan: G20 to the rescue
In an op-ed for the WSJ, Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan lauds the “financial and economic expertise” of the G20 as the great white hope for the ailing global economy, ahead of the body’s meeting this weekend.
Why newspapers should stick to making newspapers
Just because newspaper publishers would like to dominate internet-based reporting, doesn’t mean they can — or should, says Tim Lee: newspapers are in the newspaper business, and that is what they should be seeking to make profitable.
Saif Gaddafi: The truth about Lockerbie
In an op-ed for the NY Times, Saif Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi and mate of the “Lockerbie bomber” Abdel Basset Megrahi, says there was no “hero’s welcome” when Megrahi returned home to Libya recently, regardless of what the Western media says.
Dowd: the internet is mean
The internet was supposed to be an open, free-thinking utopia for sharing ideas, puppies and rainbows, says Maureen Dowd, but instead, it’s full of nasty bullies calling each other “skanks”. In other news: the Pope’s religious preference finally revealed!
America: batshit crazy for over 200 years
Birthers, tea-parties, town-hall hecklers and death squads: is America getting crazier? No, says Rick Perlstein, Americans have always been nuts — only now the media are fanning the flames of insanity further.
Shafer: Grow a spine, Washington Post
The Washington Post recently canceled its web video feature “Mouthpiece Theater” after public outrage over a tasteless sleight about Hillary Clinton. But that’s what newspapers — especially the Post — do, says Jack Shafer, and the paper’s backpeddling is a huge cop-out.
Why Rudd’s CPRS should be voted down
Passage of the CPRS bill will protect and entrench the very carbon pollution the scheme purports to address. The only sensible vote from any perspective is “No”, writes Bernard Keane.
Kissinger: Sending the right message to North Korea
Bill Clinton’s mission to North Korea to save two imprisoned US journalists was a powerful moment driven by powerful emotions. But we need to consider the fallout, says former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Dan Rather: Obama must save the media
Veteran newsman Dan Rather calls on US President Barack Obama to save the ailing news industry with a Presidential commission into what he calls “a crisis that, with no exaggeration, threatens our democratic republic at its core.”
Bill O’Reilly pays tribute to Obama. No, really!
Conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly pens an unexpected tribute to US President Barack Obama in the latest Parade magazine, praising him for overcoming significant odds in life and lauding him as a top role model for American youngsters.
Wolff and Kohler: Rupert will make you pay
Newser’s Michael Wolff and Business Spectator’s Alan Kohler examine the merits of Rupert Murdoch’s pay plan.
Robinson: Anderson was a ticking time-bomb
NT Minister Alison Anderson’s explosive exit from the state’s parliament yesterday was inevitable, says Natasha Robinson: the “bolshie” Anderson was never going to last “watching the machine grind on as her family struggled in poverty”.
Dreaming of a Niger Delta Republic
Amidst the nightmare of bloody violence in Nigeria, Sonnie Ekwowusi dreams of an independent Niger Delta, a republic where those indigenous to the area are afforded the right self-determination.
You are not going to be famous. Deal with it.
Surrender the fantasy, says Jim Hanas: you will almost certainly never be famous; and he’s done the maths to prove it. Your chances of becoming as famous as Lindsay Lohan? 1 in 1,574,638.
