Iraq and oil: Brendan Nelson and Louise Barry

OIL PIPELINE FIRE — A U.S. Army soldier performs perimeter security during a reconnaissance patrol by the 66th Armor Battalion in an area where a recent insurgent attack took place on an Iraqi oil pipeline near Taji, Iraq, March 1, 2006. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Larson . From Defend America.


Crikey has, this afternoon, drawn our attention to a significant opinion piece by U.S. media figure, Keith Olberman. The transcript is published by Salon.com and is available here. Some of the comment took Miss Eagle's breath away - but, in her view, it is all fair comment.


When something comes to our attention, we place it in our own context of time, place, experience. This comes to attention at a time when the Australian government is handling two negative statements in regard to Australia's participation in the Iraq war:

1. Louise Barry's advertisement supporting the concept that Australian involvement in Iraq brings terrorism to our doorstep; and


2. Ministerial comments which say aloud that the Iraq war is about oil and from which the Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, now resiles.

Large sections of the Australian polity have always doubted the wisdom of Australia's participation in the Iraq invasion/adventure. Hundreds of thousands of Australians took to the streets. Australians viewed UN approval as crucial to an Australian presence in the Coalition of the Willing. When this approval was not forthcoming, and Australia committed to participation, the edge went from the debate against participation in the war. Australians took on the attitude that our troops are now there, let's support them.

But the Iraq adventure has taken us beyond that. Australians want their men and women home. Australians are well aware of the idiocy and corruption of the Bush/Cheney regime. Australians have been taken into the milieu of what is arguably the most corrupt and unanswerable presidency in the history of the United States of America. We are supporting a corrupt regime in the United States and self-interested inhumanity in Iraq.

Into that context, have come the words of Keith Olberman. Olberman is not a household name in Australia but his words are currently being passed around across the continent by email and blog. Miss E received an email from a friend as she began to post on this topic.

It is time to listen: it is a matter of life and death.

God and gas

Miss Eagle knows there are people out there, even practising Christians, who have difficulty in believing in a physical Resurrection. Now Miss Eagle finds this a bit hypocritical of them because she never hears them query what, to Miss Eagle, stretches credulity beyond belief and beyond anything else on this planet, or the universe for that matter - retail petrol pricing.

Now while Miss Eagle knew that retail petrol pricing was a great mystery, and knew that somehow it happened in some mystical environment far removed from the real world, there was something that had not dawned on her. Please forgive. There are times when Miss Eagle is a bird of little brain. God is in charge of retail petrol pricing. Whodda thunk it? God is in charge. Does he have a bevy of business analysts beavering away to come up with THE number? Does he do cutesy numbers to do this devil of a job by using a 666 algorithm?

Is that rumbling Miss Eagle hears in the back stalls? You need some substantiation of the fact that God is in charge of retail petrol pricing? Oh, ye of little faith. Here it is then. HT to SOMA! And a HT to Travis Stanley who started the whole thing.

Postscript: Miss Eagle does not think this is very funny at all. In fact, blasphemy may apply here. Taking the Lord's name in vain - and attributing to him something which is completely in the human domain. DON'T BLAME OUR SINS AND SHORTCOMINGS ON GOD! Particularly when tied up in all this is the greed of wealthy western nations, the addiction of many of OPEC's member states to huge amounts of oil dollars and the abuse by all concerned of the earth's resources.