:: REAL VOICE ::

· Private Kovco did not die cleaning his gun · The wrong body was flown back to Australia · Soldier escorted casket on flight · Family furious at military · Defence chief: we can't figure it out · Coffin shipping company's response · A Kuwaiti public holiday will delay returning the right body The mother of the first Australian soldier killed in Iraq has spoken of her fury at the Federal Government and Defence Force over a blunder which saw another body returned to Australia instead of her son's. Judy Kovco said her family now wanted to speak out about Jacob Kovco's death. Mrs Kovco said she was furious that the Army had not been in further contact with her family this morning to clear up the matter. "The phone had been dead silent this morning. I rang Jake's commanding officer this morning." "I am very angry and I am very upset right now," she said. Mrs Kovco said her son's commanding officer had simply repeated earlier suggestions that her ...

Gandhi Who? Ahimsa? India flexes its muscles with first foreign military base Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow Wednesday April 26, 2006 Guardian India is to open its first overseas military base this year in the impoverished central Asian country of Tajikistan - a testament to its emerging status on the world stage. The Indian air force will station up to two squadrons of MiG-29s at the refurbished former Soviet airbase of Farkhor more than 60 miles from the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, Jane's Defence Weekly said, citing defence officials. A control tower is already in place, Indian media reported. The Indian army had a military hospital there from 1997 to 2001, where it treated Northern Alliance guerrillas fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The 12 Russian built MiG-29s will be staffed by about 40 personnel and use two aircraft hangars, Jane's said. The base's third hangar will be used by the Tajik air force which is also being trained by the Indians. Tajik officials would not co...

Soft drink giant Pepsi has been ordered to pay over Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) compensation by a Delhi consumer court after a man found a condom inside a sealed bottle of the company. Start a new cola war - stop drinking it! "This case is an eye-opener for others who are engaged in manufacturing soft drinks and are required to maintain the prescribed standards of purity in public interest during the course of their business activities," Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (North) comprising president K K Chopra and members R K Prabhakar and Neeru Mittal said. Terming the case as 'rare' with a serious bearing on the public health, the court directed PepsiCo India Holdings Ltd to pay Rs 1 lakh towards the Consumer Legal Aid Fund and Rs 20,000 as damages to the complainant. Complainant Sudesh Sharma, a resident of Ujhani village, had purchased two bottles of Pepsi from a retail shop near Kashmere Gate in the Capital in year 2003. He started suffering from severe dyspepsia and ...

-- Rachel Medha Patkar along with Bhagvati bhai and Jam Singh bhai of Narmada Valley has today entered the 20th day of their hunger strike. As you all must know, the government, disregarding the Supreme Court verdict wants to raise the height of Sardar Sarovar by 17 feet, which will displace 35000 families depriving them of their livelihood in the process. The NBA's struggle started in the 1980 s. Their constructive proposals for alternate 'development' models were met with hostility over the years. They had to make huge compromises, but had small successes and still are holding on. The current demand is the rehabilitation of those who will be displaced- i.e. they are demanding their Right to Life and livelihood. You all know the details of displacement. But, living in Kerala I was not quite prepared for the inhumanity that is Indian state. The government has literally turned its face on the struggle that is happening for about a month now right under its nose. The Prime Mi...

"Dear Mr. President" (PINK feat. Indigo Girls) Dear Mr. President Come take a walk with me Let's pretend we're just two people and You're not better than me I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep What do you feel when you look in the mirror Are you proud How do you sleep while the rest of us cry How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye How do you walk with your head held high Can you even look me in the eye And tell me why Dear Mr. President Were you a lonely boy Are you a lonely boy Are you a lonely boy How can you say No child is left behind We're not dumb and we're not blind They're all sitting in your cells While you pave the road to hell What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay I can only imagine what ...

Desert Rats Leave The Sinking Ship Why Rumsfeld Should Not Resign The Guardian - Comment Friday, April 14, 2006 By Greg Palast Well, here they come: the wannabe Rommels, the gaggle of generals, safely retired, to lay siege to Donald Rumsfeld. This week, six of them have called for the Secretary of Defense's resignation. Well, according to my watch, they're about four years too late -- and they still don't get it. I know that most of my readers will be tickled pink that the bemedalled boys in crew cuts are finally ready to kick Rummy in the rump, in public. But to me, it just shows me that these boys still can't shoot straight. It wasn't Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld who stood up in front of the UN and identified two mobile latrines as biological weapons labs, was it, General Powell? It wasn't Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld who told us our next warning from Saddam could be a mushroom cloud, was it Condoleezza? It wasn't Secretary of Defense Rumsfe...

Justice delayed is justice denied. No doubt about that. Then why is it - that courts in India take more than three generations - to deliver a verdict? There is an old saying in malayalam, " Venamangil Chakka Verilum Kayykkum" If it wants, the jack tree will bear fruit even in its roots. The lack of speedy trials and delivering of justice - is a major problem in India - the biggest democracy in the world. It even threatens the democratic nature of the Indian society. " NeerkOli moothu Chera aaya pole ," It is the lawyers who become judges after many years in a corrupt system. To expect a lot of good to come out of such a system is.... The Kerala High Court in Kochi has been at the forefront of judicial activism (which by all means is also a threat to the executive - and also goes to show how pathetic the executive is). Judicial activism exposes the plot in the drama - that the lawyers have started to outwit the politicians. It is a strange situation in a democracy. P...

“I don’t know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I’d like to know it, and we’ll take the appropriate action.” ---George Dubya Bush John Dean had a pretty good fix on the situation, but he underestimated the arrogance of his boss. President Richard M. Nixon believed the scandal seeded by the Watergate burglary could be contained. Mr. Dean, the president’s lawyer, knew it was a tumor that could grow, metastasize and spread, eventually engulfing the presidency. “There is a cancer on the presidency,” Mr. Dean famously said, advising Mr. Nixon to come clean with the public and begin distancing himself from the “plumbers” who carried out the break-in and other “dirty tricks” against the president’s political and ideological enemies. Mr. Nixon, of course, refused. He believed he was above the law, and that he could escape the consequences of his personal and professional corruption by tossing underlings like Mr. Dean...