I’d been hoping the following figures would come my way sooner or later:

• Iraqi soldiers and insurgents killed since May 1, 2003: 24,000
• Iraqi civilians killed since March 20, 2003: 12,800-14,843

More of these sorts of stats can be found Here.

Once again the Howard government has silenced dissent: ‘Government offered cash to sue Greenpeace’.

And then he has the nerve to talk about how important democracy is and how wonderful Iraq is going to be once we install a democratic government. The problem is perhaps that the style of democracy that will be enforced on Iraq is actually quite similar to the western style democracies that we have become use to – lies, lack of accountability and transparency, back room deals, and silencing anyone who dares to disagree.

DisInfo have just released a new book: 50 Facts that should change the world. Here’s a little sample of a few of the facts:

• There are 27 million slaves in the world today
• More people can identify the golden arches of McDonald’s than the Christian cross
• 81% of the world’s executions in 2002 took place in just three countries: China, Iran and the USA
• People in industrialized countries eat between 13 and 15 pounds of food additives every year
• Nearly half of Americans believe aliens have landed on Earth
• Black men born in the US today stand a one in three chance of going to jail
• Landmines kill or maim at least one person every hour
• Every week, an average of 88 children are expelled from American schools for bringing a gun to class
• America spends $10 billion on pornography every year – the same amount it spends on foreign aid
• Children living in poverty are three times more likely to suffer a mental illness than children from wealthy families

I love Disinfo because they not only have quite a passion for truth, but they also never shy away from a good ol’ conspiracy theory.