Bali again..?

With another Bali bombing that's claimed the lives of more Australians, as well as many locals and others from countries around the world, I've had to wonder about the sense of the new anti-terror laws that John Howard has been touting.

I mean, the anti-terror laws are meant to give ASIO more power, prevent all sorts of attacks and so on and generally make Australia a greater police state... ahem, I mean happy place where cricket can be played and American presidents are welcomed with showers of tax payer dollars!

If ASIO can't pick up on something like the 2002 Bali Bombing and the Bali bombing that happened overnight, would I trust them to be able to manage anything with the new laws? I'd have to say a resounding no to that.

Of course, Bali isn't Australia, but we are meant to know things about potential risks posed by terrorists and so on in other countries. That's why we have travel advisories... which usually appear *after* something's already happened in a place to make it unsafe, but you know what I mean.

How's ASIO meant to do anything properly within Australia if they can't manage to warn us about things like this latest Bali bombing in advance? Surely there'd be some whispers around about that sort of stuff. Or maybe the terrorists really *are* that good that they can keep secrets like that.

Or maybe ASIO's just not looking hard enough. But then I guess it's hard to see things clearly with their heads that far up their arses.

Personally, I don't believe that the new 'anti-terror' laws will be that effective, and not just because of what's happened with Bali (again). They'll work if people are really obvious about things and run around shouting through megaphones that they want to blow stuff up, but other than that? I don't know. And it worries me in a way. And that's not just because I see problems with the laws and personal freedoms and rights.

*sigh*

My sympathies to the victims and families of the victims of the latest Bali bombing, though...