Headlines Friday 23rd May

Brough rejected: so much for Rudd’s stunt
Andrew Bolt
A stupid rejection and a belatedly smart withdrawal:

THE federal government’s indigenous “war cabinet” will not be bipartisan after a decision today by the Prime Minister, the Coalition said.

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson said Kevin Rudd called him today to tell him he had decided to reject his advice to include former indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough on the housing policy advisory group.

“Mr Rudd has on that basis decided that he will proceed with the indigenous housing commission, but it will not be a bipartisan one directly including myself,” Dr Nelson said.

What a stupid waste not to use Mal Brough. But it exposes the insincerity of Rudd’s claim that he wanted to rise “above politics” and reach “bipartisanship”. What he truly wanted was to neuter the Opposition, which in fact will do its duty to voters best by keeping its distance and reserving its right to oppose.
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I’d actually prefer less caring, then
Andrew Bolt
Theodore Dalrymple:

I realised that the town was a true community as soon as I heard a rumour that an old lady, a herbalist, had poisoned one of her neighbours. That is what community means: caring enough to poison people. In cities, contact with neighbours is so fleeting and impersonal that antagonism can be expressed only with baseball bats, a crude method requiring little cunning.

It sounded right to me, at least initially.
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Group omm announced
Andrew Bolt
Manning Clark House announces a conference at the Australian National University - or is “love-in” the more accurate word?

Imagining the Real Life on Greenhouse Earth
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Panic and warming both stalled
Andrew Bolt
Tim Blair checks a poll on warming panic and reports:

Nearly two decades of climate change panic and ... nothing’s changed…

Well, apart from Al Gore getting richer and taxpayers poorer.
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The letter The Age wouldn’t run
Andrew Bolt
The letter from the Port Phillip Council that The Age wouldn’t run. The allegation: editor Andrew Jaspan has a conflict of interest that might explain his paper’s vendetta against the council.

Not sure about that allegation, actually, and the council does have some credibility issues.
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Police shut down exhibition of naked teenage girls
The launch of a controversial photographic exhibition by Bill Henson, featuring naked girls as young as 11, has been cancelled after police intervened.
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What if he was your brother?
Chris Smith has a Milton Orkopoulos trial-inspired moral dilemma for you. - simple, really, I would turn him in and allow him to have all the help the judicial system can muster. - ed.
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Peeved about petrol prices? Vent your rage at Rudd, say Libs
Frustrated motorists who are tired of rising fuel prices are being told to vent their anger at the Federal Government.
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More doubts over Zaetta sex claims
The Defence Department is facing an investigation into how details of sexual misconduct by entertainer Tania Zaetta while entertaining troops in Afghanistan were made public.
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Tourist protests road workers' wolf-whistles... by stripping
An Israeli tourist tired of wolf whistles from road workers in New Zealand stripped off her clothes in a show of defiance, police say.
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Homeless number 'obscene'
KEVIN Rudd is seeking "bold new ideas" on how to cut the "obscene" number of adults and kids sleeping rough in Australia every night. -he might try keeping his election promises to run the economy better than Mr Howard. - ed.
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Rudd under the pump as fuel heads for $1.70
GROWING pressure on the Government to act as petrol prices forecast to soon hit $1.70 a litre.