Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Headlines Wednesday 21st May

Nelson forged into diamond in Liberal pressure cooker
Joe Hockey has compared Opposition leader Brendan Nelson to a diamond being forged under pressure but has stopped short of saying he will be the Liberals' long-term leader.
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Kangaroo cull whingers should shut up
The hyperbole and hand-wringing from animal rights activists about the Canberra kangaroo cull is truly nauseating, according to Alan Jones.
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We can't do it all at once, says Swan
The Rudd Labor government could not be expected in its first budget to right all the wrongs of more than a decade of coalition rule, says Treasurer Wayne Swan. -there is considerable evidence they can't do anything at all, except live in their own corruption. - ed.
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Paid maternity leave cheaper than baby bonus: Stott Despoja
Calls for a paid maternity leave scheme are back in the spotlight, and at least one scheme is picking up momentum. - it may well be cheaper for Australia to pay Natasha to not be a senator. -ed.
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It’s called editing
Andrew Bolt
Media Watch host Jonathan Holmes is unduly astonished that an editor might feel some pieces are not worth running, especially when they are pushing the same tired agenda - in this case an Ed O’Loughlin piece once more kicking Israel. But I quite endorse Sydney Morning Herald editor Alan Oakley’s response:

I never discuss why something is or isn’t published, suffice to say it’s called editing and it happens daily.

The marvel is instead why the concept of an editor deciding whether or not to publish one story above another is foreign to a senior ABC presenter. Is the collective really in charge there?
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Why does Brown dob only now?
Andrew Bolt
On ABC radio today (transcript below), Greens leader Bob Brown claims again he was offered a $1 million bribe by an unnamed media organisation to vote for changes in the media ownership law.

After reading the transcript, I’m still puzzled. Why wait eight years to tell us something so serious? Brown claims he could have been sued, but surely he is protected under parliamentary privilege for allegations made in Parliament? Surely he could have been as vague then as he is now without running the risk of being sued?

Something doesn’t square here. I’d hate to think he was just grandstanding.
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Leave some cheese, or it will take off your arm
Andrew Bolt
That’s all we need: a real reason to be terrified of mice:

Scientists have taken a gene from an extinct creature, the Tasmanian tiger, and made it work in a mouse embryo.
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Academics aren’t government collaborators. Or shouldn’t be
Andrew Bolt
I agree that senior lecturer Paul Mees again went far too far in claiming the public servants who wrote a 2007 report on privatisation were “liars and frauds and should be in jail”. But I didn’t like at all this line of apology from Melbourne University
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31,000 sceptical scientists outed
Andrew Bolt
Dissent detected (and, yes, that’s Freeman Dyson‘s signature):
Petition
On Monday, May 19th at 10:00 am, at the National Press Club, Dr. Arthur Robinson of The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine will announce that more than 31,000 scientists have signed a petition rejecting claims of human-caused global warming.

The purpose of OISM’s Petition Project is to demonstrate that the claim of “settled science” and an overwhelming “consensus” in favor of the hypothesis of human-caused global warming and consequent climate damage is wrong. No such consensus or settled science exists.
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Keep him away
Andrew Bolt
It’s a gamble taken by people who won’t be the ones who pay for losing:

VICTORIA’S worst pedophile has been released from jail and the State Government refuses to reveal his name.
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Flannery scares more than warming
Andrew Bolt
YOU’D think a record of dud predictions would shame Alarmist of the Year Tim Flannery into silence. But, no.

It seems this professional fearmonger has learned instead that global warming is a faith that grows on panic, not facts.

So, undaunted, Flannery this week amped up the hype to warn that global warming was now so terrifying we may have to change the colour of the sky.
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A round-up of deniers
Andrew Bolt
Melanie Phillips spots more deniers. There do seem to be an awful lot of them, for an argument said to be over.
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Your $30 million Institute of Group-Think
Andrew Bolt
ALLAN Myers didn’t get to be a terribly rich QC by being a fool or telling porkies.

So the chairman of Melbourne University’s planned new think tank was as bright and sincere as his smile when he was asked on ABC television this month this question:

Reporter: “Is it possible for a think tank that’s funded by two Labor governments to be truly independent?”

Myers: “Yes, it is.”

Brrrppp. Wrong answer, Allan. In fact, you are about to oversee the spending of $30 million of our money on a think tank almost guaranteed to produce yet more dull baaing of the kind Labor loves but thinkers loathe.

News flash! I interrupt with breaking news from Melbourne University.
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Was it worth it?
Andrew Bolt
Time for frank talk. We had hoped that liberation would bring an end to the killing that had made the country a hell-hole. Instead:

...it has a murder rate of more than 50 a day

We had hoped that the new government had finally managed to stem the bloodshed. Instead:

Police brought in reinforcements as violence hopped from slum to slum in scenes reminiscent of some of the bloodiest days...

We had hoped that with freedom the sheer savagery would be tamed. Instead (and don’t click on the link if you can’t handle horrific pictures):

They are burning people down there.

We had hoped that the liberated country would finally stand as a beacon of tolerance and democracy in a region that had too little of either. Instead:

Making (its) infant democracy, institutions and leaders more responsive and accountable must be part of the solution to the problem of xenophobia.

It’s almost enough to you wonder if freedom really was worth this appalling price.

Oops. Wait! That’s a question we’re actually allowed to ask only of this country, isn’t it.

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