Headlines Thursday 3rd July

Case for a parenting licence getting stronger by the day
Another shocking case has once again highlighted why society can't continue allowing just anyone to become a parent, Alan Jones.
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Iraq rises
Andrew Bolt
Iraq is now well on its way:

The White House sees the progress in a particularly positive light, declaring in a new assessment to Congress that Iraq’s efforts on 15 of 18 benchmarks are “satisfactory” — almost twice of what it determined to be the case a year ago. The May 2008 report card, obtained by the Associated Press, determines that only two of the benchmarks—enacting and implementing laws to disarm militias and distribute oil revenues—are unsatisfactory.

Ignore the predictable twist the ABC tries to give this extra bit of good news:

The Iraqi government wants to make up for the lost opportunities under Hussein’s rule and has the ambitious goal of doubling Iraqi oil production to more than 4 million barrels a day within five years.

That’s not just good new for us, and for Iraqis. It’s also a great reassurance to know that selling twice the oil at seven times the price will benefit not a terrorist-sponsoring dictator but a new democracy. Can you imagine what Saddam would have done with these riches, all of which would have come to him?
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Kids may have been drowned
THE young children allegedly murdered by their grandfather in Cowra may have been drowned - not killed with an axe as first feared.
Ill: Accused has tumor, dementia
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Neal does an about-face on Iguana's clash
EMBATTLED MP Belinda Neal will obey the Prime Minister and speak to police about her infamous clash with staff at the Iguana's restaurant.
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Thief kills Sydney man's dream
A SYDNEY man who followed his dream to build a village where African orphans could be fed, educated and given health care has been shot dead by robbers.
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Police to watch Ferguson home after protest
Police say they will continue to monitor the south-west Queensland temporary home of convicted pedophile Dennis Ferguson following a protest to run him out of town.
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Indonesia set to execute 'black magic' serial killer
An Indoensian official says Indonesian man .. who murdered 42 women in black magic rituals to increase his supernatural powers .. will soon be executed by firing squad.
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Alan Jones attracts heavyweight support in cancer battle
Some of Australia's highest-profile personalities have rallied to support leading radio broadcaster Alan Jones, upon learning the 67-year-old breakfast icon is battling prostate cancer.
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Next: ruler of all Australia. And then … the world
Andrew Bolt
Not the right time for this message:

AUSTRALIA is the most over-governed nation on Earth and reforms should include abolishing the states, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says.
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Hansen’s prediction: a cool 20 years later
Andrew Bolt
NASA warming preacher James Hansen recalls that June day 20 years ago when he so memorably sounded the alarm about global warming:

On June 23, 1988, I testified to a hearing chaired by Senator Tim Wirth of Colorado that the Earth had entered a long-term warming trend, and that human-made greenhouse gases almost surely were responsible… My testimony two decades ago was greeted with skepticism.
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Timid business swallows poison
Andrew Bolt
The big business lobby is as craven as always, urging members to go soft in opposing an emissions trading scheme that won’t work, will hurt and isn’t needed:

The Business Council of Australia will also warn its members against overstating the negative effects of the policy at the risk of alienating the Government, and urge the community to accept that fuel and power prices are too low and must increase.

They must?

Mr Gailey’s speech notes say oil companies predict an EIS will add 10 cents a litre to petrol prices...

And what good will that do, pray?
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Army uses unnecessary force on Leftist demo
Andrew Bolt
But whatever way the far Left spins it, great news:

French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans and 11 other hostages were rescued from leftist guerrillas by Colombian troops on Wednesday, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said.

Che would be cross.
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Spot the difference
Andrew Bolt
Real life:

A man walked into a 7-Eleven store in Monrovia just after midnight Wednesday and demanded money. Investigators said when the clerk refused, the man became so agitated that he started grabbing items off the counter. He snatched up a banana and began hitting the clerk, the sheriff’s office said. The clerk pulled out a knife, and the man with the banana split.

Satire:

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Any other allies for Rudd to snub?
Andrew Bolt
First he offends Japan, and now the US. Remember, diplomacy is supposed to be Kevin Rudd’s strong suit:

IN WHAT appears to be a snub to Australian efforts to build a new consensus on nuclear weapons, US President George Bush has marked the 40th anniversary of the non-proliferation treaty — but pointedly omitted any mention of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s initiative for a special commission to advance the issue worldwide… (B)ehind the scenes there has been surprise and irritation that Australia did not discuss the idea with the US before going public… A State Department source said that the Administration was mystified by the oversight but had decided to put it down to a new Government that was still finding its feet.
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Brumby has enough of “saving” the Murray
Andrew Bolt
Premier John Brumby has had enough of deep greens - or maybe of being heckled by desperate irrigators:

JOHN Brumby has vowed to scuttle a Rudd government plan to accelerate the rescue of the Murray-Darling, dooming immediate hopes to buy extra water to save the stricken river system despite the states today agreeing to a historic federal takeover…

(Water and Climate Change Minister Penny) Wong has asked the states to approve a plan to lift the 4per cent-a-year cap on the amount of water that can be traded out of an irrigation region, imposed under an earlier federal-state water agreement.
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Rich conflict
Andrew Bolt
If it’s a sobering influence, I’m not entirely opposed:

KEVIN Rudd faces demands that he sack his chief of staff over alleged conflicts of interest caused by his lobbyist wife representing mining and energy companies whose profits are dependent on the design of the Government’s planned emissions trading scheme.

But that sure is a very big conflict. Totally inappropriate, in fact.
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Would he have volunteered for Saddam’s tortures?
Andrew Bolt
Christopher Hitchens gets himself waterboarded and concludes:

(I)f waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.

He’s right, of course. But if the worst torture the US can authorise is one an ageing journalist volunteers to undergo himself, I’m more relieved than horrified. And when it’s practiced on just three of the worst terrorists it can find I wonder what all the fuss is about.
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The 36 steps to neo-con paranoia
Andrew Bolt
Tim Blair finds the Sydney Morning Herald‘s Peter Hatcher obsessing about neo-cons under the bed.