The Weasel has allowed David Ball to write about his issue
===
I resigned from my permanent position to protect my students. I lied to some about my reasons for resigning at the time. I said it was to write a book. It was to protect my students.
I had been harassed for much of my career as a teacher by members of the Department of Education for reasons of their own. I do not know who all these officers may be, but I know who some are. I do not know the motivations of all these officers, but I believe some are working collectively, and some are not.
I have brought these issues before appropriate bodies to investigate. I believe it possible that government corruption has stifled the investigations. Among my allegations are the suggestions that a pedophile investigation has been bungled deliberately. A child has died through neglect and the issue has been covered up.
My harassment has involved targeting me and, more recently, my students. A year 12 class of mine had marks deducted from their trial HSC’s for no other reason than that they were in my class. A year 7 girl had been verbally assaulted by a senior member of the Dept. of Education for no other reason than that she was in my class. Allegations of misconduct on my part were inflated so as to result in my being declared by the department as being disabled with no special provision after a senior education officer said I was too fat to teach Math.
I have brought these matters to the police. A detective Sergeant at Fairfield police station took my details in early August. I do not expect the police to get much headway with my issue, because my allegations are political in nature. They will investigate regarding the death of the boy and the bungled pedophile investigation, but they cannot form a judgement regarding my being threatened by two NSW Ministers or being harassed by officers of the Department of Ed. However, the police can verify my claims, or the claim that I have told them what I know.
I need the media to ask the hard questions of those who are covering up these alleged corrupt acts. I understand that that is their role. I need anyone who knows me first hand, and who can support or accuse me to alert the media or the police as to what they know.
I have been smeared, but I have clean hands. In going to the police I have exposed myself to more smears, but I also have opened a door that allows scrutiny. Please help me.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Headlines Sunday 31st August
The brighter side of Palin
Andrew Bolt
I think I initially misjudged the choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. Here’s some reasons for a rethink:
THE announcement of the pick blasted Barack Obama off all the news bulletins yesterday, despite his just having delivered a speech at the Democratic convention that was hailed in the media as worthy of Lincoln and Kennedy. Obama’s fine speech all but vanished in the ether, which may become an emblem of his whole wordy campaign. Can you remember more than a line or two?
OBAMA was clearly caught badly off guard. His spokesman’s initial reaction was scathing, mocking Palin for having been until recently merely the mayor of a town of 9000. Hours later Obama changed to gracious, welcoming her as a fresh voice and a nice person, and excusing the earlier mockery as part of the “hair trigger” mood of a campaign on full throttle. Clearly he realised he has a woman problem to address, not least because of his rejection of Hillary Clinton as running mate.
SPEAKING of which, Palin in her acceptance speech paid gracious tribute not just to Clinton but to former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Both women - Ferraro in particular - were very gracious in return. This suggests not only that Palin has appeal to women voters, but that she can actually peel off Democratic women from Obama.
PALIN’S speech was polished and hit all the right voter buttons. Nothing in it, except perhaps the modulation of her voice, suggested she was the underqualified, inexperienced candidate her resume actually suggests.
PALIN makes Joe Biden in particular look frankly incredible as an agent of the change promised by Obama. Palin the outsider, the corruption-busting crusader Governor who took on her own party machine in Alaska, represents change. Biden represents more Washington political gasbaggery.
===
Change … to what? And how?
Andrew Bolt
Simon Heffer wasn’t blown away by Barack Obama’s rhetoric this week in accepting the Democratic nomination:
No-one can dispute that the finale was a spectacle: but, as such, it symbolised a triumph of style over substance that had been apparent during every session of the convention during the week and, indeed, in the whole 19 months of the Obama presidential campaign. This said a lot about Sen Obama’s abilities, or those of his speechwriters and spin doctors, to play an already compliant audience like the proverbial violin. It said little or nothing about his fitness to govern, or to attract the support of the so-far non-compliant....
Mr Obama’s speech was a masterpiece of manipulation: it added precious few clues about how he would restore the fortunes of a country that is very much not at ease with itself. Worse, in an uncertain world, it offered little evidence of why he is equipped to deal with some of the lethal challenges that could at any time confront America. The candidate’s combination of old-fashioned oratorical skill, film-star looks, and determination to put his personality and “story” at the front of his approach to politics certainly seems to appeal to his party: but it is entirely shallow, and typical of the American left’s confusion, or conflation, of stature with celebrity....
The real question is whether America’s tens of millions of undecided voters will have been swayed by anything they might have seen, heard or read from Denver this week. It seems, it must be said, pretty unlikely… We still don’t really know what Mr Obama is going to change, how he is going to change it, and to what. And we can’t tell that he has a clue what to do with uppity Iranians, aggressive Russians or any other threat to his country’s security. As such, he has left himself open to sustained attack by his opponents - and therefore has by no means won this election yet.
===
Another Distraction To Help Rudd
By Glenn Milne
OPPOSITION Leader Brendan Nelson has been severely embarrassed by revelations one of his senior MPs committed security breaches while on a parliamentary tour of the Gulf, putting the lives of Australian servicemen at risk.
The breaches, by former parliamentary secretary Peter Slipper, Liberal Member for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fisher, occurred in July after he insisted on using the satellite phone on HMAS Stuart to call his family and office.
Defence sources say that during those calls Mr Slipper divulged key security information regarding the ship's location and operations.
Mr Slipper said the claims were politically motivated and being made by someone "trying to make a mountain out of a molehill".
He denied there had been any "reading of the riot act" by the Stuart's intelligence officer, but confirmed there had been a briefing which he described as "routine" for parliamentary delegations.
Mr Slipper confirmed that the planned boarding of a tanker had been aborted:
"I asked permission to make the calls. I thought I was doing the right thing at all times. If I had been in breach of security, the commanding officer would have mentioned it to me." - clearly another attempt by the pathetic Rudd government to smear someone. Shame on Milne for complying - ed.
Andrew Bolt
I think I initially misjudged the choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. Here’s some reasons for a rethink:
THE announcement of the pick blasted Barack Obama off all the news bulletins yesterday, despite his just having delivered a speech at the Democratic convention that was hailed in the media as worthy of Lincoln and Kennedy. Obama’s fine speech all but vanished in the ether, which may become an emblem of his whole wordy campaign. Can you remember more than a line or two?
OBAMA was clearly caught badly off guard. His spokesman’s initial reaction was scathing, mocking Palin for having been until recently merely the mayor of a town of 9000. Hours later Obama changed to gracious, welcoming her as a fresh voice and a nice person, and excusing the earlier mockery as part of the “hair trigger” mood of a campaign on full throttle. Clearly he realised he has a woman problem to address, not least because of his rejection of Hillary Clinton as running mate.
SPEAKING of which, Palin in her acceptance speech paid gracious tribute not just to Clinton but to former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Both women - Ferraro in particular - were very gracious in return. This suggests not only that Palin has appeal to women voters, but that she can actually peel off Democratic women from Obama.
PALIN’S speech was polished and hit all the right voter buttons. Nothing in it, except perhaps the modulation of her voice, suggested she was the underqualified, inexperienced candidate her resume actually suggests.
PALIN makes Joe Biden in particular look frankly incredible as an agent of the change promised by Obama. Palin the outsider, the corruption-busting crusader Governor who took on her own party machine in Alaska, represents change. Biden represents more Washington political gasbaggery.
===
Change … to what? And how?
Andrew Bolt
Simon Heffer wasn’t blown away by Barack Obama’s rhetoric this week in accepting the Democratic nomination:
No-one can dispute that the finale was a spectacle: but, as such, it symbolised a triumph of style over substance that had been apparent during every session of the convention during the week and, indeed, in the whole 19 months of the Obama presidential campaign. This said a lot about Sen Obama’s abilities, or those of his speechwriters and spin doctors, to play an already compliant audience like the proverbial violin. It said little or nothing about his fitness to govern, or to attract the support of the so-far non-compliant....
Mr Obama’s speech was a masterpiece of manipulation: it added precious few clues about how he would restore the fortunes of a country that is very much not at ease with itself. Worse, in an uncertain world, it offered little evidence of why he is equipped to deal with some of the lethal challenges that could at any time confront America. The candidate’s combination of old-fashioned oratorical skill, film-star looks, and determination to put his personality and “story” at the front of his approach to politics certainly seems to appeal to his party: but it is entirely shallow, and typical of the American left’s confusion, or conflation, of stature with celebrity....
The real question is whether America’s tens of millions of undecided voters will have been swayed by anything they might have seen, heard or read from Denver this week. It seems, it must be said, pretty unlikely… We still don’t really know what Mr Obama is going to change, how he is going to change it, and to what. And we can’t tell that he has a clue what to do with uppity Iranians, aggressive Russians or any other threat to his country’s security. As such, he has left himself open to sustained attack by his opponents - and therefore has by no means won this election yet.
===
Another Distraction To Help Rudd
By Glenn Milne
OPPOSITION Leader Brendan Nelson has been severely embarrassed by revelations one of his senior MPs committed security breaches while on a parliamentary tour of the Gulf, putting the lives of Australian servicemen at risk.
The breaches, by former parliamentary secretary Peter Slipper, Liberal Member for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fisher, occurred in July after he insisted on using the satellite phone on HMAS Stuart to call his family and office.
Defence sources say that during those calls Mr Slipper divulged key security information regarding the ship's location and operations.
Mr Slipper said the claims were politically motivated and being made by someone "trying to make a mountain out of a molehill".
He denied there had been any "reading of the riot act" by the Stuart's intelligence officer, but confirmed there had been a briefing which he described as "routine" for parliamentary delegations.
Mr Slipper confirmed that the planned boarding of a tanker had been aborted:
"I asked permission to make the calls. I thought I was doing the right thing at all times. If I had been in breach of security, the commanding officer would have mentioned it to me." - clearly another attempt by the pathetic Rudd government to smear someone. Shame on Milne for complying - ed.
NSW Lib Updates
Brendan Nelson: Economic statement needed to rebuild confidence in the Australian economy
Since the election, we have seen large increases in interest rates and petrol prices, while many house prices are falling along with superannuation account balances. And we are all aware of large falls in consumer sentiment measures - with many measures at the lowest level since the Keating recession... An economic statement is necessary to provide a foundation upon which business can rebuild confidence.
===
Reba Meagher Shows Her True Colours: Nothing But A Labor Bully
Written by Jillian Skinner MP
Health Minister Reba Meagher has revealed her true colours as a Labor bully after threatening to withhold funding from critical hospital projects across NSW simply because residents don’t agree with Morris Iemma’s privatisation plans, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
“Health Minister Reba Meagher has revealed herself as nothing more than a Labor bully,” Mrs Skinner said.
Statement Regarding Alleged Comments On Electricity Sale
Written by Brad Hazzard MP
“This morning I woke up to a Daily Telegraph story on page three asserting that I spoke yesterday to Labor MP Kerry Hickey and gave details of confidential discussions in the Liberal party room.
“This assertion is false.
“At no time did I speak to Mr Hickey yesterday, or indeed at any time since the Parliament rose in June 2008.
Morris Iemma’s Dithering Weak Leadership: Half-A-Million Dollars Down The Drain
Written by Barry O'Farrell MP & Andrew Stoner MP
Nothing sums up the way NSW is being run more than today’s debacle on Morris Iemma’s plan to sell off the electricity industry.
After saying yesterday ‘bring it on’, Morris Iemma today ran away.
If ever you needed an example of a bloke who’s lost control of his party and his Government, it’s Morris Iemma.
Morris Iemma’s Proposed Power Sale
Written by Barry O'Farrell MP & Andrew Stoner MP
The NSW Liberal/Nationals will vote against the Iemma Labor Government’s proposed sale of the State electricity assets.
Morris Iemma’s proposed sell-off fails the public interest test.
Governments only get one opportunity to sell a public asset and, if they decide to sell, it’s essential that taxpayers get the best possible price. That’s not possible given the current uncertainty in the energy sector.
Reba Meagher Hiding Again On Infection Control Measures: Statistics Kept Hidden
Written by Jillian Skinner MP
Revelations on Seven News that three out of five hospitals tested positive for Golden Staph highlights Health Minister Reba Meagher’s incompetence, and the culture of Iemma Government secrecy, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
“This television reporter has done what Health Minister Reba Meagher and the secretive Iemma Government have failed to do – conduct infection control testing and release the results to the public,” Mrs Skinner said.
Health Minister Breaks Promise, Then Argues With Frontline Doctor
Written by Jillian Skinner MP
Revelations Reba Meagher has broken a promise to deliver an additional 35 emergency specialist doctors to hospital across the state again highlights the Health Minister’s incompetence, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
Reba Meagher admitted tonight on Seven News that only 29 specialist appointments have been made.
Community Forum On Draconian Disability Policies
Written by Andrew Constance MP
The Iemma Labor Government’s latest policy for people with disabilities in respite care is ill-conceived, draconian and will target carers and families of people with disabilities, Shadow Minister for Disability Services said today.
Mr Constance today urged people with concerns to attend a community forum on Tuesday 2nd September at 11am in the Jubilee Room to discuss policies like the draft ‘Maintaining Respite Capacity’ policy.
CountryLink Trains Run Late 94 Per Cent Of The Time
Written by Gladys Berejiklian MP
Shadow Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian said today Transport Minister John Watkins must focus on improving CountryLink services as patronage continues to dwindle and on time running figures hit rock bottom.
“The Iemma Labor Government has only met it’s own on time running target twice this year,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Hospital Deaths: Reba Meagher Should Be Explaining, Not Ducking For Cover
Written by Jillian Skinner MP
Health Minister Reba Meagher should come out of hiding and explain why the deaths of patients in western Sydney hospitals have been hidden from the public for two years, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
It has been revealed 85 patients died in Sydney West Area Health Service hospitals over the past two years, and at least 49 did not receive adequate care.
More...
Labor Abandons Western Sydney: Fast Rail Dumped Without Proper Consideration
Phone Number Won’t Ease Emergency Department Queues
Watkins And Campbell In Denial Over Increase In Assaults On CityRail Network
Reba Meagher Incompetence - Half Newcastle Ambulances Out Of Action: Paramedics
Iemma Govt Backflip On Taxpayer-Funded Advertising Doesn't Go Far Enough
Since the election, we have seen large increases in interest rates and petrol prices, while many house prices are falling along with superannuation account balances. And we are all aware of large falls in consumer sentiment measures - with many measures at the lowest level since the Keating recession... An economic statement is necessary to provide a foundation upon which business can rebuild confidence.
===
Reba Meagher Shows Her True Colours: Nothing But A Labor Bully
Written by Jillian Skinner MP
Health Minister Reba Meagher has revealed her true colours as a Labor bully after threatening to withhold funding from critical hospital projects across NSW simply because residents don’t agree with Morris Iemma’s privatisation plans, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
“Health Minister Reba Meagher has revealed herself as nothing more than a Labor bully,” Mrs Skinner said.
Statement Regarding Alleged Comments On Electricity Sale
Written by Brad Hazzard MP
“This morning I woke up to a Daily Telegraph story on page three asserting that I spoke yesterday to Labor MP Kerry Hickey and gave details of confidential discussions in the Liberal party room.
“This assertion is false.
“At no time did I speak to Mr Hickey yesterday, or indeed at any time since the Parliament rose in June 2008.
Morris Iemma’s Dithering Weak Leadership: Half-A-Million Dollars Down The Drain
Written by Barry O'Farrell MP & Andrew Stoner MP
Nothing sums up the way NSW is being run more than today’s debacle on Morris Iemma’s plan to sell off the electricity industry.
After saying yesterday ‘bring it on’, Morris Iemma today ran away.
If ever you needed an example of a bloke who’s lost control of his party and his Government, it’s Morris Iemma.
Morris Iemma’s Proposed Power Sale
Written by Barry O'Farrell MP & Andrew Stoner MP
The NSW Liberal/Nationals will vote against the Iemma Labor Government’s proposed sale of the State electricity assets.
Morris Iemma’s proposed sell-off fails the public interest test.
Governments only get one opportunity to sell a public asset and, if they decide to sell, it’s essential that taxpayers get the best possible price. That’s not possible given the current uncertainty in the energy sector.
Reba Meagher Hiding Again On Infection Control Measures: Statistics Kept Hidden
Written by Jillian Skinner MP
Revelations on Seven News that three out of five hospitals tested positive for Golden Staph highlights Health Minister Reba Meagher’s incompetence, and the culture of Iemma Government secrecy, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
“This television reporter has done what Health Minister Reba Meagher and the secretive Iemma Government have failed to do – conduct infection control testing and release the results to the public,” Mrs Skinner said.
Health Minister Breaks Promise, Then Argues With Frontline Doctor
Written by Jillian Skinner MP
Revelations Reba Meagher has broken a promise to deliver an additional 35 emergency specialist doctors to hospital across the state again highlights the Health Minister’s incompetence, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
Reba Meagher admitted tonight on Seven News that only 29 specialist appointments have been made.
Community Forum On Draconian Disability Policies
Written by Andrew Constance MP
The Iemma Labor Government’s latest policy for people with disabilities in respite care is ill-conceived, draconian and will target carers and families of people with disabilities, Shadow Minister for Disability Services said today.
Mr Constance today urged people with concerns to attend a community forum on Tuesday 2nd September at 11am in the Jubilee Room to discuss policies like the draft ‘Maintaining Respite Capacity’ policy.
CountryLink Trains Run Late 94 Per Cent Of The Time
Written by Gladys Berejiklian MP
Shadow Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian said today Transport Minister John Watkins must focus on improving CountryLink services as patronage continues to dwindle and on time running figures hit rock bottom.
“The Iemma Labor Government has only met it’s own on time running target twice this year,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Hospital Deaths: Reba Meagher Should Be Explaining, Not Ducking For Cover
Written by Jillian Skinner MP
Health Minister Reba Meagher should come out of hiding and explain why the deaths of patients in western Sydney hospitals have been hidden from the public for two years, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
It has been revealed 85 patients died in Sydney West Area Health Service hospitals over the past two years, and at least 49 did not receive adequate care.
More...
Labor Abandons Western Sydney: Fast Rail Dumped Without Proper Consideration
Phone Number Won’t Ease Emergency Department Queues
Watkins And Campbell In Denial Over Increase In Assaults On CityRail Network
Reba Meagher Incompetence - Half Newcastle Ambulances Out Of Action: Paramedics
Iemma Govt Backflip On Taxpayer-Funded Advertising Doesn't Go Far Enough
Cyberiad of Lem, A Love Poem
Cyberiad of Lem, with music
by ddball and Lafayette
This is part of a vision of Pat's. A translated version may be available. It comes from an old file I did, a few years ago.
Cyberiad of Lem, A Love Poem
Poetry from Lem's Cyberiad
Klapaucius thought, and thought some more. Finally he nodded and said:
"Very well. Let's have a love poem, lyrical, pastoral, and expressed in the language of pure mathematics. Tensor algebra mainly, with a little topology and higher calculus, if need be. But with feeling, you understand, and in the cybernetic spirit."
"Love and tensor algebra? Have you taken leave of your senses?" Trurl began, but stopped, for his electronic bard was already declaiming (see lyric)
Live Science News Headlines
How the Roaring Twenties Changed the World
The exuberance of the 1920s laid the foundation for the modern age.
Falling With Style: Geckos Count on Tails
Political Flip-Flops: From Lies to Legitimate Change
Survey: Women Leaders Smarter, More Honest
Hollywood Gets Inside the Minds of Moviegoers
Top Features
Mummified Iceman's Ancient Job Determined
Whopping Fish Declared New Species
Small Packages Trick People to Eat More
Real-World Recycling Puts U.S. to Shame
Video
Organ Repair
Salamander Goes Ballistic
Image of the Day
Generating Genomes
The exuberance of the 1920s laid the foundation for the modern age.
Falling With Style: Geckos Count on Tails
Political Flip-Flops: From Lies to Legitimate Change
Survey: Women Leaders Smarter, More Honest
Hollywood Gets Inside the Minds of Moviegoers
Top Features
Mummified Iceman's Ancient Job Determined
Whopping Fish Declared New Species
Small Packages Trick People to Eat More
Real-World Recycling Puts U.S. to Shame
Video
Organ Repair
Salamander Goes Ballistic
Image of the Day
Generating Genomes
Sugata Mitra: Can kids teach themselves?
http://www.ted.com Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own -- and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves?
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Liberal Messages Saturday 30th August
Nelson Doorstop - RTD tax revenue, privatisation, Peter Costello...
We’re opposed to the tax binge on ready-to-drinks because it will actually make alcohol abuse worse by pushing Australians and young people in particular away from a measured dose of alcohol into large full bottles of spirits and hip flasks.
Rudd: Weed war must be re-ignited
The launch of the report on introduced flora and the status of weeds underlines the need for the Rudd Government to maintain the strictest control over imported plant species to protect our biosecurity, Shadow Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts and Indigenous Affairs, Dr Sharman Stone, said
Nelson Doorstop - Education, Mr Rudd's Press Club address, FuelWatch, emissions trading scheme...
What Mr Rudd has announced yesterday in relation to education is existing law. And the real challenge for Mr Rudd is that, given 2008 is the last year that the states have to comply, will he now withhold funding from those state government and non-government schools that do not comply?
Small business confidence in Rudd collapses
The Rudd Government has received the worst rating of any Government in Australia in the latest Sensis Business Index for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Bishop, Ellison, Johnston, Keenan, Cormann, Eggleston Doorstop - Woodside, tax on condensate
There is confirmation today that the Federal Government’s $2.5 billion tax hit will result in increased gas and electricity prices in Western Australia, which means that consumers of gas and electricity in our home state will be paying more for gas and electricity.
Turnbull Doorstop - Collapse of small business confidence, education, grocery watch...
There is a new survey out today, the Sensis Business Index, which is the most authoritative survey on small and medium enterprises. And it shows that small business confidence in the Rudd Government has collapsed to the lowest level ever and the Rudd Government is now the one government in Australia in which small business has the least confidence.
Bishop Doorstop Interview - small business confidence, leadership...
Sensis Business Index has been released - The reasons cited include poor economic management and a belief that government policies are working against small business.
When is a Surplus not a Surplus?
The Government today in question time made it quite clear that it has every intention of spending the current surplus.
Small business declares Rudd's Government the worst in the country
According to the August Sensis Business Index, business confidence has fallen to its lowest level since 1993, when the survey first started.
Defence contradicts Fitzgibbon - Not once, but twice
Evidence from the Department of Defence has exposed two attempts by the Minister for Defence to mislead the Australian people – in relation to truck contracts and in relation to funding for extra battalions, the Shadow Minister for Defence, Senator Nick Minchin said today.
Labor blocks FuelWatch scrutiny
In Senate Question Time today, Labor Senators blocked Coalition attempts to question the Chair of the Senate Economics Committee, Senator Annette Hurley, about yesterday's unexpected and unnecessary interim FuelWatch report, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Eric Abetz, said today.
Roxon back flips on cost recovery while Coalition protects access to medicines for those most in need
The Rudd Government has announced so-called health policies that are nothing more than revenue raisers. The public deserves evidence-based policies that will deliver real benefits.
Tax on gas has Minister dazed and confused
After Woodside chief executive Don Voelte quite rightly pointed out that the tax would be passed on to gas customers within months, Mr Ferguson got so worked up he forgot what tax he was talking about.
Carpenter can run but he can't hide
The Carpenter Government may be sitting on the findings of its own inquiry into the Varanus Island gas explosion until after the State Election, but its consequences and impact on WA businesses will eventually be exposed thanks to a new Senate inquiry into the matter.
Rudd and Conroy are broadband 'net negatives'
Parliament heard today how Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy have been ‘net negatives’ for broadband and their stalled National Broadband Network process is depriving Australians of access to new services now.
Rudd's nuclear blinkers risk Australia's economic future
The Rudd Labor Government will condemn the Australian economy and send jobs offshore if it continues its charade about the ability of its flawed Emissions Trading Scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – without the proven zero emissions technology to do so.
Coalition to oppose luxury car tax surcharge
The Coalition will oppose the Rudd Labor Government's punitive 30 percent increase in the so-called Luxury Car Tax at the second reading in the Senate, Deputy Leader in the Senate, and Economics Committee member, Senator Eric Abetz, said today.
Following our agenda on schools, to distract attention from the economy
Over nine months, Mr Rudd has focussed on spin and media stunts and conducted over 150 reviews, rather than making tough decisions to keep our economy strong and help Australians with cost of living pressures.
Rudd must take responsibility for confidence collapse
Kevin Rudd must take responsibility for the dramatic decline in consumer confidence rather than blame it entirely on overseas events.
More needs to be done for pensioners: Evans
Liberal frontbencher Helen Coonan today questioned the Rudd Government over its approach to pension payment levels, following the Prime Minister’s admission yesterday that Australians are now doing it tougher financially than they were last November.
Murray inquiry must lower Penny's white flag
Comments on the approval today of a motion for a Senate inquiry into the urgent provision of water to the Coorong and Lower Lakes: The Coalition was very happy to support the Senate inquiry.
Nelson Interview with Fran Kelly (ABC National Radio) - Budget tax measures, economy, Kevin Rudd, Murray-Darling basin, Peter Costello...
We’re also in an environment where the Government says that it’s fighting inflation, although I note that in the 12 months that it will have been in government the inflation is forecast to go from 3.6 to 5 per cent. How do any of these tax increases on cars, on software, alcohol and a variety of other things help you fight inflation?
Job losses not on Rudd's radar
Kevin Rudd's National Press Club speech today demonstrated just how out of touch he has become in just 9 months. When questioned on increasing unemployment, Kevin Rudd failed to outline Labor's plans to assist the 100,000 Australians who the Reserve Bank predicts will lose their jobs in the next 12 months
Swan clueless on consumer confidence
In Question Time today Wayne Swan attempted to dismiss the collapse in consumer confidence in Australia by comparing the situation to that in other economies. But in each of the countries he identified - Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada - the economy is weaker but the decline in consumer confidence less than in Australia.
Coulton launches meals on wheels parliamentary friendship group
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Ageing and the Voluntary Sector, Mark Coulton, has praised the invaluable contribution made by Australia’s Meals on Wheels volunteers to the nation's aged and disabled residents
Copycat Kevin gets full marks for plagiarism
The Rudd Labor Government has no new ideas for the future of education in Australia announcing nothing more today than the copying of the Coalition's policies and legislation.
Labor's desperate attempt to push FuelWatch through the Senate
The decision by Labor members of the Senate Economics Committee to release a biased interim report into the FuelWatch scheme is an indication of the Government’s increasing desperation, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and Economics Committee member, Senator Eric Abetz said today.
Carr doesn't understand luxury car tax
Industry Minister Senator Kim Carr today showed his lack of understanding about the impact of the Luxury Car Tax on the Australian automotive industry by repeatedly citing the wrong figure as the LCT threshold, and falsely claiming the tax was introduced in 2000.
Telstra urged to consider 'national and consumer interest' broadband outcome
The Australian community is demanding to know what the Rudd Government's 'must have' requirements are for any proponent wanting $4.7 billion of taxpayer funding.
Labor silent on planned aviation safety cutbacks
The Rudd Labor Government has today again declined to deny reports that the sky marshal program is being slashed, said Shadow Transport Minister, Warren Truss.
Water doesn't rate for Kevin08
The crisis in the nation's food bowl barely rated a mention in Prime Minister Rudd's vision for Australia's future at his address to the National Press Club today.
Rudd government back flips on nurse training
The Government made a mistake in cutting the funding for 25 nursing schools and is now scrambling as their alternative programme fails.
Nothing new from the Minister for ageing
The Minister for Ageing has today proven that she is out of touch and out of her depth when it comes to the important ageing portfolio.
Peter Dutton Daily Telegraph Blog - GROCERYChoice
People are seeing through these stunts very quickly because it comes from the Carr/Beattie/Iemma/Carpenter/Bracks/Bligh/BLAIR playbook.
Kevin 07 and Kevin 08 - A tale of two Rudds
Before the election, Kevin Rudd was fond of boasting that the buck would stop with him and it was time to end the blame game between state and federal governments. But since the election, and now that he is Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd doesn’t appear to want to remind voters that the buck does now stop with him.
Garrett hiding damage to the solar industry
Peter Garrett's claims today that the solar panel rebate means test has not hurt the solar industry are simply based on sham and distorted figures.
Food prices to soar under Rudd made pressure
The Shadow Minister for Water Security, John Cobb said after only nine months in office Prime Minister Rudd has already conceded defeat and has claimed there is nothing he can do about escalating food prices – despite promising cheaper groceries and fuel before the last election.
Rudd postpones condensate debate to protect Carpenter
Kevin Rudd has moved to protect Labor Premier Alan Carpenter from his failure to stand up for the interests of Western Australia in relation to the tax hike on condensate - which will increase gas prices in WA - by delaying the debate in the Senate.
Bleak future for trade-exposed industries
The Rudd Labor Government cannot continue to ignore the mounting evidence about the devastating impact its flawed emissions trading scheme will have on the Australian economy.
Labor tax grab will hurt Western Australian families
The $2.5 billion new tax on condensate from the North West Shelf will ultimately be passed through to consumers and will drive up prices for basic needs, such as electricity and home heating.
Nelson interview with Michael Smith (Radio 4BC, Brisbane) - Budget tax measures, Peter Costello, Liberal-National Party, climate change...
There are tax increases in the Budget that we are going to oppose. The reason for that is firstly we don't believe in higher taxes. We believe in lower taxes, and in fact I want to cut the excise on petrol by five cents a litre. The second thing is that the Government has got $22 billion in a surplus this year. That's your money. That's the money earned by your listeners.
Brendan Nelson: Address to the Welcome Home Ceremony For Australian Olympic Team
What you have done in sacrifice, in discipline, in focus, in sportsmanship, in teamwork, in your support of one another, reminds us of what it means to be an Australian. You have lifted our nation to great heights.
Rudd crying wolf on surplus
Mr Rudd claims that the Opposition's plan to oppose four Budget tax measures - alco-pops, Medicare surcharge threshold, luxury car tax and condensate - will "blow a hole in their budget" - all spin and no substance.
Wagging school not on, but dole bludging is fine
Now, in a remarkable back flip, Labor plans to introduce more punitive measures on parents whose children wag school. Here we have a Government that is prepared to go easy on adults shirking their responsibilities to contribute to society, yet is willing to suspend welfare payments for 13 weeks when children wag school.
Birdsville Amendment: A Win for Small Business
Small business is the engine room of the economy, and the sector in this country employs around four million people, which represents over 45% of the workforce. Given the importance of the sector, the Coalition will not support the proposed amendments to the "Birdsville Amendment".
Wong opposes assistance to Lower Lakes
Asked today during Question Time in the Senate whether the Government would support the Coalition's plan for a $50 million Emergency Assistance Fund, the Minister ruled out supporting immediate relief for Lower Lakes communities.
Federal Opposition supports a more flexible, demand-driven training system
The Opposition provides in-principle support for the Federal Government's announcement today of support for the introduction of an Income Contingent Loan for diploma and advanced diploma courses in Victoria.
Rudd Government must accept motoring groups' offer and dump flawed FuelWatch scheme
In recent weeks we have seen the Government become increasingly desperate on FuelWatch. This culminated with the Treasurer irresponsibly claiming that motorists could save $10 off a tank of fuel or 20 cents a litre. This claim has been labelled as misleading by motoring groups.
Halt on shale oil not in national interest
Prime Minister Rudd needs to pull his Labor State Premiers into line after yet another Labor leader yesterday put short term political gains ahead of the national interest. The announcement by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh of a two-year moratorium on shale oil projects in her State was bad public policy that places Australia's energy security at risk.
Time for Crean to get serious on free trade
The collapse of the Doha round of world trade talks has further exposed the weakness of the Rudd Labor Government's chaotic approach to trade.
We’re opposed to the tax binge on ready-to-drinks because it will actually make alcohol abuse worse by pushing Australians and young people in particular away from a measured dose of alcohol into large full bottles of spirits and hip flasks.
Rudd: Weed war must be re-ignited
The launch of the report on introduced flora and the status of weeds underlines the need for the Rudd Government to maintain the strictest control over imported plant species to protect our biosecurity, Shadow Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts and Indigenous Affairs, Dr Sharman Stone, said
Nelson Doorstop - Education, Mr Rudd's Press Club address, FuelWatch, emissions trading scheme...
What Mr Rudd has announced yesterday in relation to education is existing law. And the real challenge for Mr Rudd is that, given 2008 is the last year that the states have to comply, will he now withhold funding from those state government and non-government schools that do not comply?
Small business confidence in Rudd collapses
The Rudd Government has received the worst rating of any Government in Australia in the latest Sensis Business Index for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Bishop, Ellison, Johnston, Keenan, Cormann, Eggleston Doorstop - Woodside, tax on condensate
There is confirmation today that the Federal Government’s $2.5 billion tax hit will result in increased gas and electricity prices in Western Australia, which means that consumers of gas and electricity in our home state will be paying more for gas and electricity.
Turnbull Doorstop - Collapse of small business confidence, education, grocery watch...
There is a new survey out today, the Sensis Business Index, which is the most authoritative survey on small and medium enterprises. And it shows that small business confidence in the Rudd Government has collapsed to the lowest level ever and the Rudd Government is now the one government in Australia in which small business has the least confidence.
Bishop Doorstop Interview - small business confidence, leadership...
Sensis Business Index has been released - The reasons cited include poor economic management and a belief that government policies are working against small business.
When is a Surplus not a Surplus?
The Government today in question time made it quite clear that it has every intention of spending the current surplus.
Small business declares Rudd's Government the worst in the country
According to the August Sensis Business Index, business confidence has fallen to its lowest level since 1993, when the survey first started.
Defence contradicts Fitzgibbon - Not once, but twice
Evidence from the Department of Defence has exposed two attempts by the Minister for Defence to mislead the Australian people – in relation to truck contracts and in relation to funding for extra battalions, the Shadow Minister for Defence, Senator Nick Minchin said today.
Labor blocks FuelWatch scrutiny
In Senate Question Time today, Labor Senators blocked Coalition attempts to question the Chair of the Senate Economics Committee, Senator Annette Hurley, about yesterday's unexpected and unnecessary interim FuelWatch report, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Eric Abetz, said today.
Roxon back flips on cost recovery while Coalition protects access to medicines for those most in need
The Rudd Government has announced so-called health policies that are nothing more than revenue raisers. The public deserves evidence-based policies that will deliver real benefits.
Tax on gas has Minister dazed and confused
After Woodside chief executive Don Voelte quite rightly pointed out that the tax would be passed on to gas customers within months, Mr Ferguson got so worked up he forgot what tax he was talking about.
Carpenter can run but he can't hide
The Carpenter Government may be sitting on the findings of its own inquiry into the Varanus Island gas explosion until after the State Election, but its consequences and impact on WA businesses will eventually be exposed thanks to a new Senate inquiry into the matter.
Rudd and Conroy are broadband 'net negatives'
Parliament heard today how Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy have been ‘net negatives’ for broadband and their stalled National Broadband Network process is depriving Australians of access to new services now.
Rudd's nuclear blinkers risk Australia's economic future
The Rudd Labor Government will condemn the Australian economy and send jobs offshore if it continues its charade about the ability of its flawed Emissions Trading Scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – without the proven zero emissions technology to do so.
Coalition to oppose luxury car tax surcharge
The Coalition will oppose the Rudd Labor Government's punitive 30 percent increase in the so-called Luxury Car Tax at the second reading in the Senate, Deputy Leader in the Senate, and Economics Committee member, Senator Eric Abetz, said today.
Following our agenda on schools, to distract attention from the economy
Over nine months, Mr Rudd has focussed on spin and media stunts and conducted over 150 reviews, rather than making tough decisions to keep our economy strong and help Australians with cost of living pressures.
Rudd must take responsibility for confidence collapse
Kevin Rudd must take responsibility for the dramatic decline in consumer confidence rather than blame it entirely on overseas events.
More needs to be done for pensioners: Evans
Liberal frontbencher Helen Coonan today questioned the Rudd Government over its approach to pension payment levels, following the Prime Minister’s admission yesterday that Australians are now doing it tougher financially than they were last November.
Murray inquiry must lower Penny's white flag
Comments on the approval today of a motion for a Senate inquiry into the urgent provision of water to the Coorong and Lower Lakes: The Coalition was very happy to support the Senate inquiry.
Nelson Interview with Fran Kelly (ABC National Radio) - Budget tax measures, economy, Kevin Rudd, Murray-Darling basin, Peter Costello...
We’re also in an environment where the Government says that it’s fighting inflation, although I note that in the 12 months that it will have been in government the inflation is forecast to go from 3.6 to 5 per cent. How do any of these tax increases on cars, on software, alcohol and a variety of other things help you fight inflation?
Job losses not on Rudd's radar
Kevin Rudd's National Press Club speech today demonstrated just how out of touch he has become in just 9 months. When questioned on increasing unemployment, Kevin Rudd failed to outline Labor's plans to assist the 100,000 Australians who the Reserve Bank predicts will lose their jobs in the next 12 months
Swan clueless on consumer confidence
In Question Time today Wayne Swan attempted to dismiss the collapse in consumer confidence in Australia by comparing the situation to that in other economies. But in each of the countries he identified - Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada - the economy is weaker but the decline in consumer confidence less than in Australia.
Coulton launches meals on wheels parliamentary friendship group
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Ageing and the Voluntary Sector, Mark Coulton, has praised the invaluable contribution made by Australia’s Meals on Wheels volunteers to the nation's aged and disabled residents
Copycat Kevin gets full marks for plagiarism
The Rudd Labor Government has no new ideas for the future of education in Australia announcing nothing more today than the copying of the Coalition's policies and legislation.
Labor's desperate attempt to push FuelWatch through the Senate
The decision by Labor members of the Senate Economics Committee to release a biased interim report into the FuelWatch scheme is an indication of the Government’s increasing desperation, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and Economics Committee member, Senator Eric Abetz said today.
Carr doesn't understand luxury car tax
Industry Minister Senator Kim Carr today showed his lack of understanding about the impact of the Luxury Car Tax on the Australian automotive industry by repeatedly citing the wrong figure as the LCT threshold, and falsely claiming the tax was introduced in 2000.
Telstra urged to consider 'national and consumer interest' broadband outcome
The Australian community is demanding to know what the Rudd Government's 'must have' requirements are for any proponent wanting $4.7 billion of taxpayer funding.
Labor silent on planned aviation safety cutbacks
The Rudd Labor Government has today again declined to deny reports that the sky marshal program is being slashed, said Shadow Transport Minister, Warren Truss.
Water doesn't rate for Kevin08
The crisis in the nation's food bowl barely rated a mention in Prime Minister Rudd's vision for Australia's future at his address to the National Press Club today.
Rudd government back flips on nurse training
The Government made a mistake in cutting the funding for 25 nursing schools and is now scrambling as their alternative programme fails.
Nothing new from the Minister for ageing
The Minister for Ageing has today proven that she is out of touch and out of her depth when it comes to the important ageing portfolio.
Peter Dutton Daily Telegraph Blog - GROCERYChoice
People are seeing through these stunts very quickly because it comes from the Carr/Beattie/Iemma/Carpenter/Bracks/Bligh/BLAIR playbook.
Kevin 07 and Kevin 08 - A tale of two Rudds
Before the election, Kevin Rudd was fond of boasting that the buck would stop with him and it was time to end the blame game between state and federal governments. But since the election, and now that he is Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd doesn’t appear to want to remind voters that the buck does now stop with him.
Garrett hiding damage to the solar industry
Peter Garrett's claims today that the solar panel rebate means test has not hurt the solar industry are simply based on sham and distorted figures.
Food prices to soar under Rudd made pressure
The Shadow Minister for Water Security, John Cobb said after only nine months in office Prime Minister Rudd has already conceded defeat and has claimed there is nothing he can do about escalating food prices – despite promising cheaper groceries and fuel before the last election.
Rudd postpones condensate debate to protect Carpenter
Kevin Rudd has moved to protect Labor Premier Alan Carpenter from his failure to stand up for the interests of Western Australia in relation to the tax hike on condensate - which will increase gas prices in WA - by delaying the debate in the Senate.
Bleak future for trade-exposed industries
The Rudd Labor Government cannot continue to ignore the mounting evidence about the devastating impact its flawed emissions trading scheme will have on the Australian economy.
Labor tax grab will hurt Western Australian families
The $2.5 billion new tax on condensate from the North West Shelf will ultimately be passed through to consumers and will drive up prices for basic needs, such as electricity and home heating.
Nelson interview with Michael Smith (Radio 4BC, Brisbane) - Budget tax measures, Peter Costello, Liberal-National Party, climate change...
There are tax increases in the Budget that we are going to oppose. The reason for that is firstly we don't believe in higher taxes. We believe in lower taxes, and in fact I want to cut the excise on petrol by five cents a litre. The second thing is that the Government has got $22 billion in a surplus this year. That's your money. That's the money earned by your listeners.
Brendan Nelson: Address to the Welcome Home Ceremony For Australian Olympic Team
What you have done in sacrifice, in discipline, in focus, in sportsmanship, in teamwork, in your support of one another, reminds us of what it means to be an Australian. You have lifted our nation to great heights.
Rudd crying wolf on surplus
Mr Rudd claims that the Opposition's plan to oppose four Budget tax measures - alco-pops, Medicare surcharge threshold, luxury car tax and condensate - will "blow a hole in their budget" - all spin and no substance.
Wagging school not on, but dole bludging is fine
Now, in a remarkable back flip, Labor plans to introduce more punitive measures on parents whose children wag school. Here we have a Government that is prepared to go easy on adults shirking their responsibilities to contribute to society, yet is willing to suspend welfare payments for 13 weeks when children wag school.
Birdsville Amendment: A Win for Small Business
Small business is the engine room of the economy, and the sector in this country employs around four million people, which represents over 45% of the workforce. Given the importance of the sector, the Coalition will not support the proposed amendments to the "Birdsville Amendment".
Wong opposes assistance to Lower Lakes
Asked today during Question Time in the Senate whether the Government would support the Coalition's plan for a $50 million Emergency Assistance Fund, the Minister ruled out supporting immediate relief for Lower Lakes communities.
Federal Opposition supports a more flexible, demand-driven training system
The Opposition provides in-principle support for the Federal Government's announcement today of support for the introduction of an Income Contingent Loan for diploma and advanced diploma courses in Victoria.
Rudd Government must accept motoring groups' offer and dump flawed FuelWatch scheme
In recent weeks we have seen the Government become increasingly desperate on FuelWatch. This culminated with the Treasurer irresponsibly claiming that motorists could save $10 off a tank of fuel or 20 cents a litre. This claim has been labelled as misleading by motoring groups.
Halt on shale oil not in national interest
Prime Minister Rudd needs to pull his Labor State Premiers into line after yet another Labor leader yesterday put short term political gains ahead of the national interest. The announcement by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh of a two-year moratorium on shale oil projects in her State was bad public policy that places Australia's energy security at risk.
Time for Crean to get serious on free trade
The collapse of the Doha round of world trade talks has further exposed the weakness of the Rudd Labor Government's chaotic approach to trade.
Promoting New Music Saturn's Day 30th August
One Man's Dream (Yanni's cover)
by Lafayette
I like this Greek composer and particularly this song composed in 1993 (album "In My Time").
I've added guitars (acoustic lead and rhythm), bass, oboe (yes !) and soft drums in a jazzy way.
I try to preserve the melancholic and quiet ambiance.
Hope I've succeeded...
Thank you in advance for your comments
- LaFayette
Yanni's official site
===
The River's Edge
by Garni, Rusticalia, NorthPoint, Jovana, jalanix, Slupper and WoodshedConspiracy
This is a 'Woodshed Conspiracy' Project with a few of our friends:
Hope you enjoy the journey with us
Slupper: Bass
Jalanix: Lead guitar
Jovana: Backing Vocals
Woodshed Conspiracy consists of:
Rusticalia: Acoustic Guitar
Northpoint: Vocals and Lyrics
Garni: Drums, Piano, Accordian, Backing Vocals and Production.
Power Sale Issue Gets Political
Andrew Bolt
Michael Costa demands respect not just for being a global warming sceptic:
MICHAEL Costa has issued an extraordinary ultimatum to his Labor colleagues, declaring he will quit within 10 weeks unless they roll over and accept a raft of controversial reforms and public sector cutbacks.
The NSW Treasurer has revealed that his mini-budget, due to be introduced by early November, will go much further than previously believed and will include privatisation of rail maintenance and Sydney ferries, a restructure of the NSW public sector and job cuts for bureaucrats.
“There is no point being the Treasurer of NSW if people aren’t prepared to make the difficult decisions around public sector reform,” Mr Costa told The Weekend Australian yesterday.
Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell’s crude populism in blocking the Government electricity privatisation plans make Costa (and, yes, Iemma) seem even more gutsy and, dare I say, principled.- I have heard O'Farrel speak on the issue, and he answered these jibes in and out of parliament. O'Farrel truthfully answered that his promise to support the legislation dependent on the report was faithfully kept. The report highlighted what was wrong with the proposal. Also the ALP have proven that they have not the skill to sensibly implement infrastructure policy. The reason why NSW needs the funds is because the ALP have been very bad administrators. The Conservative policy is clear and makes perfect sense. I am sure that ALP supporters are very disappointed that they don't have more money to play with. But it is their fault. - ed.
===
Bolt favors the ALP, but he isn't alone among social conservatives who will try to pass the sale issue off as a failure of leadership by the Libs.
===
How NSW shot itself in the foot
The vote on NSW electricity privatisation this week may well have been the most pivotal point the state's modern history. And we probably got it wrong, according to Chris Smith. - worth reading the article to see how Smith blames the Libs for failed ALP policy. - ed.
Michael Costa demands respect not just for being a global warming sceptic:
MICHAEL Costa has issued an extraordinary ultimatum to his Labor colleagues, declaring he will quit within 10 weeks unless they roll over and accept a raft of controversial reforms and public sector cutbacks.
The NSW Treasurer has revealed that his mini-budget, due to be introduced by early November, will go much further than previously believed and will include privatisation of rail maintenance and Sydney ferries, a restructure of the NSW public sector and job cuts for bureaucrats.
“There is no point being the Treasurer of NSW if people aren’t prepared to make the difficult decisions around public sector reform,” Mr Costa told The Weekend Australian yesterday.
Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell’s crude populism in blocking the Government electricity privatisation plans make Costa (and, yes, Iemma) seem even more gutsy and, dare I say, principled.- I have heard O'Farrel speak on the issue, and he answered these jibes in and out of parliament. O'Farrel truthfully answered that his promise to support the legislation dependent on the report was faithfully kept. The report highlighted what was wrong with the proposal. Also the ALP have proven that they have not the skill to sensibly implement infrastructure policy. The reason why NSW needs the funds is because the ALP have been very bad administrators. The Conservative policy is clear and makes perfect sense. I am sure that ALP supporters are very disappointed that they don't have more money to play with. But it is their fault. - ed.
===
Bolt favors the ALP, but he isn't alone among social conservatives who will try to pass the sale issue off as a failure of leadership by the Libs.
===
How NSW shot itself in the foot
The vote on NSW electricity privatisation this week may well have been the most pivotal point the state's modern history. And we probably got it wrong, according to Chris Smith. - worth reading the article to see how Smith blames the Libs for failed ALP policy. - ed.
Quentin Bryce and Rudd Dilemma
Quentin Bryce's husband quits job
Erin Maher
The husband of Governor-General designate Quentin Bryce is selling his business to make sure there is no conflict of interest.
===
The issue of Quentin's appointment crystallizes the problem of Rudd.
Quentin's appointment will mean that someone who has helped Rudd avoid scrutiny over the Heiner Affair will be in a constitutional position to fail to sack him if that is required.
Rudd's illness is related his not being able to accept being criticized. Ever.
Rudd doesn't face criticism in Australia, but goes overseas where he may be feted instead. So that he has only been available for some 20% of the time in parliament since his election to Prime Minister.
Rudd has not made a single decision or policy since his election win. He has made statements and created committees which seem to have no function other than to promote his banalities. Were he to make a decision, he would expose himself to criticism.
When Rudd was exposed for attending a nightclub and behaving shamefully, he answered his critics by saying he hadn't misbehaved. He also said he was too drunk to remember. He said he had apologized to his wife who also is not allowed to criticize him.
But Rudd is PM and he has to make decisions or bad things will happen to Australia. Australia needs Nuclear power if it is to go for low carbon emissions. It is questionable if Australia needs to go to low carbon emissions. Australian industry looks to Rudd for leadership. Instead, Rudd gives money away to Japanese car dealers to avoid criticism over his mishandling of Japanese affairs.
And now we have an appointment of an apparently compromised governor who will not be able to criticize Rudd if it is needed.
Erin Maher
The husband of Governor-General designate Quentin Bryce is selling his business to make sure there is no conflict of interest.
===
The issue of Quentin's appointment crystallizes the problem of Rudd.
Quentin's appointment will mean that someone who has helped Rudd avoid scrutiny over the Heiner Affair will be in a constitutional position to fail to sack him if that is required.
Rudd's illness is related his not being able to accept being criticized. Ever.
Rudd doesn't face criticism in Australia, but goes overseas where he may be feted instead. So that he has only been available for some 20% of the time in parliament since his election to Prime Minister.
Rudd has not made a single decision or policy since his election win. He has made statements and created committees which seem to have no function other than to promote his banalities. Were he to make a decision, he would expose himself to criticism.
When Rudd was exposed for attending a nightclub and behaving shamefully, he answered his critics by saying he hadn't misbehaved. He also said he was too drunk to remember. He said he had apologized to his wife who also is not allowed to criticize him.
But Rudd is PM and he has to make decisions or bad things will happen to Australia. Australia needs Nuclear power if it is to go for low carbon emissions. It is questionable if Australia needs to go to low carbon emissions. Australian industry looks to Rudd for leadership. Instead, Rudd gives money away to Japanese car dealers to avoid criticism over his mishandling of Japanese affairs.
And now we have an appointment of an apparently compromised governor who will not be able to criticize Rudd if it is needed.
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for US VP
Palin in action - on polar bears, energy security ... and her youngest child
===
She is an inspired choice, having many virtues and none of the baggage. She is conservative. In opposing her, Democrats will expose themselves to the very charges they make.
Headlines Saturday 30th August
Beyond the Palin
Andrew Bolt
John McCain may have made a mistake:
Republican John McCain introduced first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate Friday, a stunning selection of a fellow maverick designed to get an edge in the increasingly competitive White House race.
It seems McCain has banked everything on going after the women who loved Hillary Clinton. The problem is that the best strong woman he could find from among the Republicans is someone from a distant who-cares state who has been in politics for even less time than Barack Obama, the man McCain is trying to ping as a dangerous neophyte, and the Left is going after her on this very point already - The selection is an inspired choice against Obama. Even before considering her competence, Democrats are forced to concede she is female and represents all that was denied the Democrats by Hilary being impossible. She represents the conservative minority and in attacking her, Democrats risk exposing themselves to the very charges of which they complain. She allows a reasonable voice in support of conservative values, family, progressive environmental exploitation and pro wealth building and aspirational.
Then there is the fact that she is a conservative, not a closet figure, and is capable of speaking towards conservative values. She is like a pretty, young Richard Nixon. - ed.
===
Not every check on a terrorists’ relative checks out
Andrew Bolt
Haneef had to be investigated, and the fact that he’s cleared is not of itself a sign of incompetence:
THE Australian Federal Police has formally abandoned its $8 million investigation of Mohamed Haneef, more than 12 months after the Indian doctor was arrested at Brisbane airport over alleged terror offences. - not a sign of incompetence of the AFP, but certainly of the ALP - ed.
===
He completes us
Andrew Bolt
Jon Stewart on Barack Obama.
===
Animals die for green power
Andrew Bolt
Where are the protesting greens?
“Beware: exploding lungs” is not a sign one would expect to see at a wind farm. But a new study suggests this is the main reason bats die in large numbers around wind turbines.
===
Alarmists gas on
Andrew Bolt
When the alarmists act like they really mean what they say, I’ll take them more seriously:
More than 1,700 delegates at two conferences on global warming being held in Kenya and Ghana have largely failed to carbon-offset their travel to the meetings, The Telegraph has learned.
===
CLUES EXAMINED
Tim Blair
ABC radio phoned early yesterday seeking Costello comment
===
OBOUNCER
Tim Blair
Formerly bounceless, Emperor Obama now receives a substantial convention boost:
Obama’s lead is two points greater lead than held by John Kerry after DemCon ‘04, although his bounce is short of the historical bounce average.
===
HE DOES NOT EASILY EXULT, DESPAIR OR ANGER
Tim Blair
“I noticed that worshipful NYT article on Obama,” emails Matt Haws, “and thought it read like Dos Equis beer commercials that air here in the States.” Indeed, there are eerie parallels:
The police often question him, just because they find him interesting. His beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man’s entire body. His blood smells like cologne. In every country in the world there is a sandwich named after him. He once punched a magician; that’s right, you heard me. If he were to mail a letter without postage, it would still get there.
When it is raining, it is because he is thinking about something sad. Even the things his parrot says are insightful. If there were an “interesting” gland, his would be larger than most men’s entire lower intestines. His shirts never wrinkle. He is left-handed. And right-handed. He once knew he dialed the wrong number, even though the person on the other end wouldn’t admit it. You can see his charisma from space. If a monument was built in his honor, Mt. Rushmore would close due to poor attendance. The moon is only full when it has his permission. He has never lost a costume contest, and he has never dressed in costume.
He is the Most Popular Man in the World.
===
PLUS, THEY’LL THROW IN A FREE SET OF STEAK KNIVES
Tim Blair
There’s got to be a catch:
Columnists for Fairfax newspapers say management will have to sack them too if fellow contributor Mike Carlton is not reinstated.
===
STRIKING MIKE SPIKED
Tim Blair
Further Fairfax fun:
Radio broadcaster and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton has been sacked for refusing to write his weekly column during a strike.
Carlton, a member of the journalists’ union, the MEAA, took the stand on the grounds that filing the column amounted to crossing a picket line.
Carlton, like several Saturday SMH columnists, files from home. It’ll be interesting to discover tomorrow if any e-scabs crossed this virtual picket.
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FROM BRITNEY TO BARACK
Tim Blair
Front page of today’s New York Post:
Impressively, the mighty Obamacropolis was “built by the same cheesy set team that put together Britney Spears’ last tour.”
===
UNEMPLOYED CITIZEN TO FIX CARACAS
Tim Blair
Booted out of London, Red Ken heads to Hugotown:
Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, has found a new role as an adviser to the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and his political allies. During a surprise visit to Caracas, Livingstone said yesterday that he would act as a consultant on the capital’s policing, transport and other municipal issues.
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TEMPLE SHAKEN
Tim Blair
Democrats who believe Barack Obama is too inexperienced to be President:
• Bill Clinton
• Hillary Clinton
• Joe Biden
• Barack Obama
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NO JUSTICE, NO PAPERS
Tim Blair
The darlings at Fairfax are out on strike until Monday. They’re having a little rally in Sydney tomorrow morning, in case you’re wondering about an apparent increase in the city’s homeless population. Sing along, comrades!
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ROBOBAMA
Tim Blair
What Obama really needs right now, as he prepares for his ascension, is a great big New York Times piece on how superhuman he is:
Even before he entered public life, he began honing not only his political skills, but also his mental and emotional ones. He developed a self-discipline so complete, friends and aides say, that he has established dominion over not only what he does but also how he feels.
===
Molotov cocktail leaves man with only minor cuts
A molotov cocktail left a man covered in petrol, glass and fuel after it crashed through the window of his home in Sydney’s south west.
The 67-year-old was watching television in bed when the petrol bomb was hurled into his window.
The fuel failed to ignite and the elderly man escaped the attack with minor cuts to his arm and finger.
The victim could not give an explanation as to why he was targeted.
===
How to rape guide found in Brimble suspect's house
Instructions on using drugs to rape women have been found at the house of one of the men who had sex with cruise ship passenger Dianne Brimble.
===
Costello predicted Rudd's action
Andrew Bolt
On the one hand we have Kevin Rudd, preparing for his seventh - eighth? - trip overseas in just nine months.
On the other we have Julia Gillard, producing the tough policies on education and truancy which allowed Rudd to finally say something of substance last week.
Which makes this prediction from Peter Costello last year seem right on the money:
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was his intention to spend a lot of time on the international stage whilst leaving Julia Gillard to manage domestic policy...
Andrew Bolt
John McCain may have made a mistake:
Republican John McCain introduced first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate Friday, a stunning selection of a fellow maverick designed to get an edge in the increasingly competitive White House race.
It seems McCain has banked everything on going after the women who loved Hillary Clinton. The problem is that the best strong woman he could find from among the Republicans is someone from a distant who-cares state who has been in politics for even less time than Barack Obama, the man McCain is trying to ping as a dangerous neophyte, and the Left is going after her on this very point already - The selection is an inspired choice against Obama. Even before considering her competence, Democrats are forced to concede she is female and represents all that was denied the Democrats by Hilary being impossible. She represents the conservative minority and in attacking her, Democrats risk exposing themselves to the very charges of which they complain. She allows a reasonable voice in support of conservative values, family, progressive environmental exploitation and pro wealth building and aspirational.
Then there is the fact that she is a conservative, not a closet figure, and is capable of speaking towards conservative values. She is like a pretty, young Richard Nixon. - ed.
===
Not every check on a terrorists’ relative checks out
Andrew Bolt
Haneef had to be investigated, and the fact that he’s cleared is not of itself a sign of incompetence:
THE Australian Federal Police has formally abandoned its $8 million investigation of Mohamed Haneef, more than 12 months after the Indian doctor was arrested at Brisbane airport over alleged terror offences. - not a sign of incompetence of the AFP, but certainly of the ALP - ed.
===
He completes us
Andrew Bolt
Jon Stewart on Barack Obama.
===
Animals die for green power
Andrew Bolt
Where are the protesting greens?
“Beware: exploding lungs” is not a sign one would expect to see at a wind farm. But a new study suggests this is the main reason bats die in large numbers around wind turbines.
===
Alarmists gas on
Andrew Bolt
When the alarmists act like they really mean what they say, I’ll take them more seriously:
More than 1,700 delegates at two conferences on global warming being held in Kenya and Ghana have largely failed to carbon-offset their travel to the meetings, The Telegraph has learned.
===
CLUES EXAMINED
Tim Blair
ABC radio phoned early yesterday seeking Costello comment
===
OBOUNCER
Tim Blair
Formerly bounceless, Emperor Obama now receives a substantial convention boost:
Obama’s lead is two points greater lead than held by John Kerry after DemCon ‘04, although his bounce is short of the historical bounce average.
===
HE DOES NOT EASILY EXULT, DESPAIR OR ANGER
Tim Blair
“I noticed that worshipful NYT article on Obama,” emails Matt Haws, “and thought it read like Dos Equis beer commercials that air here in the States.” Indeed, there are eerie parallels:
The police often question him, just because they find him interesting. His beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man’s entire body. His blood smells like cologne. In every country in the world there is a sandwich named after him. He once punched a magician; that’s right, you heard me. If he were to mail a letter without postage, it would still get there.
When it is raining, it is because he is thinking about something sad. Even the things his parrot says are insightful. If there were an “interesting” gland, his would be larger than most men’s entire lower intestines. His shirts never wrinkle. He is left-handed. And right-handed. He once knew he dialed the wrong number, even though the person on the other end wouldn’t admit it. You can see his charisma from space. If a monument was built in his honor, Mt. Rushmore would close due to poor attendance. The moon is only full when it has his permission. He has never lost a costume contest, and he has never dressed in costume.
He is the Most Popular Man in the World.
===
PLUS, THEY’LL THROW IN A FREE SET OF STEAK KNIVES
Tim Blair
There’s got to be a catch:
Columnists for Fairfax newspapers say management will have to sack them too if fellow contributor Mike Carlton is not reinstated.
===
STRIKING MIKE SPIKED
Tim Blair
Further Fairfax fun:
Radio broadcaster and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton has been sacked for refusing to write his weekly column during a strike.
Carlton, a member of the journalists’ union, the MEAA, took the stand on the grounds that filing the column amounted to crossing a picket line.
Carlton, like several Saturday SMH columnists, files from home. It’ll be interesting to discover tomorrow if any e-scabs crossed this virtual picket.
===
FROM BRITNEY TO BARACK
Tim Blair
Front page of today’s New York Post:
Impressively, the mighty Obamacropolis was “built by the same cheesy set team that put together Britney Spears’ last tour.”
===
UNEMPLOYED CITIZEN TO FIX CARACAS
Tim Blair
Booted out of London, Red Ken heads to Hugotown:
Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, has found a new role as an adviser to the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and his political allies. During a surprise visit to Caracas, Livingstone said yesterday that he would act as a consultant on the capital’s policing, transport and other municipal issues.
===
TEMPLE SHAKEN
Tim Blair
Democrats who believe Barack Obama is too inexperienced to be President:
• Bill Clinton
• Hillary Clinton
• Joe Biden
• Barack Obama
===
NO JUSTICE, NO PAPERS
Tim Blair
The darlings at Fairfax are out on strike until Monday. They’re having a little rally in Sydney tomorrow morning, in case you’re wondering about an apparent increase in the city’s homeless population. Sing along, comrades!
====
ROBOBAMA
Tim Blair
What Obama really needs right now, as he prepares for his ascension, is a great big New York Times piece on how superhuman he is:
Even before he entered public life, he began honing not only his political skills, but also his mental and emotional ones. He developed a self-discipline so complete, friends and aides say, that he has established dominion over not only what he does but also how he feels.
===
Molotov cocktail leaves man with only minor cuts
A molotov cocktail left a man covered in petrol, glass and fuel after it crashed through the window of his home in Sydney’s south west.
The 67-year-old was watching television in bed when the petrol bomb was hurled into his window.
The fuel failed to ignite and the elderly man escaped the attack with minor cuts to his arm and finger.
The victim could not give an explanation as to why he was targeted.
===
How to rape guide found in Brimble suspect's house
Instructions on using drugs to rape women have been found at the house of one of the men who had sex with cruise ship passenger Dianne Brimble.
===
Costello predicted Rudd's action
Andrew Bolt
On the one hand we have Kevin Rudd, preparing for his seventh - eighth? - trip overseas in just nine months.
On the other we have Julia Gillard, producing the tough policies on education and truancy which allowed Rudd to finally say something of substance last week.
Which makes this prediction from Peter Costello last year seem right on the money:
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was his intention to spend a lot of time on the international stage whilst leaving Julia Gillard to manage domestic policy...
Space.com News
Putting the Jelly in the Space Donut
Different kinds of observations combine to put the "jelly in the donut."
MISSIONS/LAUNCHES
Rocket Racing League Tests New Engine
Stuck Pin Delays Shuttle's Trek to Launch Pad
SCIENCE/ASTRONOMY
Drilling Into Alien Oceans
Galaxy Surprise Sheds Light on Dark Matter
RECENT HEADLINES
Powerful Cosmic Collision Creates Divorce of Matter
Space Station Computers Catch Virus in Orbit
NSF Taps Tiny CubeSats for Big Space Science
Mars Rover Begins Climb Out of Vast Crater
COOL STUFF
Image of the Day: You Know the Day Destroys the Night
New Video - Mock Orion Capsule Crashes to Earth
A NASA mock-up wobbles, tumbles and crashes as a parachute test component fails. Credit: NASA
Different kinds of observations combine to put the "jelly in the donut."
MISSIONS/LAUNCHES
Rocket Racing League Tests New Engine
Stuck Pin Delays Shuttle's Trek to Launch Pad
SCIENCE/ASTRONOMY
Drilling Into Alien Oceans
Galaxy Surprise Sheds Light on Dark Matter
RECENT HEADLINES
Powerful Cosmic Collision Creates Divorce of Matter
Space Station Computers Catch Virus in Orbit
NSF Taps Tiny CubeSats for Big Space Science
Mars Rover Begins Climb Out of Vast Crater
COOL STUFF
Image of the Day: You Know the Day Destroys the Night
New Video - Mock Orion Capsule Crashes to Earth
A NASA mock-up wobbles, tumbles and crashes as a parachute test component fails. Credit: NASA
Friday, August 29, 2008
John Walker: Re-creating great performances
http://www.ted.com Imagine hearing great, departed pianists play again today, just as they would in person. John Q. Walker demonstrates how antique recordings can be analyzed for precise keystrokes and pedal motions, then played back on computer-controlled grand pianos.
Live Science News Headlines
Changes to Endangered Species Act Called Bad Science
Conservationists concerned about proposed Endangered Species Act changes.
Threatened Monkey Populations Surprisingly Large
Giant Clams Fed Early Humans
Origin of Nerves Traced to Sponges
Live Architecture: Grow Your Own Home
Top Features
Fossil of Ancient Pregnant Turtle Discovered
Chemist Conjured Exciting Experiment at Age 10
Mystery of Greenland's Ice Lingers as Sheet Shrinks
Scientists Learn How Nemo Finds His Way Home
Video
Smart Sunglasses
Watch Robots Play Soccer
Image of the Day
Crude Crusaders
Organisms that stimulate methane gas production from older oil reservoirs may also help fight the biodeterioration and biocorrosion of oil pipelines, tankers and storage tanks.
Conservationists concerned about proposed Endangered Species Act changes.
Threatened Monkey Populations Surprisingly Large
Giant Clams Fed Early Humans
Origin of Nerves Traced to Sponges
Live Architecture: Grow Your Own Home
Top Features
Fossil of Ancient Pregnant Turtle Discovered
Chemist Conjured Exciting Experiment at Age 10
Mystery of Greenland's Ice Lingers as Sheet Shrinks
Scientists Learn How Nemo Finds His Way Home
Video
Smart Sunglasses
Watch Robots Play Soccer
Image of the Day
Crude Crusaders
Organisms that stimulate methane gas production from older oil reservoirs may also help fight the biodeterioration and biocorrosion of oil pipelines, tankers and storage tanks.
Promoting New Music Freya's Day 29th August
Barretok's Blues
by JodyG
Im always taken back with joy from all the camaraderie at Icomp. Bernardo was one of the first to welcome me over a year ago.
This Bluely Piece is a dedicated to him for all his kindness and classic work.
Your the best!!!!!!! Hall of Fame Man
JG
Copyright 2008 Strong Songs
===
Hold Your Love
by Ziur and o0o
Another impertinence of my own. The original is this
All the credits goes to o0o for this brilliant composition. I only make a little push with some touch arrangements.
I hope you enjoy this.
McCain Wins in Obama Advert Wars
Barack Obama still leads in the polls, but by so little after so much publicity that many commentators are wondering what’s dragging him back. One answer might be the succession of terrific attack ads run by the McCain camp.
Headlines Friday 29th August
Sydney transport a rail embarrassment
By Rhys Haynes
HERE'S proof that Sydney's rail network is a laughing stock when compared with its global peers.
Experts have compared Sydney's public transport infrastructure with major cities including New York, Paris and Barcelona - and the embarrassing results speak for themselves.
And the architect behind the report says the State Government's failure to build any "significant" transport infrastructure in the past 80 years is the reason for the shocking gap. -But the ALP have ruled in NSW for all but seventeen of the last eighty years. Four of those seventeen years had independents in charge .. like Clover Moore. It is clear that Sydney has been starved of funding by the government during that time. New York and Paris, both famed for left wing dominance are still more balanced in their admin history. The truth seems to be that no one benefits from ALP government but the ALP.- ed.
===
Garrett would have damned Garrett
Andrew Bolt
Environment Minister Peter Garrett is living the dig-it-up-and-flog-it life he once condemned:
The Midnight Oil frontman sang against the nuclear industry in the track Maralinga.
===
Rudd’s great plan is someone else’s business
Andrew Bolt
KEVIN “Watcher” Rudd has scrabbled urgently for policies to make him seem a man of substance, and not just endless spin.
And guess where the Prime Minister finally found them?
That’s right. In the same place he found his tax cuts. In John Howard’s pile of Useful Policies for Doing Good.
So this week Rudd dusted off several of the Liberals’ best and most radical education ideas and presented them as his own “education revolution”.
Desperate—but how badly Rudd needed to produce something to show he’s more than the man who gave us FuelWatch, GroceryWatch, WhaleWatch and more of the promise-big-achieve-nothing same.
And credit where due.
===
Sick of the scare
Andrew Bolt
I STAGGERED into my local hospital’s emergency department last Thursday and found out just how sick the global warming alarmists really are.
Not a single bed to be had. Not there, or anywhere near, either, I was told.
No, I’m not saying the beds were all filled with people sick with “climate change delusion”—described by the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry as a condition that gives victims “visions of apocalyptic events”, that leaves them too scared to drink a glass of water for fear “that, due to climate change, (their) own water consumption could lead within days to the deaths of millions of people”.
The people in the trolleys around me didn’t have eyes bulging from fear or crazed lips cracked from dehydration.
They seemed just the usual emergency cases, plus a few extra old folk pole-axed by the wheezes and diseases they tend to get in winter.
The hospitals were always this full at this chill time of year, the nurses told me. It was the cold.
Only a few weeks earlier, NSW Premier Morris Iemma had announced a winter health strategy to deal with the fact that admissions to hospital between July and September typically increase by 6 per cent.
That’s when I realised just how sick a stunt Mornington Peninsula Shire had pulled on its terrified residents. I was so cross I wasn’t sure if I was still trembling from fever or fury.
===
Save a seal; heat the planet
Andrew Bolt
Bugger polar bears, think of the poor seals:
AN Arctic seal, nicknamed Sahara, has a phobia of cold water and experts have called for help in the form of an ice machine.
===
Islamic rules made compulsory in London
Andrew Bolt
Submission demanded by Britain’s rising new faith
===
BBC: We’re missing the humanity of the Taliban
Andrew Bolt
If we just learned to see the niceness of the Taliban, they would ... well, something:
A BBC presenter has attacked coverage of Afghanistan’s ongoing war, claiming TV reporters are not covering the ‘humanity of the Taliban’.
Lyse Doucet, a presenter and correspondent on BBC World News, was speaking at a discussion of TV reporting of the war in the country…
Asked what was missing in British coverage, she added: ‘It may sound odd but the humanity of the Taliban, because the Taliban are a wide, very diverse group of people.”
Let’s report the Taliban the Doucet way. So, readers, find the unreported humanity in these recent Taliban happynings
===
Advice from Finland’s schools: No migrants
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd wants to give parents assessment data to let them compare schools with like schools. This has outraged his critics, who - like the ABC - are fighting back by comparing Australia to a country that’s not like at all:
Finland, which scores highest on the international league tables, has no official school assessments but instead owes its success to a strong investment and respect for its teaching profession.
===
Shock: world to warm as it has for centuries
Andrew Bolt
Emeritus Professor Syun-Ichi Akasofu of Alaska’s International Arctic Research Center says he has trouble seeing any man-made warming:
An almost linear global temperature increase of about 0.5°C/100 years (~1°F/100 years) seems to have started at least one hundred years before 1946, when manmade CO2 in the atmosphere began to increase rapidly. This value of 0.5°C/100 years may be compared with what the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists consider to be the manmade greenhouse effect of 0.6°C/100 years. This 100-year long linear warming trend is likely to be a natural
change.
===
Rudd gets busy with WorldWatch
Andrew Bolt
What is this - Rudd’s seventh or eighth trip overseas, in just nine months of office? I’ve honestly lost count:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith are expected to head to New York next month to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
What a strange addiction Rudd has for strutting the international stage, doing almost nothing at all of any note.
By Rhys Haynes
HERE'S proof that Sydney's rail network is a laughing stock when compared with its global peers.
Experts have compared Sydney's public transport infrastructure with major cities including New York, Paris and Barcelona - and the embarrassing results speak for themselves.
And the architect behind the report says the State Government's failure to build any "significant" transport infrastructure in the past 80 years is the reason for the shocking gap. -But the ALP have ruled in NSW for all but seventeen of the last eighty years. Four of those seventeen years had independents in charge .. like Clover Moore. It is clear that Sydney has been starved of funding by the government during that time. New York and Paris, both famed for left wing dominance are still more balanced in their admin history. The truth seems to be that no one benefits from ALP government but the ALP.- ed.
===
Garrett would have damned Garrett
Andrew Bolt
Environment Minister Peter Garrett is living the dig-it-up-and-flog-it life he once condemned:
The Midnight Oil frontman sang against the nuclear industry in the track Maralinga.
===
Rudd’s great plan is someone else’s business
Andrew Bolt
KEVIN “Watcher” Rudd has scrabbled urgently for policies to make him seem a man of substance, and not just endless spin.
And guess where the Prime Minister finally found them?
That’s right. In the same place he found his tax cuts. In John Howard’s pile of Useful Policies for Doing Good.
So this week Rudd dusted off several of the Liberals’ best and most radical education ideas and presented them as his own “education revolution”.
Desperate—but how badly Rudd needed to produce something to show he’s more than the man who gave us FuelWatch, GroceryWatch, WhaleWatch and more of the promise-big-achieve-nothing same.
And credit where due.
===
Sick of the scare
Andrew Bolt
I STAGGERED into my local hospital’s emergency department last Thursday and found out just how sick the global warming alarmists really are.
Not a single bed to be had. Not there, or anywhere near, either, I was told.
No, I’m not saying the beds were all filled with people sick with “climate change delusion”—described by the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry as a condition that gives victims “visions of apocalyptic events”, that leaves them too scared to drink a glass of water for fear “that, due to climate change, (their) own water consumption could lead within days to the deaths of millions of people”.
The people in the trolleys around me didn’t have eyes bulging from fear or crazed lips cracked from dehydration.
They seemed just the usual emergency cases, plus a few extra old folk pole-axed by the wheezes and diseases they tend to get in winter.
The hospitals were always this full at this chill time of year, the nurses told me. It was the cold.
Only a few weeks earlier, NSW Premier Morris Iemma had announced a winter health strategy to deal with the fact that admissions to hospital between July and September typically increase by 6 per cent.
That’s when I realised just how sick a stunt Mornington Peninsula Shire had pulled on its terrified residents. I was so cross I wasn’t sure if I was still trembling from fever or fury.
===
Save a seal; heat the planet
Andrew Bolt
Bugger polar bears, think of the poor seals:
AN Arctic seal, nicknamed Sahara, has a phobia of cold water and experts have called for help in the form of an ice machine.
===
Islamic rules made compulsory in London
Andrew Bolt
Submission demanded by Britain’s rising new faith
===
BBC: We’re missing the humanity of the Taliban
Andrew Bolt
If we just learned to see the niceness of the Taliban, they would ... well, something:
A BBC presenter has attacked coverage of Afghanistan’s ongoing war, claiming TV reporters are not covering the ‘humanity of the Taliban’.
Lyse Doucet, a presenter and correspondent on BBC World News, was speaking at a discussion of TV reporting of the war in the country…
Asked what was missing in British coverage, she added: ‘It may sound odd but the humanity of the Taliban, because the Taliban are a wide, very diverse group of people.”
Let’s report the Taliban the Doucet way. So, readers, find the unreported humanity in these recent Taliban happynings
===
Advice from Finland’s schools: No migrants
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd wants to give parents assessment data to let them compare schools with like schools. This has outraged his critics, who - like the ABC - are fighting back by comparing Australia to a country that’s not like at all:
Finland, which scores highest on the international league tables, has no official school assessments but instead owes its success to a strong investment and respect for its teaching profession.
===
Shock: world to warm as it has for centuries
Andrew Bolt
Emeritus Professor Syun-Ichi Akasofu of Alaska’s International Arctic Research Center says he has trouble seeing any man-made warming:
An almost linear global temperature increase of about 0.5°C/100 years (~1°F/100 years) seems to have started at least one hundred years before 1946, when manmade CO2 in the atmosphere began to increase rapidly. This value of 0.5°C/100 years may be compared with what the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists consider to be the manmade greenhouse effect of 0.6°C/100 years. This 100-year long linear warming trend is likely to be a natural
change.
===
Rudd gets busy with WorldWatch
Andrew Bolt
What is this - Rudd’s seventh or eighth trip overseas, in just nine months of office? I’ve honestly lost count:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith are expected to head to New York next month to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
What a strange addiction Rudd has for strutting the international stage, doing almost nothing at all of any note.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Promoting New Music Thor's Day 28th August
Cyberiad of Lem, with music
by ddball and Lafayette
This is part of a vision of Pat's. A translated version may be available. It comes from an old file I did, a few years ago.
===
Poetry from Lem's Cyberiad
Klapaucius thought, and thought some more. Finally he nodded and said:
"Very well. Let's have a love poem, lyrical, pastoral, and expressed in the language of pure mathematics. Tensor algebra mainly, with a little topology and higher calculus, if need be. But with feeling, you understand, and in the cybernetic spirit."
"Love and tensor algebra? Have you taken leave of your senses?" Trurl began, but stopped, for his electronic bard was already declaiming (see lyric)
===
ValeFunk Go Goooo!
by SELES
For that great great Artist of the motoGP, that is Valentino Rossi.
Orgoglioni di te!
Thanks for listen friends.
Anto
===
Gigue in A minor
by georgeptingley
Friend Nancie Kester sent me her spirited piano Gigue in A minor which I have promptly orchestrated. My orchestration begins appropriately in Baroque style, flirts a little with Romantic Tchaikovsky before returning back. Hope you like.
"Gigue in A minor" by Nancie Kester. Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved.
===
White King
by Lafayette and grathy
Old white king's thought and look-back at his life ...
Lyrics and vocals by Mary aka Grathy
Music and instruments : "Old White King" by Patrick aka LaFayette.
Much thanks Mary for the collab
We hope you like it !
===
S - Hold Your Love
by o0o
Enjoy!
Midi
Loops
Vocals
Headlines Thursday 28th August
Biden invents a biography
Andrew Bolt
A mistake, or an insight into just how unsuitable Joe Biden is to be Vice President?
Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate, was the laughing stock of the 1988 campaign, withdrawing from the Democratic race after he was found to have plagiarised a speech by the British Labor leader Neil Kinnock. As mere plagiarism went, this was a beauty
===
First the laughs, now for the throat
Andrew Bolt
McCain ramps it up with “Tiny”. Obama as the neophyte in charge of American security in a dangerous world will be his big card.
===
Confused Miley hears earthy voice
Andrew Bolt
Miley Cyrus sings an anthem to global warming that betrays exactly the know-nothingness of most devotees of the cult
===
Is this a workforce scheme or a welfare one?
Andrew Bolt
Kdevin Rudd’s import-a-coolie plan to bring in Pacific Islander fruitpickers could get ugly, to judge by the New Zealand scheme on which it is based
===
Europe, where Europeans once lived
Andrew Bolt
Sounds safe:
Britain will overtake Germany and France to become the biggest country in the EU in 50 years’ time, according to population projections unveiled yesterday.
Except what’s not spelled out is just who is having the extra British babies - or the French ones. -so what. It is good to have more people. - ed.
===
And behold, preaching at the temple…
Andrew Bolt
Is Obama actually into this Anointed One thing for real?
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s big speech on Thursday night will be delivered from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple.
Andrew Bolt
A mistake, or an insight into just how unsuitable Joe Biden is to be Vice President?
Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate, was the laughing stock of the 1988 campaign, withdrawing from the Democratic race after he was found to have plagiarised a speech by the British Labor leader Neil Kinnock. As mere plagiarism went, this was a beauty
===
First the laughs, now for the throat
Andrew Bolt
McCain ramps it up with “Tiny”. Obama as the neophyte in charge of American security in a dangerous world will be his big card.
===
Confused Miley hears earthy voice
Andrew Bolt
Miley Cyrus sings an anthem to global warming that betrays exactly the know-nothingness of most devotees of the cult
===
Is this a workforce scheme or a welfare one?
Andrew Bolt
Kdevin Rudd’s import-a-coolie plan to bring in Pacific Islander fruitpickers could get ugly, to judge by the New Zealand scheme on which it is based
===
Europe, where Europeans once lived
Andrew Bolt
Sounds safe:
Britain will overtake Germany and France to become the biggest country in the EU in 50 years’ time, according to population projections unveiled yesterday.
Except what’s not spelled out is just who is having the extra British babies - or the French ones. -so what. It is good to have more people. - ed.
===
And behold, preaching at the temple…
Andrew Bolt
Is Obama actually into this Anointed One thing for real?
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s big speech on Thursday night will be delivered from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple.
Patricia Burchat: The search for dark energy and dark matter
http://www.ted.com Physicist Patricia Burchat sheds light on two basic ingredients of our universe: dark matter and dark energy. Comprising 96% of the universe between them, they can't be directly measured, but their influence is immense.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Bolt Fluffs It
Andrew Bolt is blind when it comes to supporting the ALP. It isn't wrong to support them, and one hopes that one day they might do something worthy. But he hasn't found the issue he wants to find yet.
Bolt is talking up Rudd's education vision. He presaged the announcement with an attempt to direct credit to Gillard for getting a policy right. But that is unfair. This policy is the closest to one that Rudd can produce. And it isn't his. Or Gillards.
The policy belonged to Dr Nelson and the previous conservative government. It had been shelved in 2001, possibly because of the difficulty in overcoming state opposition to a conservative plan. Such opposition was shown at work over the water ways, and education would have been an easier area to abuse.
The announcement and speech by Rudd are fine. But the detail is missing. The thing that makes it a Rudd policy is the truth that Rudd will not accept being criticized, ever. The conservatives will not criticize their own plan. The states recognize Rudd needs a win on something. The unions need to be seen to be bent over to the ALP government. All will rejoice until an actual policy is made, and detail is given. Paying some teachers more will mean paying others less. That means some good teachers will miss out, because they are being abused by the teacher authorities, whose job is to cover up.
Bolt is talking up Rudd's education vision. He presaged the announcement with an attempt to direct credit to Gillard for getting a policy right. But that is unfair. This policy is the closest to one that Rudd can produce. And it isn't his. Or Gillards.
The policy belonged to Dr Nelson and the previous conservative government. It had been shelved in 2001, possibly because of the difficulty in overcoming state opposition to a conservative plan. Such opposition was shown at work over the water ways, and education would have been an easier area to abuse.
The announcement and speech by Rudd are fine. But the detail is missing. The thing that makes it a Rudd policy is the truth that Rudd will not accept being criticized, ever. The conservatives will not criticize their own plan. The states recognize Rudd needs a win on something. The unions need to be seen to be bent over to the ALP government. All will rejoice until an actual policy is made, and detail is given. Paying some teachers more will mean paying others less. That means some good teachers will miss out, because they are being abused by the teacher authorities, whose job is to cover up.
Promoting New Music Woden's Day 27th August
To A Lover On The Road
by signorina_oscurata
Short, slow, emphatic letter to a boy who's half a gypsy, in 3/4 time.
Just me and my piano, as it ought to be.
===
StripT (SchubaMix v.2)
by Garni and schubertiad
This is the NEW mix using a new mixing/mastering tool Ozone by iZope.
Schubertiad has pumped up the mix too, as the guitar was lost in first version, and it has given this piece more space now.
Schubertiad's awesome vocal/vocal harmonies on this track and his driving guitar sound gives this song real pzazz.
The original I did with CharlyDeeCynthius can be found here.
Schubertiad: Vocals/backing vocals and Guitars.
Garni: Keyboards/Synths, Bass, Drums and Drum programming.
by signorina_oscurata
Short, slow, emphatic letter to a boy who's half a gypsy, in 3/4 time.
Just me and my piano, as it ought to be.
===
StripT (SchubaMix v.2)
by Garni and schubertiad
This is the NEW mix using a new mixing/mastering tool Ozone by iZope.
Schubertiad has pumped up the mix too, as the guitar was lost in first version, and it has given this piece more space now.
Schubertiad's awesome vocal/vocal harmonies on this track and his driving guitar sound gives this song real pzazz.
The original I did with CharlyDeeCynthius can be found here.
Schubertiad: Vocals/backing vocals and Guitars.
Garni: Keyboards/Synths, Bass, Drums and Drum programming.
An Anti Obama Advert
This one will hurt. It is true. Bill Ayers is an unrepentant violent activist for the Weatherman group.
Headlines Wednesday 27th August
SBS asks exactly the wrong question
Andrew Bolt
Shouldn’t SBS be asking the very opposite question?
Have Your Say: Are we doing enough to stop climate change?
===
Gassy Madge
Andrew Bolt
Madonna’s new Sticky & Sweet world tour takes an awful lot of energy to shift from show to show:
From the 250 staff travelling with her, nine are wardrobe assistants, 12 are seamstresses, with a 12-piece band, a chiropractor, personal trainer, masseuse, 16 caterers and around 100 technicians and dancers, included.
===
Going organic means ploughing the rainforests
Andrew Bolt
There is plenty that farmer Oliver Walston can’t understand about organic fundamentalists such as the Prince of Wales:
But what puzzles me most about the Organic religion is a single fundamental fact. I grow wheat five times in a decade and usually produce 4 tonnes per acre. My organic friends grow wheat less than three times in a decade and are happy if they produce 2 tonnes per acre. Thus after ten years I will have harvested 20 tonnes while they may have harvested 6.
===
TYRA THE FIRER
Tim Blair
It’s the Tyra Banks curse:
A number of presidential candidates have appeared on Banks’s talk show (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards) …
Two down. One to go.
Secret Republican Banks plans her Obama-removal strategy
===
DATELESS IN A PRIUS
Tim Blair
We face a serious battery assault:
Australia has no ability to environmentally dispose of the batteries from the Toyota Camry hybrids whose production has been championed by Kevin Rudd …
===
AWARENESS RAISED
Tim Blair
The best opening paragraph ever written continues its global journey, now reaching South Africa via Mosman-based Sarah Britten:
What makes the piece memorable is of course, the superb opening sentence — the scanned document sent to me was titled “Best opening paragraph ever” — the obvious stupidity of cleaning a lawnmower indoors and smoking around petrol, and the intriguing back story of a prior conviction for arson.
===
WARMING HAS BROKEN …
Tim Blair
… like the first warming. Professor Charles Hall of SUNY-Syracuse describes his visit to an international geology conference in Norway:
The plenaries, especially the climate session and somewhat the energy sessions, were designed for a more general scientific audience. They tended to be moderately interesting, optimistic about resources and technology and often extremely contentious.
About two thirds of the presenters and question-askers were hostile to, even dismissive of, the IPCC (International panel on climate change) and the idea that the Earth’s climate was responding to human influences.
===
AMERICANS CONFRONTED
Tim Blair
The Age‘s Ian Munro, who’d earlier proposed that only racism could explain Barack Obama’s poor polling, now examines the alleged assassination attempt against the Democrat candidate:
It is a recurring American nightmare, a fear that haunts a nation and that has stalked every presidential candidate since the Kennedys.
===
VEGETABLES UNWATCHED
Tim Blair
Mark Henderson road tests the Rudd government’s comical GroceryChoice website. His experience might explain why the $13 million site shed 2.1 million visitors during its second week.
===
DEAD WHALES THREATENED
Tim Blair
“Japan’s scientists claim their controversial whaling programme has produced a key finding,” reports the Guardian:
The team says its study offers the first evidence that global warming could be harming whales, because it restricts their food supplies.
===
SCRABULOUS SCRAPPED
Tim Blair
Game over:
North American users lost access to Scrabulous in July, after Hasbro filed a lawsuit – however users in the rest of the world were still able to play the game …
===
MONK INVESTIGATES
Tim Blair
Is Sophie Monk a Kentucky Fried fraud? Maybe not. It could be that the vegetarian PETA princess was buying KFC so she could perform autopsies on the poor murdered chickens.
===
BIG EARTHA
Tim Blair
I’ve fallen for an older woman. The oldest, in fact.
Mother Nature, in the form of planet Earth, is about 4.5 billion years old. Way older than even Madonna. She’s not exactly a looker, either, what with her girth of 40 million metres and mass of 5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000 tonnes.
Frankly, Nature’s the type of unconventional gal that Mt Isa’s mayor John Molony might have been thinking about when he invited “beauty challenged” women to seek love in his female-needy town.
===
STAY RIGHT
Tim Blair
Master political strategist Philip Adams:
A chance exists for the Libs to rediscover some of their lost liberalism and, on some issues at least, to attack Labor from the left, as British conservatives are learning to do with new-style leaders such as David Cameron and Boris Johnson. Yep, time to turn to Turnbull.
Cameron and Johnson aren’t as new-style as Adams imagines.
===
EVERYTHING IS UNIQUE AND SPECIAL
Tim Blair
Ten reporter speaking live from Denver: “These are quite incredible scenes!”
Well, that’s one way to describe a big room with people in it. Nobody was even delivering a speech.
===
Even warmer fears chiller
Andrew Bolt
Dr Ken McCracken, AGW believer and former head of CSIRO’s division of space science, predicts a decrease in solar activity - and, possibly, world temperatures
===
Jaspan’s cultural legacy
Andrew Bolt
A salute to Andrew Jaspan, sacked today as editor-in-chief of The Age.
The puffed-up thug at the head of the mob, some of whom shout death threats against Malkin, is radio “host” Alex Jones.
===
Clinton urges a vote for one of the contenders
Andrew Bolt
Bill Clinton controls his famous rage against Barack Obama and spruiks at the Democrat Convention for ... um, for whom, exactly?
Suppose you’re a voter, and you’ve got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don’t think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?
===
Jaspan gone from The Age
Andrew Bolt
Andrew Jaspan has been dumped as editor-in-chief of The Age, the paper he turned into a Bible of the global warming cult. No replacement has been announced, and Jaspan’s preferred successor, Paul Ramadge, has been given the job on only an acting basis. No word on (the equally Leftist) Mark Baker, the man brought down from the Canberra Times last year as Jaspan’s rumored replacement.
===
Rudd blaming game
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd, October 2007:
I will end the blame game… the buck stops with me...
Kevin Rudd, August 2008:
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has admitted Australians are worse off since he took power late last year, but says he is not to blame..
===
Legal gymnastics kills the schools’ sort
Andrew Bolt
I suspect it’s the legal system that’s scared the school into such nonsense - and which should be blamed:
THE mother of a child whose school banned students from doing cartwheels and handstands in the playground said the rule is hypocritical because riskier activities are still allowed
===
More to us than Holdens and meat pies
Andrew Bolt
We really must stop measuring our manufacturing testosterone by the cars we subsidise produce:
THE three big carmakers represent the basket case of the manufacturing industry, chalking up losses of $250 million last year despite receiving $370 million of taxpayer-funded grants.
Andrew Bolt
Shouldn’t SBS be asking the very opposite question?
Have Your Say: Are we doing enough to stop climate change?
===
Gassy Madge
Andrew Bolt
Madonna’s new Sticky & Sweet world tour takes an awful lot of energy to shift from show to show:
From the 250 staff travelling with her, nine are wardrobe assistants, 12 are seamstresses, with a 12-piece band, a chiropractor, personal trainer, masseuse, 16 caterers and around 100 technicians and dancers, included.
===
Going organic means ploughing the rainforests
Andrew Bolt
There is plenty that farmer Oliver Walston can’t understand about organic fundamentalists such as the Prince of Wales:
But what puzzles me most about the Organic religion is a single fundamental fact. I grow wheat five times in a decade and usually produce 4 tonnes per acre. My organic friends grow wheat less than three times in a decade and are happy if they produce 2 tonnes per acre. Thus after ten years I will have harvested 20 tonnes while they may have harvested 6.
===
TYRA THE FIRER
Tim Blair
It’s the Tyra Banks curse:
A number of presidential candidates have appeared on Banks’s talk show (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards) …
Two down. One to go.
Secret Republican Banks plans her Obama-removal strategy
===
DATELESS IN A PRIUS
Tim Blair
We face a serious battery assault:
Australia has no ability to environmentally dispose of the batteries from the Toyota Camry hybrids whose production has been championed by Kevin Rudd …
===
AWARENESS RAISED
Tim Blair
The best opening paragraph ever written continues its global journey, now reaching South Africa via Mosman-based Sarah Britten:
What makes the piece memorable is of course, the superb opening sentence — the scanned document sent to me was titled “Best opening paragraph ever” — the obvious stupidity of cleaning a lawnmower indoors and smoking around petrol, and the intriguing back story of a prior conviction for arson.
===
WARMING HAS BROKEN …
Tim Blair
… like the first warming. Professor Charles Hall of SUNY-Syracuse describes his visit to an international geology conference in Norway:
The plenaries, especially the climate session and somewhat the energy sessions, were designed for a more general scientific audience. They tended to be moderately interesting, optimistic about resources and technology and often extremely contentious.
About two thirds of the presenters and question-askers were hostile to, even dismissive of, the IPCC (International panel on climate change) and the idea that the Earth’s climate was responding to human influences.
===
AMERICANS CONFRONTED
Tim Blair
The Age‘s Ian Munro, who’d earlier proposed that only racism could explain Barack Obama’s poor polling, now examines the alleged assassination attempt against the Democrat candidate:
It is a recurring American nightmare, a fear that haunts a nation and that has stalked every presidential candidate since the Kennedys.
===
VEGETABLES UNWATCHED
Tim Blair
Mark Henderson road tests the Rudd government’s comical GroceryChoice website. His experience might explain why the $13 million site shed 2.1 million visitors during its second week.
===
DEAD WHALES THREATENED
Tim Blair
“Japan’s scientists claim their controversial whaling programme has produced a key finding,” reports the Guardian:
The team says its study offers the first evidence that global warming could be harming whales, because it restricts their food supplies.
===
SCRABULOUS SCRAPPED
Tim Blair
Game over:
North American users lost access to Scrabulous in July, after Hasbro filed a lawsuit – however users in the rest of the world were still able to play the game …
===
MONK INVESTIGATES
Tim Blair
Is Sophie Monk a Kentucky Fried fraud? Maybe not. It could be that the vegetarian PETA princess was buying KFC so she could perform autopsies on the poor murdered chickens.
===
BIG EARTHA
Tim Blair
I’ve fallen for an older woman. The oldest, in fact.
Mother Nature, in the form of planet Earth, is about 4.5 billion years old. Way older than even Madonna. She’s not exactly a looker, either, what with her girth of 40 million metres and mass of 5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000 tonnes.
Frankly, Nature’s the type of unconventional gal that Mt Isa’s mayor John Molony might have been thinking about when he invited “beauty challenged” women to seek love in his female-needy town.
===
STAY RIGHT
Tim Blair
Master political strategist Philip Adams:
A chance exists for the Libs to rediscover some of their lost liberalism and, on some issues at least, to attack Labor from the left, as British conservatives are learning to do with new-style leaders such as David Cameron and Boris Johnson. Yep, time to turn to Turnbull.
Cameron and Johnson aren’t as new-style as Adams imagines.
===
EVERYTHING IS UNIQUE AND SPECIAL
Tim Blair
Ten reporter speaking live from Denver: “These are quite incredible scenes!”
Well, that’s one way to describe a big room with people in it. Nobody was even delivering a speech.
===
Even warmer fears chiller
Andrew Bolt
Dr Ken McCracken, AGW believer and former head of CSIRO’s division of space science, predicts a decrease in solar activity - and, possibly, world temperatures
===
Jaspan’s cultural legacy
Andrew Bolt
A salute to Andrew Jaspan, sacked today as editor-in-chief of The Age.
The puffed-up thug at the head of the mob, some of whom shout death threats against Malkin, is radio “host” Alex Jones.
===
Clinton urges a vote for one of the contenders
Andrew Bolt
Bill Clinton controls his famous rage against Barack Obama and spruiks at the Democrat Convention for ... um, for whom, exactly?
Suppose you’re a voter, and you’ve got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don’t think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?
===
Jaspan gone from The Age
Andrew Bolt
Andrew Jaspan has been dumped as editor-in-chief of The Age, the paper he turned into a Bible of the global warming cult. No replacement has been announced, and Jaspan’s preferred successor, Paul Ramadge, has been given the job on only an acting basis. No word on (the equally Leftist) Mark Baker, the man brought down from the Canberra Times last year as Jaspan’s rumored replacement.
===
Rudd blaming game
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd, October 2007:
I will end the blame game… the buck stops with me...
Kevin Rudd, August 2008:
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has admitted Australians are worse off since he took power late last year, but says he is not to blame..
===
Legal gymnastics kills the schools’ sort
Andrew Bolt
I suspect it’s the legal system that’s scared the school into such nonsense - and which should be blamed:
THE mother of a child whose school banned students from doing cartwheels and handstands in the playground said the rule is hypocritical because riskier activities are still allowed
===
More to us than Holdens and meat pies
Andrew Bolt
We really must stop measuring our manufacturing testosterone by the cars we subsidise produce:
THE three big carmakers represent the basket case of the manufacturing industry, chalking up losses of $250 million last year despite receiving $370 million of taxpayer-funded grants.
Nellie McKay: "The Dog Song"
http://www.ted.com Animal fan Nellie McKay sings a sparkling tribute to her dear dog. She suggests we all do the same: "Just go right to the pound/ And find yourself a hound/ And make that doggie proud/ 'cause that's what it's all about."
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Promoting New Music Tyr's Day 26th August
one more chance
by that80sboy
buddy wanted me to do something ala the lightning seeds...hope you like!
===
Little Brown Haired Girl
by k6
short guitar piece
===
Telemann's Largo
by georgeptingley
Telemann's Largo newly realized. I improvised the accompaniment from the original bass figures (giving it over to acoustic guitar rather than the expected harpsichord), and have paraphrased and ornamented the flute melody just like those jazzy dudes would have done in the day.
George Philipp Telemann plus George Peter Tingley: two gpt's for the price of one - only on iComps. Thanks for listening.
===
Passing Clouds
by k6
Passing Clouds
Headlines Tuesday 26th August
We have ways to help you behave
Andrew Bolt
A Victorian shire announces it just wants to help residents to realise their inner green angel:
(O)ne of the most important functions of the Shire of Yarra Ranges is to work with communities across the municipality to provide information, education and behaviour change support.
===
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD
Tim Blair
Which is just as well, because Barack America isn’t helping any. Andrew Breitbart:
Sen. Barack Obama has a problem. And it lives in a hut.
===
RIBBON RUNNER
Tim Blair
The BBC spots an unusual technique demonstrated by Kenyan marathon runner Sammy Wanjiru
===
ANTI-WAR, PRO-VIOLENCE
Tim Blair
Video: a FOX News crew is attacked by sweet little leftoids at the Democrat convention. Background here.
UPDATE. At least that Fox crew wasn’t attacked by the Ghost Children of Colorado
===
BARACKAL OBAMAN AMERICA
Tim Blair
Joe Biden doesn’t have any problem with John McCain’s name, but he really struggles with that other guy:
Three times during his inaugural speech as Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate Saturday, Biden butchered Obama’s name — in three different ways.
Biden called Obama “Barackal Bama” and “Barack Obaman,” as well as — perhaps most bizarre — “Barack America.”
===
YOU VILL PAY
Tim Blair
A warning from the PM:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned business his government’s commitment to tackling climate change will come at a cost.
===
Carolyn Male switches seats
By Steven Wardill
MEET the state MP who's ditching her own electorate because it's too hard to win and will fight to contest another where she prefers the shopping.
Yet Queensland Labor MP Carolyn Male will still score at least a $63,500 taxpayer-funded pension for life if she is unsuccessful, thanks to a legislative loophole that allows her to leapfrog electorates.
===
Breast milk bank runs dry, 'PM to blame'
ONE of Australia's leading breast milk banks has run dry putting hundreds of sick and premature infants' lives at risk.
===
Rudd's mate handed $225k G-G job
By Dennis Shanahan
A CAREER diplomat with close links to Kevin Rudd and his two prime ministerial predecessors has been given the job of steering Australia's first female governor-general through the vice-regal world.
Stephen Brady, a former ambassador to The Netherlands and Sweden and the current head of Foreign Affairs' protocol division, will replace long-serving vice-regal official secretary Malcolm Hazell.
Mr Brady is a long-time friend of Mr Rudd from the Prime Minister's days as a diplomat and his partner, Peter Stephens, is personal adviser to Mr Rudd's wife, Therese Rein.
===
Consequences inconvenient
Andrew Bolt
Violent protesters for peace and justice are appealing against their sentences because they are so inconvenient:
A SERIAL protester who threw a barricade that injured a policewoman during the G20 riots wants her conviction overturned so she can still practise as a lawyer. Julia Dehm, 25, is one of five protesters convicted over the violent riots who have appealed the severity of their sentences…
===
Rudd’s big plan leaves nasty waste
Andrew Bolt
The problem with “green” cars is that they aren’t that green, really:
AUSTRALIA has no ability to environmentally dispose of the batteries from the Toyota Camry hybrids whose production has been championed by Kevin Rudd.
Labor in Victoria, where the cars will be built, has conceded a “current hole” in the nation’s recycling policies means there is no capacity to environmentally dispose of the nickel-metal hydride car batteries from the 10,000 hybrid cars to be produced by Toyota every year from the start of 2010.
===
Rudd’s mate-ocracy
Andrew Bolt
It’s all so very, very cosy:
A CAREER diplomat with close links to Kevin Rudd and his two prime ministerial predecessors has been given the job of steering Australia’s first female governor-general through the vice-regal world.
===
Colebatch praises scepticism. Sceptics shocked
Andrew Bolt
Age economics writer Tim Colebatch demands more scepticism:
WHEN business puts its hand out for money, we’re entitled to be sceptical. When it warns it will shut down unless we pay up, we’re entitled to be more sceptical. But scepticism should enlighten our minds, not close them.
But Age global warming preacher Tim Colebatch demands less scepticism
===
Shorten does a Garrett
Andrew Bolt
It seems Bill Shorten judges an idea by its owner:
On the ABC’s AM program in November 2005, Mr Shorten spoke against a push by the National Farmers Federation to allow a seasonal labour force of foreign workers into Australia to assist the horticultural industry, which was struggling then—as it is now—to find local workers to pick fruit.
The then national secretary of the Australian Workers Union told the ABC that foreign guest workers would not address the problem. ”Temporary guest workers don’t solve ... don’t deal with the real causes of a labour shortage in Australia and in fact bring with them problems, which may mean the cure is worse than the problem they’re trying to solve,” he said.
But now Shorten is a parliamentary secretary in the Rudd Government, which has decided to allow a seasonal labour force of foreign workers into Australia to assist the horticultural industry, which is struggling to find local workers to pick fruit.
===
Fairfax shrinks its footprint
Andrew Bolt
This time the switching off of lights for some is permanent, and the confrontation could get ugly:
NEWSPAPER, radio and internet group Fairfax Media will sack 550 staff as it struggles to contain costs following its merger last year with Rural Press and its acquisition of Southern Cross, amid a downturn across the media sector. New seven-day rosters will be introduced at the company’s Sydney newspapers the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun-Herald in order to avoid duplication and a review undertaken of Melbourne operations.
Andrew Bolt
A Victorian shire announces it just wants to help residents to realise their inner green angel:
(O)ne of the most important functions of the Shire of Yarra Ranges is to work with communities across the municipality to provide information, education and behaviour change support.
===
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD
Tim Blair
Which is just as well, because Barack America isn’t helping any. Andrew Breitbart:
Sen. Barack Obama has a problem. And it lives in a hut.
===
RIBBON RUNNER
Tim Blair
The BBC spots an unusual technique demonstrated by Kenyan marathon runner Sammy Wanjiru
===
ANTI-WAR, PRO-VIOLENCE
Tim Blair
Video: a FOX News crew is attacked by sweet little leftoids at the Democrat convention. Background here.
UPDATE. At least that Fox crew wasn’t attacked by the Ghost Children of Colorado
===
BARACKAL OBAMAN AMERICA
Tim Blair
Joe Biden doesn’t have any problem with John McCain’s name, but he really struggles with that other guy:
Three times during his inaugural speech as Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate Saturday, Biden butchered Obama’s name — in three different ways.
Biden called Obama “Barackal Bama” and “Barack Obaman,” as well as — perhaps most bizarre — “Barack America.”
===
YOU VILL PAY
Tim Blair
A warning from the PM:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned business his government’s commitment to tackling climate change will come at a cost.
===
Carolyn Male switches seats
By Steven Wardill
MEET the state MP who's ditching her own electorate because it's too hard to win and will fight to contest another where she prefers the shopping.
Yet Queensland Labor MP Carolyn Male will still score at least a $63,500 taxpayer-funded pension for life if she is unsuccessful, thanks to a legislative loophole that allows her to leapfrog electorates.
===
Breast milk bank runs dry, 'PM to blame'
ONE of Australia's leading breast milk banks has run dry putting hundreds of sick and premature infants' lives at risk.
===
Rudd's mate handed $225k G-G job
By Dennis Shanahan
A CAREER diplomat with close links to Kevin Rudd and his two prime ministerial predecessors has been given the job of steering Australia's first female governor-general through the vice-regal world.
Stephen Brady, a former ambassador to The Netherlands and Sweden and the current head of Foreign Affairs' protocol division, will replace long-serving vice-regal official secretary Malcolm Hazell.
Mr Brady is a long-time friend of Mr Rudd from the Prime Minister's days as a diplomat and his partner, Peter Stephens, is personal adviser to Mr Rudd's wife, Therese Rein.
===
Consequences inconvenient
Andrew Bolt
Violent protesters for peace and justice are appealing against their sentences because they are so inconvenient:
A SERIAL protester who threw a barricade that injured a policewoman during the G20 riots wants her conviction overturned so she can still practise as a lawyer. Julia Dehm, 25, is one of five protesters convicted over the violent riots who have appealed the severity of their sentences…
===
Rudd’s big plan leaves nasty waste
Andrew Bolt
The problem with “green” cars is that they aren’t that green, really:
AUSTRALIA has no ability to environmentally dispose of the batteries from the Toyota Camry hybrids whose production has been championed by Kevin Rudd.
Labor in Victoria, where the cars will be built, has conceded a “current hole” in the nation’s recycling policies means there is no capacity to environmentally dispose of the nickel-metal hydride car batteries from the 10,000 hybrid cars to be produced by Toyota every year from the start of 2010.
===
Rudd’s mate-ocracy
Andrew Bolt
It’s all so very, very cosy:
A CAREER diplomat with close links to Kevin Rudd and his two prime ministerial predecessors has been given the job of steering Australia’s first female governor-general through the vice-regal world.
===
Colebatch praises scepticism. Sceptics shocked
Andrew Bolt
Age economics writer Tim Colebatch demands more scepticism:
WHEN business puts its hand out for money, we’re entitled to be sceptical. When it warns it will shut down unless we pay up, we’re entitled to be more sceptical. But scepticism should enlighten our minds, not close them.
But Age global warming preacher Tim Colebatch demands less scepticism
===
Shorten does a Garrett
Andrew Bolt
It seems Bill Shorten judges an idea by its owner:
On the ABC’s AM program in November 2005, Mr Shorten spoke against a push by the National Farmers Federation to allow a seasonal labour force of foreign workers into Australia to assist the horticultural industry, which was struggling then—as it is now—to find local workers to pick fruit.
The then national secretary of the Australian Workers Union told the ABC that foreign guest workers would not address the problem. ”Temporary guest workers don’t solve ... don’t deal with the real causes of a labour shortage in Australia and in fact bring with them problems, which may mean the cure is worse than the problem they’re trying to solve,” he said.
But now Shorten is a parliamentary secretary in the Rudd Government, which has decided to allow a seasonal labour force of foreign workers into Australia to assist the horticultural industry, which is struggling to find local workers to pick fruit.
===
Fairfax shrinks its footprint
Andrew Bolt
This time the switching off of lights for some is permanent, and the confrontation could get ugly:
NEWSPAPER, radio and internet group Fairfax Media will sack 550 staff as it struggles to contain costs following its merger last year with Rural Press and its acquisition of Southern Cross, amid a downturn across the media sector. New seven-day rosters will be introduced at the company’s Sydney newspapers the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun-Herald in order to avoid duplication and a review undertaken of Melbourne operations.