Piers Akerman
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd is nothing ifnot inconsistent.
It again showed an amazing facility to say one thing and do another after a bizarre press conference held by the three convicted Bali bombers - Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra - who face death by machine gun for their role in the October, 2002 terror bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Giggling, and embracing their jailers warmly, the bombers’ leader, Samudra, made it clear that they haven’t had any changes of heart about their murderous activities.
“We have no regrets about killing Australians,’’ he said. - Rudd may have been behind the murder of Reinado as a counter intelligence sting gone wrong. - ed.
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SCHOOL SEARCH LOCATES PRINCIPAL
Tim Blair
The Henson child-pursuit dispute continues, with some intriguing developments:
Premier John Brumby has demanded an investigation into how controversial artist Bill Henson was allowed to visit a Victorian primary school to find young models.
Mr Brumby has ordered an urgent inquiry into how Henson was allowed to tour the Melbourne school to look for boys and girls for his artwork, which often features children in various states of undress and nudity.
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CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Tim Blair
Poor old capitalism. Things rock along just fine for decades, everyone buying bigger houses and cars and televisions, and who gets the credit? Sound economic management. A resources boom. Cycles of prosperity.
But when a couple of US secondary mortgage banks with the curious names of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (their titles are expanded forms of the respective acronyms: FNMA and FHLMC) hit a debt wall the size of Pluto, who gets the blame?
Capitalism.
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GLOBAL NAOMI BANNERED
Tim Blair
The Werribee Banner‘s Naomi Wolf – made it to the big time, babe! – ponders right and left responses to Sarah Palin:
To her legions of lipstick-waving fans on the right, Palin is a down-to-earth, God-fearing “hockey mom” whose moose hunting, evangelical faith, and even chaotic family life, are all evidence that she is a real, typical American.
To her equally frantic detractors on the left—and increasingly in the centre—she is a frightening harbinger of a theocratic America, a mafia-style executrix of state business who lies about the connection of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to Iraq, mocks Barack Obama for his opposition to torturing prisoners, and defies subpoenas. Think of her as George Bush II, but in designer pumps.
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TRY WINKING
Tim Blair
A Canadian Green seeks to reassure voters that she isn’t an idiot:
One way or another, Canada’s Green Party leader Elizabeth May will make history this week.
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CLASSY ANDY
Tim Blair
Andrew Sullivan continues to demand proof:
Now, when are we going to get some record of Trig’s birth and parentage from the hospital or the doctor? It’s been over a month now … They have stated on the record that Sarah Palin is Trig’s biological mother. But they refuse to provide one iota of confirming evidence.
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WAIT UNTIL HE LEARNS MASH IS CANCELLED
Tim Blair
Joe Biden sure can pull a crowd:
The Nielsen numbers are in for last night’s debate between Vice Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin and they’re huge—69.9 million viewers watched the VEEP debate. That’s a whopping 17.5 million more viewers than Barack Obama and John McCain drew for their first debate last Friday night.
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“BECAUSE OF OBAMA …”
Tim Blair
Behold, the Obama Youth Junior Fraternity Regiment:
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LESS IS MORE
Tim Blair
A 2007 prediction from the Great Flanster:
Professor Tim Flannery has warned climate change will impact on Australia to the point where Sydney can expect to receive 60 per cent less rainfall than it does at present.
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Banks 'hiding behind' Treasurer
THE big four banks need to explain why they should benefit from a rate cut, the Opposition says.
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Missing Aussie 'Promiscuous and Naive'
FRIENDS of missing backpacker Britt Lapthorne would have been unconcerned she wasn't back by morning, a hostel worker says. - an appalling smear of a girl that is probably dead. - ed.
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Illegal imprisonments 'covered up by government'
MORE than 1700 people sent to jail in Western Australia after defaulting on fines will have to be compensated for unlawful detention, it was revealed today.
Attorney-General in the newly-elected WA Liberal government, Christian Porter, said inquiries had revealed 1720 prisoners were detained beyond the term of their lawful sentence between 2001 and 2006.
They were all prisoners who could not pay court fines and were jailed to pay off the fines at a rate of $150 a day.
But they were unaware they had served extra time for wrongly-charged additional fees that had been tacked onto the cost of a warrant of execution, Mr Porter said.
He said the West Australian Labor government had covered up the matter since the illegal imprisonment came to light in 2006.
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Government member quits to join Greens
QUEENSLAND Labor MP Ronan Lee has quit Government ranks to become the state's first Greens representative over perceived inaction on environmental issues.
Mr Lee, who won the Brisbane seat of Indooroopilly from the Liberals in 2001 and retained it in 2004 and 2006, was recently elevated to the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney-General – signalling his potential as a future minister.
But today he said that Premier Anna Bligh's Government had "wimped out" on clean energy policies, public transport and wilderness protection and persisted with a water policy that was "just not real smart". - QLD ALP neither need him nor Queensland. The Queenslanders are merely taken for granted. This is clearly an excuse by this MP, who doesn't wish to lose his seat next time when there is a concerted media push for independents because they cannot back the ALP who are performing too poorly and will not back the conservatives because they offend their lefty creeds. - ed.
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